the cozy house: Happy Birthday Ava

September 17, 2009 Dear Ava, 4 years ago today my prayers were answered. I prayed for 35 years for you...well maybe not all 35 years, but since I was old enough to realize that I wanted kids. And then through 4 years of college, 3 years of law school, and almost 10 years of lawyering, wondering if...when...my prayer for a child would be answered. (Of course, my prayer for a husband was answered about a year and a half before you were born.)

{it's a faint line, but it's there! HURRAY!}

September 17...your daddy & I planned the date of your birth. Your auntie Jill was there the whole time (well, except for when she had office hours...the key contraction time and she WOULD NOT let me get an epidural until she got back). Your strong-willed nature that was evident throughout my pregnancy was even more demonstrated at your birth. You DID NOT want to come out! A vacuum was involved, but that's another story. {your strong will was later exhibited - earlier this year actually - when you REFUSED to go on the potty until YOU wanted to..."going on the potty is not for me!" And then the next day you trained yourself. Nary an accident since....well almost anyway}

These last 4 years have been such a joy. Your strong will and stubbornness have taught me even more patience. You are precocious - speaking in sentences since you were just over a year...you speak like you are 20. I love that about you. I love your questions - even when I don't know the answer. You are teaching yourself how to write, which is just so awesome. We are working on reading, too...we'll get there. I am so excited to homeschool you...what a great adventure.

You are so sweet - I think about how when you see commercials on tv, you always ask to get the toys for one of your cousins (naming the particular one) - never for yourself. You love your little sister (even though you tried to hit her a few times when she was a little baby). She adores you. She looks up to you and tries to be like you. You have a genuine concern for others - something not many people have. I need to have more of that myself. I can learn from you.

You love: drawing (ava: "who's the greatest artist?" mommy: "YOU are!" ava: big smile); apples; mac-and-cheese; mac-and-cheese pizza from Cici's; butterflies (declared a butterfly at the butterfly house your "sweetheart" - constantly concerned about your "sweetheart's" well-being and hoping it didn't die on the ground like other butterflies you saw); chicktable! (your fish prize for pooping on the potty...chicktable 1 died due to a bath you gave - I'm sure it was the washcloth that did it; chicktable 2 died due to ick; chicktable 3 is alive and swimming....); gum; crackers - especially little saltines with butter; swimming; the color blue (although recently you like pink and purple); music (yeah!); using big words...the bigger the better. If you don't have a big word to describe a situation, you make one up. That is the best.

drawing....

reading....

You do NOT like: bugs. vegetables (except freshly picked cherry tomatoes and celery...I've told you you have to pick 4 vegetables to eat by the time you turn 4). wearing pajamas to bed - you love pajamas, just not wearing them in bed. You must be in your "skin," which you've assumed is an acceptable article of clothing since you were about 2. "I'll just wear my skin."