Summer Break: Part Deux

I unexpectedly had to take the day off yesterday because Tammy, our daycare provider, was sick with a stomach bug.  She had become ill Wednesday while watching the kids and Jeremy had to pick Ava up around lunchtime, so it was my turn Thursday to be at home with her - and since I'd already taken Friday off due to Tammy's vacation day, I happily dove in to two days at home with my girl.

For whatever reason, maybe the hot temperatures or the fact that we got out and stayed busy, it felt like summer break all over again, not just a simple day off of work.  Jeremy and I both know from experience that when one of us has an entire day to spend with Ava, it's best spent doing:  visiting family and friends, eating lunch at McDonald's, browsing through the aisles of Target, or, in our case yesterday, making a morning trip to the zoo.

We got there about a half hour after opening time and it was practically deserted; just a handful of other moms or dads pushing strollers and leading little ones up to the fences to admire elephants, monkeys and sea lions.  Ava is very vocal about what she wants to see when we're at the zoo.  The only animal she truly cared about seeing were the tigers - who were way back in the farthest corner of their cage, snoozing in the shade.  Thankfully the other animals were entertaining enough.

These two chased and jumped and wrestled for a good ten minutes.

Now, even though Ava had a good time and it was a nice way to spend a random Thursday morning...it was also hot and pushing that stroller up and down, back and forth across the entire zoo is quite tiring for a pregnant gal who never works out!  (And then I tortured myself with the stroller again this morning at the Children's Museum, pushing it up countless ramps...)  Certainly good exercise, but not quite the "relaxing morning at the zoo" I had hoped for.  Still, it was worth it and it's fun to watch Ava's reaction to the animals.

After lunch at home, we stayed in the cool confines of the house and played.  Ava has very much been into a "nice and cween" play room, picking up her toys as soon as she's done playing with them.  But yesterday seemed as good a day as any to dump out her entire ball pit and not pick it up until prompted before bed time.

Something else I noticed while being at home with her yesterday:

My child is obsessed with lining things up!

She also took quite an interest in my camera while we were playing.  I had put it down on the floor and she picked it up, put the strap around her neck and then played with the buttons.  I ran upstairs to grab my new one so that I could get a picture of her with my old camera (***sidenote: Upgraded to a Canon 60D, EEEK.  Love.  Still, my Rebel is my go-to for day-to-day shooting since it's smaller and easier to tote around)  I wasn't able to capture her with the camera, but after some assistance, she took her very first photograph.

Unlike her Mama, she took a tilted angle picture.  I personally don't like this look, but maybe Ava wants to rock it out.  She's gotta have a style independent of Mama's, ya know.  By the way, those bottles on her stove?  They were being heated up.

Seems a bit unsafe to me, but I didn't question her about it.  And really, heated juice? 

Finally, the biggest event of the day was converting her crib into the toddler day bed, aka the Big Girl Bed.

She and I talked all about it and went shopping for a pillow and this Dora blanket: big girl stuff.  She helped her daddy put the small rail up and was extremely excited about sleeping in this "new" bed.  In fact, at bedtime, she was so hyper, we thought she'd never calm down.

It took four times of gently talking to her and coaxing her back into bed and three times of not talking and simply putting her back to bed before she finally gave up and cried herself to sleep. 

Nap time today has been worse.  She got out of bed and opened her door about twenty times or so, with me not talking or looking at her and leading her back to bed before she realized I meant business and again, cried herself to sleep.  I know it'll take a few times before she's used to this new sleeping arrangement.  It's a hard transition from little girl to big girl!

I definitely feel as though I'm getting a second summer break, even if it's only a few days.  There are still three days ahead of me, days I hope to fill with shopping, dinner alone with Jeremy, hanging out with friends, and spending as much extra time as possible with my big girl!