Second WHAT?

Ava turned two today. SAY WHAT? I know, its crazy. Two years down, a bazillion to go.

Watching Ava today, I considered why people have more than one kid. When you've already got one that is so amazing, isn't there a little part of you that wonders if its a fluke? Maybe you just happened to get dealt a royal flush on your first hand. What're the chances of getting that twice in a row? (Try one in 751,046,400 - That's a lot of poker.)

Then I took another look. I love everything about Ava. I love that she looks like her mom. I love how she gives us multiple kisses before she goes to bed. I love how she reaches for us when she hurts herself. I love to watch her character show itself in new ways each day. I love who she is and who she will someday become. I LOVE being Ava's Dad.

Each stage of her life is exciting and fresh. A parent loves when their child learns something new. You want them to grow up, just not as fast as it usually happens. Maybe this is why parents take the chance of having another child. You love where your child is at, but you miss where they've been. By having another child you get the best of both worlds: Your first continues to grow, but your next still has all those stages to go through that you miss so fondly.

Ava - We hope to someday be lucky enough to give you a brother or sister. We pray that God again stacks the deck in our favor.

On The Catwalk

Last Monday we were scheduled to get Ava's pictures taken by our friends Jeremy & Melanie Carpenter. We had scheduled this day far in advance and I had even made sure I would have the day off so I wouldn't miss out on the fun. We had it all planned out. Ava really likes going to her babysitter's, and we were paying her regardless, so she went there for the morning. I picked her up after lunch so she could take her afternoon nap in her own bed. The hope was that she would get the best quality sleep in her own bed and then be in the best possible mood for the pictures. Everything was going to plan. She took a good, long nap and woke up chipper.

We played for a while in anticipation of Doni coming home after work. We were supposed to meet the photographers about an hour after Doni would normally get home. About the time that Doni would be leaving work, I went in the other room to print something off. Ava continued to play by herself in the living room. She was only out of view for a few minutes, but somehow during that time she got a large scratch across her right cheek. A scratch anywhere else and it probably would have gone unnoticed, but HER FACE! That's a hard one to gloss over.

Could there be worse timing? This is like Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts pulling a Charlie Brown while kicking a 25 yard game-winning field goal with seconds left on the clock. It just doesn't happen. Well, this time it did.


I called Doni and it turned out she was driving home already. She called the Carpenters to see if they had any thoughts about how to proceed, conceal, or heal ("Scratch, Be Gone!"). Fortunately, they were able to offer to take her pictures the following day. I had the next day off also (thank you Jesus). We went ahead with that plan.

The scratch had faded to near oblivion by the time Ava had her pictures taken. Everything went well other than Ava's resistance to smile. She's already working on her stoic stare for fashion week in Milan, but we were able to coax a few out of her.

You can see the pictures at the Carpenter Photography & Design blog.

Playground

First Dandelion of the Season
Originally uploaded by Ava's Antics

On Friday Doni and Ava went for a walk to the park after getting home. They took along Sassy because she's always up for a walk. She gets excited... perhaps too excited. Nearly every walk we have taken her on this Spring she spends the first 10 minutes whining, pulling at her leash, and barking at anything that moves. Sassy, simma' down na'! Because of this, I'm less likely to want to take her on walks anymore. Doni, however, is the more patient one and we usually end up taking her.

So Doni, Ava, and the Sassmeister get to the park and there are kids everywhere. "Can I pet your dog," comes from every direction. Sassy normally gets nervous around little kids and, as I've already stated, she's more wired lately on her walks. Doni lets them pet her, but plays close attention to Sassy in case she gets too spunky.

Meanwhile, Ava makes her way over to the stairs on the playground equipment, climbs up, and goes to the top of the first slide she sees. She's fast. I'm thinking of changing her name to "Ava Speedy Gonzales Fisk". She sits herself down and proceeds to scoot down the slide. The slide is one of those short, fat ones that 2-3 kids could go down at the same time without any problem. Things were going well until her body started to rotate near the bottom of the slide. She ended up slipping off the end of the slide and coming to a rolling stop in the mulch below. Dazed, but not injured, she made her way to Doni, who realized what was happening as Ava was coming down the slide.

