Headstand

We've had a busy few weeks since getting back from Mexico, but things are calming down a bit.

On Monday, we had a long playdate with Elise while E's mom got some packing done.  Elise and Avery love to play together and I love to watch them.  Sure there's the cuteness factor of babies/toddlers playing with each other; but it's also fascinating.  When they were playing up in Avery's room, they pulled out two of the mesh bins, put them on the floor, emptied their contents, then proceeded to climb into the baskets, then out, then in, then out - all the while giggling.  When Avery's nap time rolled around, I pulled the Pack N Play into Avery's room and put Elise down to nap in that.  I left the room and they started a full on giggle fit.  For about 20 minutes, I listened to chatter interspersed with giggles interspersed with squeals.  Towards the end of the day, I decided to dress Avery in a similar outfit to Elise and to put Elise's hair up like I do Avery's.  The video below has a clip of their twins look while sitting on the metal chair in the living room.

Tonight, as we were playing with Avery before bed, D helped her do a handstand.  She loved it.  Once upright again, she immediately did the help sign and we said, "Help with what?"  She got into downward dog position to indicate she wanted to do the headstand again.  Her doing this a couple of times is also in the video below.


Headstand, bass, playing with friends from Megan Smith on Vimeo.

Signing

We are so glad we decided to do signing with Avery - and that we even knew it existed! By far, the most helpful sign thus far is the "help" sign. Thankfully, this is also one of Avery's most solid signs. It has reduced the whining by about 75%. She uses it all the time:

• When she wants to get up into a chair or on the couch, she gets into standing position, then does the sign silently until we notice. We ask if she wants to get up and she gets very excited to indicate it is indeed what she wants.
• When she wants to go for a ride on her new ladybug toy, she climbs aboard and then does the help sign so we can push her.
• When she wants to go outside, she'll crawl over to the door and do the help sign to indicate that.
• She's now starting to do it in conjunction with other requests. She'll do "help" and then "water." Or "help" then "milk." I like this because I believe it's helping to eliminate her use of the "milk" sign when she simply wants SOMETHING, but doesn't want milk. She's starting to do the "help" sign and then point to what she wants.

Avery's signs thus far include: help, change (though she uses this one to indicate she's "all done" with something), milk, water, eat, dog, and upstairs. She also pats her ear when she wants to hear music, so we're working on the music sign. We haven't really been introducing any other new signs, so I plan to start doing that soon.

Of course, it doesn't reduce all whining, nor does it eliminate all tantrums, but I've seen an improvement in both since the "help" sign was fully put to use by Avery.

Avery's also developing her own willful streak. I used to be able to tell her no and she would stop what she was doing. Now she stops for a moment, then gets this look of mischief, and then proceeds with the banned activity as fast as she can. Like if I see her about to put something she shouldn't in her mouth and I say no, she pauses then shoves it in her mouth real fast and looks at me like, "What are you going to do about that!"

Finally, Avery's learned to get down off chairs and beds properly. For a long time she would just head for the edge head first. So the other day I showed her how to turn herself around and lower herself down feet first. She caught on very fast and now does it very, very well.

Daddy Diary Day 1

When D has to travel for business, he obviously misses Avery a lot. I was thinking about what we could do to make the travel days easier for both Daddy and Avery. As all things seem to lead back to blogging for Mommy, it should come as no surprise that the solution is a blog post!

From this point forward, we'll be doing the Daddy Diary Days at Casa de Trio! Avery will tell a story via pictures to tell Daddy all about her day. I have grand plans that eventually Avery will be able to take her own pictures of her day and we can post those for Daddy to view. And maybe when she's old enough to understand, Daddy can take pictures of his day and post those for Avery. For now, I'll take the pictures and hope they're somewhat interesting.

Unfortunately, while Daddy is indeed traveling today, I didn't think of this idea until late in the day. So we don't have pictures of Avery from today. But we do have three cute pictures to tide us over.

Wearing Daddy's hat in Mexico
Note: how perfect that her shirt says "Perfect (just like my Daddy)"

Wearing Daddy's sunglasses on the flight home

Wearing the new baby Beco given to her by the G's

Pool

We visited the pool here for the first time this visit.  Avery absolutely loved it.  So much so that she threw a tantrum when we pulled her out of the pool to put her in the stroller.  That little episode not withstanding, we had a great time.  In talking with Nikki recently, I learned that she was a pretty serious swimmer when she was younger - with coaches, etc.  That must be where Avery gets her natural swimming ability!  On the other hand, she doesn't really enjoy the sand on the beach.  She gets that from me. :)

Kicky baby in the pool

Mexican Adventures

Our little experiment of bringing very few toys (we only brought the stuffed animals that she sleeps with) is going fairly well.  Avery entertains herself by playing with the stroller. This alone can keep her busy for a good 15-20 minutes.  

She also enjoys helping with household chores, such as laundry. 

Given the diversity of plants down here, she's becoming quite the horticulturalist.

Being in Mexico does nothing to diminish her obsession with D's laptop.  Fortunately, she can do plenty of her online communications sitting on Daddy's lap.

When rolling in her stroller, Avery has two positions ... inappropriate

... and even more inappropriate

 

Avery quickly decided that Mexico is the perfect place to break out the Crocs! 

Life is good!