Outside. Where Else?

It's been a while since my last blog post, but I have good reason. For the past several weeks, Ava and I have spent every waking moment outside. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Outside is Ava's favorite place to be (and I am so thankful)!

Before making our way outdoors, Ava's mornings go something like this:

1: Ava wakes up and calls for "Dada" when she is ready to get out of her crib.

2. One of us walks in the room, and Ava immediately asks for her "Buh-bull" (Bible). She flips through the pages, points to the people and says, "Jee-Jush". At this point, Ava thinks most of the men are 'Jee-Jush'... Moses, King David, John the Baptist... It makes our hearts smile however, that the first thing Ava wants to do in the morning is look through the Bible.

3. Without any hesitation, as soon as Bible time is over, Ava lets out a loud, and almost painful, "MO-MEAL" (oatmeal, her breakfast of choice) and "DINK" (drink)! If you could hear the intensity in her voice, you would think that the poor girl has not eaten in over a week. Drama, drama.

4. At long last, Ava is reunited with 2 of her favorite things: Oatmeal and her morning swig of milk. About 3 bites in to her oatmeal (which she so painfully requested just moments before), Ava says "un" (done) followed by "ah-ice" (outside). And so it begins....

At some point during our time outside, Ava points to the street, nods her head and says, "alk" (walk). We walk up the street. We walk down the street. We cover every square inch of Riding Ridge Drive. Usually, she carries a piece of sidewalk chalk with her and she scribbles on the road every 10 feet or so. Maybe Ava is leaving a trail so she can find her way back home. Smarty pants. :)

Speaking of sidewalk chalk, we use it. We use a lot of it. While Ava scribbles, I draw things that make my butterfly-obsessed daughter squeal with delight. Every time Ava walks out the front door, or looks at the driveway through the kitchen window, she smiles and says, "Oooooh, but-er-bye".

Another one of Ava's favorite things to do is paint... sort of. Bowl of water + Paintbrush + Driveway = Cheap and non-messy way to paint. For the first few minutes, Ava moves the brush across the driveway while watching the pavement turn darker. Then, the painting turns into splashing, and the splashing turns into dumping the water out on herself and asking for "mo" (more).

Bocce Ball anyone? Typically, bocce ball is a game reserved for the beach. Not anymore. The two yellow balls you see in the lower left corner below are in fact, bocce balls and as you can see, we are not on the beach. Ava may not know the rules of the game, and why should she? All she knows is she is outside and loving life. **On a side note, we no longer have 2 yellow bocce balls, we only have 1. I have been told that while playing outside one night, Ava frantically ran toward the street saying, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" Not knowing a yellow bocce ball was quickly approaching the street drain, the adult on duty continued drawing with sidewalk chalk. I don't want to use any specific names, but know that generally speaking, Ava calls said adult, Dad.**

Whether we're playing in the front yard, the back yard, the park or somewhere else, Ava is happy as can be... as long as we're OUTSIDE!