A letter to Ava...

Dear Ava,

You are now 2 and 1/2 and totally taking over the world with your huge personality. You light up every room you stand in and bring smiles to any person that comes near you. You are funny in the silliest way. You are wise and intuitive. I cherish our moments together, there is no one I would rather spend my time with. You are now saying things like "It's no big deal." cute, to a point. "You can't say that to me!" not even a little cute. Ava, I have to say, you are sassy and not so agreeable at times. When we ask you to do something you tilt your head to the side and say "You do it." So rude. We are working on fixing this disrespectful kick you are on. We try not to laugh at you when you do it, but secretly we think everything that comes out of your mouth is funny even if we don't like it. You are a total chatter box and have something to say about everything. When you were much younger your daddy taught you this little exchange where he would ask you "Who is the boss?" Daddy! "Who is the best?" Mommy! "Who is the cutest?" Ava! Now that you have grown, all on your own you have changed your answers to these questions, now when Daddy asks "Who is the boss?" you say, "You are!" "Who is the cutest?" you say, "I am!" You also love to sing, although not well. Your imagination runs wild. My favorite quality you have is how friendly & outgoing you are. You are so quick to want to chat with strangers, you get a tiny bit shy at times but for the most part just want to be every one's friend. You are our little safety girl, when you sit in your high chair you freak out if we try to skip the step of buckling you. You like to buckle and unbuckle yourself. "I do it myself!" is a phrase I have heard far too many times. There is more and more you can do yourself now, you are able to put your own shoes on, however, not always on the right foot. You are also able to sort of dress yourself. I am not encouraging this too much since I am a bit of a control freak and I would rather pick what you wear as long as I can. Don't grow up too fast little girl, we love you just the way you are, little miss sass and all!