Ava: Making Memories

This is my Ava Corinne, my first grand daughter.  Ava had prepared herself for our time together days earlier; coordinating her outfit, her make up, her cowgirl hat, her earrings, her boots ~ the complete ensem, just for me, her Pappy. 

It was such a sweet and precious gesture, and I love that she loves to do it.  I'm telling you what, this picture does not do justice to how much she rocked this outfit; wow, she looked amazing.  Those boots with the multiple straps just below her knee, with those killer black tights, perfect black hair, and the Ciara cologne (my favorite), and her special side-saddle single braid she'd had her hair done with was a perfect way to top off 'her look.'

Our first stop of the day was QT.  Don't need to ask Ava twice!  Once for that matter, she tells me right away she wants a donut!  I get her the chocolate covered one with red stripes that she asks for, and I pick up a chicken biscuit sandwich to enjoy with my DDP (it tastes more like real DP).  I calmly take a bite of my sandwich, chew, peruse the headlines of the USA today, swallow, and look up at Ava.  In the time it took for me to do this (<1 minute, remember, it was my 1st bite), Ava had inhaled her donut, and had made friends with 2 other customers that were complimenting her on her hat, and on her earrings!  By the time I'd finished my sandwich, 4 customers had told me how cute or pretty she was, and that my daughter was adorable.  I couldn't agree more.

We then journeyed across the street to Lowe's, and Ava assisted with the selection of Basil and Heather to be planted at home.  She was a whiz at bagging in the self-checkout lane, and we briskly began walking to our car . . . only to be interrupted by the white-trash-sperm-donor-of-the-day moment.  This idiot was cussing out his 3 year son, whom was in tears.  I summoned every ounce of reserve not to go pistol-whip this white-trash piece of dog excrement.  And had Ava not been with me, I most certainly would have had a come to Jesus face-to-face with this 140 lb. sorry example of human breeding.  Man, if you didn't want the child; you should have placed him up for adoption. But, you're so stupid you probably don't even know what adoption is.  Ava was thankfully distracted by carrying the bag of basil, and I don't think her ears had to hear what this punk's son had to hear . . . tragic.

Back to the fun . . .

We pointed our car towards Target and as Ava bolted through the doors, her smile and her words were indelibly tattooed in my brain "this way Pappy, I know right where the jewelry is!"  And indeed she did.  For the better part of an hour, we tried on a plethora of head bands, rings, bracelets, charms, beads, necklaces, hair bows, scarves, shoes, purses, etc.  Wow, "what a girl wants, what a girl needs".  Today was going to be 180 degrees different than my day with Will earlier this week :-).  We left Target with a new pair of fancy flip-flops (sorry if this is not what they are, but that's what they look like), and she also 'had' to have the matching purple purse.  Personally, I think it is more like a clutch, and Ava wanted to know the difference in the two.  Being now completely in touch with my feminine side, I educated her on the differences between a clutch, a purse, a bag, and a pouch.

Ava certainly did her share of educating me at Target though.  In some form of the following sentence, I heard this once, if not 10x.  "No Pappy, that hair bow (clip, ring, bead, earring, necklace, etc.) does not go with that purse (shoe, skirt, hair clip, eye shadow, etc.)"  She told me all about how certain things had to go with other things, and how you didn't match certain colors with certain styles, and how things had to coordinate, but that some contrast was acceptable.

I said "Ava, how old are you?"  She said 6.  I said Uh-Huh, sure you are . . . yeah right, 6.  Wow.

It was time for lunch, and one of Ava's favorite places to eat is Panda Express.  She loves the orange chicken and the lo mien.  I must say, for fast food Chinese, this place does it right.  Ava told me that she knew how to use chop sticks, and of course I believed her, but having never seen her do it, I thought this would be a treat.  Awe-So, so this is how it's done, no wonder I've never been able to figure them out.  If I remember right, you take a chop stick in each hand, and you stab the pieces of chicken hard enough to skewer it, and then you eat one side at a time, like a k-bob.  Good job Ava, I'll never think of chop sticks the same way ever again.

We were close to Pier 1, and we stopped off to look at a new blue vase and blue frame that were on sale.  I had no idea that Ava would be "in her element" in this store too.  Ava LOVED this place!  She must have touched, smelled, picked up, inspected, or analyzed 91% of the items in the store that were within her reach.  Thankfully, she's not yet 5' tall, so a lot of the inventory was still out of her reach.  She sweetly told me nearing the end of our 3-day sleepover in the store that she was going to buy me a special gift, just for me.  I love you Ava, I look forward to seeing what you pick out for me.

Our final stop of the day was Jewelry Galore.  Uh, can you say girly?  The store clerk welcomed us with open arms (she must know a Pappy when she sees one, and knows she's about to make a BIG sale).  She asked "have you ever been in the store before?", and when I said no, she made it her personal mission to show me everything that "my little girl" would want.  Not too shockingly, she was right, as Ava walked out with a hair bow, hair clip, ring, scarf, bracelet, and other sundries that I just don't remember.  My head was spinning from the incessant drone of Selena, Cee-Lo, and the BEP's rockin' the radio; which of course, Ava was keeping perfect pitch as she sung along.

I love you Ava Corinne.  You are one precious and super-special Monster.  I look forward to our next day together, as this one was certainly one for the memory books too!