June...the special cow

So we went to the Expo Center to have a fun day with the kids. We went into the kiddie area first, which had a petting zoo, pony rides, some other little kids stuff, and an area to watch a cow being milked. So the guy brings June out and starts talking about stuff that Ava has no interest in. He goes on and on about the types of cows they use for milk products, how many calfs this 3 year old cow has had, and how all of our milk before it is sold to the milk companies is skim milk and then the extra fat is added into it...appetizing. So Ava is half listening until he puts the suction cups on the cow.

Ava: What's he doing?

Me: Getting ready to milk the cow. He has to put them on so that the milk will go into the container.

Ava: What are those?

Me: That is where the baby cow drinks milk from his mommy. They are called utters

Ava: Are they her boobs?

Me: Yes Ava.

This conversation is going on as the old farmer man talks about his cows and how this particular cow produces 200 lbs of manuer a day. Quite the fiber diet I guess.

So now she is watching as the cow being milked. Super still, super quiet for a minute.

Ava: June is pretty.

Me: yes she is.

Mr. Farmer Man: Parents if your children are drinking chocolate or strawberry milk, it is still a good source of calcium and vitamins. No problems with that unless they are drinking over 1/2 gallon of that per day. Then you would have something to be concerned about.

Ava: June is pretty and brown. She makes chocolate milk.

Me and Daddy: What Ava?

Ava: June makes chocolate milk.

Me: You think she makes chocolate milk, why?

Ava: because she's brown

Me: Really? But her milk is coming out white.

Ava: yeah but she still makes chocolate milk cause she's brown

Me: And white cows, what kind of milk do they make?

Ava: the regular kind, white

Me: So what about the black and white cows, what kind of milk do they make?

Ava: umm...they make mud. Did you know they eat grass?

Petting zoo area. They both had lots of fun. Ava liked it, but wasn't too sure about touching everything. She did end up petting a llama and a baby goat. Adam on the other hand, had a great time touching ALL the animals. The only thing I could think about was hand sanitizer.

Time for the rides. Ava had a blast while Adam watched from his stroller.

chopsticks anyone?

So we picked up chinese food for dinner last night. Ava kept asking, "What are those? What is that?" So I told her that they were chopsticks and that some people use them like a fork or a spoon to eat with. She wasn't convinced. "How?" So I showed her and then it began. She was insistent on using them, and actually we were really surprised that she was able to use them. She ate the rest of her meal using chopsticks. Obviously this is her first encounter with chopsticks and she's 3, so we were super impressed. The only issue now is going to be to get her to eat with regular utensils again since she loved the chopsticks so much.

Please excuse the vomiting child in the background. I would have normally been right on top of that, but was in the middle of catching Ava's first chopstick moments.

Ava and her thoughts on siblings

Many of my friends are expecting babies, and some were just recently born. Ava voiced her opinion about wanting a sister when I was pregnant with Adam, and has recently started that again.

Today at dinner:


Ava: Mommy I don't like Adam, I like a sister

Me: You don't like Adam?

Ava: Yes, but I like a sister too.

Me: Oh.

Ava: (to daddy) We should get a sister and put it in her belly.

Rolando: We'll see.

Me: Ava, how do you think babies get into mommy bellies?

Ava: (thinking for a while) Ummm...they are tiny and they crawl in mommy's back and then they go into the belly and grow big, big, big.

Me: Oh

Rolando: Is that right? What do you think mommy?

Me: Sure. Ava, how about a popcicle?

SNOW

So last week it snowed here in Austin. It wasn't major snow, but it was snow. I was at work and Ava and Adam were home with Rolando. This is Ava's second snow and Adam's first. She doesn't remember it, but it snowed when she was about 9 months old.

Daddy took them both outside several times. Ava in her outfit of choice-a raincoat and pajamas, and Adam who just woke up-in his pajamas and sweatshirt. Oh well...at least they had on hats! Ava had a blast and Adam wasn't sure about the whole thing. They made several snowmen, one of which is still in our freezer. I wonder how long he'll be in there?

