Quick clip of Ava running/out of control from the downhill momentum

Sightseeing with Auntie Thao!

I think we did a great job of showing Auntie Thao all of San Francisco. And Ava was quite the trooper. We took the BART to Union Square and from there walked to Chinatown, then we made our way to the Embarcadero, then on to the Piers/Fisherman's Wharf area and on up to Ghirardelli Square. I haven't mapped it yet, but I am sure it was at least 50 miles....hahaha. The best part was the cable car at the end. We took that from Ghirardelli back to Union Square, though Ava missed that portion because she wore herself out playing with the kids in line behind us. So she napped all the rest of the way home (which I can't complain about at all, since she survived the day without a single melt down).

This is the first fortune cookie factory in America and it probably looks the same as it did then as it does today. They let us eat them right off the machine, it was yummy and Ava really enjoyed that.

Her first taste of a fresh fortune cookie.....Mmmmmmmm

She's become quite independent, always wanting to walk while we're out, instead of slinging it or strolling it, but she probably lasts a block before mommy and daddy are ready to pick up the pace.

She loved the hilly area in front of Ghirardelli.....we played for almost an hour.

Then we waited in line for almost an hour for the cable car, where she was entertained by a musician singing little children's songs that absolutely pandered to the toddlers in the crowd.

This is Ava in the backpack right before we got on the cable car and fell asleep, but that face sums up the day!

One year check-up!

Ooops, I forgot to put up her stats from her last check-up. She is 28.5" and because of her stubborn, scaredy cat ways, she would not let them weigh her. So, we had to both get on the scale, then take her off the scale and weigh me alone, and subtract the difference. Seems real accurate, huh? Anyhow, the result was that she weighs in at 17lbs., which for weight, puts her under the growth chart and for height, she's close to 50th percentile. The doctor has decided that my girl will probably continue on this growth pattern, but has encouraged me to butter up everything she eats and try to get her to eat full fat cheeses and yogurt.

This is what Auntie calls "Ava's carnie smile"

She's just showing off her one top tooth.....

Yummmy sand!

She now just goes straight for the sand, it's quite remarkable to see since she used to go hysterical in it.

She's perfected the squat in it.

And I am not sure you can tell, but she has a fork in her hand and I think she has a mouth full of sand....I don't know the trick to keeping them from putting it in their mouths, because every little baby around her was doing the exact same thing......odd little buggers.......

She even preferred playing in the sand with this sea shell over the swings and slides --

I literally had to drag her out of here, kicking and screaming, after over an hour because her cheeks were just so rosey, I am sure she got her fill of Vitamin D.

San Francisco Zoo

Thank you Auntie Katrina & Uncle Jeff for the Zoo membership, Ava loves animals and was extremely excited about this outing! She cried when we had to leave to go to her doctor's appointment, so we'll have to come back soon!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Ava went to celebrate the Chinese New Year at her Great Aunt's House in Santa Clara with her Auntie, while mommy and daddy were home sick from Ava's throw up disease earlier in the week.

She looks to be having a good time

that's some kind of face, huh? Looks like she's up to something...

but I am just not sure she thought it all the way through

I think she tried to bite off a little more than she could chew

but she's pretty stubborn, no "uncle" for her, yet......

So, these are pretty much the only pictures her Auntie came home with, but when we saw our little one that evening, she had a bandage on her finger, a bag full of red envelopes of money and puffy red eyes. I think that a lot more went on at that party then Auntie told us....but we will never know.

(Well, we did find out that Ava was bitten by a small dog, Auntie was collecting the red envelopes of money under the guise that she was collecting for Ava, but was secretly pocketing it, and the crying was just her crankiness from not taking a single nap the entire day).

This was the first time that we spent the entire day without our little girl. It was strange, nice, a little anxious and we look forward to doing it again next year. Hahahahaha!
(We will desperately need to find a reliable sitter, otherwise, our once-a-year-day without Ava will be our reality.)

Reminiscing.....

(tear)

Happy 1st Birthday!

She doesn't much care for chocolate cake

or ice cream

she mostly enjoys the sprinkles

Giggles in the sand

Golden Gate Park Playground

This is the same little girl that used to squeal & cry at the sight of sand,

but here she is walking through it

smiling through it

sitting through it

and the same thing used to be true of grass, but sure enough Auntie has been able to break through all kinds of barriers

she's also getting used to taking a bottle at least once a day, baby steps, at least she doesn't throw a complete fit (again, thank you to Auntie for that one too!)

Date night!

Downtown

We decided to take Ava downtown for the first time this year

but she could hardly enjoy it with all the phone calls that kept taking (she got that from daddy)

she finally decided; no more and passed the phone back to me

playing with these sticks is much less stressful

entertainment for hours

side note: Ava really enjoys walking on her own, rather than being strolled, slung, or carried, which has made trips downtown, to shopping centers, grocery stores, etc. (any where except the play ground or beach) challenging......but I guess I won't "leash" her until she really shows signs of wild, unruly behavior.