Daddy's Little Helper

Ava is SO excited when Daddy comes home after work, and today was no exception, but perhaps her most enthusiastic greeting yet. She keeps one little ear finely tuned to the sound of Daddy's jeep coming up the drive, past the house, and then to the doors of the house opening. Once she heard him come through the door, she went running and yelling...."Daddy's home!!!!" And then ran into his arms with a big hug; so much fun to watch. Daddy then affectionately referred to her as his little "tick" as she clung to him all night.



The funniest thing is the little "routine" they have that I just recently discovered. Once Daddy comes in the door to be greeted by Ava, he sets his bag down and then Ava announces that it's time to help Daddy change clothes. Usually I'm so relieved to have him home so I can focus on dinner, or Livi, that I just let them go off to our room in peace. But the other night I was curious, so I followed them to catch a bit of the ritual. And this is the hilarious part, Jeff has Ava putting his clothes away for him...happily. He takes off his shirt and hands it to her, and she runs and puts it in the hamper, followed by pants, then shoes go in the closet and finally she selects a baseball hat of her choice for him to wear the rest of the evening. Jeff just discovered how excited she is to help out, and it definitely benefits him since I refuse to pick up his clothes anymore!



Another first happened tonight, and another thanks to Daddy. Ava told her Dad that she had to go poop and she wanted to sit on the potty. What???? She never tells me this, and I do ask. Often. He assumed it was too late, but soon found out it wasn't. So we did a bunch of clapping and laughing and called the grandparents...pretty exciting around here. I'd like to think that the potty training is suddenly "clicking" for Ava, but I think I also have MDO to thank for this too. I'll have to find out more specifics from her teachers, but I hear her talk about sitting on the potty at school too. So hopefully this will start to become a little more regular...ha! pun intended.



And we'll end with this little video of things we do to make Livi laugh for the camera....