Santa!

Avery went to see Santa today.  She has been very specific and consistent in what she's been wanting for Christmas: a Cinderella dress and Cinderella shoes.  Oddly, she's never seen Cinderella.  She just knows who she is from playing dress up at school, I think. 

This year's visit to Santa was much more successful than last year's visit when she burst into tears and I freaked out and snatched her away from mean old Santa.  This year, she marched right up to him, posed for the picture, then proceeded to request the dress and shoes. 

School Pictures

Avery had her first set of official school pictures recently.  I finally received the digital copies of the three pictures.  I need to get copies sent to family, but haven't gotten around to it yet.  If any birth family members want a specific pose (or more than one), we have plenty of copies of pictures.  I bought the whole package out of indecision, but mostly because I also wanted the digital copies.  Just email me your requests (please make sure to include your address just so I know I'm sending to the correct address) and I'll get them mailed ASAP.

My favorite!

Patch

Avery and I had a follow-up appointment with her eye doctor this morning.  When she's wearing the glasses, her eyes do not cross; when she removes them, her left eye (the weaker one) goes inward.  With her glasses on, her left eye still is not as strong as the right, though there is no crossing issue.

Given all this, we have been instructed to begin patching 3-4 hours per day.  Those hours don't have to be consecutive, though the doctor said that since kids don't particularly like to patch their eyes, it usually works best to do it in one chunk each day.

She didn't give us a patch - we have to order them online.  Since they come 50 patches per box, I guess that means we use a new one for each session.  OK, I just ordered them and went with the girl-themed designs: fairies, flowers, giraffes, sea animals, and pink swirls.  I think Avery will love getting to pick which one she is going to wear each day.

Dance class

I signed Avery up to take a dance class at a community center.  I had to since she had been asking for me to sign her up for months.  She absolutely loves it.  I shot some video of the class last week and assembled the most interesting bits.  Enjoy!

Dance Class from Megan Smith on Vimeo.

Picnic Pictures

We went to the annual picnic held by our adoption agency a few weeks ago.  There was a professional photographer there taking candid shots, as well as a few quick portrait shots.  We plan to order a few pictures for sure, but in the meantime, here are the pictures.

Please note, we did not take any of these.  They are all by photographer Jen Downer of She Saw Things photography.

My favorite!

It looks like my favorite wasn't just mine since it's also the picture on the photographer's web page for the collection of photos for the entire picnic. 

Through the eyes of a toddler

First, a gorgeous picture of Avery. A friend took this great shot (thanks, Lori!) at a picnic recently.

Avery got a hold of my camera the other day, which is not unusual.  She loves to take pictures, as I think most toddlers do.  Without further ado, I present Avery's work: Through the eyes of a Toddler.

The Performer

We've long known we have a little dancer on our hands (or did you forget about this video?)  However, it's now become clear that Avery loves performing all around.  In the evenings when we're sitting in the living room before bed, she'll announce she's going to sing us a song.  Then she'll pull up a chair or find something to use as a platform, grab her eukalele, and say, "This song is about ..." and then make up a song.

Dancing, though, remains her favorite form of performance.  When we go to the grocery store, she finds the spot in the produce section where the floor has a patch in it unlike the rest of the floor, then she'll stand on it and dance.  Let me tell you, when we hit New Seasons on senior discount day, she's got the attention of all those senior lady shoppers!

I assembled some video bits from this summer of Avery's dancing and performing.  Pardon the not-so-great videography.  While she loves to perform, knowing the camera is on her often distracts her from the task at hand, so I have to be somewhat stealth about it sometimes.

The Performer from Megan Smith on Vimeo.