From the Mouths of (Our) Babes

Avery told me today, "A chocolate for your thoughts, mommy!" He makes us smile all the time, even when he pushes our (my!) buttons. This morning, for instance, we had a stand off. I didn't give in to THIS request for chocolate stars. He fussed, he screamed, and then he threw and all out tantrum. But I just tried to stay calm. Minutes passed, and he came over to me, quietly, and became very agreeable. He also retold the story---"You said no, and then I screamed. I was wearing one shoe. I was yelling. But you said no. Then, everyone was quiet. Then, I came over and got changed and put on the other shoe. Can I have one chocolate star, please?" And I told him he could, and asked if he knew why. He said, "Because I am listening to mommy and being a good boy." He really makes us focus on bringing in the year, which has been full of some big stressors, with joy and hope. We plan to toast this evening with some pot banging, and throwing of...

The discussion last evening, before dinner. A lot of whining and crying involved. Avery: I want a chocolate star (pronounced by Avery, 'stah'). M: Avery, you need to have growing foods first. Avery: No, I want a chocolate star first. M: How about spinach fettuccine? Avery: No, just a chocolate stah. M: Five bites of the fettuccine, and then you can have a star. Avery: NO. I don't like fettuccine. I want just a star. NOW. M: Ok, how about a yogurt? If you have a yogurt, you can have a star. Avery: TWO stars. M: No, you can't have two stars. Avery: I have a yogurt, and then I have two stars. M: No, just one star. Avery: If I eat one BIG WHOLE yogurt, I get TWO stars. M: Ok, two stars. But you have to eat the whole yogurt. Avery: AND Sesame Street. M: What? Avery: I get two stars and Sesame Street. M: No, Avery, you don't get to watch Sesame Street. It's time for story time. You need to eat your yogurt, and then you can have two stars. Avery: If I eat yogu...

Avery and I were at the library today, and the librarian asked him his age. He replied, "I am two and a half, but I am getting older and older every day."

The Millenium Edition.

Avery got one of his first holiday presents last night from Jen. It is a pair of beautiful, crafty-cool trucks with a real log on the back. The entire ride home he was saying, "Thank you, Jen." We called Jen to leave a message, too, and without prompting, he launched into his thanks, for giving him the great trucks. He kept saying, "Jen, Jen, Jen, Jen," in the car after he got off the phone. We got home, and he continued, even in bed, to zoom his trucks. He asked to sleep with this trucks, and he woke up playing with them. He wanted to bring his trucks to school. When does this immediate love and appreciation stop in us? Avery really understood how sweet and kind it was that someone was thinking of him, and wanted to get him a gift. I hope to keep this lovely appreciation alive in Avery, the sort that makes you want to sleep with your little trucks that you just LOVE LOVE LOVE because they are NEW and someone thought of you, and wanted to give them to you...

Walker always laughs when I say that Avery appears to have good "phonemic awareness." The whole language acquisition process is so interesting to me, though. And Avery really is dividing sounds to make sense of them....like in this little clip. Of course, aside from the random sounds that come out every once in a while, he really appears to be able to both hear the variations and produce them. Too technical? Only interesting to me???? Oh well, I wanted it on record.

Bake it with cheese, and put it in the oven for me and mommy.

Avery and I went to the Pages and Pirouettes version of the Nutcracker yesterday. It's the abbreviated, children's version of the ballet. He was enthralled, and retold the whole story on the way home. I had to sort of sneak the video recording, so didn't catch him retelling the entire ballet, but it was pretty impressive. He got it, really, without talking about it afterwards. He asked questions in the right places. He was quiet, and paid attention the entire time, ducking around people's heads and tilting his own to see who was 'coming in next'. He referred to the "ballerinas" and the "guys" (apparently, guys cannot be ballerinas). Afterwards, they asked kids to come and dance. Avery refrained, but liked watching. Later, we attended Ileana's wonderful 4th bday party. Avery got to decorate his first gingerbread house. He loved it so much, he requested that we bring it up with us for story time, and that we keep it in his ro...

Avery played with John's IPhone yesteday, and was totally in awe. You can draw by touching the screen, and change colors using a palate that appears in a bar on the left side. He had so much fun, he didn't want to go to sleep. And how do you explain to a 2 1/2 year old that ink isn't actually coming out of his finger? He knows that it only works on the phone, but at one point, he was having trouble. He shook his finger a little and then touched the screen. When it worked again, he said, "Good, there is still some ink in there." Too cute. I kinda want to blow this up and give it to everyone for the holidays. Isn't it cool?

Avery's in a great mood today. He walked to Sashee's, pushing his little colored walking cart. This is a cart that has sat in our house, taking up precious space, since he was around 7 months old. This is also a cart he never showed any interest in until today. But today, he's really excited to push the cart all the way to Sashee's. Really slowly. The. whole. way. there. He stopped along the way to look at ... everything--"Look, there is schmutz on the ground, Mommy! Look Daddy, schmutz! I had schmutz on my face this morning. I have schmutz on my face now. There is schmutz on the ground. More schmutz!" ... "Look at those birds. What are they called?" We told him, blackbirds (is that an official bird name?). "There are blackbirds! Look at them!" ... I had to turn around and come back, and Walker took him all the way there. They'll probably get there in about an hour.

Seriously, it's in the genes. Avery designed this, and Hopie helped build it. He directed everything from the placement of the construction paper 'balcony' to the tree outside. Yay, legos! '

Avery loves the game, Pancake-O, first established by Popi some time in the mid to late 70s. Having not grown up in the Shore household, however, Daddy Walker appears to have branched off on his own, suggesting his own version of Pancake-O. Perhaps this needs another name, as Avery insists, this is NOT Pancake-O. El Shake-O?

Apparently, I used to eat ice cream from the bottom up as well. These particular cones have chocolate at the bottom, so Avery knows how to find the good stuff.

Avery created this collage on his chair with stickers today. He was in a bit of an anxious mood this evening, so we couldn't go visit Popi. Somehow he doesn't seem to do well at evening visits. I think it's disruptive to the routine maybe...we'll have to figure someone else out. This evening, it was winding down with furniture art.

We walked into school today, and Avery's little friend, Olivia ran right to her little cubby area yelling, "Avery's here!!!" She disappeared for a second, retrieving something from her jacket pocket. She emerged with a hand drawn scribble in blue writing on a piece of slightly crumpled notebook paper. She gave it to him with lots of enthusiasm. It said, To: Avery (Heart): Olivia A teacher said that as soon as she arrived in the classroom, she told everyone about the drawing. She was so excited to give it to him! Her scribble! For Avery! She was thinking of him! I brought it home with me, and posted it on the lower part of the fridge so he could see it easily. When he arrived home from school, it was the first thing he wanted to see. I asked how his day was, and he said, "Olivia gave me a gift! Where's the gift Olivia gave me?" This made me start to think about the holidays, and how we really need to actually cut back a bit in real ways. Avery...