ava is fascinated by two songs recently: jingle bells and rudolph the red nosed reindeer. i made the mistake of singing them to her, and now that is all she wants me to do. that and ask me questions about the names and gender of santa's reindeer. she has pretty much memorized the songs, albeit with a little tweaking here and there and now we are serenaded by her interpretations. the most creative of them all emerged today on the way to (where else?) sea world:

jingle bells, rendered in a tone of voice usually reserved for a poetry slam, ie no tone/pitch, just spoken word--or more appropriately yelled word:

jingle BELLS! jingle BELLS!

jingle!

all!

the!

WAY!

oh!

what!

FUN!

it!

is!

to!

RIDE!

in!

a!

onehosesleigh!

OH!

jingle BELLS! jingle BELLS!

jingle!

all!

the!

WAY!

oh!

what!

FUN!

it!

is!

to!

RIDE!

in!

a!

onehosesleigh!

i was completely hysterical, and peter was about to go insane since he was trying to navigate heavy traffic and he had a small child hollering in his ear at precise intervals.

she and peter went to a few shows (dolphins, sea lions), while carter and i played in the bouncy thing again. he is normally so outgoing, but i think that environment pushes him ever so slightly past his comfort zone-he continually comes back to me and lands in my arms--just checking in, but in a very affectionate way. there are a lot of kids there, and a lot going on around the play mat-boucy thing, and i wonder if he loses his bearings every once in a while.

he officially has the following words: mama, dada, ba (baby), va! (ava), yum, HI!, de! (there), da! (that), nigh nigh, ahhhh (said with toungue out = animal, usually dog/cat), and a million variations on eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! this last one is a bit like chinese--the meaning changes depending on the inflection. his gestures are robust, though pointing is the most useful. he has an endearing open palmed grabbing thing that he does with his fingers that is essentially "please give me this thing that i am referring to with my outstretched hand"

he loves to give kisses, though for some reason he assumes that humans kiss like dogs. this is entertaining for people watching, not so much for the one being kissed.

it is funny--i get so used to their little foibles, the things that make life a eensy weensy bit more difficult, and then out of the blue, they disappear. for example, i am so used to him waking up at the littlest sounds, like a baby, but over the course of the past few weeks i am just noticing that he does not really do that anymore--he sleeps more like an older kid--thoroughly exhausted and out cold. it is so nice to realize that day by day it is getting a little bit easier. sometimes it is helpful to expect the worst and then one can be pleasantly surprised and how little effort an event like bedtime actually is.

i say this, and probably my entire night is now going to be punctuated by various stirrings and proddings.