17 months old

Ava would turn 17 months old on February 29th, IF there was a February 29th this year. :) So I will just write this today. I know 17 months isn't a "significant" age or anything, but to me it feels very significant because it's the last month she will be an only child. This month she will become a big sister and her life will be forever changed. I'm just going to write down some things that she knows/does for my own sake of remembering.

Words she knows as of today (purple ones are new words this month):

cookie, all done, water, happy, moo, baa, thank you (not tay tay anymore), truck, duck/quack (same thing right now) car, balloon (boon), cake, please (meese), flower (wow-wah), belly (buh-bee), clicker, cup, oh no, ball, bubble, up, apple, cool, Elmo, baby, no, grandpa (says poppy), grandma (says mama), ow/owie, milk (mee), paci (she actually calls it mammy), cracker, shoes, mama, hi, bye, more, uh oh, wow, cheese, book

These are the words she can sign: 

nap, milk, drink, mama, daddy, up, ball, banana, cracker, fish, bath, tree, ball, potty, more, grandpa, cat, baby, all done, eat, cookie, juice, one, bird

Random things:
*If you say "Pee Yoo", she will pinch her nose.
*She can (and LOVES to) drink from an adult cup and does it really well. She also feeds herself with a fork and spoon and refuses to be fed by anyone but herself.
*She knows how to unlock my phone, turn on the camera and turn on the music.
*She can swing on a "big kid" swing.
*She can jump with both feet leaving the ground.
*She high-fives and pounds it, and if you say "pound it" but don't close your fist, she will close your fist for you and then pound it.
*She gets INCREDIBLY excited when she hears the Skype sound and starts signing "grandpa" over and over.
*When she sees something that she obviously thinks is "cool," she exclaims "Wow! Wow! Wow!" over and over and over while pointing to it.
*She is actually pretty clean and organized. She will play with a toy and then put it back in the toy basket. She also likes to take napkins or paper towels and she will wipe the floors, windows, etc to "clean" them.
*She knows/recognizes cats, dogs and fish, but any other animal she thinks is a "moo."
*She is learning the ABC's and LOVES the Alphabet Song. If you say "Ava sing me a song," she starts saying random letters ("E I E A") trying to sing the Alphabet Song.
*Whenever she sees a can of hairspray, room spray or any kind of spray she will make a "Pshhhhh" sound to mimic the spraying sound.
*She is very independent and wants to walk vs sit in the stroller or shopping cart, which makes shopping very tiring sometimes haha.
*She loves to play "puppies" and will get down on the ground, crawl around and bark like a puppy.
*She is 27lbs 6.8oz (96th percentile), and 2'10" or 34 inches tall (100th percentile) AKA, off the charts.
*She started taking one nap and did that for about a week. Then, she got sick and could not survive on one nap. And she has been back to two naps ever since. Oh well haha.
*If you say "Ava throw your passy," she will take her pacifier out and throw it down as hard as she can.
*She LOVES to be outside and would spend the entire day outside if she could.
*She has a little "nervous tick" - when she gets upset or starts crying, she grabs her hair and that calms her down.

Overall, she is an extremely happy, friendly and social little girl - always laughing and saying hi to everyone she sees. Even as we are driving in the car and are stopped at a stop light, she is saying "hi" and waving to the people next to us. She loves playing with other kids and she runs up to other adults and wants them to hold her.


Ava, we love you so much and have loved having you as our only child the last 17 months! You are going to be such a great big sister - what a lucky baby brother you have! We can't wait to watch you continue to learn and grow.

Love,
Momma :)