Child of the week

Dad forgot to post this sooner but better late than never. In January when they celebrated Ava's birthday at school they also made her "child of the week". The do that for the week of the child's birthday. The parents help make a photo board of pictures and they put it up in the classroom. Then the children spend some time learning about their child of the week. Here is Ava's photo board. If you click on it you should see a bigger image. Mom did the photos and helped arrange the board and Ava decorated with stickers. There are pictures of hiking in New Hampshire, Ava as a baby, Ava in the, and Ava with her grandma and grandpa and mimi and papa.

Taco Bell on the couch!

Don't know what got in to Mom the other day... but Dad came home from work to find Mom and Ava sitting on the couch and eating Taco Bell. Ava sure liked it and now it is her favorite place. Dad even had some and thinks it is better than he remembered it being.

Down the slide

At another birthday party Ava was a little hesitant to go down the big slide. The party was at one of the big "bounce" house gyms that they have here for kids. Ava likes these places but some of them have really big slides that she won't go down by herself. She went up this one and then wouldn't go down. She sat up there for ten minutes until Mom crawled up and went down with her. Then she realized that it wasn't so scary and she went down all by herself.

Ava and Claire

The "house" on the playground at Ava's school is a very popular activity for the girls. Lots of Ava's stories when she first started at school last year was about how the big girls wouldn't let her play in the house sometimes. Well, now Ava is 4 and she is in the middle between the 3 and 5 year olds so she plays much better with everybody. This is Ava and Claire playing together in the house.

Ava and Amelia

Sunday was a birthday party for one of the girl's in Ava's class. It was at a gymnastics place for kids. Ava wore a new purple leotard that Mom got for her. She will also wear this in the "circus" that they have at school in two weeks where Ava will be an acrobat! Here is Ava another girl in her class named Amelia. Ava says that Amelia is her "best friend". Since she has been going all day Ava has grown up so much and plays so nicely with all of the children and usually has a story every day when she come home. But she has said for the past few weeks that Amelia is her best friend.

More play-doh

The play-doh dog wasn't enough. Ava then wanted to make the Wonder Pets. These are her favorite children's cartoon caracters and she can't get enough of them. She watches their DVDs and plays with the stuffed animals all of the time. She insists on drawing them at home and at school. So it is no surprise that we had to make them with the play-doh. Dad had to do some quick improvising to figure out how to do this. But with some help from Ava we had a pretty accurate set of Wonder Pets in no time. She was thrilled and played with them until they finally fell apart. By the way Saturday was a total "play day" for Ava, she stayed in her pajamas playing until 430pm! Mom and Dad said that "Ava is in her glory"!

Play-doh playtime

Later on Saturday Dad and Ava made some things with play-doh. Here is Ava with a little dog that she wanted to make. Dad helped some, but Ava made most of the pieces.

School is in session

Ava likes to play "school" with her "guys" or her animals. She makes one of them the teacher and the rest are the students. All of the stuffed animals sit in a circle just like she does in her school. Saturday morning she played school for at least an hour,maybe longer. She went through all of the good morning songs and prayers and then she acted out a birthday celebration that they have for each child's birthday. Mom and Dad have been to Ava's school for her birthday and witnessed the classroom routine firsthand and we can attest to the accuracy of Ava's re-enactment. It was accurate right down to the questions that the teachers ask.

Books on the potty!

Another one of Ava's favorite things to do is spend long amounts of time in the potty. She will go in there and sit and talk to herself for 30 or 40 minutes sometimes. We think that she inherited this in her genes from Mimi! Once in a while she calls for Daddy to come in and read books. Mom took this photo the other night of Dad reading the Little Bear book to Ava. Unfortunately the photo accidentally showed a wee to much so Dad had to do a little photo editing.

Sushi

Tonight Ava decided that she wanted sushi for dinner! We don't know where she got that idea from, but Mom went to the store and got some take out sushi. Ava ate a piece of a California roll (crab, cucumber, and avacado) and a piece of a shrimp roll. Mom said that some days at school for lunch they serve sushi and she asked Ava if she wanted to sign up for that and she said "yes". We wonder if she just likes it because it is mostly rice? Anyways, sushi is one of Dad's favorite foods so hope that she continues to like it!

Ava's drawing

Here is a drawing that Ava did on Wed Feb 10. She had a Valentine's Day party at school that day and got some stickers so she made this drawing and decorated it with the stickers. It is a drawing of Alexis M. and Alexis J. who are two of the girls in here class. Mom and Dad think that this is one of the best drawings that she has done recently.

Popcorn... on the potty??!?!

What do you do if you are working on a huge bowl of popcorn and you just have to go potty? Take it with you!

Sunny and warm

More photos from Dad and Ava playing on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny warm day. Ava played on the swing and slide and then Dad and Ava spent a long time doing chalk drawings. Ava loves chalk drawings and has gotten pretty good at it. She mad a moon and Saturn with rings around it. Then she made a cloud. Dad also has fun doing chalk drawings. Ava always wants to make a "calendar" where she makes squares and writes every number in. She also sometimes has special requests for Dad to draw the Wonder Pets or a fire truck or something like that. This day Ava drew a tent with Mom, Dad, and Ava sitting in it. Then she made a really long set of train tracks. Now we have a pretty well decorated backyard patio... until the next time it rains!

Slam dunk

Ava wanted to play basketball with Dad on Saturday. She got out her little ball and threw it at her basket a few times, she even made one! Then she picked up Dad's basketball and ran away with it laughing. Dad had to chase her to get it back!

Cavity free!!!

Ava had a trip to the dentists. Her first visit was last January when she turned 3, then once again this past summer. She really didn't let them do much either time except for take a quick peek at her teeth. But this time she was a big girl! She went back all by herself with the hygienist and did a full cleaning and set of x-rays. I suppose it helped that they gave her a set of headphones to wear and put a Disney show on the TV... which is on the ceiling! But she is cavity free and got a new toothbrush!

