More new words & 1 year check-up

Ava had her 1 year appointment and here are are her new stats:

Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz 25%

Height: 30 1/2" 75%

Head Circ: 18" 55%

Well we are officially transitioned from the bottle to the sippy cup with whole milk. Ava likes it with a little orange juice in it so we call it her buggy juice. She gets a huge grin on her face and says "bot bot!" or "bu jooth" now when she sees her cup.

We are now in the testy toddler phase and I am just at a loss sometimes. For example, today I'm trying to get her to eat her lunch. She picks up her chicken and while watching me, holds her hand over the side of her high chair and drops it. I say "no maam Ava, do not throw your food on the floor, Ava eat your food", so then she picks up another piece and eats it and I praise her. Then she picks up another piece of chicken and drops it

on the floor while watching me. I give her a stern look and she giggles at me and does it again. She is testing me!! I am not quite sure what to do about that. She's also starting to throw tantrums. The tantrums although not desirable, crack us up. If she gets mad about something she runs around the house and sporadically throws herself on the floor, then gets up runs around some more and throws herself down again, but only if you are watching. If you try and pick her up she runs away and throws herself down. Fortunately she doesn't throw tantrums very often and when she does it's usually on a day when she's not napped well.

Eating is an entirely separate battle. She would prefer not to eat and if she does eat she would

prefer that it always be Bananas or puffs. Everything else ends up on the floor and the dogs are going to start having to go to doggie weight watchers or boot camp (well biscuit still looks lean, but that's because Magnum is a bully and gets all the goodies that Ava throws down). I know this behavior is characteristic of toddlers so I'm not going to worry too much, but I wish she would eat! I guess she gets it honest though since Steve and I were both terrible eaters.

I have been reading the heck out of her Biscuit books. She has 3 of them and makes me read them over and over again. One book says "Good Night Biscuit, Biscuit wants a kiss" and everytime we get to that part she leans in and gives the puppy on the page a big kiss.

In other family news my beloved kitty, Casper, who I've had for 14 years went missing the other day. I normally don't worry too much because he always comes home or I find him chillin at a neighbors house watchin the game with a beer. This time I was really worried though because of the heat with his age, and the coyote's that have been lurking around here eating neighborhood cats. So this morning I leave and tell Irene and Kristin that Casper is missing and to look out for him if he comes home. As soon as I get into work, Steve calls and says that they found Casper!! Kristin heard him meowing and walked around the house trying to figure out where she heard it coming from. Finally she figured out it was coming from the gunsafe! Steve had gone in there wednesday night and didn't notice Casper getting in! He was stuck in this little cube sized spot for almost 2 days! Luckily he was "safe" and sound. haha! Ava must have missed him too because the rest of the day she would run up to him and kiss him on the head. It was so cute! She loves her pets.

Here is where poor Casper had to live for a couple of days