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How do you say “no” to your little daughter when everything she says starts with “Da-dee!!”? Ben never use to do that. He’d just come right up to me and give me a hug, or ignore me completely until he needed his milk. Ava, on the other hand, gets my attention first with “Da-dee”, then make her requests. She’s learned that she can grab my hand, and then point to the thing that she wants, and the blur out “uh”. With the iPad, instead of using her finger to select an icon or play a game, she uses my finger. For my lightweight (she’s just over 16lbs now), she’s got a pretty strong grib.

So, to answer my original question…I can’t and she knows it!!

At 14 months, Ava has managed to impress both her parents on a regular basis. She skipped the crawling stage and started walking at 11 months. Aside from saying mommy before daddy first (just like Ben), her second favorite word is APPLE (her first favorite treat). So it’s not so ironic that her third favorite word is IPAD! Even at this young age, she knows how to find Netflix buried amounst the gazillion other apps on her aunts iPad, who, by the way, she also refers to as iPad (the first thing Ava says to her aunt every day is iPad; we’re assuming that’s what Ava is calling her).

Her vocabulary mainly consists of poo, mum-mum, “me” (who she calls Sheila…it’s the short form for mom-”me”…she’s going to be a fast texter when she grows up), daddy (no short form there!), Elmo!, and more. She’s great at signing “more” and pointing at everything she wants. My little dare devil has no fear! She tumbles with the best of them, gets bumps and bruises, and just hops back up and soldiers on.

Now, if we can just get her to gain some weight.

So, today we had Ben try gymnastics. We really wanted him to just join a tumbling class once a week, but the Markham Gymnastics Club only offered tumbling to 6+ year olds. So, they offered him a trial class tonite and we went. At first, Ben was hesitant about going in. New place, lots of kids, and the gym was cold. It took him about 20 minutes to warm up to the place.

The instructor had him jump on the trampoline floor a few times, hop up and off giant mats, and swing from bars off the ground. All was good until he had to climb onto a padded horse; they type that little gymnast push off of and twist and twirl in the air. Well, my boy managed to get his stomach onto the horse, but couldn’t get his legs around to actually get on top.

Here’s where he learned from his dad. He just lied on top of the horse until the other 2 girls in his group came around. One girl significantly smaller than him tried to help by pushing his ass up, but that didn’t work. Then the taller girl came around and tried to push him up too. He seemed to get one leg up, but not the other. Before you know it, both girls were pushing him up. He didn’t mind that. Eventually, he did end up on top…with a big smile

By the end of it, Ben was running around with so much confidence, we signed him up for the rest of the season. Watch out World Champions, there’s one in the making in Markham.

Our precious Ava turned 1 yesterday!! Can’t believe how fast that occurred.

So, in that 12 months, Ava has managed to walk confidently (fastest walk learner on our side of the family…started walking at 11 months), call every food product “apple”, sign “I’m full”, “milk”, and “finish”. Our little adventurer is far more fearless than her older brother, yet she’s significantly smaller. She might be skinny (mainly cause she’s not a milk hog like Ben), but she’s tall.

Ava has managed to win the hearts of every family member with her “sure, whatever you want” attitude. “Ben, you just stripped that toy away from my hands; but whatever, I’ll just play with another one”.  She can’t do any wrong; all she has to do is give a wink, and all is good.

Like her older brother, she’s got everyone under her thumb, including Ben. Now I’m looking forward to what she has to say!

We did it!! We took the kids to Disney World. It will probably be a trip Ava will never remember and one Ben stores quietly in his crazy memory. Aside from the few “I don’t want to go there”,or “I don’t want to ride that” from Ben, we’ll call that a success.

The trip started at 5AM on Jan 6th to catch an 8AM flight to Orlando. After a half day of shopping, we checked into the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort. Beautiful hotel, great amenities, and a few sugar ants (but once I complained, they upgraded us to another room with a balcony, and facing Epcot and the 9PM nightly fireworks!!). We had adjoining rooms with Ben’s cousin, so the kids had a great time together!!

The weather…amazing…between 23 to 26 degrees the whole week, with half day rain on the Wednesday. With the Park Hopper pass, we went to every park; Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. They each had their highlight ride (for us), and for the kids. Although Ben was pretty much too short for most rides, the ones he could go on, he “mostly” enjoyed; except for the ones he responded “No, I don’t like that ride” (like It’s a Small World).

