Hungry Like the Wolf

Growth Spurt?

Barbie Girl

"Mom, I love my Barbie so much, she is so nice and cozy."

When Ava was a little over a year, we had taken a trip to the zoo and as we walked past gift shop she spotted this lovely snake that I named Barbie. Barbie became a fixture in our lives, traveling everywhere with us, always eliciting comments from passersby. Then Ava discovered "babies" and Barbie was left to hang with the other stuffed snake, Ken, for the past year.

Barbie has re-emerged back into her life do largely to the re-introduction to snakes while at zoo camp last week. While the other kids in the class were cowering behind their parents when the Hognose snake was brought out, Ava beamed with excitement when her eyes met Slinky. She gave him a rub and whispered softly, "Tickle, tickle." She was the first one to pet him....as well as the last one.

Bye, Bye Baby

The other day, Ava and I went to the grocery store to pick up some various items, both foodstuffs and otherwise. As we were walking down the main aisle she spied a Garfield doll that was laying, out of place, on a shelf at eye level. She said, "Ooo, daddy can I get Tigger?!"
I said, "That's Garfield, honey, not Tigger. And no, we can't buy Garfield."
"Oh, Gahfeel. Can we get Gahfeel?"
I said, "No, we can't get Garfield, but you can carry him around the store until we leave." And she was OK with that.
Well, we went down by the deli and there, almost shouting at the poor parents walking by, "Hey, we got your number!" was a big tall shelf of various little stuffed animals. There was Dora and Diego and Pablo and Tyrone and Tasha and Uniqua. She really loves the Backyardigans lately, so she dropped Garfield and picked up Uniqua. "Oh, Uniqua, the pink one. I have to show Pablo. Pablo needs a friend (she already has two Pablo dolls at home.) Can we get Uniqua, daddy?
"No, but you can carry her around until we have to leave." She said OK, but she kept asking to buy the Uniqua doll.
We walked by that shelf again and she decided she didn't want Uniqua anymore, she wanted Tasha now. "Can we get Tasha?"
Again I had to tell her she could walk with it, but we would have to put it back before we left. To this she replied, "But Tasha will miss me soo much!" I just about started laughing at this; you should have heard the sorrow in her voice. She sounded genuinely sad that Tasha would "miss her soo much."

Sorry if anybody was looking for a tantrum at the end of this story, because when it was time to go, we walked by the shelf and she put it right back- hardly any fuss. Her "miss me soo much" was just so cute, I had to write about it.

Ian

Da-da-da

Why he's One Cool Cat.

1) He took up juggling to impress his children and their friends. Now he wants a unicycle.

2) When he plays Tea Party with Ava he always reminds her to poose her imaginary hot tea so she doesn't burn her lips.

3) He has the ability to put Ruby to sleep within minutes just by holding her football style.

4) He's awesome at making bottles.

5) He isn't at the least embarrassed when he's eating with his co-workers and opens up his lunch box to find one of Ava's babies in there. He proudly shows it off.

6) He actually enjoys coloring.

7) Daddy is the preferred choice for tucking in time.

8) He reads to Ava when she's on the potty.

9) He's patient. So VERY patient.

10) He scratches our backs on demand.

11) He's ours and we love him.... for loving us.

Thank You for making every day Father's Day!

Playing in the Band

Future jam band player in the making.

Hey, Good Lookin'

Ava received a Barbie for her birthday and along with it came a super fly hispanic friend named Theresa.
Upon opening the box she shouted with glee, "Oooo, a Barbie and there's me, of course!" (referring to Theresa)

Rather than go in to a whole spiel on how Barbie is a poor example of what real women look like, I smiled back and said, "But of course."

I, personally, don't have a problem with Barbie and that could be because I only owned one Barbie during my formative years. She was a Western Barbie and she had a button that you could press on her back and her one weird eye would wink. But I didn't play with her long because she always had to wear pantyhose due to the fact that her right leg kept falling off. And Barbie in a swimsuit with pantyhose was just not cool. So she went into a bin and I played with plump and jolly Carebear figures instead.

Don't worry, I scoured E-bay for the exact Carebears and she much rather play with the them, then with Barbie.

Communication Breakdown

Legs waving wildly after my many failed attempts of putting them back into the proper place.

Apparently means: "Mom, I've got a poopy diaper and I am trying to avoid sitting in its splendor."

You're My Best Friend

For the past two years, I have been taking care of one of my best friend's son, Loic. I like to refer to him as my part-time son since he has become such a part of our family. Ava and Loic adore each other and when they are apart they are often asking where the other one is. Sure they squabble like brother and sister but for the most part they get along well and enjoy playing with each other. Ava has established herself as the leader and Loic the accomplice and they are happy with their roles. It's funny to see Loic mimic everything that Ava does, from repeating everything she says to mirroring her facial expressions.

I was often asked if they are twins. Which is the funniest thing since one is brown and one is white. Most surprisingly, I got asked a lot at the OB clinic when I was pregnant with Ruby. Sometimes I would just smile and say yes....while busting a gut laughing on the inside to such absurdness. But mostly I would reply that no they weren't twins just best friends.

