Good Morning! Are you still in your pajamas? Our little Ava is now 19 months old.
And what was Ava doing for her first picture as a 19 month old? Trying to blow bubbles at school. As you can tell, she wasn’t really into it. She actually got sick this week and didn’t have the energy to even create one tiny bubble. Great. Now I have that Don Ho song stuck in my head.
Ava’s week started off with a blood test. We’ve been pushing it off for about two weeks now. We came up with great excuses for our procrastination. Like… we need to go to the fair… or… we need to go eat short ribs at L&L Hawaiian BBQ… or… we need to relax from going out all week to the fair and L&L Hawaiian BBQ. I told you they were good excuses. Anyways, since we live in a house that over 80 years old, we needed to get Ava tested for any traces of lead poisoning… even though the top coat of paint on our walls doesn’t have lead in it… because you just never know what is in the microscopic dust that gets created with you open and close old windows and lands on the floor or on one her toys.
Ava did so well at the lab. The techs sat her down on my lap, tied her arm off and tapped their fingers in hopes of finding a good vein. Ava just sat there quietly and stared at them. She just stared and stared. She even stared at the needle. But once the needle was pushed into her arm, she screamed. And once it was over, she stopped. Just like that. Truthfully, she did great. I thought I was going to pass out. I was envisioning her flailing her body and needles and blood flying everywhere… but no. There was none of that. She didn’t even move her free arm that I was holding down just in case. I guess getting blood taken out is a lot easier than getting her ears checked by her pediatrician.
So, as soon as the blood test was over and as soon as Ava got enough kisses to make the boo-boo go away…
…we hit up 31 flavors for a scoop of ice cream. It’s a MUST DO after a blood test. Right? Of course I’m right! Here is Ava with her first scoop of ice cream that she ate all by herself. It was vanilla, by the way.
Not long after we got home from stuffing our faces with sugar, Ava tripped on the concrete sidewalk outside of our house. The sound that her head made with the sidewalk sends shivers down my spine. Or is it shivers up my spine. Either way, I hate it. It’s the second time I heard her bang her head like that. The first time didn’t leave any damage… unlike this time. Here is my baby with a nice fat welt on her forehead. It was a rough Friday.
On Saturday, we got invited to Matheus’ 2nd birthday party. He had a Spiderman bounce house…
…and yummy cake too.
On Sunday, Ava was not lacking any attention at all. Both grandmas were over our house.
Ava’s Dida was also here. He was kind enough to fix our broken sink pipe. Ava was a bit concerned about his plumbing abilities since he wasn’t sporting a plumber’s crack. Nona was kind enough to explain to her that Dida was a contract plumber only. No crack required.
To thank him for all his hard work, Ava invited her Dida to a special tea party. Shhh. Don’t tell any of his tough guy friends. Nicole also stopped by and got to drink a cup of tea too. What a great hostess.
So, Ava took her tent obsession on the rode… to Grace’s house. Here they are in their tent, waiting for the Tickle Monster to show up.
Tickle. Tickle. Tickle.
On Sunday night, after a fun filled weekend, Ava got sick. It started off as a cough that sounded like croup. She tossed and turned and coughed every 2 seconds or so. It was impossible for her to sleep. After continuing on for 2.5 hours, we got her out of bed and took her outside for some fresh air. And what a coincidence. It was the last night of the Ventura County Fair and the firework show just began. The three of us stood on the porch and watched the firework finale in the distance. Ava was in awe. The next day, when we walked out the front door, she pointed to where the fireworks were the night before and said Boom. I guess they made an impression.
Her illness got worse through the week. Runny nose. More coughing. Fever. Night sweats. Tongue blisters. Chest x-rays. She was so pissed off this week. We were all miserable. She was having a lot of trouble sleeping so Ava and I slept together on my bed at night so I can keep an eye on her. She slept pretty well there. And me? I slept okay… until she decided to it was a good idea to pinch me all over like a little crab. And Dan? He got banished to the couch.
Staying at home with a uncomfortable toddler is no fun. So once she was feeling a little bit better, we made a trip to the local feed store to pick up some bird seed and a special gift for Ava. A chicken. Here she is trying to pick out the one she wants. And what did we come home with?
Two chickens….
…and a stallion. Who, by the way, was supposed to be just a pony… or maybe a horsey. He is so cute. So pony-like…. until you flip him upside down. Oh my. That is no pony. Just a warning. If you stop by our house and see a ‘pony’, don’t flip him over unless you want an anatomy lesson. You’ve been warned.
And as you all know, the Olympics are on and it is affecting everyone. Even little Ava. Looks like the white chicken lost the gold medal to the stallion.
At daycare, Ava started saying her friends names… like Ava R, Max and Marcus. And she started to say her name the right way too. It is no longer Ahh-va. It is now just Ava. She also comes home after school with new surprise words. The other day after reading a book, she said Hooray instead of Yeah. And sometimes she says stuff that we can’t translate. For example, she keeps repeating something that sounds like shoeshine. But is it really shoeshine. Why is she saying shoeshine? Weird. I guess it’s okay because the teachers can’t understand her a school either. Poor kid. Her teacher asked me why Ava kept repeating Cabo to her. I said I had no idea what Cabo meant? After some detective work, we figured out that she was saying Gore, which means Up. Poor kid. She just wanted to be held since she wasn’t feeling well this week. And in case you are wondering why Ava is wearing a hippie shirt, we forgot to replenish her spare clothes supply at school so she got to borrow unclaimed clothes. Hmmm, maybe that’s why she was saying Cabo. My parents went to Cabo and all I got was this stupid t-shirt.
We didn’t get out much this week but did make a couple trips to the backyard. She spent some time watering the plants on the back porch with her duck watering can…
… saying ouch while showing off her tongue blisters…
…picking up Roly Poly bugs…
…and complaining when it wouldn’t get off of her finger. 
She had a burst of energy here and there so we ran outside to play chase…
…she thinks it’s a silly game.
Alright. It’s time to dance to the Backyardigans. See ya tomorrow!
