It Didn't Work

As you can see by the photo above we had Ava dedicated at my home church while we were there for the missions conference. We were told that she'd be perfectly behaved after she was dedicated. But it obviously didn't take and we're going to have to have her dedicated again ASAP.

I'm kidding of course. But now that we're establishing some house rules with her and now that she's trying to establish her independence I'm dealing with the ensuing temper tantrums. They generally consist of a dramatic sprawl on the floor and the flooding of her face with tears and snot until she realizes I'm not paying any attention to her, then a few louder more dramatic wails, and then she gives up and goes along her happy way. I just have to try not to let her see me laugh. Especially last night when she wanted me to pick her up but I couldn't because my hands were covered with the cleaner for my glass stove top. So she collapsed on the floor in tears and then drug herself, inch by inch, until she'd draped her sobbing body across my feet as I stood in front of the stove. I can't wait until she's 13.

Having Fun

Ava's finally feeling much better and we're back to having fun being a mom and daughter together. The other day I was reading in my What to Expect: The Toddler Years, which I haven't opened in months, and was surprised at how much it said Ava was able to understand at this age. So I decided to start asking her more questions. And I think they were right. That day I started asking her if she was hungry and she went to her high chair and tried to climb up. Then a little later I asked her if she wanted to go take a bath and she dropped the toy she was playing with and headed down the hall to the bath tub. She's done this a few times now along with learning to come to me and also "stay with mamma". It's fun to feel like the communication isn't so one sided!

We've been having fun yesterday and today learning more animal noises with her new puzzles and her new "300 First Words and Pictures" book. I'd been wanting that exact book for her for some time now but it was a bit on the pricey side. A couple of days ago though, I found it at Mardels for only $7 and I had a $10 gift card. Ava loves the book and we've spent time each day looking at it and the other day I caught her laying on her tummy on the floor turning the pages and kicking her legs. Cute.

And then the same thing with the puzzles. I'd been wanting to get her some of those wooden puzzles with the nobs, but they're also (as in all kid things it seems) too pricey for me. Then yesterday after church a friend who was passing some girl clothes on to me asked if I would also like some puzzles. Yes please! And now Ava's the proud owner of 8 or so "new" puzzles - just the kind I was wishing for. I love how God takes care of our every need, even when it's not really a NEED. Thank you Jesus.

Ava posing (could she be any more posed? We stood her next to the bear and this is what she came up with . . . gotta love the thighs) with the bear on my Grandparent's porch in Washington.

Us at Marymere Falls in the Olympic National Forrest

Ava posing again at my parents house.

sneak peek - carrie and sharilyn rush

while in washington, i got to take some photos of teressa's two sisters - carrie and sharilyn. we had a lot of fun and really got them laughing a lot! take a look and tell me what you think.

first, we'll start off with a silly one of ava and her grandma margie by a small waterfall...

2 awesome girls

family portrait

had a good yard sale this morning with the morgans and the shorts.

i got quite the little sunburn as i danced with a large sign out by the street and tried to get cars into our glorious yard sale.

we went over to a friends pool tonight. before i could even kick off my flip flops and take my hat off, ava was already running for the pool. its starts off nice and shallow and has two small fountains. i know she does not totally comprehend what heaven is yet, but she thought she had a pretty good idea by the end of the night.

well, enjoy the the photo of my two favorite girls. took this at lake cushman in washington.

talking to the dog

well, we had a busy night. we watered the grass. i pulled out boxes of old christian books from the attic for our yard sale on saturday morning. we even made up some signs to put out by the road tomorrow. it's going to be fun. our friends casey and summer are going to bring some stuff over and do the yard sale with us. some other friends might drop by and sell stuff too.

then i found a large garbage bag full of stuff that needs to be shredded. old bills and stuff. but we have had forever, because when do you have an extra few hours to shred stuff? so i started a large fire in this metal firepit thing we have in the back yard and i torched it all. it got a little close to the lower branches in the back yard, but thankfully, the wind was at a minimum tonight.

well, enjoy this photo of our little dog whisperer. what do you think they were talking about?

Recovery

So Ava is still recovering from our trip apparently. She hasn't had a fever since Sunday but she's been sleeping A LOT and only happy for approximately 28.6 minutes after she wakes up and then she's crying again. Yesterday I made a dash to Costco with her for some much needed supplies and she had 5 meltdowns in the 45 minutes we were there. And not her usual "meltdown" which is whining for a few minutes until I make a silly face at her. These were real meltdowns, the kind of screaming where no sound comes out and then it does, in one long long shriek and everyone within a ten aisle radius is wondering if she's just a bratty kid or if I beat her. And all because I wouldn't let her take the eggs out of the carton.

I know it's just because she's worn out from the trip and being sick and after (hopefully) a few more days of sleep her happy self will be back. But the crying is wearing on me. And so in my vast 14 months of parenting experience I've learned two very important tactics for dealing with this. 1) Take time to play with her and especially to play "tickle time". It reminds both of us that we really do like each other. 2) Dress her in cute clothes. Shallow maybe, but we all must admit that a crying child with snot running down her face in a little pink sundress is cute. You focus on the cute pouty mouth and elephant tears and not the snot. While a crying child wearing a dirty shirt and a diaper with snot running down their face is not so cute. You may feel sorry for the kid and but all you can focus on is the snot. And that's also why I like to take the time to look at cute pictures of her, like these from the Thurston Co. Fair while we were in WA . . .

Does anyone else see Audry Hepburn here?

And here's a bonus picture of Ava's cousin Eli. Isn't he adorable?

walking in the grass

we spent the day around the house today. good to be back.

we returned from washington on tuesday. it was supposed to be sunday, but there were mechanical delays. actually, it was just one big big delay. ha ha. but it worked out nicely on the flight back. we got two bulkhead seats and ava even slept for a half hour on the plane. that almost never happens.

ava seemed to come back with a bit of a fever. she has had it the last few days, where it has gotten up to 101 or 102. today, it seemed like its headed back down. i think it's because we prayed last night at the all night prayer meeting. and when people are up praying at 3am for a fever to break, it breaks. :-)

it was a fun night last night. a large group of us went out for breakfast after all night prayer. we were out til about 4:30 or so at ihop. casey had fun making us think he injured his eye, but later revealing that it was only a leaking container of creamer. we then taught matt the game of spoons. man, i love that game. i can't believe it always works. classic.

today, we jumped right into some cleaning. i mowed the grass that grew into a small forest while i was away. then i put some bricks around the a/c unit outside so grass wouldn't get to close to it. as i went to start yard work this morning i picked up my shoes that had been in the garage for a couple weeks. im one of those guys who always shakes his shoes to see if something is inside them. normally, there never is. but today, wouldn't you know it, a gecko jumped out. glad he didn't have to endure a cruel death next to my sweaty toes.

we even washed the windows and screens today. yeah, are you as amazed as i am?

well, there will be plenty of photos coming these next couple of weeks. we had lots of fun shooting photos while in washington. these ones below are of ava walking in the grass at teressa's parent's house. isn't that a picture of summer? we were all so glad to be in the nice soft washington grass where theres no fire ants or anything that wishes to bite or harm you. or so we thought... later on in the week, teressa met the wrath of a very naughty bee in that same grass. i guess we learned the grass is always meaner on the other side.