Into the Third Year IV

Ava has the courage to go up on the big red jungle jim at the local park, but for now she won't go down any of the big slides unless she's on Daddy's lap.

This is not the "I'm having fun" face that parents expect when you make a stop at the park.  We came straight from daycare, hence the yellow paint on her shirt cuff.

At Uncle Mark's again...this time for Cousin Megan's fifth birthday party.

Celebrating Mommy's birthday at an Irish Pub a few days later.

A return visit to the room that we now call "Books and Toys" because it has lots of both.

Reading a book during a visit to Grampa John's house.  We've been mentioning a haircut again lately...With the very hot weather these days, Ava would probably appreciate it if she got one, but I like this look a lot.

Grampa John had a gift for her that day..a green frog umbrella.

She quickly learned how to twirl it...

Fridays with Daddy means that she can get just about anything that she wants.  First she wanted her Blue Princess outfit on.  "Sure thing."  Then she wanted to take her nap on the floor on her new sleeping bag.  "No problem."  And her gaudy, furry pink Princess Phone. "You betcha."  The only difficult part was getting Ava up before Mommy came home from work and hiding all the evidence of this permissiveness.  Now I just have to make sure that Mommy doesn't see this website.

 

I still take a lot of going-to-daycare photos.  In some, she seems to look very grown up.

Fridays with Daddy also mean that (weather permitting) we venture to see some of the water towers that are within walking distance.  Ava has been announcing "Water Tower!" from her car seat for some time now, whenever she sees one.  Picking dandelions is also an important part of the day, although there are fewer of them to find now.

Photo by Mommy taken by the front door as Ava watched me mow the grass on a hot June evening.

She knows how to mug for the camera when she wants to.  This picture reveals that I go for the picture when I see it, which means that I shoot first and fetch the kleenex later.

Listening to me in the pool at Aunt Sessie's house as she watches Mommy swimming (Photo by Aunt Sessie).

Watched over carefully by Cousins Valerie and Brianna as she rides on the blue chair.

All the bathing beauties together.

Ava and I are back to taking our evening walks together now that the weather is warmer. 

The annoying lag time on my old digital camera means that she may pose and smile for a photo, but by the time the shutter opens she's on to other things, like falling [Mommy: this means that we need a better camera!].  She didn't actually hit the ground this time, despite what this picture seems to predict. [Grammy: Re-read that last sentence before you call me!]

She held this pose long enough for the camera to catch, thankfully.

Another one.  I liked this one just as much, so, what the heck, here it is.

Ava makes us laugh every day with her comments.  Here, at the Akron Aero Expo 2005, she let us know that she didn't want to go on any of the rides that we'd bought tickets for, like the inflatable slides that you can see in the distance at the upper right.  When we asked her what ride she wanted to go on, she said, "The blue one" as she pointed to the port-a-pottys.  Well, we all know that they can be an adventure...

 

Ava finally agreed to go in a small inflatable jumping room, but she didn't have a good time and asked to get out before her time was up.  Looking at this picture now, I can see why, as she was treated kind of rudely here by another toddler girl (as I only noticed once I looked at the picture hours later), but of course that's what you get in an environment like this, and I choose not to think about the tangles like this that she probably gets into at daycare every day; It's best that I don't see such things, I guess.  Note the father in the distance doing the same kind of documenting that I do.  Well, it was Father's Day, after all!

 

The next weekend was a busy one.  On Saturday we went to Geauga Lake and rode some of the rides.  Ava liked this kids ride and stayed on it for four consecutive turns.

 

Trying not to be seen at an Indians game the next day. It was 92° so this game of "Where's Ava?" didn't go on for too long.

 

There she is!  The large boo boo on her knee (partly visible here) came the day before at Geauga Lake.  She didn't shed a tear when she got it, oddly, because she does shed a tear over far lesser things sometimes, which is a toddler's prerogative, of course.

 

The whole family (picture by Cousin Valerie).  Our seats weren't quite this bad...we moved way up here to avoid the sun towards the end of the game.

 

Ava keeps reminding us that she saw a big purple thing (Indians mascot Slider) that day.  I've put a picture of him here so that I don't have to search for one each day to show her when she asks to see him again.

 

Ava's first taste of cotton candy.  Reaction: definitely positive.  The Indians won, too, but they beat the Reds, which isn't really saying much this year (sorry, Uncle Tom).  It was fun to see Ken Griffey, Jr. play, although only as DH, where he went 0-for-3, so we didn't see him hit number 516.

 

At the end of a long day (eating, swimming, playing with cousins), Mommy and Ava watch some Fourth of July fireworks.

 

The next morning, on a walk with Daddy.  The real Ava is the one in pink.

 

Ava seems to know that I like this setting for portraits of her, so she strikes a pose and waits for me to take the picture when we get there on our evening walk.  Once that's done, she gets on to playing and can't be bothered to pose again.

 

July 7: On the way to our 15th Anniversary dinner, Ava points out that our garage has a new occupant, up there above that far window of the garage door...

 

Pointing out the new occupant for me, with some concern.  What is it?  You can't see it from here...

 

It's right there, she says.  You can see it from here, but what is it?  Is it a stray cat?  It has a black and grey tail just like our cat Carter Bean, but Carter is safely inside the house, as always.  So what is this up there???

 

Yikes!  It's a very large raccoon.  Ava named it "Bucket Dog" immediately, for some reason.  The funny thing is, he's probably been hanging around our place for some time, unbeknownst to us but probably not missed by our ever watchful cats, who of course pride themselves on missing nothing.  I'm surprised that the glass here can hold his weight.

 

A few hours later, after behaving herself quite nicely at dinner, Ava celebrates outside of Ristoranti di Gianni's.  She was happy to see the the flowers here and yelled, "Black-Eyed Susans!" repeatedly as we passed them on the way to the car.  She was also experiencing a sugar high after helping Mommy finish her dessert.

 

We've told her "Not until you can reach the pedals!"  But how long until she can?

 

The next afternoon, reading a Hello Kitty book with Cousin Jessie.

 

Waiting for Mommy to get her hair done on a Saturday morning....

 

A few hours later, playing t-ball at Grampa John's house.  She appears to be looking for the ball that she somehow has hit two feet behind her.  Anyway, she's becoming an excellent Yankee hater (with some coaching, of course), so she's all right by me.

 

The same day....Ready for a nap, and so is Grampa John.

 

Another day of swimming at Aunt Sessie's.

August 14: Third Birthday:  Three years old already!  Ava gets excited as she watches Aunt Sessie and Cousin Valerie help put up the balloons at the park as the day begins.

Lots of cousins makes for chaos on the slide.

A brief moment of stillness as they pose for me.  These are all of Ava's Ohio cousins, plus one from Massachusetts, Mickey (in the sweatshirt). He hadn't seen Ava since she was three days old.

 

Getting ready to light the candles, with Cousins Morgan, Connor, and Mary helping.

 

Some quiet time with Grampa John as the afternoon wound down.  Maybe he thought that he could get her to nap in his arms like she did two years ago.

 

Some of the many things to take home...some balloons, a new baby doll and stroller, and the Jessie (from Toy Story 2) doll that Ava has kept close to her for several weeks now.

So, believe it or not, it's into the fourth year...

 

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