It's official Miss Ava is now nine months old and moving, moving, moving! She seems to be constantly on the go: crawling, standing (with a little help), exploring, and getting into trouble. She seems to have gained more control of her movements, whereas last month she was just beginning to develop these new skills. Now Ava can stand up using a toy, table, couch, etc and then slowly sit back down. She is able to move with fewer tumbles, which makes Mommy happy. I suppose we will just wait until walking begins and we start over with the daily tumbles.
Ava had a few rough weeks of naps and nighttime sleep when she was mastering these new physical skills. Now luckily she is back into her pattern of an AM and PM nap and sleeping at night from 7-7. She is still feeding 4x per day and is eating more table food at lunch and dinner time. Big improvements since last month when she was still coughing and gagging when given solid foods. She is now able to get bits of food to her mouth with an improving grasp and when that doesn't work she uses an open palm to smash the food in (or near) her mouth. This month she seems to really like bananas, mango, and avocado.
Ava is playing more with sounds, much to her parents delight! When we were traveling to Milan the end of January, Ava said "dada" for the first time in the taxi. Now in the second half of February her "mama" skills have caught up! She isn't so much using these as words or label to call us, but I think that is just around the corner. She likes babbling and has recently started squealing and yelling when she wants more to eat. I am patiently working to teach her the "more" sign, but right now vocalizing appears to do the trick.
Ava has also started to develop some "hobbies" haha. She is still taking a music class on Thursdays with Mom and has now started baby swimming on Tuesday mornings. She seems to love the water and I know Dad can't wait to take a morning off and join in on the class. We also finally got around to getting bikes here in Berlin! Our used bikes from NYC have served us well for the past 5 years but it was time for a small safety upgrade. We decided to add a bike seat for Ava and because we are now "responsible parents", helmets for 3. We are hoping to use the bikes a great deal this spring and summer to get around to parks and restaurants that are not as subway accessible. Ava is slowly growing to love the bike, I think the helmet will take a little more time!
This weekend Ava and I will join Ben in Vienna for a short weekend trip and next week the Aylesworth's Senior arrive for a 10 day visit in Berlin. After this weekend Ava's country count will be at 5: Germany, England, USA, Italy, and Austria. Before her first birthday we hope to fit in trips to the Czech Republic, Poland, and Spain. Thus far we are following through on our 2016 resolution to travel more with Ava. We shall see how the solo flights with Mom go this weekend!
Much love,
The Aylesworth Trio