Wednesday, February 27, 2013

14 months.


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avery's growing up so fast.  doesn't every parent say that?  charlie and i are always watching old videos of her and saying 'i don't remember her being like that'.  here are some of the things she's doing at 14 months.  if you're not my mom then feel free to skip this post because i know these are only interesting for parents and grandparents.

... standing! this was probably the most exciting moment of my life thus far.  i thought she was going to be 5 before she started walking but she finally figured out that she can stand on her own and she's so proud of herself.  it probably doesn't hurt that she has a cheering squad every time she does it.
...  mimicking everything that we say and do.  she can make funny sounds and copy hand gestures and facial expressions.
...  the fake laugh.  this comes out any time she hears anyone else laughing. 
... the fake burp.  she does this when she sees a beer.  this is probably not a good sign.  
...  the fake sneeze.  henry sneezes all the time.  i think he's allergic to avery.  she think's it's pretty funny and will start fake sneezing when he walks in the room.
... calling the cats, the dogs, and charlie.  this all started with the cats but now she uses it when she wants anyone to come to her.  clicking her tongue and patting her knee is her way of saying 'get over here'.
...  she's really into any lift the flap book, the "one thumb, two thumb" book, and her book of animals.  she likes being read to regardless but those are her favorites and after 4 reads i usually have to hide the book.  
... stacking blocks.  we're up to 5 and just like with standing she's quite impressed with herself.
...  toys.  she loves shape sorters, her play kitchen, and anything with lids.
...  she loves her stuffed bunny.  this bunny sleeps with her every night and gets dragged throughout the house.  in the morning when she wakes up i always find her standing in her crib and holding tight to him.
...  words:  thank you, gentle, cat, doggie, mama, dada, hot, owl, bird, baa baa, duck, book, ball, rooster, paw, ear, tail ... and i'm probably forgetting a bunch. 
...  dancing is still a favorite activity and she has quite a few moves that are pretty funny.  i have no idea where she figures these things out.
...  she is terrible at napping and only falls asleep in someones arms, the car, or the stroller.  it sucks.
... she still nursing 3-4 times a day.
... she loves blueberries, strawberries, hot dogs, bananas, yogurt, hummus, peas, and pretty much any meat.  she's a pretty good eater and usually eats 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.  she insists on eating whatever we are and will refuse dinner if it's different from what we're eating.
...  she gives kisses to the animals on the regular and charlie and i receive them less frequently.  
... she hates being alone although she's happy to play with her toys as long as i'm no more than 3 inches away from her.  she prefers to sit in my lap while playing, though.
...  she loves the snow, looking for birds in the sky, pointing out dogs on walks, running errands, baths, and weekends when she gets as much attention as she wants.
...  she loves fish and any aquarium.  i'm excited to take her to the baltimore aquarium and some museums when we go back to maryland this summer.  i'm thinking the natural history and the air and space since they've got some great kid stuff and they also happen to be my favorites.

14 months is pretty cool.  although i look at her baby pictures and think 'where did all of your chunky rolls go?' it's so fun to have an interactive baby and it's really fun to see her figure things out for herself these days. 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

and then avery got beat up by ollie.

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these pictures were not taken when she got hurt.  this is just how they play.  he's usually really good about not using his claws & avery loves wrestling around with him.

i've mentioned a time or two that avery is madly in love with the cats.  ollie specifically.  she's figured out how to call him and does it all.day.long.  it's pretty cute.  she knows what gentle means and will say it when she pets him but after about 5 seconds she forgets gentle and moves on to smacking, screaming, eye poking, and tail pulling.  most of the time he doesn't care and usually if he does he'll just get up and move away.  but the other day she was playing with him and i wasn't really paying any attention since i was working and then i heard her cry and saw the giant scratch on her face.  

lesson learned:  no unsupervised playing with the cats.  

unfortunately i don't think this will be her last battle wound.  it reminded me of my sister who practically tortured the cat when we were growing up and then used to run to my mom crying whenever he dared to defend himself.  hopefully, avery won't be quite as bad.  :)

Monday, February 18, 2013

lately ...

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...  we're in the process of turning our living room into a playroom/office.  charlie and i both have been working upstairs in our master retreat but i had been thinking that it would be easier if i could consolidate all of avery's toys in one place, both to cut down on the clutter and to keep her entertained longer while i'm working.  i've also been working downstairs a lot because i feel like i'm constantly feeding avery throughout the day and we never really used our living room.  we got some shelves from ikea to keep all of her toys in and i'm in the process of figuring out what to hang on the wall and if i should try and keep our current rug or get a new one.  charlie's not a huge fan of the new set up but it's made my work days so much easier.

Toby followed us until he tunnel. I looks like a crazy person.

