Ava Kisses

Two Sundays ago we learned that Ava knows what the word “kisses” means. Trust me, she has no shortage of receiving kisses. We’re constantly smooching her sweet, chubby cheeks and her little belly. I occasionally will ask for a kiss back: “Gimme kisses”. When I say that now, she has been grabbing both sides of my hair or my cheeks, and pulling my face close to her (ouch), opening her mouth, and slobbering me all over one cheek. She makes a little “aaah” sound, too. (Normally when I kiss her on the cheek, I make a loud smooch sound and she’ll smile).

No need to shower on days when I get “Ava kisses,” Ava takes care of the “shower” part for me…

Sometimes she randomly does this after I pick her up and hold her. It's the sweetest thing! She likes to give hugs when she needs them, too. She will put her arms around my neck and snuggle like a little Koala bear. It’s adorable. She isn't the super snuggle-bunny I imagined a baby would be yet (she's a very "busy" and active baby, crawling on you when you hold her), so the few times she does want to snuggle, I cherish!

When I asked if she would “gimme kisses” a few weeks back, she did. Doug was holding her at the time, so I then asked if she would “give Daddy kisses,” and she did! It melted my heart! It was the first time she has made it obvious that she knows the meaning of a specific word we've said. How cool that the word was "kisses". :-)

Other words:
I think she also knows the meaning of the word "more". She also gives big smiles and lights up when we cheer her on and clap. She gets a smirk on her face when I say the word "Mama" or "Dad-da", too. She's started to "talk" by using lowering her voice a little more and saying "oh". It's pretty cute to watch.

With love,
Shelly