Ava has been a terror all week. So much so that she got devil horns (yes, devil horns) on the frowny face on her "report card" from Vicki's on Wednesday. Today wasn't any better - in fact, Vicki informed me that it was quite possibly Ava's worst day at daycare ever. Another frowny face, this one extra large. Things didn't get much better after we left for home. We stopped at Target (hey, I needed paper towels and formula) - she was actually great in the store up until the very end. And then it got worse in the parking lot. I let her start to get into her carseat by herself as usual while I tended to Reese. Something happened (I still don't know what) and she got completely hysterical. I didn't react, just continued to buckle Reese in and eventually made my way back over to her side. She was still hysterical, screaming and crying and tears streaming. Without speaking to her, I finally got her buckled in and got in the driver's seat. A woman in the car across from me looked at me with disgust. Eh, whatever lady. That's how I felt too and all I could do was take a few deep breaths, pull out of the parking lot, and tune out the continuing tantrum until it finally stopped and she started talking in a normal voice like the past 15 minutes never happened.
I don't know what's going on with her. I've been reading about grief and anger in children - she talks about missing Gramma Di quite often. There's that. And then with Scot being gone this week, maybe it was just too much for her. Or maybe she's just four and that's how she acts. Please let it not be that one!
It isn't all downers at our house thankfully - we had a wonderful birthday party for Ava on Saturday. Again, can't believe my baby is FOUR. Lots of family, friends, pizza, cake, presents...it was a great time and Ava thoroughly enjoyed it.
Earlier this week, she also had her 4 year physical - she's 41 inches and 37.4 pounds, putting her at the 75th percentile for both. She passed the eye exam well enough (though kind of comical to watch someone who barely knows her letters in the first place try to read them from afar). Dr. L. had her draw some shapes on paper, write her name, and asked her other questions that a 4 year old should know. She did great. Then it was flu shot time - she got a regular flu shot and the H1N1 in the nasal mist form. Reese was along for the ride so she also got the H1N1 shot, having already had her regular flu shot last month. Guess who cried more about her shot? Yes, that would be Ava.
Reese! I haven't talked about my little baby much lately! Reese turned 10 months the same day Ava turned four. She is normally such a happy kid, but the first 2 weeks of November were rough. She seemed to have every symptom under the sun at one time or another, but never had anything more serious than a regular virus (this confirmed by 2 separate doctor visits). All of this was quite trying on our already fried nerves...as she was crying most of the time she was awake and was waking up once or twice in the middle of most nights. She was much better this week and is back to her happy self! She is still smiling most of the time and is usually content to play by herself. She has gotten a little more vocal lately and is not afraid to express her displeasure when Ava takes things from her! She's cruising now and will sometimes stand unassisted for a few seconds. She still prefers crawling and is a speedy little thing! She can clap and wave and say "da da da da da". And still has just 2 bottom teeth.
Oh, and I still can't find my camera thing. It's probably time for me to order a new one, in which case I will find the old one immediately. Here are two from my mom's camera from the weekend:
