All about Avery.

Where to start?

This little girl is growing so big and is full of so many changes. It seems I am constantly saying to myself "I need to write that down" ... so here we go, a post all about Avery.

She is talking up a storm, learning new words everyday. Her most frequent words include: thank-you, eye, Jesus, book, grandma, grandpa, cookie, boots, cheese, apple, ball, bee, please, baby, and there-it-is. She also has "kinda words" for things such as: nack nacks (fruit snacks), mimi (binkie), and vrum-vrum (daddy's jeep.)

She has all the animal sounds down - which is a total crack up. The pig and kitty are my favorite... maybe the lizard, too. Okay, all of them are dang cute.

She loves to point to body parts, such as: eyes, nose, ears, mouth, chin, and belly. Watch out on the belly one - she will insist on seeing your belly. She also loves toes and loves playing "this little piggy" on them. Her favorite part: Wee, wee, wee, wee, all the way home. She does it so well, racing her hand up your leg to tickle you. I love it.

She is entertaining the idea of potty training - all on her own. I started putting her on the potty before baths, just to get her thinking about it, and now, she insists on going potty by herself. We aren't all the way trained yet, but seriously getting close. That's a scary thought. Personally, I am not sure I am ready for it.

She loves to sit out on the front porch and wait for daddy to come from work. Most days, around 4:00, we go out to wait. The second she sees his jeep come around the corner she squeals in delight! Kurtis honks the horn all the way to the driveway and is just as excited to see her as she is him. It melts my heart every time.

She still loves books more than anything. She spends so much time in her room surrounded by a pile of books. She pretends she can read, turning each page, and pointing to all the pictures. Her little voice raises up and down as she "reads" each page. It is the cutest thing.

She loves piles of clothes, so laundry day is a real treat for her. She sits in the middle of each pile and examines each article of clothing. She puts pants on her head and shirts on her legs.

She loves her dollies. She tucks them under her arm and takes them everywhere she goes. She takes them for rides in her baby stroller and wraps them in blankets. She also loves her stuffed animals... her monkey had to go swimming with us the other day and today she insisted that her cow sit in the highchair with her while she ate lunch.

She gets WILD after bath time. Its like her last attempt to get our minds off the idea of bedtime. Speaking of bedtime... she still makes life easy for us here. She goes down effortlessly and sleeps 12+ hours every night (with a 2-3 hours nap during the day.) I pray that all my children are this easy.

She loves to say "hi." If you have been around her lately you definitely know this to be true. Being in public is always entertaining, as she says it to EVERYONE she sees. People get a real kick out of her at the grocery store, restaurants, and church (even if it is during the prayer.) Oh, and if you don't say "hi" back she will go into repeat mode until you do. "hi, hi, hi, hi" ... actually, even if you do say it back she still goes into repeat mode. Kind of embarrassing... but oh so cute.

She loves clocks and points to them with great excitement.

She insists on feeding herself, which pretty much means cleaning up has become my new full time job. She eats lots of apple sauce, oatmeal, and yogurt. But her most favorite food is cheese. We go through lots of cheese around here. She also loves grapes and pb&j sandwiches. Fruit snacks and marshmallows are her favorite treat... and nilla cookies, too.

Oh Avery June, we love you.