Our darling girl is 15 Months Old

Our sweet baby girl, you are becoming more and more your own person every day.
You are so funny, and you love to do things to make us laugh. When you get a reaction, you crank it up just a little bit more, especially if your cousin Austen is there to egg you on.
For many months you have liked to wiggle your head around, like a bobble head. You nod and shake it when you dance, when you don't want something we are giving you, and when you are being silly with someone. We are kind of glad that your head bob has so many meanings, because then we get to see it all the more often, and it sure makes your Grampa smile.
You have learned what "psych" means and you are soooo very good at doing it! You like to pretend you're giving us things and then pull them away at the last second. You pretend to kiss Mommy, then smooch Daddy instead. You call "daaaaaaddy," offering him your soother, with a smile on your face, then quickly pop it back in your mouth before he can get it.

Ava, you love, love, love books, and I hope that when we chose to start reading to you only a couple of days after we brought you home from the hospital that you started to love books right then. We bought you a giant stuffed bear for Christmas, that you called Babby, maybe your version of "baby." You love to curl up in Babby's lap and "read." We LOVE to read to you, and you are clearly remembering what you read and choosing favourite books. Your favourites right now are "Goodnight I love you" and "Goodnight Gorilla." You like to sit in our laps when you read and, over the last several weeks, you will turn around and back into us and plop yourself down for a story.

Sweet Ava, you have learned what a kiss is, but you are still perfecting your technique. Currently, you like to open your mouth wide and plant that drooly face right on us. You like to kiss pictures, your picture magnets on the fridge, the mirror, and even the iPad when you're talking to Nana and Papa or Austen.
When you hug, you wrap your arms around us and tap our backs or shoulders with your hand, as if you are saying "there, there."

You have had a bit of a difficult few weeks. It seemed to happen overnight that you started to get scared of things and would cling on to us for dear life and throw your head onto our shoulders, and keep it there as though it were stuck.
There has been construction behind our house, and the big trucks, the vibrations, and the noises really scared you. You didn't want to go to the door and look outside like you usually do, and if you got so brave that you gave it a try, if you saw a truck out there, you would come running over to us, cling on, and throw your head down.
You even had a couple of nights where you woke up several times during the night. You were consoled easily, when we picked you up, but the second we made a move to your crib, your body would go stiff, you would start crying, and begin the cling-on procedure.
We are so thankful that you seem to be through that, for the time being, because it was really hard on you, and really hard for us to see you so scared.

You LOVE to try and do things yourself. You want to put your coat on, and take it off, by yourself. You want to put your socks and shoes on by yourself, and you even want to clean up your toys by yourself.  In the bath, you put all of your toys back in the bag when bath time is over, and then you promptly head to the drain to say "bye bye, water," and pull the plug.
You are getting pretty good at using your fork, and sometimes when we try and try to get you to eat and you just don't want to, all we have to do is give you your fork, and you will stab at your food until you've got it and then shovel it in to your mouth before it falls.

Miss Ava, you are a little too busy for our liking on Fridays and Saturdays right now. We have over scheduled you without thinking about it, and we promise that your life will not be like that. Your life will not be spent going from one class to the next without you having a say. We want you to spend so much time outdoors, making up your own games, and being creative and getting dirty. But for now, for a few more weeks, you are in swimming lessons and music classes.
It has been so much fun to watch you, and be with you, at swimming lessons. We are so glad that we waited until you were a bit older to give you proper "lessons," as you are so much more excited and aware now. You like to stand up on the edge of the pool and sing "humpty dumpty" before we bring you down into the water with us. I can't wait for the day when you throw  yourself in off the edge of the pool and just SWIM.
You and Mommy got caught in the pool one night without realizing that it was a WAVE pool! You LOVED the waves, and I really should have guessed that you would. You loved the splashing and the rocking back and forth, just as long as Mommy was hanging on tightly to you.
You are so brave when we get to the pool. We put your feet in the water, and you just walk into the water, deeper and deeper, without a fear, and we are so happy for that.

We try to take you outside every single day, if only for a walk down the street and back. On Mommy's Fridays off, we always go out to a new park or a new place where we can be outdoors together.  This month we have played at the park up at Unity Christian, we have hiked up Mt.Thom, we have gone to Go Bananas and out to the Cheam Wetlands, and you just love the outdoors.
It just fills your Mama with pride when you pick up sticks and leaves, and are so proud of what you have found. You like to feel the dirt, or the sand in your hands, and to rub your fingers against the trees, to feel the bark.

Leisure Landing after swimming lessons.

Mt.Thom

Mt.Thom

Cheam Wetlands

3 person shadows are so much more special than 2 person shadows.

Your Mama loves this relationship.

Vedder Trail - your first walk where you actually walked WITH us! 

Playdate with Carter and Ethan Ostlund, and your cousin Kai.

What I am in love with this month is your relationship with your cousins. We haven't spent enough time with Lizzie in the last few months, but that will change. Miss Ava, I am quite sure it is your cousin Lizzie who taught your Mama how to love a little person so good. Your Lizzie is 8 years older than you, and 4 years older than your cousin Kai, so we had a lot of time where she was the only apple in our eyes. It is your cousin Lizzie who taught your Mama how to play games and be creative without having to leave the house and without having to spend a dime. It is Lizzie who made your Mama's heart grow a hundred times bigger than it was, making all the more room for you and your cousins. I am so lucky that you will have a big cousin Lizzie to talk to during those times when Mama or Daddy just aren't the ones.

Your cousin Kai loves you more than he would ever say, but the thing about your cousin Kai is that he says so much without even saying a word. You will learn the looks of your Kai in a hurry, and I think that you may already be on to him. Your cousin Kai likes to sneak hugs and kisses on you when only your Mommy or Daddy are looking. He doesn't want to be gushed over and he doesn't want any attention drawn to his love for you, for his brother, or for his other cousins. The way that your Kai looks at you, the way that he speaks to you, and the way that he touches you so carefully make me more proud of him, and more excited about the love between the two of you than I would have ever thought. Miss Ava, I think that you may have won your cousin Kai over when you learned his name before anyone else's. Your phone call to him when you were almost 13 months old, where you showed him this new talent may have sealed his love for you.

Ava, your Austen, the other half of the A-Team, and your partner in crime has learned to say "Ada," and he is so, so very proud of that.  The two of you have something that not many cousins will get to have. You two have been "besties," without having that choice, since you were born. Only 3 weeks apart, sharing Mommies who are twins not only gives you a cousin who will be like a brother, but it gives you an Auntie who will be like a second Mama. You may not always want Austen to be your bestie, but your Mama also didn't always want Auntie Carrie to be her bestie either. That is the neat thing about family Ava, that if you ever want to take a break, you will be able to, and your Austen will be right there where he always was, your built in bestie, brother, and cousin. We like to think you two will be sweet little book nerds that really prefer to only hang out with each other, but then we remember that sometimes when you play in the playpen together, You are willing to go on all fours while Austen likes to stand on your back. I hope you forget that skill as you get older.

Our Mr.Nico is still a little bit too small for you to have had a good chance to build a relationship with him.  Miss Ava, as gentle as you can be, you are also a little girl who is learning about the world and everything in it, and you are not always the most careful or the most aware of the things or people around you. You are learning so, so fast, and we know that you are almost ready to move around your cousin Nico without the risk of you falling or sitting on him! But I trust that as long as your cousin Kai thinks he is ok, he will be ok in your eyes too.

Miss Ava, we love you like crazy, and can not wait for all the moments that will happen tomorrow.

Love Mommy and Daddy. xx