Smattering

I'm trying to get caught up on posting of summer pictures.  Here we just have a smattering of photos for your viewing enjoyment.

Dual kisses make Avery very happy!

 

Playdough fun (in a Batman t-shirt from Uncle Justin & Aunt Caroline)

  

Looking sporty at a fountain

  

Some light reading for the potty

  

Simply kissable

  

Alphabet puzzle, baby Beco, big girl ponytail

 

Nain Visits

My mom has come out for a visit a couple of times this summer.  Some shots from our activities together:

Nain pushed Avery in the stroller while I walked the two dogs* and Elise up the trail.  We met in the middle.

* The chocolate Lab is Conan, Elise's dog. Eddie can't go on trail walks anymore due to his age. :(

Nain (my mom) with Avery

Three generations at the zoo!

Nain will be heading with Avery and I to Mexico over Labor Day for a two-week vacation.  Now that she's retired from 30-years of teaching, we plan to drag her all over the place with us. 

BD Party

Avery was recently honored with an invitation to her friend Alexandra's third birthday party.  It was held at Little Gym, so most of the pictures we took were blurs of a flurry of toddlers spinning and running and jumping and participating in general merriment.  However, there were a few shots that made me realize just much Avery has grown up lately.

This shot is a bit blurry, but I love it because the kids were told to stand on the dots.  It was a way of herding them into a line to take turns getting onto a bouncy thing.  Most of the other kids were three-ish and had a lot of trouble adhering to the "stay on the dot until the person in front of you moves" guidance.  My little 18-month-old looked at that dot with an intensity that still brings a smile to my heart.  She followed those instructions and went from dot to dot.  Kids would pass her by, cut in front, whatever - she just concentrated on her dot and then moved forward when it was time.  I have a feeling when she's three, she'll be a lot like the other three-year-olds who weren't exactly paying attention to the rules. But for now, this shot is of my little rule-follower. 

At another point in the party, the kids were instructed to all get on the previously mentioned bouncy thing and pose for pictures. The three-year-olds had no trouble with this.  I assumed Avery wouldn't follow the instructions, but darned if she didn't do just that.  Again, not the greatest photography shot, but definitely a memorable one of my baby growing up before my eyes.

Pool Party

During the week of really hot weather this July, we broke out the pool.  I bought this pool intending for it to go out on the back deck.  Then I read the instructions and noted it said it was only to go on grass.  I'm a rule follower, so I found some suitable grass out front, created our own shade using an umbrella and voilà!  Instant pool party!

 

 

Avery of age 12: I beg of you to forgive me for the picture above, but baby butt crack is just too funny.  Sorry.

Friends

Avery's friend Elise recently became a big sister.  During the birth of baby Nolan, Elise spent several days with us, as well as during a period afterward when Nolan had to be hospitalized (he's just dandy now, so no worries!)  We actually managed to snap a few pictures between diaper changes and meals and toddler mediation efforts.  These are those shots.

They don't look happy, but they held hands without an adult prompting them!

Orange Period

Picasso had his Blue Period. Avery has her Orange Period. Or maybe I just took more photos that day?  I prefer the comparison of my daughter to Picasso than the one of me to a lazy picture-taker, so Orange Period it is!

I love how she seems to be pefecting some sort of modeling pose in the first two pictures.  The coy looking up look.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

The last picture is of Avery looking at a plane.  She loves, loves, loves planes.  And helicopters.  Many of our dog walks consist of the following conversation after our first plane sighting of the walk:

Avery: "More pane?"
Me: "Mommy has no control of the planes.  They just fly when they fly."

... 30 seconds later ...

Avery: "More pane, peas?"
Me: "Thank you for saying please, but Mommy has no ..."

... 30 seconds later ...

Avery: "More pane, peas?"
Me: ...

You get the idea. 

Playroom

A few months ago, I decided Avery's room was bursting with toys.  I swore I would not be the mother who had a child with so.many.toys.  Toys spoil, I don't want to spoil, kids learn better without a bunch of stuff around them, blah, blah, blah.  Yeah, let's chalk that one up to GPP (Grand Parenting Plan) #101 thrown out the window.  Let's just say my child has some toys and leave it at that - parenting is all about eating humble pie, right?

Anyway, we had a basement room not in use and it had a bed in it.  What else could a playroom need, I ask?  So I set about converting it to a playroom.  In my world, this does not mean I decorated it or anything like that.  It means I took the bed off the frame to make it more kid friendly and pushed it into the corner, then filled the room with toys and declared it a playroom.  Here are some long overdue pictures of said playroom.  Now that I see the pictures, we should really get some art work on that wall, but I digress and simply present the demise of GPP #101:

Note toddler height of bed; also useful for mommy naps whilst playing

 

In-progress kitchen play area - it really needs a pot filler*

  

*(ha! RHG that one's for you)

Another view of the kitchen

  

Yet another kitchen view ... really milking the kitchen shots here

  

Toy armoire  

(the unopened box on the left is a rocking horse that D insisted we not open after I came home with a plethora of toys one day)

Tent, pillows, toy bin

(Note: Avery's favorite toy, a huge stuffed dog given to her by BM Nikki is located in her room so she can play with it everyday)

 

Bin o' balls, learning cube, old phone