Lessons learned from this trip: 1) don’t pack so much clothes for the kids 2) don’t buy so much clothes if you pack so much clothes 3) accept the Disney 400% markup on everything 4) accept the fact that everyone at the resort want to carry your luggage…and want a tip afterwards 5) stay at the Swan and Dolphin (or the Boardwalk or Yacht Club) next time; great location because it’s right in the middle of all the parks!! 6) Don’t pack so much kid clothes 7) take advantage of the Fast Pass on all the popular rides at the park (it’ll save you from lining up for hours) the best time to go to Disney..JANUARY!

I managed to catch a bit of the Disney Marathon. It just so happened to pass right by our hotel!! I think a Brazilian guy won; mainly because no Nigerian ran the race.

We’re looking forward to going back in 7 or 8 years already!!

Ben has been a lot of fun to be around, watching him develop, string big words together that are too big to be used by a 2 year old, watch him turn from an angel at the dinner table to his “I’m exhausted, too tired to play, I’m going to melt down now” melt downs. The pottie training since week 6 of his life have paid huge dividends. He pretty much does it by himself, or at least let’s us know when he needs to go..badly. Now we have to teach him to hold his wee-wee up and out, so that he doesn’t start peeing while it’s hanging down…and pees down his leg.

Ava, my beautiful girl, is officially daddy’s girl. She lights up now when I walk into the room. She crawls over to me and wants me to pick her up and give her the biggest hug in the world…which I do, and don’t let go. She’s standing up pretty well without holding anything, pauses, and then realizes that she isn’t ready to walk yet, and then sits back down. Her best skill so far, stair climbing. When we tell her “no, Ava”, she shakes her head…but proceeds to climb anyways. She loves her baths. I’m pretty sure we could just leave her in the tub for an hour, and she’d be just fine (but we don’t).

Ben officially passed his second swim class with flying colours a few weeks ago. Soon he’ll be swimming pass his dad into the deep end; I’m still working up the courage to make it into the deep end

Ben’s manage to make friends with a little girl at his “school”; ironically, her name is Ava too. We’ll see where that goes…for now, they’re sleeping in separate houses. He made sure his mother got her email address; that’s my boy!

For now, Ben and Ava are still best friends. He watches out for her all the time. Makes sure that if someone gives him something, his little sister gets some too (“Does Ava get some?”). I guess like all little boys his age, he doesn’t know his own strength. He hugs Ava with a strangle hold…like father like son (I thought girls loved that move in high school too… ) Let’s hope Ben figures that out before he’s a teenager.

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September 8, 2011, life changed for Ava. She became very mobile. She’s been itching to crawl for some time now. She sees her brother run around her, jump on her, play with her, hug her, and dance around her. So there’s a bit of envy when she sees her brother do something she can’t. But on that day, Ava is one step closer to full mobility. That day, she manage to crawl more than 2 feet to get to things she’s been dying to put in her mouth!! The little toys that were once out of reach, are no longer.

But not only can she crawl, she’s managed to pull herself up from the sitting position. Now we need to set the crib lower; God help our backs!!

Wow! It’s been a super busy summer. I blink and my baby girl is 7 months old!! She’s come a long ways since January. She’s almost standing, a little more mobile than her usual “sit and play” position. We’ve got to lower her crib soon, just in case she decides to pull an Al Capone and scale the crib and make a run for it. Her appetite seems to be getting better.

Today, her first tooth broke skin!! Lower front. She’s so easy going, she thinks it’s just another BD day (baby development). Like every baby at her stage, everything she grabs ends up in her mouth, drooling like crazy, and super aware of her surroundings….especially when her mom is not around! She’s the greatest baby ever, but as soon as Sheila’s out of sight, she lets the world know she’s not liking the loneliness. For now, she’s mommy’s girl. But she always smiles at daddy when he walks in the door from work. All is fanatastic!!

Ben, our bratty little 2-1/2 year old, still has everyone wrapped around his finger. A few more tantrums are expected, but he knows which buttons to push to get his way. Like daddy, like son

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