From the Mouths of (Our) Babes

I am not sure why I find the flopping to the ground sound SO funny, and why it overrides the kinda gross fact that Avery is sucking on a wet stuffed animal in this video, but...well, here it is.

What we missed on this video was the fact that before stepping on the tiny cars, Avery said, "Ok, everybody, rollerskate! " Then, he put each foot on one matchbox car and started wheeling around the living room saying everyone should rollerskate.

Uncle Eric said I should post this----This afternoon, when leaving Nan and Popi's, Avery wanted to be held. I was getting ready to leave, so had to hold him, and, while standing on one foot, put on heels! Oh, all the useful skills!

At the pool today, Avery has used language in two ways today that seemed so logical, yet... First, when he was explaining where one of his cars was, he said, "Right there! And it's upside up!" It was---just sitting the right way. But we had been talking about how another car was "upside down" and so it made sense to say something was up side up. He was also playing with a little toy plane, making it go up and down. He said, "Plane is going up in the air! UP, high in the air! Plane is going down in the air. Down...down far in the air." We never say something is "upside up" or "down in the air"...but why not? The pool opened May 10th, and Avery has totally enjoyed it from the start! If only we could get him to wear a big, floppy hat, like all the little girls seem to have no problem with. There is really NO good way to get sunscreen on frequently enough for his baby 2 year old skin.

We have to watch what we say around Avery or he's going to become very hard to understand rather quickly. Three words he's used this weekend: 1. dohicker---as in, "What does this tiny dohicker do?"---when helping daddy fix something this afternoon. 2. thingy---as in, "Where's the little thingy?"---when looking into a fish tank at the pool, looking for the little algae eating fish 3. whatchamacallit---as in, "Avery wants one of those whatchamacallits!"---when asking for an ice cream sandwich.

Avery wanted some juice this morning and couldn't get the little boxes out of the wrapper. He took matters into his own hands by bringing me the entire pack of like 40 juices. It's really heavy! I had trouble picking it up myself. Later, he admired the fact that he is now able to eat big boy vitamins, lounging on daddy's chair. He's growing up so quickly!

Be concerned. Be very concerned. This is actually not a very recent picture. I just found it and it made me laugh, so I wanted to post it. Avery's at the Franklin Institute today!

Avery went to his first Tai Chi class this evening. The library offers Tai Chi and Yoga for 2-6 year olds. How cute is that? Avery did Downward Facing Dog and the Butterfly. Hopie said that there were mostly 5 and 6 year olds in the class, so the few 2-3 year olds ended up getting a little distracted and squirmy and played on their own after a few of the poses. But, apparently, he liked the poses. Hopie thought it would be good to help Avery 'relax'. As you can see in this picture of Avery, he might not fully understand the 'relax' part, but he certainly loves getting upside down.

Avery winds down at night by talking to himself. It's something that all kids do, I am sure. Just, as a way to help fall asleep, they might talk about their day, or wind their little wound up brains down from all the learning they've done. I can't even imagine. Normally, we don't hear Avery doing this. We put him to sleep, and sometimes might hear some little sounds or words, but nothing coherent or clear. The exception is when we drive home after dinner out somewhere. If it gets close to Avery's bed time, then we might hear him chatting in the back seat, going over his day in a long stream of toddler consciousness. Walker was a little surprised the first time this happened. We turned the radio down, and we just listened. Now, it's fun, and it's amazing what we'll hear. To give some back drop, we've been talking a little tonight about how we are going to DC next weekend to visit Lovely Little Lisa. So, this is what we hear in the car on the ...

Dear Avery, You turned 2 years old at 5:52pm last night. Two! It's hard to believe that two long and short years ago, you were born. You inspire us, you test us, and you keep us on our toes. You keep us humble and keep our perspective grounded. You make us laugh every day. We love you. We talked yesterday about the night you were born – details were already becoming a little fuzzy, all the family trying to remember where they were when it happened. Daddy and I know where we were, he was right there alongside, in the freezing room, watching the whole thing unfold and holding my hand. We talked about how Uncle Eric was taking a video of the conversations happening in other parts, and how we thought Nan predicted the time you were born. We learned yesterday she had been predicting, “I think Avery was just born!,” about every half and hour. Remember this, as it’s part of the mythology of your birth. You came out looking so wise and so focused, and very charming and social. You...

Avery loved his party so much yesterday. All the people he loved most in the world were in one room. He took a nap about 2 minutes after everyone left, and was distressed to wake up by himself. He asked where everyone was, and was really sad to learn everyone went home. He loved seeing everyone and sharing cake with Charlie and Sophia on the front step. And, of course, he LOVED seeing his super cousin, Finn. When he woke up this morning he requested, "Finny shoes!" He got a new pair of sneakers from Nan, and I think he thought they used to be Finny's (hand-me-downs make up about 80% of his wardrobe). He said, "Tiny Finny wear these shoes." He didn't even want to wait for pants.

Avery turns two today. He woke up and said, "Happy Birthday! Thank you! Trains! Trains!"

