lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
I'm so ashamed.

I'm watching "Dancing With the Stars" this season. I'd never watched it before, but for some reason decided to see what all the fuss was about. (And, no, I'm never going to succumb to the monster that is "American Idol" -- I still have zero interest in that show and I don't see that changing... ever, really.)

Anyway, I'm actually enjoying it. I don't know much about dancing, so it's been fun to learn a little (and I mean little) bit about different kinds of dances. And some of the things they do are amazing and beautiful (some, um, aren't :-P). I've gradually found myself rooting for particular couples for whatever reason, despite the fact that I was never particularly a fan of any of the celebrities before the show started. So I'm rooting for Cristian & Cheryl and Shannon & Derek -- not that I think either of them deserves to win the whole thing (they really aren't quite good enough), but I'd like to see them stick around as long as possible. Unfortunately I don't see either couple as being particuarly safe tonight, since at this point they're both a little underdoggish to start, and then last night Cristian got a severe muscle cramp in his arm partway through his second routine of the night and couldn't really get through the rest of the dance, resulting in low scores from the judges (whether that's fair or not is another debate).

At any rate, I have my fingers crossed that neither of them go home tonight (Mario or Marissa could leave and I'd be fine with it, although Marissa is certainly much improved).

Ugh. I can't believe I care about this.

beth, 4:26 PM || We are 12 comments. Read us!

Friday, April 25, 2008
ISU WBB Recruiting News

I heard today about a 6'6" post player ISU is recruiting for women's basketball. Her height is unusual but not completely unheard of, but that's not what caught my eye.

josh, 1:59 PM || I am a comment. Read me!

Thursday, April 24, 2008
Long Way Down.

For Kaly and Paul and moM, and anyone else who liked the documentary series "Long Way Round" from a few years back: there be a sequel! This August. We'll be taping it. :-)

beth, 11:56 PM || We are 2 comments. Read us!

Friday, April 18, 2008
Yikes.

Gas in Cedar Rapids: $3.45.
Gas in Chicago where we'll be this weekend: I so don't want to know.

beth, 12:43 PM || We are 5 comments. Read us!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
What Ava's up to.

She walks everywhere now (except when she goes up the stairs). It looks weird when she crawls. And while she used to be very happy just riding around in shopping carts, now she's often not so content to and wants to walk around the store -- just never in the direction we want to go (and forget about taking her hand and leading her; she'll have none of that).

She's started hiding things places. I'll find little toys of hers and other things she's found around the house in places like kitchen cabinets and drawers, and once or twice in the trash (we've since made sure she doesn't have access to any trash cans, so we don't accidentally toss anything out).

She loves baths (also holding her hand under the running water), singing, being read to, giving kisses, and eating cottage cheese, pizza, spinach, crackers, carrots and grapes (among other things). Her favorite books include (but are certainly not limited to): "Amelia Bedelia," "The Little Mermaid," "Cinderella," any alphabet book, her Leap Frog Colors and Numbers books, "Good Night, Gorilla," and a Noah's Ark book. And right now we can't put her to bed without reading "Big Dog, Little Dog" and "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

And she loves copying words we say, especially the last word of a sentence or phrase. The words she knows the best include: socks, dance/bounce (sound the same) Mama, Daddy, Ava, Chex (any cereal, really), milk, up, on, off, uh-oh, all done, bye-bye (sounds like da-da), eye, ear, hair, hat, foot, cat, dog, chair, poop, car, house, clock, baby, duck, ball, hot, bear, moon, star, pants, box, outside. Other words she's said multiple times but not as often/consistently/well: home, pillow, down, church, amen, grapes, shirt, shoe, coat, diaper, Elmo, cup, sit, hot dog, fence, toe, mouth, hi, potty, book, heart, light, happy, cheese, pie. She can also say (or kind of say) most of the letters, though she isn't very consistent about naming them when she sees them (she'll do it for certain letters some of the time). And she's started naming objects she sees around the house and pointing at things in books when we ask where they are. And she'll point at eye, ear, nose, mouth, head, hair, belly button, foot, toes, arm, hand, fingers, tongue, teeth and maybe elbow (we're not sure, since she can't really reach it) when you name them. We're constantly being surprised by what she says. Just tonight she picked up a clothes hanger and said "hah-ger." We had no idea she knew that word!

She's also kind of counting, moving her pieces of food from one side of the tray to the other while she makes sounds (even if they don't necessarily sound like numbers yet). She'll say "four" after we count "one, two, three," and do the same with "six," and sometimes "eight," "nine" and "ten." We're not sure just how much she knows of the numbers, because most of the others she either can't say very well or they sound like other numbers when she says them. But she obviously has some kind of grasp on some of the order.

Ava's just about too big to sleep in her playyard now
(her temporary crib when we were in the apartment).

Ava has discovered how much fun it is to be outside. Going back inside?
Not so much fun (for Ava or Mommy and Daddy :-P).

Now that's a sweet face if ever I saw one. :-)

This was a very breezy day, and there were a few gusts that just about blew Ava down.

Ava exercises those ever-important pointing muscles.

Y'all can add a tenth tooth to the list. :-)

beth, 10:56 PM || We are 6 comments. Read us!

Thursday, April 10, 2008
S-NOOOOOOO!!!

Here is Ava getting ready to go out into the snow:

And another one. Awwww...:

Now here's what Ava thought of being in the snow:

Um, let us go back to happier times, shall we?:

beth, 11:34 AM || We are 7 comments. Read us!

Monday, April 7, 2008
Teefs.

You may recall that Ava (17 months old now, for those not keeping track) had four teeth (top middle two and bottom middle two) for months and months. Well, she's been making up for lost time. Over the last month or so she's had FIVE new teeth break through, including three molars. Poor thing, she must have been in some real pain at times, which may explain some of her general fussiness. The good news, of course, is that the more of those teeth she gets, the more regular food she can eat because she can chew better. Yay Ava for catching up.

beth, 2:20 PM || We are 3 comments. Read us!