2 Year Check Up

Wow. 2 years??? Ava had her 2 year old check up today and passed with flying colors.

Stats:
27 lbs, 1 oz (50th percentile)
34 inches (50th percentile)

So, she finally caught up in the weight department. Must be the that big tummy she has. :-) She was great for the doctor--she talked quite a bit and even showed off a little and put her pants on by herself when she was done being examined. We almost got away without any shots, but we (well, I) opted for the flu shot. The nurse was great, though, and occupied her with a sticker and a sucker just before she stabbed her in the thigh. Ava didn't even cry! And now she doesn't have to go back until she's three! Crazy!

We've been so lucky with Ava's health. She's only ever had a few colds (nothing to warrant a doctor's visit) and we just had to take her to an after hours clinic for the first time a few weeks ago. Her left thumb was swollen to about twice the size of her right thumb, was red, cracked, and really looked quite gross. We figured it was from thumb sucking (she does it when she's tired or sleeping) but didn't know for sure and we couldn't get into her regular doctor for a few more days. And the nurse really couldn't say much over the phone without seeing it. So, the doctor at the clinic confirmed our suspicions and recommended some neosporin to put on it and some stuff called "Thumb" which is like a polish to paint on that makes the thumb taste bad. It cleared up after about a week. Ava loved having the polish put on ("Paint! Paint") but it really didn't seem to deter her efforts much.

Ava has been stringing more words together in the last week or two--it's kind of amazing what a difference it is! She says almost everything in two word sentences now and mimics us more than ever--it's pretty cute. She's also started saying little excerpts from songs. One of her favorites is "Ring around the Rosie"--She just says "Rosie" and "Pocket" and beckons us to stand up, hold hands, and circle around. She also started saying "Rocka" "Baby" "Treepop" which sums up the "Rock-a-bye baby" song.

Of course, not everything is rosy and peachy keen. Ava became quite the escape artist over Thanksgiving weekend, crawling out of her crib at our house or the pack n play at Grandma's more times than I could count. It was pretty frustrating. But, tough love prevailed. In the name of Supernanny, I simply put her back in the crib each time without speaking to her. It has worked so far. But boy, is she swift! She can hoist her leg over the top of the crib without any struggle at all and slide down to the floor. She can also open her door by herself (reminds me, we need to get some of those doorknob cover things). It's actually pretty entertaining to see her just walk nonchalantly up to our bed in the morning and announce her presence. Ugh, I'm just not ready to give up on the crib yet.

So, Scot's officially a "Guard bum" now, as they're called. He's already been pretty motivated to pick up the slack around the house so I hope the momentum continues! And I did end up getting a promotion, so the timing worked out well. It's a little scary to have extra responsibilities, but I guess I won't be bored anytime soon.

Big changes coming...

No, I'm not pregnant. Believe it or not, someone in our household is changing jobs and its not me. And not really "changing" jobs, I guess, just paring down to one. After working nearly eight years with Champion Air, Scot has decided to leave his full-time position as the Manager of Safety. A lot of you probably already know this, but here's a recap anyway.

A lot of things factored into this decision. In addition to both of us working "banker's hours" and taking care of a two-year-old, Scot has been very actively flying with the Guard. Burning the candle at both ends for the past several years is taking a toll, so he's making a change. Leaving Champion will allow him to spend more time with family, get things done around the house, and devote more time to the Guard. The flying schedule is very flexible, so he'll be able to pick up local flying and trips to compensate for income he would have made at Champion. Several other guys have been doing this for a long time and have made decent money, so we're hoping that holds true for Scot too.

Scot is still talking with Champion about maintaining some sort of "temporary" or "contract" relationship, where he could work occasionally in Safety or other areas on an as-needed basis. There are still quite a few details that would need to be sorted out for this to happen, but it would be better than severing all ties. We'll see what happens with that. His official last day is 11/21.

So, it's a little scary simply because it's change...but I think we'll all be a little happier as a result. And things are going well with my job. It looks like I may be getting a promotion soon to become a supervisor in my department. I've been doing a lot of training and project management since I started my new job at Medtronic, which I've really liked. Hopefully this new position will be a good fit for me too.

Happy Birthday to Ava!

Ava's party was on her birthday this year--Sat, November 10th. We had lots of family and friends come over to celebrate. We ordered pizzas and had a Thomas the Train cake, in honor of it being Ava's latest obsession. We had a great time and Ava received so many nice presents. Thanks, everyone!

The big 2 year old!

Playing with the dollhouse we bought for her

Tain!

Love this cake!

Yummy!

Opening her new tea set from Mommy & Daddy

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A very sweet video of Ava and her buddy Keira in what was probably her favorite toy of the day...


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What's your name?

"Awa Mangameek Cox" :-)

I'll have to get this on video...

Our little monkey

Ava had a blast on Halloween. I was skeptical that she would actually wear her costume as she didn't want anything to do with it all week. But plenty of candy bribes did the trick in the end. She did really well going up to people's houses and knocking on doors, but she never did say "Trick or Treat", just held out her pumpkin for the goods. We went to 5 or 6 houses on our block and then went back to our house to hand out candy. That was definitely her favorite part. She loved looking at all the kids who came to the door (we had about 40) and handing the candy to them. When each group left, she looked out the door and said "Next!"

This video shows just how much Ava enjoyed handing out candy, this time to a little girl about the same age:

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