Its fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A

Friday night Ava went to the YMCA from 5-9pm for a "parents night out". Which meant that Mom and Dad had their first date in a while! They went to see a movie and have dinner. Ava got to play with all kinds of toys, do crafts and games, and watch a movie. She also got pizza and goldfish crackers. When Mom and Dad came to pick Ava up all of the girls there watching the kids knew Ava by name. How could they know her by name in only 4 hours? Mom and Dad wonder if it is just because Ava is so darned cute or did she make a "memorable" impression? Well Ava had a good time and wants to go back in March for the next "parents night".

School vacation

Ava is on vacation from school Friday through Tuesday. She goes back on Ash Wednesday. Here are a couple of pictures of her at school this week. There is a new girl in the class name Amelia that Ava likes to do jobs and play with. Last night at dinner she say "Amelia is my best friend". Dad went to school on Monday as part of International Day and watch Ava in the Chinese dragon parade and perform dances. Dad and Ava also had a plate (or two or three) of goodies.

Homework

Sometimes we try to get Ava to practice things for school, we could call it homework but we don't. She likes to do writing or coloring or little games and puzzles that Dad or Mom make up. The other night Mom worked with Ava on tracing lines from one point to another. Some lines must be straight and others curved. Ava can do a really good job (when she wants too)!!!

Popcorn

One of Ava's favorite nighttime snacks is popcorn. She usually has it on Friday or Saturday night before bed when we are reading books. We use a whirly-popper and Ava helps get it ready. Two "splashes" of oil and three "pours" of popcorn kernels. The whirly-popper is great and it pops every last kernel. Ava helps turn the handle to keep the popcorn from burning. When it is done we put a couple sprinkles of salt on it. Ava eats a bigger bowl than Mom or Dad!

Germ prevention

Ava's latest invention this weekend was a germ prevention mechanism. This may have been inspired by her last cold that she caught last weekend and has now had for about one week. She is much better now, but you could tell that she was miserable for a few days. She figured that putting a sock on every door knob would allow people to open doors without touching the door knob and catching germs. We now have these germ prevention mechanisms on every door in our house though we will have to dismantle them when she needs clean socks!

Happy New Year!!!

Chinese New Year. On Monday Ava's school celebrated International Day which coincides with Chinese New Year (February 14). They have a big celebration with a parade and every student dresses in a costume representing their ancestral heritage. The parade is a Chinese dragon and a teacher (Miss Cathy) is the head and the preschool children are the body. The older students line the parade route and shout. Ava dressed in a Ukrainian skirt and blouse. Following the parade the preschool children perform a collection of international themed dances. Ava loved it and did every dance. Afterward there was a potluck of food from all over the world. Ava liked most of the "sweets" and not much else. Dad on the other hand like pretty much everything!

Superbowl party!

It was Superbowl Sunday and we went to Evan and Sarah's house for the game. Sarah was out of town but Mom and Dad still got to watch the game and visit with Evan. Ava got to play with Anya and Lindsay. They have a Nintendo Wii game that the love to play and Ava loves to watch and ask all kinds of questions. She really likes hanging out with the big girls. For dinner we had hot dogs, hamburgers and french fries. Ava got to have a glass of Coca-cola for dinner so that was a big treat for her. Desert was "decorate your own" cupcakes. Ava was such a good girl all day and had the best time. She wants to do a "sleepover" with Anya and Lindsay sometime she said.

Swimming at the Y

The big event on Sunday the past few weeks has been a trip to the YMCA to swim. Dad and Ava have been working on jumping in. A few weeks ago she needed to hold Dad's hand, then the next week only his shoulder, then last week she jumped in with a life jacket. This week she actually jumped in on her own, with no hand holding and no life jacket. She goes way under the water and Dad gives her a little hand to get her head above the water and swim back to the edge. But Ava is practically doing that by herself too! This summer we are going to try and get Ava into a real swim class because we are convinced that she is a fish and will be swimming on her own soon!

Starbuck's is noisy

The latte machine at Starbuck's sure is noisy. It might actually qualify as noise pollution. Dad doesn't know why people order all of these fruffy drinks. He says "why can't just people drink black coffee?"

Blastoff!!!

Ava rode one of the quarter rides in the mall on Saturday. This was supposed to be a fighter jet, but Ava wanted it to be a rocket because of her ongoing obsession with the moon, stars, and Neptune.

Dad's birthday

Today was Dad's 39th birthday. It was a special day for Dad because Mom had to work and so he "worked from home" and took Ava to school and picked her up. Ava got out at 12:30pm and Dad brought her home and came home and watched a few episodes of Wonder Pets and then played until Mom came home. Then we did presents for Dad. He got a couple of nice shirts from Grandma and Grandpa and running shoes from Mom and Ava and running socks and shorts. The best present was an ultrasonic dog barking device for the neighbor's dog which barks all the time... we'll see if it works or not. Then Mom made Dad's favorite Enchilada dinner and we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. Poor Ava is still sick since Sunday, she has a "snuffy" nose and a cough but we think she might be getting better.

Princess Party

Mimi gave Ava a Cinderella costume for her birthday and on Saturday Ava went to a Princess party at the Disney store. The dress was just a little too snug so we exchanged it for a bigger size, but Ava decided that she wanted a yellow Belle dress. What a coincidence because Belle was the princess at the party. Ava wasn't shy at all, she got right up in the front row so that she could get a good look at Princess Belle. All of the little girls were so cute. They learned to the princess wave and posture and also had a tea party. The event ended with a small parade through the mall.

Q-tips

See a pile of q-tips lying on the table what should you do with them? Spell your name!