Time Out & Fun Phrases

We gave Ava her first time out last week. It seems like we've maybe waited long to do this in comparison to other kids her age, but she has rarely repeated bad behaviors up until recently. This is not to say in any way that she is the perfect child...because she will in fact throw a tantrum over the slightest disruption. Quite the little drama queen we have on our hands, but again not necessarily naughty.

So, she started hitting recently and that's what prompted the time out. We decided that the stairs would be the time out area, so we showed her where to sit and insisted she sit there for 2 minutes. This actually worked pretty well. She got up several times and we put her back in her spot and I would say the whole thing lasted about 5 minutes...which didn't seem too bad for the first time. When her time was up, we explained what she did wrong and asked her to apologize, which she did very sincerely. Nice! Then later that night, anytime we told her "No", she stopped what she was doing and asked "Time out?" and proceeded to the stairs. We got a big kick out of that!

Yesterday we were playing with legos and some Little People and she faced one of her Little People and said, "What's up, dude?" Scot and I cracked up laughing...we weren't sure where she got that from since that's not how Scot and I typically address each other. Scot found out today from Vicki that the boys at daycare say that to each other.

Looks like we also have a future shopaholic on our hands as Ava can now say (very clearly) "debit card". My mom got her a purse for Christmas that has a pretend debit card to play with and she knows just what to do with it. She takes it out of her purse and swipes it on the coffee table. Oh boy!

We're also making a little progress with potty training. We bought her a new seat to fit onto the regular toilet, so that's where she prefers to go now. We just scheduled a trip to Florida with Scot's family next month, though, so I don't think we'll press it before we go. Dealing with the potty on vacation doesn't sound like much fun! We'll pick up again in late February after we get back.

America's Next Top Model?

This is what we get now when we say "smile"...

Year in Review

I made another video to capture Ava's second year. Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Talk Talk Talk

Well...we made it through the holidays. It was a little more hectic this year with our very busy 2 year old underfoot, but a ton of fun. We hosted Scot's family on Christmas Eve, headed over to Wausau on Christmas Day and stayed there for 4 days. And just this past weekend, Chuck and Sandy came to visit. We had great visits with everyone and are very thankful for all of the wonderful and thoughtful gifts we received.

Ava's been talking a lot more. Here are some of my favorite things that she is saying now...

She usually yells "STOP!" when either Scot or I start singing. One day before Christmas we broke out in a round of "Jingle Bells" at the dinner table and she yelled "STOP!" over and over again. She also does this anytime I try to have her recite the ABCs or numbers--she's NEVER going to learn them! :-)

On New Year's Eve, Jess, Jared, and Keira came over and Keira was laying down on the floor with a bottle of milk. Ava laid down next to her with a baby bottle and then clinked bottles and said "Cheers!" She remembered that from our family dinner on Christmas Eve! It was hilarious. She did it again out of the blue when we were having dinner with Chuck, Sandy, and Julie this past weekend.

I love the way she says "Come on!" It is so deliberate and enthusiastic.

She just started saying "Skuze Me" after burping.

She says "Where go?" when she's looking for something. Or "Mommy go?" Or "Sam go?", etc, etc.

She yells "T-toons!" when she wants to watch TV.

She pretends to take care of her baby dolls and says, "OK?" to them to make sure they're OK.

She says "I wu" for I love you. Love that one!