When I think of Avery as an infant, I think of her as a sweet, snuggly, mellow little thing. Back then, I assumed she would stay that way as she grew – but Avery is hardly the classically mellow second child I thought we were getting. She’s still sweet, yes, but she has a strong personality with a strong (mostly happy) presence in our house.
These days Avery is always running around the house, getting into things and talking – in her own language – loudly. She loves to do whatever Zoe is doing – and can often be found prying things out of (poor) Zoe’s hands. We used to call her Swiper; these days, Q and I call her the copycat. If Zoe is playing a certain game, Avery wants to play, too. If Zoe goes and sits somewhere, Avery follows and climbs up, too. And just the other day, Avery went into the bathroom, grabbed a roll of toilet paper and sat on Zoe’s little potty – in an another effort to be just like her sister. (Might potty-training come earlier with Avery?)
It’s not always possible to do exactly what Zoe is doing, of course, and this has had led to more than a few tantrums. We’ve seen a lot more (dramatic) tears lately than in past months, and she often accompanies her cries with a body flop to the floor. And speaking of dramatic, when she is offered a food she doesn’t want at mealtime, she’ll whip her head to the side and stick up her nose. I think a simple “no” would suffice, but Avery goes for the flair.
She’s a bit mischievious – giving me “the look” when she does things she knows she’s not supposed her. Her new game is to take off her socks and shoes when we’re in the car. (Kind of cute – but also a bit annoying when I’m in a hurry to drop her off in the morning.) “Avery keep your shoes on,” I’ll call out to her from the front seat, but she just laughs.
She’s not a full-fledger talker yet (though she has picked up “milk” and “mine” recently), but she definitely understands things – and has ways to communicate. If she’s hungry, for example, she’ll go to the kitchen and point, or even grab things from the cupboard. The other night, she walked up to Q with a container of yogurt; he asked her to get a spoon and she immediately ran back to the kitchen to get one. She also impressed me the other day by heading to the door when she saw me carry my purse. We weren’t actually leaving, but she clearly knows the cues!
She’s more independent than ever before. Zoe’s recent birthday party was a real turning point; while at past events (like Dan and Jenny’s wedding) she would cling to me or not want to play on her own, she was completely on her own (mostly riding a little car) for much of the party. “Is that our girl?” I wondered more than once. And she’s also (finally!) less afraid of unfamiliar people; she no longer shoots people dirty looks, and she’ll even give some loving to people outside of her immediate family.
Other fun things: She recently started saying “bye-bye” all the time. She’ll go from room and room, saying it, even when no one is going anywhere. She always says “cheese” when she sees the camera and, as mentioned earlier, she often scrunches up her face when her picture is about to be taken. One of her new favorite things to do is cover her face to play peek-a-boo; she loves it when we ask, “Where’s Avery?” She still loves singing, and she’s known to sing “Like a diamond in the sky” over and over and over…
-M
