Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Dinosaurs
With the beautiful weather in Portland lately, Avery and I have been doing many outdoor activities, including hikes with friends. Today we went on a hike in the morning through the Hoyt Arboretum, then on our daily dog hike on the trail by our house and through the cemetery, and finally on a tricycling trip around the neighborhood. It's going to be tough when the usual rainy weather returns.
During this morning's hike, someone suggested to the kids that there were probably dinosaurs in the forest (anything to get the kids moving!) All three of them grabbed onto this idea and went in search of dinosaurs. When we stumbled upon an observation deck along the trail, the kids wasted no time in calling for the hiding dinosaurs to make an appearance.
During this morning's hike, someone suggested to the kids that there were probably dinosaurs in the forest (anything to get the kids moving!) All three of them grabbed onto this idea and went in search of dinosaurs. When we stumbled upon an observation deck along the trail, the kids wasted no time in calling for the hiding dinosaurs to make an appearance.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Home Again
I didn't realize I hadn't done a post since we returned from Mexico! This is a wrong that must be righted.
Our return flights from Mexico were about as easy as they come. Avery did awesome on both flights, planes were on time, baggage arrived as expected. Basically, it couldn't have been an easier trip home. For that, I am always full of gratitude.
Since we've been back, Nain came to visit for a week. Nain and Avery always have a great time together, with Nain often taking Avery outside to do things like blow bubbles and tricycle around the neighborhood.
With each passing day, Avery is establishing more independence and making decisions about the way she likes things to be done. For example, I just assumed she would want stuffed animals on her bed to keep her company. This is flatly wrong. She doesn't like any stuffed animals or babies on her bed when she sleeps, especially if she did not put them there to begin with. She will sometimes take her baby to bed with her, but she never keeps it with her through the night. Avery sleeps alone ... and with her bibs. She loves those bibs. Often, when she wakes up in the morning, she's standing at the door of her bedroom. I knock and ask if I can come in, she sweetly replies, "Yes," then says, "Avery's awake!" (or, as she did this morning, "I awake!) and is standing there with anywhere from 10-15 bibs in her arms. She carries them into say hi to Damian who's usually getting ready for work. I find her attachment to the bibs interesting because she definitely needs them to sleep, they are a source of comfort, but she rarely insists on bringing them with us when we leave the house. The few times she has done that, she specifically states that she wants to leave them in the car. I'm very thankful that she has no objection to the bibs being washed, and doesn't have an attachment to any particular bib, so losing one is no problem. If she finds the rare bib that hasn't been cut (we cut the velcro part off the back so she can't put the bib on and accidentally strangle herself), she immediately requests that it be cut.
We also recently had a visit with Avery's great grandmother Ruth! It's seems remembering the phrase "great grandmother" is a bit much for Avery right now, so we'll just call her Grandma Ruth. Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Jerry came up for a visit last week to meet Avery. While Avery was a bit reserved at first, when she figured out these two people where there to watch her ... well, she was happy as a clam! It was a great visit and we were so happy to meet Ruth and Jerry!
Our return flights from Mexico were about as easy as they come. Avery did awesome on both flights, planes were on time, baggage arrived as expected. Basically, it couldn't have been an easier trip home. For that, I am always full of gratitude.
Since we've been back, Nain came to visit for a week. Nain and Avery always have a great time together, with Nain often taking Avery outside to do things like blow bubbles and tricycle around the neighborhood.
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| Nain and Avery before a bubble blowing session |
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| Avery in her favorite jammies: dinosaurs! |
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| Avery in her Halloween costume (pulled out of the closet at her request) |
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| Avery with Megan's best friend from HS, Jen! |
With each passing day, Avery is establishing more independence and making decisions about the way she likes things to be done. For example, I just assumed she would want stuffed animals on her bed to keep her company. This is flatly wrong. She doesn't like any stuffed animals or babies on her bed when she sleeps, especially if she did not put them there to begin with. She will sometimes take her baby to bed with her, but she never keeps it with her through the night. Avery sleeps alone ... and with her bibs. She loves those bibs. Often, when she wakes up in the morning, she's standing at the door of her bedroom. I knock and ask if I can come in, she sweetly replies, "Yes," then says, "Avery's awake!" (or, as she did this morning, "I awake!) and is standing there with anywhere from 10-15 bibs in her arms. She carries them into say hi to Damian who's usually getting ready for work. I find her attachment to the bibs interesting because she definitely needs them to sleep, they are a source of comfort, but she rarely insists on bringing them with us when we leave the house. The few times she has done that, she specifically states that she wants to leave them in the car. I'm very thankful that she has no objection to the bibs being washed, and doesn't have an attachment to any particular bib, so losing one is no problem. If she finds the rare bib that hasn't been cut (we cut the velcro part off the back so she can't put the bib on and accidentally strangle herself), she immediately requests that it be cut.