Just being us

Adam is afraid of the vacuum, so Ava decided to comfort him while daddy continues to vacuum near them. The first is during and the second is when it was over. One of her few kind, loving moments with her little brother.

We also spent a really nice day at Zilker park. The kids had fun. Adam got to swing for the first time by himself, we rode the train, and then of course had some icecream.

Here is Ava and Adam getting ready for cake on Nonno's birthday.

What to do with two sick kids

So we began Christmas break with Adam being sick, and then Ava. What do you do with two sick kids? With one, I held her while we would sit on the couch or lay on the bed watching movies, and it was all very quiet and somewhat relaxing. With two, I feel like a pinball. One is up crying, possibly screaming, while the other is demanding something (food, water, tv, potty, toys, attention). So we have had quite the time in the past few days. Fortunately Adam is on the upswing and I'm hoping Ava isn't far behind. We are totally and completely drained and sooooo tired of being stuck in the house.

We did try something new and fun. Since the kids have been sick, we haven't done as much baking as we usually do, but we did make a gingerbread house. Well, we decorated one. It was a lot of fun. Ava loved it, and it didn't matter that she was sick because no one is going to eat it. With all the candy and icing, I can't even imagine trying to eat that thing!

Not too shabby! I think we'll make this a tradition.

Ava and I also planted Christmas tree seeds. She got it as a gift in her stocking at school. Supposedly you plant the seeds and then transplant them when they get bigger. We'll see. We did have a great discussion on patience, time, and caring for something. I wonder if she'll remember this tomorrow?

December has been busy!

I'm so far behind and there has been so much going on this month.
Most importantly, I'm off for Christmas vacation and so is Ava! Yes, Ava started the preschool class at my school. It's so wonderful for her, but wasn't so easy for her to get used to it. She started on December 1st. The first day was a breeze when we dropped her off. She didn't cry, but I don't think she actually understood she would be there all day long, so day 2 was a totally different story. She was throwing herself around and screaming "Don't leave me. I don't wanna stay. Daddy, Mommy, please!" Yes, it was totally and completely heartbreaking. Rolando was ready to take her home and be done with this class, but I convinced him that she would be okay and would enjoy it eventually. Since then she has had a blast. She loves her two teachers, and they adore her. She is the only girl out of 10--still the princess and she loves it. The boys just do everything for her. Hopefully she'll remember how much she enjoys her class when our two weeks is up, but I wouldn't bet on it. Here are some pictures from her first day of school.

The trial run the day before with her backpack. Although she would have loved to wear this outfit on the first day, we opted against this look.

Ready to go to school.

And she's off (sniff, sniff, sob)!

Daddy bought cupcakes to celebrate her first day at school.

We also painted her room. She has been wanting her room painted for over a year now, and we finally did it. She wanted pink first, then decided on purple. We found a color that is really pretty, but it sure is lavender. She loves it, and now I have painting fever. I want to paint every room. We're doing the kids' bathroom next and then Adam's room. Here are some pictures of our little painter. I'm not sure what happened to the pictures of the finished room, but lavender is lavender.

Testing the color.

She's ready to paint.

Her first reaction to seeing her room completely done. She was so excited.

We also had family pictures taken at the beginning of the month. What a joke! Ava wasn't feeling well, and neither one of the kids wanted to cooperate. We got a couple good pictures, but nothing great. I guess that's what happens when your family gets bigger--apparently the quality of the pictures you take reduces by the number of kids you have. Here's our best one, which happens to be our Christmas card this year.

The kids saw santa, which went about the way that our family pictures went. There were many to choose from: Adam staring and Ava pouting, Adam looking at Santa and Ava looking at Adam, Adam looking at the floor and Ava with her eyes closed, Adam smiling and Ava moving. We finally decided to buy the one of Ava smiling and Adam squirming around. What a mess they are!

Ava was way more excited about riding the train than seeing Santa.