Happy Halloween!

This year was Avery's first real Halloween.  Last year we were in England, so she missed it.  Last year I think she was too young to appreciate the holiday anyway, so no big loss.  This year, she totally got into it.  By the end of our trick or treating excursion around the neighborhood, Avery had mastered the following phrases:

• "knock on door" (I would tell her to knock on the door and then wait so she'd repeat the instructions)
  
• "trick or please!" (I kept telling her to say, "trick or treat, please", but she would just leave off the treat ... I figure getting the "please" in there was more important than the "treat")
• "thank you" (upon receiving her candy)
• "happy halloween!"

I think Avery had just as much fun being at home when other kids arrived to trick or treat out our house as she did when we were out and about.  She would run to the door yelling, "Happy Halloween" or sometimes "Halloween Happy!"  Then when the door was opened, she'd clam up and just gawk at the kids in their costumes. 

I made her a helicopter costume, but we haven't actually put it on her yet.  I plan to do that tomorrow to snap some pictures.  The truth is that I didn't think the helicopter outfit was very practical given her age.  She'd have to balance the propellors on her head and the body isn't conducive to sitting.  Anyway, I ended up buying her a bee costume and she pulled off the bee look stunningly.  I would ask her what a bee said and she'd answer, "buzz, buzz, buzz!"

 

 

Long Overdue Post

It's been over a month since my last post - ahhhh!  Avery is growing and developing rapidly.  She talks all the time and can say four and five word sentences, but tends to still communicate mostly with 2-3 word sentences. Recently, she started adding words like take to her vocabulary: "take a bath" vs "bath."  She also likes to identify what everyone is doing or has done in whatever way she can: "Avery hat off.  Mommy hat off."  And the repeating is in full force.  Today, she was trying to say something about spiders, but I couldn't get what the other word was, so I said, "Something about spiders?" to my mom.  Avery the repeated, "something spiders."  I only mention this because I find it terrifying that she picks up on conversation bits - now I have to watch what I say MUCH more closely.  

At the moment, she's obsessed with bikes.  We actually tried to sit on a bike at REI the other day.  She did surprisingly well at staying on the bike (it, of course, had training wheels on it) and she even seemed to grasp that pedals make it go, but she didn't have the strength or height to actually push the pedals around. 

We'll soon be transitioning Avery out of her crib into a bed.  I admit I'm not looking forward to this.  Avery is a very good sleeper most of the time.  I fear a change in our routine will change her good sleeping habits. However, I also fear she's going to climb out of her crib soon.  I've noticed in the last week or two, she's climbing all sorts of things that she'd not even attempted before.  I'll turn around and there she is sitting on something or standing on something.  I think she's had the physical skills to do this sort of climbing for a while now, so I'm not sure if it was a physical thing that clicked, or if the desire to be more bold clicked, or if she just wants to be able to do things on her own now. 

I've been a terrible picture-taker lately.  I keep promising myself we'll get back into the groove and take more pictures and video, but it hasn't happened.  This isn't for a lack of activities.  We go on weekly outings to either the zoo or OMSI; we meet her friends at various food carts in Portland and then head to a nearby park to enjoy our food; we go on playdates to parks or the houses of friends. 

We've also gotten back into the daily dog walking habit.  Avery is now a whopping 27 lb.  I don't know what percentile that is (my guess is 50-75%), but I do know that it's HEAVY.  I had to buy a new backpack so she rides higher up, thereby putting the load on my hips rather than my back.  She likes her new perch, though was a bit dismayed when I had to change the rules of the walk such that she can't get down and walk herself.  If she's up for it, we drop the dogs off at home and then just she and I go on a short walk afterwards.  I just don't have the patience to wrangle two dogs and a dawdling an exploring toddler. When she's in the backpack, it's like I have a play-by-play of our walk: "Turtle go uphill.  Eddie go uphill.  Uh-oh Turtle!  Leaves.  Trees.  Eddie poop.  Avery hat off." 

In a month or so, we have a trip to Hawaii planned.  It'll be the last for a long while as it's only happening because our very good friends are getting married there.  This trip should be a lot more fun for Avery since she's actually aware of the beach and the water.  As an added bonus, there will be another little girl in the house in which we're staying.  She's five and lives in England.  I'm quite sure the age (and accent) difference won't matter to Avery.

Right now, my mom (aka Nain) is visiting.  My dad (aka Pop Pop) and his wife (aka Grandma Joy) arrived tonight, too.  Tomorrow, my brother and his wife (Uncle Collin and Aunt Denise) arrive with their son, Dylan (who is 6-months younger than Avery).  We'll have a full house, so Avery should have a blast. 

