Welcome Tina, and Happy Holidays!

Her favorite part of the Hippos Go Berserk book:

Welcome to German au pair Tina, who arrived a week ago!  Here in the Riversdale garden and playing with dried beans with Ava:

The sink and the dried beans continue to be big hits:

Right at stage level at the kids song hour at Busboys and Poets:

On Friday morning Ava awoke to discover that Odie dog (with Ima and GrandTod) had appeared in the night:

Cooking bread with Daddy:

Ima, GrandTod, Tina, Mommy and Ava went to the zoo on Friday.  Ava thoroughly enjoyed the farm animal barn until the cow mooed:

Ava identified what she would like for Christmas:

Instead, she was presented with this haul:

Suffering from a cold, Ava retreated soon after present opening commenced Christmas morning:

She returned for a late morning rally.  Mommy got what she wanted for Christmas:  The Sibley guide to trees!

Packing peanuts were also a big hit:

Ava really seemed to hit her stride with present interaction around 9:30 p.m., when Daddy and Mommy were most certainly winding down:

We all got up bright and early today, though, and everyone minus Daddy went on a tour of the Library of Congress:

This week's Ava-approved things

Medlar fruit.  Google it.

Play group with new friend Tova.  Tova's mommy is in charge of the medlar grove.

Daddy.

Helping.  Lots of helping this week.  Dishwasher helping continues to be a favorite.  

Helping set up the Christmas tree....

Put away the vegetables from the CSA share...

Add rosemary to the stock pot.....

Do laundry....

Whisk....

Spin the salad....

And help in the sink.  Vegetable washing.  Transferring water from one place to another.  Important jobs, enthusiastically accomplished, for extended periods of time.  Pants optional.  

Enjoying reorganizing the packing material from the big Christmas box from Aunt Chris.  We're loving this ephemeral phenomenon of the packing material being a second gift.

Playing in the garden at Riversdale mansion:

Swinging is still awesome.  This park is a stop on our riverside run:

Visiting the winter-blooming camelias at the National Arboretum with Grace and neighbors Kimberly and Lucy:

Cold afternoon walk with Daddy:

Cutting up the Amish pie pumpkin:

Engaging with the fruit bowl at neighbors Pat and Lance's holiday party:

I finally got a video of Ava walking.  The video also features Ava putting her diaper cover (clean) over her head.  Let's just call that an ancillary benefit of this video, a bonus feature.  

Playing with toys.  Also be beginning of the runny nose that has turned into a full-blown terrible cold for both Ava and Mommy.  

Sharing her dry leaf with Toto dog across the street.  We visit Toto most days.

The camera has become a useful tool for diaper change distraction.

Identifying duck's bill.

Ava dares me to begin the cleaning process.

Ava is becoming increasingly adept with her crayons from Kara.  Here, the artist is serious.  She really enjoys it, though!