Ava and the buzz cut, or why a 3-year-old should never play with scissors

*raising her hands "as high as you can" as prompted by the Little Einsteins show she is watching...she is also saying "hi!", and exposing us to her unchewed gf pumpkin muffin.

Ian cut Ava's hair. Five inches off the top. I cried. Then I laughed. And then I threw away the scissors. It happened a few weeks ago, and I haven't felt like taking pictures or blogging about it. But I'm over it now and think her little pixie cut is quite cute. Despite all the comments I get about how she's "a cute little feller".

Ava is 15-months-old and full of spunk. And fun. And Energy. And drama. She is talking quite a bit. She lovingly refers to her "bruz" by their nicknames, "beanie bean" and "mac-mo". It's her best effort to say "eanie bean" and "maximo". She follows them everywhere, and plays in the dirt alongside them with trucks and dinosaurs. Her grandfather was horrified when he came to visit, and promptly requested that I "get her some dolls to play with". She has plenty of dolls, but would much rather do what her brothers do. They are rock stars to her.

The other day the three of them were playing in the boys' room, when all of the sudden it got very quiet and I heard the boys whispering something about Ava being on the bed. I rushed in to see what was going on, and found Ava on the TOP bunk, hanging over the ledge with a huge smile. I still can't believe she can summit the top bunk already. She has NO FEAR. So different from my careful boys.

She always reminds us that she is a girl with dramatic outbursts, despite her tomboy tendencies. When she doesn't get her way she stomps her feet, shakes her head, and even throws herself on the ground and "cries". The other day J-P didn't give her what she wanted, so she threw herself on the ground next to his feet and started crying. He immediately walked to the other side of the kitchen and started to do the dishes. She immediately stopped crying, walked over to where he was, and dramatically threw herself on the ground by his feet again and started crying. As if to say, apparently you didn't notice me. Let me make this more obvious for you. We still laugh about it on a daily basis.

She is saying quite a few words. When she has a BM she comes to find me, and with a very distressed face says "pooped". Whenever I ask a question (who wants to go to the store?, who wants a snack?, who wants to take a bath?, etc.) she comes running and yells out "I doooo! I do! I do!" It's completely adorable. In fact, she says "I do!" whenever she sees anything she wants. If I am eating a banana, she points to it and says "I do! I doooooo!" If we are at the store and she sees a toy she wants, she starts bouncing in the cart, hyperventilating, and saying "I Do! I Do! I Doooo!" If she doesn't want something, she is equally as dramatic. She shakes her head and says "Huh uh. No. Na Na Na NO!"

And for the purpose of recording, I will have to add that she holds her own with the boys. She bites, pushes, steals toys, scratches, and more. She also LOVES clothes. And shoes. She is always bringing us clothes and shoes to put on her, and she tantrums if we don't comply. At any given point of the day, she is usually wearing a pair of shoes and up to three sweaters. Sometimes hats or other random accessories she finds. Oh, and she is finally willing to keep a headband on for the first time in almost a year. But only if I tell her how pretty she looks. She immediately stops yanking at it and starts smiling and batting her eyelashes. I'm not kidding. Her love of clothes and "looking pretty" is definitely not something we've instilled in her. She has come up with that personality trait all on her own.

Other things I don't want to forget: how she sings "bye-bye baby" (rock-a-bye baby) to her dolls as she rocks them in her cradle. And how she immediately starts dancing and laughing whenever she hears music. She stomps her feet and spins around while yelling "dan(ce)!, dan(ce)!, dan(ce)!"

Ok, I think that's it. I'm so curious to see how she will change over the next few months.