The Question I Get Asked A Lot

So a question I get asked a lot about Ava is how many words can she say. Ava is quite verbal so I have never counted her words. So my response is "I don't know" or "a lot." People don't seem very satisfied with that answer. I guess most parents count. Since Ava is almost 18 months I decided to log a few things. So a few days ago, I wrote down as many words as I could remember that Ava says. I quickly got to 60. I read that once they hit 50 words, they have there explosions of words and will start saying 2 word sentences. Ava has quickly added at least 5 words since I last counted. She also said a few sentences before but she has added 2 more: "little babies" and "more please."

Ava, my mom, and I visited David, Melody, and Laila the other week. I'll have a post soon about it. Laila took Melody's cell phone and was taking pictures of herself, well mainly of her eye. She probably had 15-20 closeups. Laila kept saying "say cheese" each time she took a picture. Ava watched and listened intently and finally burst out saying "cheese!"

I made a little picture so I could remember some of Ava's favorite words.

I have taught Ava some signs. She can sign milk (which I call nurse), more, please, eat, all done, diaper, shoes, and shh (does that one count?). We are currently working on thank you and sorry. Ava can point to most body parts when you ask. She likes to do actions to songs. I think primary had a lot to do with that. She always tries to follow along with the bigger kids. I started teaching her "Wheels on the Bus" and I guess they started singing it in nursery a few weeks ago. I keep getting comments from the ladies in the nursery how impressed they are that she does the actions to the song because she is so little. I usually try to do the song during car rides when Ava is upset or during diaper changes to keep her staying put. This last Sunday I told Mason I didn't want him taking Ava to nursery until after we sang the song "I'm So Glad When Daddy Gets Home" in primary. I have been practicing it with her for a couple of weeks. I was thrilled when she "sang" and did most of the actions to the song. All of the leaders were laughing and/or were amazed, even the sister missionaries who were there to teach were shocked. Ava usually does more actions to the song, but the first time singing the song was her best. After that she wouldn't do the actions. She was too interested in watching the other kids. Soon after Ava fell off her chair, had a bit of a meltdown, and it was off to nursery for her.

Ava has started to try and dress herself. While I was doing laundry one day, she grabbed a pair of her pants from out of the dirty pile and was trying to put them over her shorts. Now everyday it seems like she is trying to put a shirt over her head, pants on her legs, and shoes on her feet.

Since I am writing more than I thought I would, might as well add in another update. Ava is getting so much better about eating, especially eating meat. We had a real struggle with getting her to eat meat. I made a spicy mexican chicken dish one night and was shocked when she gobbled it down. We found that she likes her meat spicy. Mason bought a summer sausage and she loved it. So then I bought pepperoni for her to eat. Now she started eating plainer meat as well. Not all days, but most she is starting to eat more in general. Lately she'll be eating for a hour and then we'll finally be done. She will play for a half hour and then signal that she wants to eat again. I sure hope this means she'll put on some weight before her 18 month appointment.

Anyways, done with my update. I'm kind of glad I got it done before Ava turns 18 months because I'm usually late with the updates and then forget everything by the time I finally get around to it.