Mutterings

Avery is talking enough now that she occasionally says some funny things. When D opened the Christmas tree box (yes, it's a tad bit early), Avery looked inside and said, "Oh my gosh!!" She then said that over and over, probably because D and I burst out laughing. It was very funny in context, believe you me. I think I found it more funny because that is not a phrase I use often. If anything, I say, "Oh my god," but she picked up "gosh" somewhere. Good girl.

The second thing that springs to mind when thinking of recent mutterings is Avery's newfound love of the movie Bolt. There's a point in the movie where the dog is going after his person and says, "Hold on, Penny!" Avery has adopted this phrase as her own and utters it with some true acting prowess. I need to get this on video because it's definitely a keeper (that sentence is somewhat amusing if you've seen Bolt ... Penny takes pictures and says, "That's a keeper!")

Third, Avery calls her friends Henry and Josie "He-ry, Josie!" However, she calls her friend Elise, "Friend Elise!" She then likes to talk about everyone in Elise's family, "Shell? Unc Jay? Baby No-wan? Baby No-wan crying!" With that last one, she makes her frown-y face. For those who haven't witnessed it, Avery has a very expressive face, particularly when it comes to showing her sad face. She has the traditional frown that goes straight into buckets o' tears. So when she shows empathy that Baby Nolan sometimes cries, it's quite endearing.

Not quite in line with an uttering, but worthy of blog documentation nonetheless, I present to you Avery's first official joke! Avery loves Michael Jackson. She can identify his music vs other music with a great deal of accuracy. One day, she was asking for "Michael Jackson" and followed it up with a very enunciated "owwwwww!" I decided that it would be funny to ask, "What does a cow say? What does a sheep say? What does Michael Jackson say?" We have done this for bank tellers and grocery checkout clerks. If their responses are any indication, Avery will be a very successful comedian.

Finally, Avery likes to announce she wants to "take a bath." While not a new phrase, I find the way she says this particular phrase to be oh so adorable. Maybe because she very clearly enunciates each word.

Brunch

Once a month, we have a brunch with friends who have toddlers around Avery's age.   Avery loves these brunches and talks about "friend Elise" and "Josie!" and "he-ry" (Henry) and "Alex-dra" (Alexandra).  She also can tell the difference between Baby Nolan and Baby Emmett, which I think is quite impressive.

Below are some pictures of Avery from today's brunch.