Almost 17 months

Ava Marie is turning 17 months old in four days and each day she continues to show her independence more and more.  She wants to do everything by herself and anything that makes her feel like a baby she does not like. When we sit at the table she no longer wants to be in her high chair so we moved her up to her big girl chair that we can push right up to the table. 

She enjoys spending time in her playroom and loves all of the toys that she has to play with.  She spends a lot of time at her kitchen set and loves to stir in her pots, add pretend food to them, and then taste what she has made and she will always say mmmm when tasting something.  It amazes me that at such a young age she is already playing pretend.  We still do a lot of dancing in her playroom and she loves to give Travis and I musical instrument and then we walk in a line around the house playing these instruments.  Reading books is still her favorite and she loves anything that pops up or has a tab to move an object inside of the book.  Her great Aunt Ann sent her a storybook that she recorded with her voice and Ava will just stare at the book wondering where the voice is coming from. 

We have been trying to work with her on limiting her sucking on her paci only during her nap and bedtime and she has been doing really great with this.  She is starting to talk more and can say hi, bye, mom, dad, book, milk, more, and duck.  She will also say people's names such as Katie or Nana.

Ava can also run, dance in circles, climb up on the couch, and she loves to roll around on the floor.  We are really working with her on her words and identifying objects.  She loves to share smoothies with me and will push her highchair, which she will only sit in when in the kitchen, into the kitchen when she sees me making a smoothie.  I will pour some in her little cup and give her a straw which she gladly sips out of and says mmm and more every time.

This week was Valentine's Day and I had custom cards made for Ava to give to her classmates as well as her family and friends.  She also had a Valentine's treat and had her first chocolate covered strawberry.  Needless to say she was a BIG fan and wanted more after she ate an entire one by herself.

Ava is very sweet and loving and shows us affection.  She loves to laugh and play hide and go seek by shutting the doors and hiding in the laundry room.  Each day she is becoming more of a big girl and while I miss the baby that I held just a year ago, I love the little girl that she is becoming.