17 months and she has a mind of her own.
Ava continues to love independence more than anything. We give her a little freedom in a public place and her face lights up with energy. She has things to explore and they are generally NOT where we are headed. Her vocabulary continues to grow as do hints of tantrums. Help us! She has not had anything too terrible yet but we can see the beginnings. She can get frustrated if one of her animals doesn't cooperate with her or if her purse strap is stuck on her baby's stroller. The best solution in her mind is to yell, "Uh ohhhh, NO NO NO NO!" and then throw whatever is causing the issue. Seems reasonable.
She had a fun Christmas, wired for 2 days straight as we made the rounds to everyone's house. She still isn't as excited to open gifts as the older kids are, she is more into helping move them around. After all the toys she received we still found her in her 'fort' (closet) playing with an empty gallon milk jug.
She received 2 stuffed owls for Christmas and loves to bring them places. The larger owl seems to be incredibly dehydrated as he is constantly being fed out of a small bottle. Ava is very good about making sure all of her friends have enough to drink and eat.
We are starting to make plans to give Ava a 'big girl' room as we get going with the baby's nursery. He will acquire her crib. We are going straight for the twin size bed (with bed rails) and hope to make this a very comfortable bed that she wants to stay in ALL NIGHT. 
