Ava is 18 months old!

Age: 18 months (as of December 6)

Stats:  At Ava's 18-month appointment on December 30 she weighed 24 lbs. 2 oz. and was 31 in. tall.  We had a different nurse this time and she noticed that she was measured as 33 1/2 in. tall last time.  So she measured her again and still got 31 in.  I explained that the nurse before would never measure her properly and always seemed to be inaccurate.  She would have Ava lay down on the exam table and just manually mark her length with a pencil.  The nurse this time measured her standing like adults are always measured and then again laying down with an actual scale, ruler, etc.  So I definitely believe the 31 in. to be accurate.  Her weight was the 67th percentile and her height was the 17th percentile.

Clothes:  18-24 months, but the 18-month stuff is starting to get too small.

Here is one of our Christmas photos that we had taken in November.  Ava was pretty nervous at the beginning.  She had never been to our photographer's house before and this was taken in her kitchen (can you believe it?)

Favorite Foods:  Yogurt, apple slices, crackers (all kinds:  goldfish, ritz, cheez itz, etc.), cheerios (she calls these "o's"), cheese, lunch meat, plain bread, vegetable quiche, homemade pizza, grapes, mandarin orange slices, canned tomatoes, milk, cheese quesadillas, Mexican rice (funny story:  we went out to lunch to a Mexican restaurant with my mom and I ordered Ava a cheese quesadilla, rice, and beans.  She loved it all of course, but especially the rice.  Anytime anyone passed by our table she would scream, "rice!"  The host thought this was hilarious and would repeat it back to her.)

Still unsure of her surroundings...

Favorite Words:  Ava talks all the time!  The quietness she used to have is gone and now she'll repeat words over and over again until you repeat it back to her, acknowledging that you heard her.  She's just like me in that way.  :)  The doctor asked if she can say at least 15 words and I almost laughed.  She averages anywhere between 40-60 words a day and that's not counting when those words are repeated.  Here are some favorites:  whoa, soup, baby, owl, hop hop (stuffed animal bunny), hair bow, das (downstairs), play, apple, open, shut, mama, daddy, eat, poo poo, bye bye, night night, tea, walk, belly, happy, woof woof, caca (which means yucky), trash, Presley, Elsa, Collie (which means Collin), puzzoo (puzzle), cheese, meat, milk, water, cup, bowl, ball, nose, mouf (mouth), eyes, errs (ears), herr (hair), face, nice, no no, cheers, Ahvah (Ava), car, pampaw (Grandpa), Elmo, all done, feet, foot, bottle, hot, cold, turtle, roar, chair, butter (which means peanut butter).

Being sweet with daddy

Favorite Activities:  we have a walker now!  It was December 28 (technically closer to her being 19 months) and Jimi was playing with Ava in the basement (where we keep the majority of her toys now) and he told me that she just started walking around.  She had been toying with the idea of walking for a while...using her walker all the time, holding our hands, then our one hand, walking around the house, taking anywhere from 3-8 steps on her own, but this was different.  Then we went to my grandparents house that afternoon to celebrate Christmas and it was just like, bam!  We have a walker!  She walked for what I'm estimating to be 2 hours (between opening presents and eating dinner, she had a couple breaks, but still!).  It was crazy!  I recorded a little bit of it on my phone.  She has been walking ever since!  She walks all over the house and if we're holding her she'll strain to be let down and say, "walk!"  She was even able to show the doctor how she can walk at her 18-mo. appt.  I'm so proud of her and the fact that she's hit this milestone!

Thinking about smiling  :)

Least Favorite Activities:  Wearing shoes, socks, coat, hat, gloves.  Ava is a summer baby, for sure!  She has not grown out of this hatred and I'm guessing she never will.  We bundle her all up in the house and everything ends up coming off in the car (minus the coat, but you get the idea).

This is the one we used for our Christmas card this year.  The secret behind getting her to smile?  Daddy acting like a monkey and me pretending to tickle him.  Thank God we got her to smile, though!

So cute!  And looking like such a big girl in her dress.

This is Ava saying, "I'm over it.  Pick me up please."  lol