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Sweet little Ava Lauren turned 2 this Saturday. She is my little princess. I get so much joy just looking at her. She is so fun too. She loves to sing songs and is quite advanced in verbal skills for a 2 year old. Here she is singing happy birthday while eating her chocolate birthday cake.

Today, two great reminders of this special season of life. First, Ava, who has recently developed into an excellent kisser, wanted to kiss all of the parts of my head. My eyes, my ears, my nose, my chin. I gladly let her. Her wet lips on my cheek and the pop of her smooch are still fresh in my mind.

I then drop Jacob off at preschool. I stand by the window watching him put up his lunch box and jacket. He turns and looks at me. Gives me a big thumbs up and blows me a kiss.

It won’t last. The days will change and so will my children. Those new days will be special in their own right. But this morning will be tough to beat.

Our daughter loves shoes. Loves them. It was one of her first words. She gets fussy if you don’t put on a certain pair she wants to wear that day. Several times a day she brings us shoes to put on her. She also enjoys wearing other people’s shoes. What is especially funny is that she will put them on herself and come walking in wearing them with a big grin on her face. Here are a few pics of her with Jacob’s shoes.

My sister has commented that these picture above are two of her favorite recent photos of Ava. They are actually from February, before Ava turned one. That was when we let her try Hostess chocolate chip muffins, and she immediately loved them.

Today, Shannon got some cereal in a bowl for Ava and put it down on our ottoman for her to eat. Instead, she walked into the kitchen and pointed up to the counter where these muffins where at and just stood there with her arm raised up, pointing to her favorite breakfast food. She kept it raised that way until we gave it to her. No crying or throwing a fit. Just a dignified hunger strike. I will say her favorite meal is peas and carrots so she is not all enriched flower and sugar, but she loves those muffins. They use to be one of my favorite snacks until I got older and saw my appetite turn away from sweets like those. Still, I admit to being a little proud of her love of those little nuggets of chocolaty goodness.

I am sure over the years to come I will speak more on this subject, but already, I can see some fundamental emotional and psychological differences between Ava and Jacob which seem to be rooted in their gender. It will be more pronounced as they both grow older, but two have differences have clearly appeared in the last month or so. They both are aspects of their personality that reflect masucline and feminine traits.

One is touch and specifically hugging. Jacob never showed an interest in hugging anyone or seeking out personal touch as a young child. He wanted to be held at bed time and of course being comforted when he was hurt. But in “normal” conditions, he didn’t like being held or snuggled. Ava runs to you to give you a hug. She loves it. She will put her head down on my neck and let me squeeze her. I proudly confess I love this about her.

The second is discipline. It is still very early in the game, and the game does change as they age, but each are at different end points. We have started very light discipline with Ava telling her “no” on certain things, like throwing her food off the table. Like with Jacob at that age, if she persists, we would get a light smack on the hand. With Jacob, we could never just do a light smack. You had to up the intensity a bit or he would just think you were playing. Even then, he also showed a little more defiance which often led to several smacks.

With Ava, I can literaly look at her and say “no” and make her cry. I have done it. Just a stern look can send her into tears. Twice I have gave her the smallest of smacks, more like a light tap and she wails. It is like she is saying “How can you be angry at me my beloved father.”

Here is the compilation video of Ava’s first year. The song playing in the background is “Every Season” by Nichole Nordeman, who is probably Shannon’s favorite singer and this is one her favorite songs.

My little princess is 1 year old today. Birthday party tomorrow. Next week, several posts here on Ava, including her 1st year video collage, pictures from the party and other stuff. Happy birthday to my little girl. I love her so much.

Here is a short video showing Ava’s progression from crawling to walking.

Ava took her first steps a few weeks back, but these past few days she has literally and figuratively taken the next step and can make it 4-5 feet on her own. Her preferred method is still crawling, but that phase will soon be ending. The other day she came walking to me, and it made me a little sad. It was evidence of the truth all parents know but at some level always struggle with: my baby girl is growing up.