The End of the First
Year
In her Pack-and-Play portable crib. Her preference
is to stand while in this, but she usually needs some
assistance to do that.
Another bath time, but now Ava does it without
the kiddy tub, which she simply outgrew.
After a bath, she plays with her tub toys while
hanging out in her very yellow ducky robe. Even when she doesn't have
toys in her hands like this she still likes to clap her empty hands together. She may
do this on her own, or if prompted by saying "Clap Clap!"
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 Here is a sound collage of some of Ava's favorite
comments. These were assembled from her many utterances as I
held her on my lap while we were near the computer's microphone.
It wasn't recorded in the bathtub--I just added the echo effect
for fun (37 seconds).
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May 19th was another hat day, for Ava at least.
Too many pictures to choose from...so here's all of them!
What a cutie...
Another hat day, but for a different reason.
Hello?? Hello??
Walking on her own isn't too far away, is it?
Reading time with Grampa John and Grandma Rita.
A picture taken by Mommy on a cold night in late May, just before she left
to go to a conference for ten days.
Here's something new--a movie snippet from the
new digital camera. I shamelessly prod Ava to say "Dada" and she
eventually obliges. Then Carter Bean meows, which gets her attention
(13 seconds).
This is one of the first usable still pictures from the new digital camera.
Here you can see just part of Ava's theatrical routine most
nights,
when she eventually exhausts herself after being silly like this in a
number of ways.
Ava and Daddy went to see several people when Mommy was gone. Here,
Ava plays with Cousin Jessie at Grammy and Opa's.
Ava enjoyed seeing several other kids in the past week. At Gus and
Kate's, Ella and Amelia perform a puppet show after dinner.
When I drive the pickup truck, I can see her much more easily in the back
seat. This is the look that she often gives me when I look to the
back as we drive around town.
Another nice thing about the digital camera is that it is much
quieter than the old auto-advance 35mm cameras I usually use.
I took a bunch of pictures like this of her asleep in the pack n' play
without stirring her at all.
During Mommy's week out of town, Aunt Leslie and cousins Val and Brianna
visited to give Daddy some time to do some yard work.
It was a nice day for a walk to campus. As usual, Ava was able to
get her leg up and get the blanket in her mouth by the time
I got the camera ready, which made her cousins laugh.
She lets us know how she feels about being seen in public in the pink hat.
Looking at the camera for a second in the middle of trying to steal Aunt
Leslie's sunglasses.
With Cousin Brianna.
On Aunt Leslie's lap, Ava runs through most of her tricks for her cousins: Clap Clap, So Big,
and Bye Bye.
And Rebecca and Frank stopped by the next day to help Daddy during his
week alone with Ava in June.
Something new....oatmeal in a jar! She seems intrigued.
She listens to Daddy tell her how wonderful it will taste...She can't
wait!
But, like all kids, she makes up her own mind once she tastes it! We
went right back to the regular oatmeal that day.
Here's something much more appetizing...Linguine con Gamberetti at
Ristorante di Gianni!
Aunt Linda saw Ava for
the first time since she was a newborn. Here,
she helps Ava get ready for walking.
Aunt Linda was in town for Opa's 75th Birthday Party. And, she
brought the last remaining cousins that Ava hadn't met---the twins
Tommy (seen here) and Susan (below):
On the KSU campus, she likes to sit at the window and wave to people
passing by.
And they often wave back, especially after they see her make pretty eyes.
Crawling around on the floor at Uncle Mark's on July 4th weekend.
Cousin Peggy's second visit to Ohio was also on 4th of July weekend.
Here, she and Jessie notice how much Ava loves her original Pooh Bear.
The bib is on because Peggy was about to feed Ava.
And Peggy took lots of pictures of her own.
And we came back for one more visit with Cousin Peggy that weekend, just
before she flew back to New York City.
Ava and Mommy watch Dodger Bean and Carter Bean mix it up during one of
their supervised times outside. As you can see, Carter can't be
trusted not to run away and has to wear a leash each time he's taken
outside.
At almost eleven months, she's about ready to walk, as she shows cousins
Brianna and Valerie on the morning after their sleepover.
Perhaps Ava's favorite toy is her John Lennon Collection elephant, a
musical pull-toy (it plays Imagine). But, after months of
using it to help with her teething, it got pretty grey looking, as you can
see. We found out that it was discontinued last year but we were
able to locate a new replacement on Ebay, and here she gets to see the
very pink looking clone for the first time.
Hanging out on Uncle Brian's hammock when we visited for a day at the
pool.
She enjoyed it...no tears at all.
My favorite from this page.
Our Road Trip to Maine also happened
during this three month span.
Pontificating in words known only to her. This was taken at 5:38 pm
on August 14th, the official end of her first year, and hence the end of
this page.
This was also the start of the great blackout of '03.
Click on the flower to see a separate page about Ava's First Birthday
Party.
Bye Bye!
On to the Second Year
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