Carrot

The absolute coolest thing happened with Avery today.  Damian and I decided Avery needed some new toys, so off we went off to the toy store.  We came home with a set of wooden fruit and vegetables.  Each piece of fruit/veg consists of two pieces connected together with Velcro.  Kids can "cut" them apart using a wooden knife, or pull them apart.  Avery went about playing with the carrot while I put together another toy we bought her.  I heard "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh" several times from the other room, but knew it wasn't serious (she doesn't uh oh for serious matters).  I finished putting together the toy, then went about finding all the various bits of wooden fruit so we wouldn't step on them later.  I searched and searched, but couldn't find the other half of the carrot.  Finally, out of desperation, but not really thinking it would work, I held the half carrot up and asked her where the other half of the carrot was.  She looked up at me and pointed to my office.  I asked her to show me, at which point she left her toy in the kitchen, toddled all the way into my office, around my desk, then proceeded to point down behind the leg of my desk.  This is why she was uh oh-ing: the carrot had gotten stuck behind the desk leg and she couldn't get to it.  So she not only understood that I was asking her to show me where the other half of the carrot was, but remembered after about 30 minutes where it was located!  I was so impressed.

Avery actually understands quite a lot now.  She understands most of my basic instructions.  Whether she actually performs the request is another story.  Recently she started to say "go!" and "out!"  I suspect she actually picked those up from playing so much with Elise, who often commands these things of the dogs around her.

She's growing up so fast!