Ava Stories

Ava often uses a phrase like this, "When I was a wittle (little) baby, I wearned (learned)________"

Fill in the blank with anything she likes.

"When I was a wittle (little) baby, I wearned (learned) to wear this dress"

"When I was a wittle (little) baby, I wearned (learned) to eat this candy"

"When I was a wittle (little) baby, I wearned (learned) to love these jammies"

Sometimes she shakes things up and says something like, "When I was a wittle (little) baby, you wearned (learned) to love this cake"

or "When you were a wittle (little) baby, you wearned (learned) to love this blanket"


I'm not sure where it came from but I think it might stem from the fact that she sleeps with the same blanket I used when I was little. Maybe during the explaining process I used a similar phrase. In any case it's one she has used for a long time and I realized today as she said it for the cazillionth time that I might be sad if I didn't remember it.

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This past weekend when we were in Dallas, we were visiting one of the best places on earth, the arboretum. Just as we sat down to a yummy lunch she said she had to go to the bathroom. I asked her if she could hold it. She said yes. 30 seconds later she said she has to go again. Knowing that she is a master-holder, I figure that she must have to go pretty bad for her to ask twice. So I reluctantly leave our lunch and we begin the trek to the bathrooms. They were quite a ways away. I could see her physically concentrating to "hold it" as we walked and she started to say things like "I really gotta go potty, Mom!" As we walked quickly, I kept asking her if she could hold it. She said yes.

Well, we made it to the bathroom, no accidents! But as she was doing her thing I realized, all of a sudden, that I really had to go, too. Before I knew it, I was dancing around a bit. I told Ava that when she was done I needed to go too. She used her sweetest little voice.

"Sure, Mom, you can use my potty when I'm done." And she went on to explain that she needed to go number 2 so it would be a little longer. I am sure she could see me physically concentrating so then she said,

"I will ask you one question, Mom: Can you hold it?"

That made me laugh so hard I thought I might not be able to!

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Also last weekend, my mom indulged Ava by letting her "play" with some of her make-up. Nothing of consequence really, and then when they were almost done, my mom handed her a tube of clear lip gloss she doesn't use and told Ava she could try it out. She was thrilled!

Ava is a chapstick fiend. It is a required element for being a princess. So Ava used that entire tube in the 48 hours we were there. She would take a stool into my mom's bathroom and stand in the mirror gazing at herself as she smeared it inches thick across her mouth.

After it had been very quiet for some time I went in and found she had just used "a little" eyeliner.


After taking her picture and telling her to not use anymore she went on her way. We laughed about my poor choice of parenting style-giving her lots of attention for a behavior I didn't want repeated. And my use of positive reinforcement worked perfectly when she returned a few minutes later having used "a little more" eyeliner to look just like a princess.

But you know I had to take a picture.