Week in Review

I just thought I would start off by sharing what our mornings usually look like around here. I had the camera out and Ava saw it, so she wanted her picture taken. Then I took Lily's picture too for posterity's sake. Yum, breakfast!

The week seemed to fly by. The girls and I went to the park for a playgroup on Wednesday instead of music class, where Ava tried to scam EVERYONE out of food. If I fix her something to eat - no way; if somebody else has it, it is the most delectable thing in the world. I tried to tell the other moms they didn't need to feed her, but they just laughed me off and said it wasn't a bother.

Last week I attended a book group discussion and this week had a few activities out with friends as well. Elliott taught Ava where I was going - "out with the ladies." So that is one of her new favorite phrases now - "Mommy out with the ladies?"

Elliott and I read in a magazine article this week that the terrible two's are a myth and it is really the terrible three's. Oh boy! If that is so we are really in for it. Ava's will grows stronger everyday and she is really starting to get tricky on me. One night during dinner, Elliott hadn't arrived home yet and I was just pooped so we started dinner without him. As Ava and I were sitting there she picked up her peas, one at a time, and started throwing them overboard. She knows this is a no-no and my patience was wearing very thin. "NO throwing food!!" She looked at me, pushed her food around for awhile and then took another pea and sent it over the side. "What did mommy say?" I roared, "no throwing food!" To which Ava calmly replied "No throw food. Fingers drop." She had me up the creek on the that one. I tried to turn my head so she didn't see me laughing.

Jack had a rough week this week. We took him into the vet on Friday after his front paw swelled up and he kept licking at them all. He has had allergies since last fall and we just try to keep his discomfort to a minimum and monitor it. When it is really bad I don't let him hang out in the yard. But this had reached a new level and Elliott thought it was time to have the vet see him again. Turns out the poor puppy had a bacterial and yeast infection in his paws from all that licking. And since his allergies didn't clear up over the winter (that I remember) the vet thinks he might have food allergies. So he got a steroid shot; has been put on a hypo-allergenic diet for eight weeks; twice daily antibiotics for two weeks; paw spray; and twice daily doses of Benadryl for the remainder of his life. All that being said, he hasn't looked this peppy or his paws this healthy in a long time.

Saturday I stopped by a garage sale and picked up a few things, but the big purchase (if you call $15 big) was a water table toy for Ava to play with in the backyard. I had wanted to purchase one of these at the beginning of summer, but they run around $80-100 so at that time we opted for the $10 pool instead. She loves it! She spent quite a bit of time out there splashing and playing. I think it will get some good use.

Elliott and did watch the presidential debate Friday night. I had wanted to post a separate blog entry about our reactions to it, but since it is now Monday and Friday seems so long ago I will give you our general impression instead. We thought McCain was highly nervous talking economy, but came into his own when talking foreign policy and war. He dropped alot of names but we thought it was a good tactic at showing how few leaders Obama had met and/or talked to on issues of foreign policy and the war. Obama is definitely a smoother speaker, but McCain was more passionate. All in all Elliott and I gave the debate to McCain, who we are not ashamed to admit highly surprised us in his proficiency during the debate. We thought for sure Obama would wipe the floor with him. This is not to say we will be voting Republican, as Elliott leans more heavily each day at voting Libertarian and I am still as yet undecided. BUT WE WILL BE VOTING!