From the Mouths of (Our) Babes

Avery's little adorable friend, Sophia, ran up to him this morning when he arrived at school. She asked, in earnest, "Avery, will you be my friend today?" He looked down at her (this week, as he's seemed to have grown, he's like 3 inches taller than she is), and thought for a minute. He replied, "Hmmmm...I don't know. Maybe Wednesday." I have to ADD to this story so that it does not come off as mean as it could. After Avery replied that he'd maybe be friends on Wednesday, Sophia looked at him, with her hand on her hip, and got all sassy. She said, "WEDNESDAY is NOT a school day." ..being there, the conversation was very funny and both Avery and Sophia started playing afterwards...

After dinner last night, Avery replied he was still hungry. I said, "Avery, how could you be hungry? We just finished dinner!" He said, "Well, mommy, I have a big appetite." He needed another dinner (or more bites of the original). This morning, I asked if he had any of this breakfast. He said, "I have already had several bites." I don't know, but maybe a new level in vocabulary acquisition. This one includes words like appetite and several.

Soooooo I know that ALL pre-school teachers talk about 'how smart' kids are to their parents. I know that they do this, they are fair, good people and love children. They generally are drawn to their professions because they are the kind of people who think all kids are 'so brilliant' and all children say and do amazing things. Well, at least the lovely teachers at Avery's school, that he's so lucky to go to (and we are, too). Anyway, this morning his lead teacher stopped me to say that she has taught for a long time, and that she usually can hold a straight face when a child says something hilarious, but that you just cannot encourage. You have to 'not laugh' sometimes, or you encourage kids to maybe say inappropriate things (like Popi did with me when I was little) or do inappropriate things. Apparently, Avery is brutally honest. Sometimes, there will be a child that his lead teacher says IS being very annoying, and Avery does not hold back. He...

Avery woke up today and shouted down, in hope, from the top of the stairs, "Is today Grandparent's Day?" He was disappointed to hear he had to wait until Friday.

I'm getting a little better at cutting his hair, perhaps. The trick was to have him watch Little Einsteins (which is surprisingly good!) while snipping.

Walker teaching Avery something about life. Avery is loving the Spring weather today, and watering flowers that were magically planted in our front yard pot. We don't know where they came from, but Avery loves them! Leah is coming over tonight to spend some time with Avery and watch Wall E. Avery has no idea what Wall E. is about, who Wall E. is, but when I told him, he replied "Yippee!! I love Wall E!"

Avery had his first cavities filled today. Walker joined, as I was too stressed...! Makes me feel guilty that he had cavities at all, too, but he did great. The doctor put a mask on him that had a "snoopy" nose, which in my opinion is really a Rudolph nose, as seen here. Perhaps not culturally sensitive to use Rudolph? Anyway, then they numbed his gums, gave him two shots of "sleepy juice for his teeth," used a bug whistle to get the cavity bugs out of his teeth, and sealed it all up. He chose a glasses and nose disguise mask as his prize when he was done. All in all, I think we (I?) were way more traumatized by this whole experience than he was. One more appt and he's finished with the fillings for a bit, we hope.

I just asked Avery who he knew who was grown up. He replied, "ummmm, popi, Eric and daddy.". Noone else? Nope, not according to Avery. I also asked what made him happy earlier. He thought a little and said, "When someone comes, I am happy. When they leave, I'm sad.". Our little socializer.

Can't wait for the rain to stop in Philly tomorrow!!! Here's to brighter days...from the Lab in Costa Mesa.

Avery loved his first plane rides, was totally relaxed and hapy, and fell asleep for huge chunks of time both flights.

So even though it is raining here in Philadelphia, we are still thinking of our time in sunny and dry California. Avery rode on some rides in Santa Monica and he had a ball.

We learned a few things thus far on the trip about Avery. First, he can be entertained anywhere as long as there is a pile of dirt and some snacks. Second, he has absolutely no fear of heights (but we do). This makes it a bit hard on the 'rides'.... Our tram trip, time in Palm Springs...lovely day! Off to Santa Barbara for the last few days of our vacay...

Avery, how do you want to spend your day? First I want to sleep on the sand. Then when I get up, I want to vroom my cars on the beach. I won't make any noise. That's all I want to do.