Ava Kate--15 months

Time sure does fly when you are having fun!!  I just can't believe my little baby is already 15 months old!  She has changed so much lately...her little personality is really starting to shine!  

- At her appointment this morning, she weighed 22.6 lbs. and was 31 1/2 inches tall.  She is a little smaller than what Anna Riley was at this age.  AR was 24.9 and is 32 1/2 inches long at 15 months. 

-She wears 18 months clothes mostly and the shoe size really varies so I am not sure.  She wears a size 4 diaper.

-She had her tear duct probed right after Thanksgiving.  She had to be put to sleep but did great.  Her eye has been so much better since then. 

-A big milestone that happened the Sunday before Christmas is Ava Kate took off walking!!!  She had taken a few steps here and there but that night we had just gotten back from a Christmas gathering and we were unloading gifts and opening toys from boxes and all of a sudden, AK is headed down the hall with two small toys in hand.  I grabbed my phone and caught a little bit of it (Thank goodness for videos on the phone!) She walked all the walk down the hall to our bathroom and then got in there and threw the toys in the air!! I was in tears!  I don't know if it was because I was a little concerned about her not walking yet or because my baby was walking!!  (maybe a little bit of both!)

-She is also climbing on everything she can and cleaning out every cabinet in sight!

-AK eats so well!!  She will eat pretty much anything you give her. She mostly only eats foods that she can feed herself.  She eats all table food and her favorites seem to be fruit (bananas and strawberries especially...she doesn't care for apples). 

-She is getting better with keeping food on the plate.  She usually makes it halfway and sometimes the whole time.  She usually does better with the plates in a restaurant but she has thrown a couple down.  I have to remind myself that one day it will be much easier to take two kids out to eat!!

-She loves her milk!  She has 2-3 cups a day with her meals.

-Her little personality has really started to show!  She can be so stinking cute sometimes, I just can't stand it!  

-She will finally give us real kisses.  In the past, you might get one or you might get a slap in the face! (she has a rough side!).  Now most of the time she will give you a kiss and if she isn't in the mood, she will lean her head over for you to give her one! 

-She always seems to be in the mood to give Anna Riley kisses though!! Those two will be fighting one  minute and kissing and hugging the next...true sisters!

-I have noticed that Ava Kate's fine motor skills have really improved this month.  She picks up the tiniest things.  Mom bought this counting piggy bank for her for Christmas and it has been a favorite of both girls.  

-She is also really playing with toys now.  She loves her little people princess castle.  She likes to put all the princess on the bottom and make them dance.  

 -She will finally sit still and look at books.  She loves the books about animals and the first word books.  She points at them over and over.  

-I find her in AR's big chair reading books all the time!  

-She is talking more but not a lot right now.  I see her more as an observer being the 2nd child.  She will repeat a lot of things we ask her to and if you ask her to point to a certain picture, she will. 

-She really tries to do some of the things Anna Riley does.  Anna Riley was telling her to "shhh" one day and had her finger on her lips and so now AK does that.  

-Ava Kate loves to dance!  I say it is because I danced for about 8  months while she was in my belly! If you know Riley, you know he loves his music and we always have some on, so Anna Riley gets us all to have dance parties!  AK loves it! 

-Ava Kate is a complete Daddy's girl 110%!!! If she has a choice of who to be with it is always him!  When he walks through that door, the excitement on her face is just the sweetest thing!!  He can go to the bathroom and come back and its the same excitement, like she hasn't seen him all day!