Learning more new things

Yikes! It's been far too long since I last updated here. Ava has learned so many new things over the last few weeks that I really should be writing about them as they happen.

She has turned into a little parrot and copies so many things we say and do. Here is a list of sounds/words she says when we say them to her:

- Eee!
- Dee!
- Bee!
- Eeyo-Eeyo-Eeyo (in response to E-I-E-I-O from Old McDonald)
- Hi Hi!
- Bebe (for Baby)
- Dog (but most of the time it's without the 'g')
- No! (it sounds more like 'Doh!' though)

It's very hard not to laugh when you say 'No!' and she turns around and says it back to you. She also coughs when we cough, waves when we say 'Wave bye-bye!' and whistles when we start whistling.

She absolutely loves babies, cats and dogs. When we were leaving Portugal last week, there was an 18 month old little boy running around the departure lounge and when Ava spotted him she went crazy. She squeaked and shrieked and bounced and waved until his mum brought him over to say hello. It was really cute, everyone in the lounge was watching and smiling at their little encounter.

On the weekend we went to visit some friends who have a golden retriever and Ava just loved him. She even copied his panting! So now when she sees another dog (even a picture) she starts to pant.

Also on the weekend we stayed at Graham's sister's place and she has two cats. Whenever Ava spotted one of them she would chase after it as fast as she could on her tummy. If one of us was holding her hands while she was standing, she would practically run after the poor cat! I didn't even know she could move like that. Her walking has always been so unstable, she's like a little drunk person hobbling around.

Anyway my 20 minutes of peace is up, she's just woken up from her nap and is crying in her room. I've never known anyone who gets so upset about waking up!