Today after church, we ate some lunch and took a walk to the park (without Sassy). We had the whole thing to ourselves. Ava made several circuits up to and down the slide, having a grand old time. Maintaining her diligence in not letting a trip to the park become uneventful, she smacked her nose on a bar they have above each of the slides. I presume they have these bars there so kids are less likely to fall down the slides, but they could at least pad them with some foam or rubber. This wasn't a love tap either, she connected. Thankful that she didn't have a bloody nose, we took this as our cue to go home and take a nap.

The score stands: Playground 2 - Ava 0. Next time, babe.

Kara-OH-ke

Ava is picking up on more than we realize. There are the things that we want her to pick up on, such as how she says "Peez Mo" when she wants more milk. Then there are the things that we don't expect.

A while ago we were driving down the road and Fergie's song "Clumsy" came on. Ava was doing her typical drive-time routine of looking out the window at the passing scenery and maniac drivers. Every once in a while she'll catch a small dog that appears to be driving.

There's a part in the song where it goes:
You got me trippin oh, stumbling oh, flippin oh, fumbling oh
Clumsy cuz I'm fallin in love, in love
You got me slippin oh, tumbling oh, sinking oh, fumbling oh

Still looking out the window at things passing by, Ava started to sing the oh's. She was on cue every time! These oh's of the song aren't monotone, uninterested oh's either. They are the kind of oh's where you can tell that Fergie is really enjoying "the song". They're the kind of oh's that make you wonder how they justified putting that on the radio. Need I say more? Thankfully, Ava's oh's were the monotone, uninterested type. That's my girl.

Yesterday I was driving Ava to the babysitter's and Gwen Stefani's song "The Sweet Escape" came on. Can you guess which part of the song she sang along with? You betcha', it was the Whohoe, whihoo part. (I'm glad someone else figured out how to spell that because I would have slaughtered it on my own.) At least this song was less inappropriate for a two year-old.

"Oh be careful little ears what you hear."

Morning Already?

We laid Ava down for bed at her usual time, about 7. We didn't hear a peep out of her for an hour when, all of a sudden, she starts crying. Those of you who aren't parents may not realize that there are different kinds of child cries, but there are. There's the "I'm not really crying because I'm not making any tears" cry. There's the "I never get my way" cry. The "I'm tired and all I know to do is cry" cry. Well, this was the "I'm scared" cry. I sat my laptop on the coffee table and Doni did the same with her Nintendo DS as we simultaneously made our way to her room.

It was pretty clear what the problem was soon after coming into the room. Her right foot had gotten in between the slats in her crib and she didn't know how to get it out. Every time she would try to pull her leg out the slats would press against the bones on either side of her ankle. This is bad enough if you can see what the problem is, without knowing how to fix it. Ava was less fortunate in that, not only did she not know how to fix it, she couldn't even see what the problem was because she was laying on her stomach. Maybe this is why kids think there's monsters under the bed. Sometimes something "grabs" their foot and won't let go! I blame cribs.

Toddler bed anyone?
Originally uploaded by Ava's Antics

Ava's crib is convertible to a toddler bed. A few weeks ago I took off one side of her crib and attached the half-railing that magically made it a "Big Girl Bed". Ava thought it was the coolest thing. We sat her on the mattress and she would get down, get back up, get back down, and repeat ad nauseum. We'd throw one of Sassy's toys onto her bed. Sassy would jump up on the mattress, grab her toy, and jump back down. (We don't normally allow Sassy on our furniture and she knows it). Ava thought it was hilarious. A few hours later, though, the toddler bed was not so cool.

We kissed her goodnight, laid her down, and shut the door to her bedroom behind us. This lasted all of about 90 seconds before she was at her door trying to open it. This was what we were afraid of. "Maybe if we ignore her she'll go back to bed," we told ourselves. Who were we kidding! Not able to turn the door knob, she quickly got frustrated. Maybe the problem was just that she didn't have to stay in bed anymore. Maybe it was that she was intimidated by the change in her bed. Maybe Red (Morgan Freeman) from "The Shawshank Redemption" was right: "These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them." Whatever the reason was, it was clear that she wasn't quite ready for the toddler bed. I found my allen wrench and got to switching it back again.

