I do it!

On the first chilly night of the season Ava and I played on the front porch. Her new pink jacket fits perfectly. Ava was excited to see the "big moon" that night. We were thankful to Hurricane Ike for jacket weather!


Oreos with Daddy and a new Thomas shirt...does life get any better than this?


Okay, I know Dr. Brandon Chiropractor is going to shoot me for this one. Ava was teething and GRUMPY on Sunday afternoon and I wanted to clean house. Nothing was satisfying her, so I thought I'd try this old trick from when she was tiny. It lasted about five minutes. Neither one of us could handle it. It's hilarious to me that her feet dangle down past my knees. Also, that's not a roll, my shirt is just bunching from the strap and 25 pounds of toddler:)


Saturday lunch at Rudy's during college football season. Absolutely perfect.


Mirror, mirror on the wall...


My perfectly swaddled sleeping toddler. After taking this picture I kissed her about a thousand times. What is it about a sleeping child that is so precious?


We were so lucky to have a brief lunch with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Brandon (or Uncle Hat) on Sunday after church. Ava was very excited, despite her funky face in this picture.


After a hard day in a new nursery room (thanks to promotion Sunday, grrr), lunch with Sarah and Brandon, and grocery shopping at HEB Ava was tuckered out. She fell asleep on the way home while munching on her perfectly coordinated sucker.

Ava has become SUCH a helper around the house. She loves to do any chores we do. I see it as an opportunity to modify (my teacher friends will appreciate that word) them in order for her to be successful. She will carry laundry past Josh and say "I helping Mommy!" When the dryer is empty she signs and says "more clothes". We want to enjoy this willingness to help while it lasts.

It was time for the toddler mullet to go, so Ashley H. came to give Ava her first haircut. We were so lucky that she was able to have her hair cut at home in her own highchair while watching her favorite show. Ashley expertly hid the scissors so Ava never knew what was happening. That face she's making above is because Ashley spritzed her with the water.

Watching Signing Time and waiting so patiently

The finished product! Our beautiful girl has perfect toddler hair, instead of looking like Billy Ray Cyrus.

The reason I named this post "I do it" is because that has been Ava's phrase of the week. She seems to have completely surpassed Erickson's self-doubt and embraced the autonomy. Whether it's getting dressed or buckling into the car seat, she wants to do everything herself. I love that she's independent and confident. Pray that we'll have the patience to encourage her to keep trying things on her own:)
If you'd like to see the complete album of pictures please follow this link.

After school fun!

Ava says "I love u" in the bathtub. These days it looks like she's bathing in alphabet soup!



Coach, Josh's dad, brought Ava this shirt at her first ultrasound. It finally fits! She had just put on Josh's socks and shoes (all by herself) and she was so proud.




This is the FABULOUS bulletin board outside my classroom. Our theme this year is "One family under the same sky." The background is Olympic newspaper pieces, and between the hands we wrote the lyrics to "With my own two hands". Thanks to my creative husband for a great display that wasn't too babyish for my 4th graders!





One of our neighbors had a birthday party. Even though Ava and one of the birthday girls were too little for the inflatable slide, they played happily in the baby pool. Ava appears to be dancing in this one.


Ava and London share big girl secrets.


So many things are happening around the Lockett house. I've been ordered not to say much about the future plans, (no, BaBa and Mimi, I'm not talking babies), but we'd love for you to pray that God will continue to reassure us of this path. Despite her unsettled Mommy and Daddy, Ava is happy and growing strong. These are her most recent accomplishments:

• Say and sing all of her ABCs
• Identify 7 or 8 of them by sight, and a few by sound (the other day she said "W mama, water, W" except she pronounces it "doublewoo")
• Count to 10
• Sign over 100 signs
• Identify red, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue, pink, gray, brown, black, and white
  
• Sing Do a Dear, Rock a By Baby, ABC, In a House In a Home, Colors of the Rainbow, Zoo Train, Signing Time theme
  
• Twinkle and poop in the potty, yes I said twinkle...it's so much more fun than tinkle. She only wears a Pull Up in public or at night, but 95% of the time it's dry when we put her back in panties (or Elmo's, as she calls them). I consider her POTTYTRAINED!
  
• Do laundry (help sort dirty clothes, transfer clothes from washer to dryer, put away folded clothes)
• Distinguish and describe things by "big" and "small"
• Log roll (thanks to Daddy)
• Jump from heights that scare everyone senseless (On the way to the ER after plummeting off of BaBa and Pop's stairs I asked her what happened. She replied, "Jump.")
• Spin
• Identify most animals and their sounds, even the bunny who apparently says "hop"
  
• Tell you who rides a school bus and what they do ("Girls and boys ride the bus, they go home to eat." exact phrasing)
  
• Keep everyone abreast of recent developments (as she runs past you she'll yell and sign "I'm running")
• Blow bubbles
  
• Identify most of the trains from Thomas and Friends
• "Dress" herself (heaven help you if you try to help her put on panties...yikes)
• Make her Mama brag like crazy...as you can see. Josh and I adore Ms. Ava James, and I'm sure if you suffered through that list you must love her too:) More pictures soon!