Christmas Recap

Thought I'd update everyone on the Christmas highlights. Aside from having a bout of the stomach flu we had a really lovely Christmas break. We visited with tons of family members from both sides. Ava warmed up as we went and her shy face (one hand over one eye so she can peek out) lasted less and less time as we cruised from house to house spreading Christmas joy, and evidently, our lovely little virus. Ava still didn't really get what the was happening. She was interested in ripping the bows off packages but that's about all. Although, the first night we opened gifts with my family she did say "Awww" each time she opened a gift. It was hilarious! "A pair of pink slippers! Awwww, just what I always wanted!" I'm guessing she was imitating me. Again. I've got to be more careful what I do and say! She's always watching and listening.

I'm not sure if it was the fact that we were with Ava 24/7 for nearly 2 weeks, or if she was just in a particularly active developmental stage, but she was learning new words left and right over our break. In fact, I tried to write down all the words she's saying today and I came up with at least 50. She's a little sponge. Here are a couple of the newest:

Drink - I've been signing "drink" to Ava for months, bringing my hand up to my mouth as if I'm pantomiming drinking a glass of water. She's never seemed to notice. On 12/23 she was bringing her hand to her mouth as if she was going to suck her thumb but she'd just pull it in and out, and in and out, and say "geek, geek". I had no clue what she was doing. After she made several more attempts, I happened to hand her a sippy cup. Her eyes lit up and she said "GEEK!". Light bulbs went off and I felt pretty silly. She's not used the sign since! It's as though she just had to use it to overcome the hurdle of her mommy not understanding what "geek" meant.

Other new words: monkey, milk, tree (tee!), crackies, apple (also applies to grapes), cheese, bird, horse, pig, chair, moose (referring to the Christmas moose you may remember from last year). I asked her last night if we should hear Moose sing and she said "No!".

Another word to highlight is "ELMO". On Christmas morning Ava found a box of crackers Santa had left. The box had a picture of Elmo. She was more excited about that box of crackers than anything else Santa had left. She walked around carrying it and saying "eh-MOE". She'd drop pitch between syllables and elongate the second making it very dramatic and hilarious to hear. We had no idea she even knew who the little red guy was. We decided she needed just one extra present so Mike ran out and found the real, three-dimensional eh-MOE. He also picked up a Grover and she calls them both Elmo. She heard the name enough that now she says "Elmo" perfectly. I miss the old iteration but Elmo is still pretty cute coming from her.


Here's the peanut with a pig and her buddy the "Beh" sitting a little rocking chair. She kept backing up to it hoping that we'd help her up to sit. She would then rock herself (and her friends).
Ava and Nana ring in the New Year. I wonder what changes 2009 will bring. I can't believe how much my little girl has grown in 2008. Time is suddenly moving very fast!