Ava Summer 2009 Update
Dear Friends and Family,
It has been a long time since we posted about Ava, but it’s been a busy summer with making decisions regarding house updates and repairs.
On to the updates:
- Ava, Mommy and her nurse traveled for a month-long visit to Germany in April. Ava met her German grandfather, aunts, uncle and cousins for the first time. For Mommy, it was nice seeing Germany and her family for the first time in six years. While overseas, we also made pilgrimage to Medjugorje, Croatia, where we made great friends and had a wonderful experience there in our group of 29 from the US. Thank you Steve Shawl for bringing us all together (http://www.medjugorje.org/supersavertrip.htm). While in Germany, Mommy bought Ava a new manual wheelchair for indoors and an awesome standing device (see video clip below). And of course a Playmobil toy farm…
- In June, Ava went four weeks to German Language Summer camp at the German School in Potomac, MD. She had a wonderful time and it was a great for her. Mommy started talking German to her since Ava’s visit to Germany in April. In September Ava will start Saturday German school.
- Mid-summer, Ava turned four years old and she’s become quite the funny character. She still has a huge passion for her toy animals and is adding to her ever growing collection. She has three toy farms so far and has frequent tea parties with them with her horses, pigs and cows. She also has a collection of dinosaurs now.
- Ava’s grandparents, Papa and Nonna came for the summer and Ava’s birthday and Ava had a dinosaur-theme cake with roaring dinosaurs ! The bakery didn’t have a cake with farm animals.
- Just a couple of weeks ago, we just had wood flooring installed upstairs and Ava can join us now upstairs pushing her manual wheelchair and going in all the rooms! Before with the carpeted upstairs she could not propel herself. So for Ava it’s like discovering a new part of the house — especially rolling around in her own bedroom!
Overall, Ava had a busy summer with trips and camps and going to the pool and water park, since we know that in fall and winter she will be staying home a lot to avoid colds and flues etc.
Ava has developed a few other passions. Singing, shopping and eating mashed potatoes and mushrooms. Ava now shares Mommy’s passion of finding kids songs on YouTube to sing to – a treat before bed time.
Ava has also become quite the shopaholic driving her electric wheelchair in the mall. Her favorite things are: stores with animals, make-up, the candy store and jewellery stores and I mean the real stuff! She is much smarter that way than her Mommy starting early. At the end of a shopping day she wants to go to a ‘Hungry Store,” a restaurant for mashed potatoes and mushrooms.
Since Ava likes jewellery so much she had her ears pieced with pink hearts a few weeks ago. When she asked how much it would hurt, I pinched her ear and she said: “That’s not bad, let’s go”.
We are happy to create a new post after long break and hope to update more frequently after the summer.
Be sure and check out the new pictures too.
God Bless and we hope you had a relaxing summer.
Ava, Anja and Randy
