Ava Version 2.5

Two and half years old today. Spunky, outgoing, smart, happy, a little bit bossy, and sometimes stubborn (just like someone else you might know). She loves to sing and dance, wants to take her baby doll everywhere, could spend every waking moment outside searching for rocks and other little treasures, she is definitely NOT a "homebody," and is just the life-of-the-party kind of fun! We love this girl!

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• Ava knows every single word to all the Frozen songs, even if she has no idea what those words mean. Case in point, "Our mental synchronization can have but one explanation." She knows the words but has no clue what they mean haha. She loves to sing LOUDLY and is always asking me to play the music louder and faster (basically just meaning louder and louder) when we are in the car.
• Ava loves to dress up in "ba-reena" clothes. She opens her dress and skirt drawer and pulls out the most girly, frilly dresses she has and begs to put them on...or she just puts them on herself and struts out of her room proudly. "I bew-ful Momma." 
• She is fiercely independent and in such a "I do it myself" phase. She loves to watch us do something once and the next time, she wants to do it all by herself. For example...if I read her a new book, she will sit quietly and listen (for the most part). The next time we read that book, SHE wants to "read" it to me. It's adorable listening to her try to re-tell the story to the best of her ability - some books she can recall almost perfectly. She LOVES "Going on a Bear Hunt," and several others.
• Ava knows all the letters of the alphabet and what MOST of the letter sounds are (vowels are still kind of tricky). She knows how to spell her name and can recognize names like MOM, DAD and GAVIN. She can count almost count to 20...mixing up the "teens" pretty much every time. But she's getting better. She recognizes numbers 1-12 and is working on recognizing the teen numbers. She is also getting very good at counting with one-to-one correspondence. 
• Ava is fearless. She will climb anything, jump off anything - which, in turn, terrifies me! Her skinned up knees and bruised legs will attest to her countless acts of "bravery." She just loves to play, and she plays hard. 
• Ava is very perceptive of feelings and is very tender-hearted. If she can tell I am stressed or a bit frustrated with her, she will hang her head and sadly say, "I sorry Mom," until I reassure her that it's okay, let's make a better choice next time. Until she sees me smile, she will say over and over, "I sorry Mom, happy girl Mom?" If she is sad or hurt or throwing a tantrum, I've learned the best way to deal with it is to simply kneel down, get on her level and wrap my arms around her tiny little body. She instantly melts into me and says, "I sorry Mom. I yuve you." Then we can go about our day happily. 

Being two and a half is fun, I've learned. It's exhilarating, it's curious, it's happy, it's silly and goofy. It's every-minute-is-a-dance-party and it's I-never-want-to-go-to-bed. It's snuggly and precious and full of wonder. It's exhausting and frustrating. It's I-want-so-badly-to-be-understood and don't-you-dare-mess-with-me-when-I'm-tired. It's a beautiful daily discovery of this wide world in front of her. It's so much packed into these tiny two and a half years she's been alive. 

And oh how I've loved these two and a half years. 

Here's to many, many, many more.

Happy half birthday my love.