This past Monday marked the last day that Loic would be coming to my house. Ava is starting preschool next year and Loic was unable to get into the same program. I had been explaining to them for the past few weeks that they were no longer going to see each other every day to prepare them when the time came to part.

It was a sad day but we made plans to see other on Thursday and then he is coming over Saturday evening for a movie night while his parents attend a wedding. But that hasn't stopped Ava from asking everyday if Loic was going to be coming today. In fact, when Ruby got a little fussy the other day, Ava said it was because Ruby missed Loic. Thankfully, one set of Ava's grandparents are here visiting which has kept her occupied and has adjusted pretty well without her other half.

Personal Jesus

Lately Ava has been curious about God, wanting to know where God is and what God does. I try to explain it to her in a simple manner as not to confuse her. But it has been quite challenging since she probes and probes without end. She also has the idea in her head that before she was born, she was a puppy hanging out with God. I guess that explains the growl she makes when I ask her do something she'd rather not do and the great fun she has lapping up the bath water.

So yesterday we were sitting on the floor in the living room playing with Ruby and commenting on how crazy Ruby's hair looks. I told her when I was a little baby my hair was crazy like that too. Then she wanted to know where she was and I told her that she hadn't been born yet.

"Oh, that when I was a puppy with God"
"Oh, really?"
"Yep and God is sleeping upstairs in your room."
"Is that so?"
"Uh huh?"

Hmmm. The only person sleeping upstairs that I knew of ...was Daddy. I suppose to a little girl, daddy is God-like . With his juggling skills, his ability to throw her high up into the air,his loving arms when he carries her, his infinite patience, and his endless encouragement....I can see where one could get that idea.

Who's That Girl

Golden Slumbers

Ruby amazes me in her ability to adapt to sleeping in any situation. When Ava was a baby, I had to rock and hold her the entire time she napped. She would nap two hours at a time, twice a day all while in my arms for 11mos. Now, Ava is a wonderful sleeper logging in 11hrs at night and 2 -3hrs at nap. I guess when I look back, it didn't bother me so much because I was happy that she was at least sleeping through the night in her crib and I also enjoyed the bonding time.

Where as with Ruby, I can just lay her down and she falls right to sleep, pretty much anywhere. Yesterday I helped out at a garage sale and I spotted a backpack carrier and decided to try Ruby in it. She seem to like it and she eventually fell asleep in it. So I brought her into the house, carefully took off the backpack as not to disturb her, pulled out the kickstand and she sat there sleeping peacefully for about an hour until she was woken up by all the commotion from the kids coming inside because it had started to rain outside.

Man, oh man, I wish I could sleep as good as she does...... any day, just another example how Ruby is like her daddy.

Bouncing Around the Room

On Wednesday, we celebrated Ava's upcoming birthday with a few of her friends. This year she wanted her party held at Pump It Up, an inflatable bouncy gym. She had been anticipating this for weeks, asking every day if it was June 4th yet.

Well it finally arrived and she had a blast at her party. It was fun to see the kids jumping and running around like mad. I'm pretty sure a lot of them slept very good that night. Ava enjoyed celebrating with her friends..... especially the cake eating part.

Been Caught Stealing

"Who me? It just fell into my hand and then into my mouth, honest."


She literally snatched the lollipop out of Loic's hand and quickly put it in her mouth and sucked like a crazy lady before I took it away. Let's just hope this isn't a forewarning on whats to come in the future.

Out of Control

The hair, that is.

Mama Tried

Ava woke up last night crying and calling out for me. I went in and she was sitting up in bed with her finger up her nose. She cried out "Mommy, I can't get this booger out!"

So I grab a tissue from the bathroom and instructed her blow into it. After several tries, it was still lodged in there. So then I twisted the tissue to resemble a skinnier finger in hopes of retrieving that thing so I could get to back to sleep ASAP. Nope, it only pushed it furthur up. I told her that I was going have to go to to plan B-the dreaded booger spray and plunger. She started to cry in hysterics and I was getting anxious for fear that she would wake up the baby and then I would really have to kiss getting some sleep goodbye. I had to do something and something quick. That's when I had to pull out the big guns,her kryptonite,the ace-in-the-hole, the....."Nana Card"

I grabbed the spray bottle and "read" back to her what the bottle said. "Nasal spray mositurizer, it's Nana approved. She loves this stuff and so will you!" She then let me do my thing and finally she was able to breath again, booger free.

Ava loves her five nanas and unfortunately for us they all live 7 hrs away. When I asked her who she wanted to invite to her birthday she quickly rattled off the names of all her nanas. They were on the top of the list, actually they were the only ones on the list. When I told her that they were not able to come, you could just see her little heart break. For her, it would be a grand day if she could be with all her nanas at the same time focusing all their attention on her.

I am guilty of using her nana obsession to my advantage when all my pleading makes no difference. I must say though, it has gotten her to eat vegetables, wear pony-tails, start sharing more, stop picking her lips and now..booger plunging. And because there are five nanas and I don't exactly specify which nana stamped her approval , I don't feel that I am lying because I know at least one of them would back me up. I think.