Pictures

A few pictures taken over the past couple of weeks ...

The stage of "mine" is officially upon us. Avery has been identifying what is whose for quite some time now ("Mommy's shirt" "Daddy's shoes"), but only within the past couple of days has she been consistently identifying what is hers using the words "mine" or "my" - she used to say "Avery's." Turns out, Avery owns a lot of stuff. Our living room carpet is hers as she informed Nain while they watched the guy clean it. She scrunched up her face and said "my carpet!"

Her counting is coming along, but it's all over the place, as any dignified toddler's should be. She's got one, two, three, four, five, six down pretty well. Sometimes she gets seven, eight, and nine. The shocker for me was when we were counting stairs as we descended them. I said, "thirteen," she said "fourteen", I said "fifteen," she said, "sixteen." I don't even normally count that high. It makes me worry I count aloud more often than I realize.

Leaps

We've had a couple of leaps forward in vocabulary in the past few weeks, as well as in Avery's general ability to do various things.  Examples:

1. I had installed another car seat in our car to ensure I knew how to do it (it's the one we use for traveling).  I was so proud of how solidly I got that sucker installed that I left it in the car for a while.  When I put Avery in thinking she might want to test out a new position in the car, she sat there for a while, but then said, "no like it!"  I took her out, of course, but was thrilled she can now express this sentiment with words rather than simply with whining or crying.  
2. This morning, she was drinking out of her Avery mug, called this because it has her name written on it.  We'd spelled it out a few times for her earlier that day.  Then I hear her say, "A  V  R  Y."  She missed the e, but she remembered the other four letters.  In my book, that's spelling out the most important letters in her name!  Who needs vowels, I ask?
3. "Oh dear."  In an effort to ensure I'm not saying really bad things around her, I tend to substitute really corny phrases.  So I say, "Oh dear!" a lot.  Avery now says, "oh dear" when she drops something. My mom is here for a visit and says, "Oh boy" a lot, so that is quickly becoming part of Avery's vocabulary.
4. Frequent use of three word sentences is becoming the norm.
   
5. She likes to identify what objects belong to whom ("Mommy's shirt" "Avery's shoes", etc)  She's been doing this a while, but now she'll identify things she knows to be hers by using her name. 
6. Last night I asked her she wanted to rock a bit before going into her crib or if she wanted to go straight into her crib.  She said, "straight to crib."  And in she went with a giddiness that only those of us who enjoy sleeping can truly appreciate.  
7. Avery can now blow bubbles all by herself.  She can hold the container with one hand, while dipping the wand with the other, then blow on the wand and make bubbles.  It's kind of messy sometimes, but she can do it.  
   

We were scheduled to be in Mexico right now.  However, the hurricane hit right before our scheduled date to arrive and we couldn't fly in due to the electricity being out.  Though we could have flown in this week, we opted not to for several reasons, the main one being nervousness on my part about the food available.  I wasn't confident that any yogurt, milk, eggs, cheese, etc would have been properly refrigerated during the periods when the electricity was out, so I couldn't risk taking Avery into that situation.  Avery's Nain (aka my mom / Nain is the Welsh word for grandmother) is up in Portland for two weeks since she was to head to Mexico with us.  It's a great opportunity to get things done that we keep putting off during her other visits.  Avery's favorite Nain activity thus far with Nain is making apple cookies, which she pronounces both perfectly and adorably - Avery's pronunciation is pretty good too.  :)

So You Think You Can Dance

Avery likes music.  Actually, that is an understatement.  She absolutely loves music. She has signed for music from a young age.  Now she can say the word music and even ask for specific artists (e.g. "more Kylie" and "Michael Jackson").  She loves to listen to it, but she also loves to dance to it.  So, with much prompting from Amber*, I present Avery's latest video montage: So You Think You Can Dance!

So You Think You Can Dance from Megan Smith on Vimeo.

*Amber: you have not one, but two video clips to prove her raise the roof abilities, tyvm

Birthfamily visit

On Sunday, we went over to Avery's birthfamily's new house!  This visit was spent with much chatting, so little picture taking ensued on my part, but I got a few shots that I find adorable.

Garrett looking unusually serious

Garrett and Nikki look at the menu together

Avery, for the first time, knows all of their names.  On the way there, she kept saying, "Nikki!  Mike!"  And, as I'm typing, she keeps saying, "Mike!" wanting to see pictures of him. Then she says, "Nikki!" once she sees her picture of Mike.  It's adorable and heartwarming to see her starting to grasp the beginnings of her relationships with Nikki, Mike, and Garrett.

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