...  the other day i was walking the dogs (with avery of course) and toby decided to come along for a bit.  he actually followed us for a while.  we cross through a tunnel at one point and he wouldn't come through there.  it actually makes me a little nervous that he was comfortable going that far.  there have been a lot of coyotes in the open space behind our house at night lately and he looks like a nice coyote-sized snack.

all day. every day.

...  this is my life pretty much all day long.

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...  avery and i went on a lunch date on monday.  we split a grilled cheese at panera.  this kid loves people watching.  and then i took her to target for an hour and until she was so bored she lost her mind.
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...  we got a mini train set at ikea for $10.  avery was unimpressed but charlie's been amused.  despite the fact that i don't want my house to look like an ikea there are so many things that i want at that store!  rugs, kitchen islands, chairs!

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...  this kid is growing up way too fast!  she's sitting indian style, calling the cats and dogs, singing to herself, figuring out puzzles and shape sorters, unscrewing tubes of toothpaste, and imitating everything that we do.  she's still refusing to walk but i have my hopes for 14 months.  we'll see.  

Friday, February 15, 2013

valentines day.

i am a believer in valentines day.  as in, in my world it's right up there with christmas.  this year we started off the morning with charlie making french toast.  how can you have a bad day when it starts off with french toast?  it's just not possible.  it also snowed most of the day.  nothing that would be inconvenient but enough to make me feel like winter is justified.  we've had literally no snow this year and i miss it!  we exchanged gifts and cards in the morning and then we ordered chinese for dinner that night.  charlie was stuck in a meeting so avery and i had to eat without him, but all and all a good day.  it doesn't hurt that i love red and pink.  


vday French toast.
french toast and candles.  we are fancy.

card reading.
valentines day pjs and card reading.

present opening. ignore the fire, the birthday wrapping paper, and the fact that she's sitting on the table.
present opening.  ignore the birthday wrapping paper and all of the safety hazards.

Charlie missed dinner so Toby took his spot.
toby took charlie's place at dinner. 

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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lately avery's been all about the cats.  she's learned how to call them.  she clicks her tongue and pats the ground.  so cute, although they never come.  they're not fools, those cats.  
she's also started wanting her bunny.  she sleeps with it now and gives it hugs and kisses.  

and that's all that's new in our world lately.  
just counting down the days until valentines day.  i still need to get avery something and figure out what we're doing for dinner that night.  
     

Friday, February 1, 2013

we survived january.

surprise snow
barely.  
just kidding.  it really hasn't been that bad.  it has been a loooong month.  i'm happy that my baby took a little longer to grow up this month but i'm also ready to see february.  i thought i'd revisit my new years resolutions once a month just to see how i was doing.

twinsies
+ eat better  
i think menu planning and cooking nearly killed me this month.  but i made it.  what i figured out was that it was less of the cooking and more of the planning that was hard for me. i don't know what to make, ever.  so i'm thinking that monthly planning may be the way to go for us.  what i'm trying in february is making a list of meals that i want to make the whole month and then picking a few each week that i'll shop for.  so hopefully that will make things easier.  the other thing that would make things easier is if my baby let me put her down for more than 30 seconds at a time.  we did eat less processed grains and avery's been eating better snacks, too.   

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+  exercise
i did okay.  i could have done better.  weekdays are hard because if i have to cook dinner that has to happen around 4:30, which means that i need to leave for a walk by 3:30 at the latest.  this month i tried to go for a walk any time that it was in the 40s or higher.  anything below and i feel like avery gets too cold.  i missed a few days but i walked more days than not.  

Monday morning trains

+  de-clutter my life
yes and no.  i scheduled and went to all of my doctors appointments for the year.  i cannot tell you how amazing this feels.  i also started cleaning out of the house.  i cleaned out the office and 'strongly encouraged' charlie to clean out his work stuff in there, too.  i got rid of some clothes.  but then i bought a kitchen table and still haven't sold the other one.  there's a lot i'd like to do if we stay in this house but since i don't know if that's happening right now, things have sort of stalled.  whether we stay or go there will be a lot of craigslisting.  

pointing at the 'cats'
+ show love
i did well with avery on this one.  since i spend so much time on the computer when i'm working i've been good about not being on technology when i'm not working.  we've also gone somewhere fun for her on my days off, which has been nice for both of us.  as for charlie, does arguing about moving count as showing love?  if not then i hope to do better in feburary.  it is the month of love.  i also sort of went off grid for a bit in january but i have caught up and returned emails and phone calls.  i'm feeling optimistic about this one.  

zoo!
+  have fun
we've had some fun family activities this month.  we've been to the butterfly pavilion, aquarium, and the zoo.  if we stick around i think we may buy a pass to the aquarium.  avery was seriously in love.  we haven't booked a family vacation yet, but we have figured out where we're going when we finally get around to booking it.  i'm hoping to take a vacation in march.