We went out an jumped in a lot of puddles this afternoon in Avery's new boots. He had a lot of fun, and I need to bring the camera next time. I think that this tired Avery out, or else it was just the rainy drab day, but he seemed like he just got into a bad mood afterwards. Avery didn't like anything this evening, and he wanted us to know all about it. He kept pointing things out and saying, "No like that. NOOOOO like that." He'd repeat until we responded. So, here are some examples: "No like that bike. MOOOOVE bike. No like that. No like that cracker. Yucky cracker. No like that cracker. Wheat thin cracker. No like it. NOOO like that new truck. What truck's name? No like that dump truck." There were no pauses. He just went around the room, pointing things out that he didn't like. These were mostly things that he, on a good day, does in fact like. I think we've all had these kind of days, his are just more direct and obvi...

We got Avery some bright grass green rain boots this weekend. They pull on, and they are a little loose, so it took him some getting used to. He was a bit wobbly at first. And the weather cooperated this week, too. On Monday, Avery got to try them out. Avery wanted to splash in the first puddle we saw, which happened to be right in the middle of a busy street during rush hour. Luckily, he was lured away by the possibility that there might be EVEN BETTER puddles up ahead. We found a small street with maximum puddle coverage. Avery was jumping, splashing, and yelling with total puddle joy abandon. The last few days have been sunny, so Avery asked this evening, "When can Avery wear boots and splash in puddles?"

We got Avery chocolate milk that comes in those little boxes with straws. He stopped drinking milk when his last bottle broke in December, so there's sort of a bribery going on. Not that I really think he needs MILK, but it couldn't hurt. And nor can just a little chocolate. So, he drinks a box in the morning. Yesterday morning he turned to us, holding up the box, and said, "It says it's organic!" This is true. It IS organic. So we said, "Did someone tell you that? How do you know that?" Avery replied, "It says right here." (He pointed right at the word organic). Then, he turned and said, "Says chocolate milk over here." We didn't believe he was reading anything. Then, he turned the box around and said, "Right here, behind wrapper." It was true. I am SURE sure SURE these were really good guesses, but still...worth recording.

Avery's phrase of the day is "opposable thumbs". He learned today, from his daddy, that dogs cannot drive because, "They don't have opposable thumbs." We'll get it on camera at some point, but for now, he's eatin' a danish (and says he's having coffee) with his dad. (Special Note for some: Press the little arrow to see the video.)

Avery said yesterday that he wanted to go outside to "see friends." I asked him who he thought his best friends were. Here's the conversation: A: Sophia's friend. M: Who else? A: Nan. M: Who else? A: Pickles! Pickles friend! M: Who else? A: MOMMY. Mommy. Mommy friend. So there you have it: Sophia, Nan, Pickles and Mommy are Avery's best friends.

Oh, and also, Avery is using modal verbs! We were coming home from nan and popi's yesterday, and saying that we were going to have dinner at home. Avery piped up from the back, "On the street, Charlie might be there!" He MIGHT be there! And when Walker came home tonight, Avery told him, "Hopie went home. Hopie left." More past tense. Just trying to record the order and sequence of it all. I imagine noone is really that interested in this language stuff but me...

So, it's becoming completely clear that it is our fault that Avery doesn't eat more greens. The past few nights, I've actually been able to bribe him inside, off the street playing with Charlie and Phillip and Gracie and all of his friends, away from playing with trucks and cars, by saying the following, "Avery, do you want to come inside for some broccoli?" He LOVES loves LUVS as much as peanut butter or cheese, and almost as much as sweets like chocolate, BROCCOLI. Tonight, he ran around the room yelling broccoli and hugging some pillows. Unfortunately, I didn't get the video going fast enough, but it really was a tribute to the vegetable.

They've got some good moves. In two parts.

Avery spent some time with his friend, Gabriel, and also Gabriel's new brother, Sam (or, as as he calls him, Sahm.) Things were going great. Avery showed Sam his cars, and picked grass and held it up to Sam's face. He found some tiny rocks and wanted Sam to eat them, to which Sam's mom replied that baby's don't have teeth and cannot eat hard things (and, well, I guess it's assumed we don't actually eat rocks?) Avery got a little overzealous near the end and pinched Sam's tiny cheek a little too hard. Then, he kind of tackled Gabriel while they were sitting nicely in a tree. Luckily, all the kids kind of cued our time to leave around the same time. We should all take time out of the day for naps.

So first, pictures taken OF Avery by us, then...you'll see. After that, we lost our internet connection, so we haven't been able to post lately. Walker fixed it today, so we're back!

Since we are on a linguistic tilt lately, I wanted to just post that Avery has learned the past tense. I was out last evening, so didn't put him to bed. At around 3am, he woke up screaming. I tried to wait it out for a few minutes, but ended up caving. When I arrived in Avery's room, he said, "Where mommy went?" Past tense! Then, he said, "Mommy no read stories at night. Read stories with mommy now!" Of course, how could I refuse, even though, as mentioned, it was 3 in the morning? Needless to say, neither one of us got a good night sleep, but we'll just have to make up for that now that it's the weekend.

We have a little suction on our dishwasher that indicates whether dishes are "dirty or clean." Avery asked about it a few days ago, and was told what it said. Today, over breakfast, he said, "That says yucky or dry." Brilliant :)!