We also recently had a visit with Avery's great grandmother Ruth! It's seems remembering the phrase "great grandmother" is a bit much for Avery right now, so we'll just call her Grandma Ruth. Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Jerry came up for a visit last week to meet Avery. While Avery was a bit reserved at first, when she figured out these two people where there to watch her ... well, she was happy as a clam! It was a great visit and we were so happy to meet Ruth and Jerry!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Pretend & Singing
Fairy Princess
Since D and I both feel Avery should be watching less TV, we've been trying to reduce her time in front of the screen while down here. There's no strict limit, but we said no to most requests to watch TV. This means we have to find ways to fill her time other than the oh-so-easy TV. D bought a few books for Avery in the LA airport during our layover. One of them is about a little girl playing dress up. Avery loves this book and knows the whole thing almost by heart. She misses a few words, but for the most part, can "read" the whole book to herself.
One of the characters the girl dresses up as is a fairy princess. This morning, we used the cover of a huge coloring book I brought for her and made her a fairy princess hat. She played with this for quite some time. Then she requested a helmet so she could ride her "tricycle" (aka a box of wipes). It cracks me up that she won't ride her "tricycle" without her "helmet." That insistence has got to have come from the G household since we forgot to even get a helmet when we bought her tricycle (a situation which has been rectified).
States & ABCs
I've been singing the 50 states song with Avery and, as a result, she can now say the states in alphabetical order up to Indiana (that's Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana). Sometimes Connecticut is very clear, sometimes it's just gibberish followed with a loud "CUT!" Truth be told, I didn't think she was absorbing it, but then one day she went through all the A's and C's. She knows portions of the other states, but not as reliably as the first 14 states. I did get it on video this morning, though it wasn't her best rendition. I'll keep discreetly videoing her when she starts singing them to see if I can get a good chunk.
Her ability to sing the ABCs has been around for a while, but they're still not 100%. Despite the fact she can recognize the letter J (and all other letters for that matter - she's about 90% on doing it correctly each time), she almost always leaves it out when singing the alphabet. And the LMNO part is very run together, probably because I tend to say it faster when we sing the song. I'm trying to slow down so she can hear them enunciated, but that hasn't made much difference yet.
This morning she and I were "doing letters" as she calls it. That's where we sing the alphabet and then she or I pick a letter and we (and by we and I mean me) name all the words we can that start with that letter. This is mostly a game we play on dog walks to keep her happy in the back pack. Anyway, today, Avery said, "Do letter F!" I said OK and then made the sound that words that start with the letter F sound like. I asked her if she could think of a word that makes that sound. She thought about it and then said, "foot!" That was pretty darn cool.
Since D and I both feel Avery should be watching less TV, we've been trying to reduce her time in front of the screen while down here. There's no strict limit, but we said no to most requests to watch TV. This means we have to find ways to fill her time other than the oh-so-easy TV. D bought a few books for Avery in the LA airport during our layover. One of them is about a little girl playing dress up. Avery loves this book and knows the whole thing almost by heart. She misses a few words, but for the most part, can "read" the whole book to herself.
One of the characters the girl dresses up as is a fairy princess. This morning, we used the cover of a huge coloring book I brought for her and made her a fairy princess hat. She played with this for quite some time. Then she requested a helmet so she could ride her "tricycle" (aka a box of wipes). It cracks me up that she won't ride her "tricycle" without her "helmet." That insistence has got to have come from the G household since we forgot to even get a helmet when we bought her tricycle (a situation which has been rectified).
States & ABCs
I've been singing the 50 states song with Avery and, as a result, she can now say the states in alphabetical order up to Indiana (that's Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana). Sometimes Connecticut is very clear, sometimes it's just gibberish followed with a loud "CUT!" Truth be told, I didn't think she was absorbing it, but then one day she went through all the A's and C's. She knows portions of the other states, but not as reliably as the first 14 states. I did get it on video this morning, though it wasn't her best rendition. I'll keep discreetly videoing her when she starts singing them to see if I can get a good chunk.
Her ability to sing the ABCs has been around for a while, but they're still not 100%. Despite the fact she can recognize the letter J (and all other letters for that matter - she's about 90% on doing it correctly each time), she almost always leaves it out when singing the alphabet. And the LMNO part is very run together, probably because I tend to say it faster when we sing the song. I'm trying to slow down so she can hear them enunciated, but that hasn't made much difference yet.