So, after getting her foot unstuck and holding her to comfort her , we decided that we should probably put the bumper back on her crib. We had taken it off when we changed her crib over to a toddler bed and never put it put back on after changing back to the crib. Doni set Ava down and, quick as a fiddle, Ava was sprinting to the living room. The only trace of her was a puff of smoke and a trail of flames in the carpet. She's fast! We tried reasoning with her that she had only been in bed for an hour. In her mind, she woke up and it was light out, so it must be morning, right? In reality, it just hadn't gotten completely dark yet. Try telling that to a two year old.

Eventually, we were able to coax her back to her room and settle her in for bed... again. This time it must have taken (fingers crossed). She hasn't made any noise the entire time I've been typing this post.

Natural Gas

Earlier this week when I had woke Ava up and started changing her diaper she farted. I acted surprised and jumped. Ava laughed and shortly after followed it up with an encore flatulence. This time when I jumped she REALLY laughed. Good quality fun if you ask me.

This morning I woke her up and laid her on her changing table. I stand at Ava's feet while she's on the changing table because its easier than standing to her side. I started unzipping her pajamas and taking them off when she let loose a little toot. Here we go again. Not satisfied with her previous effort, she tried again. (See a trend?) By now I had her diaper off and was wiping her. Why is it that infants and toddlers will grab their feet when you change their diaper? I can only guess that they do this because the spreading of butt cheeks eases gas ventilation. At least, that's what happened this time. She let loose a 1, 2 fart combo. I told her she can't do this when I'm standing downwind, but she didn't see to notice or care. She was having too much fun. She held her feet in her hands and kept grunting, going for a hat trick.

Never A Dull Moment

Last night we went out to dinner at Panera. We placed our order and chose a table. I'm pretty sure that the sandwich maker called out "Audrey" instead of "Jeremy" when our order came up, but I let it slide.

There were a couple of groups of cheerleaders there from Noblesville High School who I assume had just finished practice. Like migrating birds, they traveled in groups. There was a large flock in the front of the restaurant and a smaller flock that had settled on the other side of the restaurant. You would think that, with the noise they made, they would have noticed each other and blobbed together as gaggles of geese are prone to do. However, they didn't notice each other until the larger flock got up to leave.

Our table was right next to the garbage, so they ended up coming right next to us. Ava looked over her shoulder at them, seeing the teenie-bopper she is doomed to become. I whispered into her ear, "Do not go gently into that cold night.... Remember."

From their new vantage point the larger flock noticed the smaller flock. This resulted in conversation that went across the restaurant, despite the larger flock remaining right next to our table. Their conversation was friendly, but its hard to carry on a conversation with your wife when you're surrounded by a dozen or so honking geese. Eventually the larger flock disbursed into the cold evening weather, clearly prepared for it with their short shorts on.

We finished up our dinner and I took care of our trays and our dishes. The only thing that remained on the table was the brick-shaped milk carton firmly in the grasp of Ava's hands. The carton was designed to be drank by piercing it with a straw, like a Capri-Sun. She was in no mood to let us take it from her, so I let her hold it as I picked her up. Mistake #1.

When I lifted her from the highchair she ended up squeezing the milk carton. (You see where this is going don't you?) A stream of milk sprayed forth from the straw up into the air. Unfortunately, when gravity took over the milk came down on the table, the floor, and my coat. One drop landed on Ava. That's hardly fair. Figuring the worst was over, I let her continue to hold the carton. Mistake #2.

The first time she squeezed the carton it was so much fun that she decided to do it again, on purpose this time. Another difference was that, this time, she was going for record height. She let loose an arch that rivaled the one in St. Louis. "I'll take that," I said.

There was a middle-aged woman sitting a couple of tables away from us who had a great view of Ava's eruptive efforts. To stereotype her, she looked like the kind of woman who had rode out the younger years of several children. With each spurt of milk her face reflexively winced. After the milk landed, her face settled into a sympathetic, knowing smile. Was she blessing her stars that her kids were past this age? Maybe. However, I think the main reason she was smiling was because she fondly remembered her own times like this. A two year old adds a level of excitement to your life such that the fun far outweighs the hassle. Even as the milk shot through the air I had joined Ava in laughter.