From the Mouths of (Our) Babes

Tonight we have our dinner club, and Pop Tom and Sashee kindly agreed to have Avery sleep over! This is very VERY exciting for Avery (and for us)! He's ready, and dressed, bags packed already--even though he won't be leaving for 45 minutes. He might be a little misguided on what they will do tonight, as you can see: But he's pretty clear on what is going to happen now: Avery also just asked, very sincerely, if I was growing a baby--he said, "I really want you to grow a baby." He followed this by saying he really wanted a baby so that he could give the baby his old bike.

I had a meeting at Avery's school last night. I arrived back home a little after 8:30, and first saw this: Apparently Avery and Walker had a little chair train party. Then, I turned around, and in the kitchen were Avery's bikes, abandoned: There was a laptop sitting on the floor in the living room: I then went upstairs, and found: a trashcan in the bathtub, puppets all the way up the stairwell and Avery's abandoned underwear at the top of the steps. Seriously, there was some kind of party going on when I was gone.

Today Avery was very confused when he woke up. It was darker than usual, and this totally threw him off. He thought it was the middle of the night, and begged to go to "mommy and daddy's bed" because he couldn't sleep. To calm him, I told him that it actually was morning, and that it was just dark because of the rain. He wanted to SEE the rain, so I held him up to the window, which he wanted me to open. I opened it, and stepped back a little held him up. He asked why I stepped back, and I said i didn't want him to fall out. To that, he asked, very quizzically, "You mean I could fall out of the house?"

...Avery said to me this morning, "Mommy, it's so windy in here!" I replied, "No it isn't, Boo. It's fine." He then said, "Then why does your hair look like that?" Gee, thanks. Then, he took a picture, so I had to interrupt pictures of Avery to post me and my windy hair.

We were just listening to the radio, and Avery heard someone use the word, "dangerous." He said, "He just said dangerous!" So I asked him what dangerous meant. He said, "Dangerous means don't walk across the street by yourself." Later, I asked Avery what kind of juice he wanted. He said he wanted apple and orange. And so I said he needed to choose one OR the other. He said, "Ok. One." Totally appropriate answer.

Avery has been very interested in keys lately, so we gave him is own set. I have no idea where they are from, so if anyone is missing some keys... Anyway, he has been trying them on every door he can lately. I told him that they only work on specific doors. So he replied, "Well, then let's go to Sophia's house because I know she has a specific door."

Avery loves joining to help cook in the kitchen. He will stir water if that's his job. He just loves being a part of it. Last weekend, it was to make lasagna with "cinderella" (mozzerella) cheese. And, of course, he had to try a little bit of the cheese (he wasn't hungry for lasagna afterwards). And then a few days ago, Avery helped steam roll a pie crust. But the best was his pants-optional cleaning up afterwards. The cutest pictures sent by request.

I am so clearly prompting him...poor little guy wants to have a creative outlet and I am trying to get him to sing the blues. Ohhhhhh, but I love the faces!

And because this caught us slightly off guard, it's lucky Sashee saved Walker's old underwear (that is, the underwear HE wore when he was three--not his three year old underwear). It's been put to use tonight!

While making lasagna with his dad, Avery asked for "muy Cinderella cheese, please."

Totally stolen from Walkers FB post.

This morning when he woke up, in our bed, Avery asked where he was going today. He asked, "Do I have school?" I told him that, no, he was going to Sashee's. He said, "I love Sashee!" I said, "I do, too." Then, he went into his whole adorable little rant..."I love school, too. And I mommy and daddy, and Pop Tom, and Hopie, and Nan and Popi and Uncle Eric and Finn, too." And I said, "And Aimee and Justin?" Avery replied, "Yes, and Aimee and Justin." Then, he said... "I love everyone in my world."

The only way we'd make our train to NY on Friday, Walker said, was if it was 15 minutes late...and it was. We knew this would be sign of good weekend. When we arrived in New York, Avery was very excited. He ran around the room, in his diaper, yelling that he was SO excited that we were at IKEA. Why did he think we were at IKEA? I have no idea. We had breakfast the Club, where Avery was thrilled to learn that he could take anything he wanted from the buffet. Yogurt? Yup. Berries? Yup. Apple juice? They had it all. We took a walk to the MOMA, stopping at the fountain to make some wishes (for dinosaurs and stars) and at the skating rink at Rockerfeller Center. Visiting the MOMA might have been slightly unfair because there were so many things we couldn't touch. Avery had the most fun just lying on the "sofa" and looking up at the helicopter...though he really wanted it to vroom, and was convinced there WAS enough room to do so. I just love the pictures of Av...

At 6pm: Avery just entered the room where I am working and said, "Hey mom!! Maaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Your little sweetie is coming in! Here I am! Your little sweetie!" And I said, "Hi there, little pumpkin dumpling!" He replied, "No, no, no. I am not a pumpkin dumpling. I am your little sweetie, remember?" At 8pm Avery just had me and Walker hug, and then got between us. He looked up and yelled, "I am a PEA and you are the SKIN OF THE BEAN!"

Avery chose a Dr. Seuss book on letters today to read before bed. It seemed fitting, as I think it's actually Dr. Seuss's birthday (learned that on google). So, we were reading along, and he can recognize A and O, and noticed that C was "just like O without the side." I just thought that was cool. He also noticed p looked like b and d, but it's "tail was down." I loved watching his little fingers point out the various letters in the games---Games that gave instructions like ,"Point to the R in the mix of Ts and Bs." But then, we're about at T, I think, and he said, "I think this t (pointed) belongs to this T (pointed). And this u belongs to this U. Right?" So I told him he was right, and then he said, "This t is the baby, and this T is the mommy and the daddy." A family of letters.

It was a SNOW DAY today...hence, all the posts. Avery and I worked out together. You have to turn your head to the side to see this video, and ignore how stupid I look in the background. I am sure that is easy because Avery is just SO cute doing his little raised foot dance...and then he gets so distracted with everything he sees. He still gets a lot of praise for being a "good dancer" at school. The whole 'loves to dance' (despite, perhaps, not having a lot of rhythm) thing has to be something I take credit for, I know. Oh, also, despite the draw of the blowy snow, Avery resisted, stayed inside most of the day, and wore this costume. Yes, he's wearing a little skirt. And wings. He also frequently requested that we fix his,"head boppers," because they kept falling off.

I always feel uncomfortable with "tests"...even though I work for a testing company! I think this is the reason... I played 'the opposites' game with Avery today. I ask, "What is the opposite of X?" Avery then answers "Y." Here are the answers I loved the most, and for which I'd give extra credit. go- red light wash- clean sitting- jumping loud- nice white- all colors

I was telling Walker that I wasn't feeling very well on our long walk home yesterday afternoon. I hear Avery, from under the cover in the stroller, yelling, "Mom! Mom!" We stopped and lifted the cover to be sure he was ok. Avery then looked up and said, "When we get home, I'll give you a massage so you will feel better." Later, we were walking up the street and he was walking backwards. I told him to turn around so he could watch where he was going. He replied, "I am walking backwards so I can keep you and daddy safe."