This morning she and I were "doing letters" as she calls it. That's where we sing the alphabet and then she or I pick a letter and we (and by we and I mean me) name all the words we can that start with that letter. This is mostly a game we play on dog walks to keep her happy in the back pack. Anyway, today, Avery said, "Do letter F!" I said OK and then made the sound that words that start with the letter F sound like. I asked her if she could think of a word that makes that sound. She thought about it and then said, "foot!" That was pretty darn cool.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sandcastle
Avery and I headed down to the beach this afternoon to do some exploring and build a sandcastle. I actually took pictures!
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And now, some very belated pictures from our trip to Hawaii in November/December. The bottom two are of Avery with Nain (my mom) feeding the swan at the hotel. Notice how another kid has joined them in the bottom photo. Kids are drawn to my mom like white on rice!
It only looks cold - the breeze was quite warm
Here is where Avery was telling me, "Mommy sit right there!"
So I did sit right there, then she trotted off with her egg shell carton to fill with sea shells and stones
This is what most pictures now look like when I ask Avery to smile
Here's our sandcastle
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And now, some very belated pictures from our trip to Hawaii in November/December. The bottom two are of Avery with Nain (my mom) feeding the swan at the hotel. Notice how another kid has joined them in the bottom photo. Kids are drawn to my mom like white on rice!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Courtyard
I took a couple of pictures in the courtyard of our casa before we headed out to the Sunday Farmer's Market this morning. Avery was quite the ham for the camera. Two of my favorite shots are below.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Mexico!
We're in Mexico. We arrived yesterday afternoon. It is rather a last minute trip since we only booked tickets about two weeks ago, but we're both grateful that we get to spend some time relaxing and spending time with Avery while we're down here.
Avery did really well on both flights (we have to connect in LA to get here). She was fed up with being her car seat during the second flight and decided her best course of action was to get herself a timeout so she'd be taken out of her seat and presumably placed elsewhere in timeout. So she deliberately hit me, then screamed, "I need a time out!" Everyone in the seats surrounding our had a good laugh about that one, and really that was all I could do, too. I couldn't take her out of her seat at that point, so I just turned the other cheek, literally and figuratively.
Much of our first full day here has been spent dealing with minor house issues (small water leak, dishwasher not working, smoke alarm low on batteries, etc). Avery and I did test the range of our walkie talkies by going for a long walk around the neighborhood while D stayed home to get the smoke alarm batteries changed. On our walk, we checked that the neighborhood pool is in usable condition and warm enough for swimming. Since it was, she and D have now headed out for a quick dip in the pool.
I taught her that we say hi when we're in Mexico by saying, "hola!" She has implemented that word quickly and enjoyed telling all the landscape workers we passed on the walk that she wanted to go swimming, whether they wanted to hear it or not!
Thankfully, she's napping well. It's always a crapshoot when we're away from home. And traveling without diapers is awesome! We've had no accidents even though we don't have a floor potty, which is what she's used to. The folks who run the neighborhood store near us (thank goodness that's now opened!) said they have a potty we can borrow since they have two young kids, so that should work out well. Hopefully we can get a playdate set up with those kids to give Avery a break from us old folks.
Avery did really well on both flights (we have to connect in LA to get here). She was fed up with being her car seat during the second flight and decided her best course of action was to get herself a timeout so she'd be taken out of her seat and presumably placed elsewhere in timeout. So she deliberately hit me, then screamed, "I need a time out!" Everyone in the seats surrounding our had a good laugh about that one, and really that was all I could do, too. I couldn't take her out of her seat at that point, so I just turned the other cheek, literally and figuratively.
Much of our first full day here has been spent dealing with minor house issues (small water leak, dishwasher not working, smoke alarm low on batteries, etc). Avery and I did test the range of our walkie talkies by going for a long walk around the neighborhood while D stayed home to get the smoke alarm batteries changed. On our walk, we checked that the neighborhood pool is in usable condition and warm enough for swimming. Since it was, she and D have now headed out for a quick dip in the pool.
I taught her that we say hi when we're in Mexico by saying, "hola!" She has implemented that word quickly and enjoyed telling all the landscape workers we passed on the walk that she wanted to go swimming, whether they wanted to hear it or not!
Thankfully, she's napping well. It's always a crapshoot when we're away from home. And traveling without diapers is awesome! We've had no accidents even though we don't have a floor potty, which is what she's used to. The folks who run the neighborhood store near us (thank goodness that's now opened!) said they have a potty we can borrow since they have two young kids, so that should work out well. Hopefully we can get a playdate set up with those kids to give Avery a break from us old folks.
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