Our Super Strong Girl

I know we've said it before, but Ava Holt is ridiculously strong. Now that she can crawl, she's decided that life outside of her blanket of toys is much more exciting and interesting. So, as a result, she likes to get on the hardwood floors and explore around the living room. Well, last night Ava figured out how to pull herself up to a stand all by herself. She crawled from her blanket of toys over to a small coffee table that we have moved to the side of the room (so that she can play on her blanket of toys) and pulled herself up by holding on to the top of the table. Once standing, she tried to move her feet and she ended up falling down. Surprisingly enough, she was just as tough as she was strong and she didn't scream or cry after falling down and bumping her head. Here is Ava on her knees about to pull herself up to a stand. If you were wondering, she also pulled herself up onto her knees (we didn't help her).

And here is the big moment...

I was so excited to get this moment on camera. She actually pulled herself up again a few minutes later, but I didn't have the movie setting on and didn't get it on tape. I only got a picture. On this attempt, she actually got her feet flat underneath her and stood there for about a minute just looking around the room. Here's the picture I snapped of Ava standing and holding onto the coffee table. I just wish I would have had this attempt on tape too!

Only A Flesh Wound...

From all of Ava's attempts at crawling last week, she developed a big blister on her left big toe. I didn't think anything of it until Casey, Matt's sister, was here visiting us over the weekend. She saw Ava's toe and made the comment about it being the first time she had seen anything like it. So, once she said that the blister was a bit unique, I had to take some pictures. I apologize for the quality of the photos. It's just so hard to get a good shot of blistered toes!

If you've been looking at Ava in the posts over the past week or so, you've probably noticed that she likes to stick her bum in the air and she does baby push ups when she tries to crawl (think downward facing dog and plank--yoga poses). I guess that since she has been doing those so much lately, she's rubbed her big toe raw and caused a blister.

Here's what her toe looks like now that it's starting to heal.

Well...tonight I noticed that the poor girl has now rubbed her other big toe (this time it's on her right big toe) raw and there's now a blister starting to form (in the pictures, it's the shiny spot on the bottom of her toe--it's hard to see). She doesn't seem to be in any pain from the blisters, as she keeps moving around and contorting her body into crazy positions, so I guess they're only flesh wounds.

Bye Bye Freedom

As of May 11, 2008, Ava is officially mobile. She finally pieced together the mechanics of crawling and is all over the place. She chases after her toys, balls, her jingle eggs, and anything else within her span of vision that looks interesting. Seeing her crawl for the first time was the greatest Mother's Day present in the world. However, as excited as I am that she's crawling, I am also a bit sad in that I have now lost any and all freedom during the day. I can no longer sit her down on her pink blanket to play with her toys and do laundry, cook, or clean. By the time I lay her down, she's already on her hands and knees crawling after something that she HAS to have. We really need to kid-proof the house now!

Here's Ava truly crawling for the 1st time.

Here's Ava crawling on the 12th. It was on this day that she really got good at crawling. In this clip she's crawling after her new yellow ball that is the topper for her new stack and roll cups that her Aunt Casey brought her. It has a rattle inside of it and she loves playing with it...

Here she is chasing after her purple ball (made from her stack and roll cups)...

Here she is crawling towards her Aunt Casey. Now that she can crawl, she loves going after feet and toes...