Three-and-one-quarter-year update
I’m a few days late to this, but Avery has reached another milestone: She’s three-and-one-quarter years old!
I’ve mentioned this before, but Avery has an incredibly bright personality – I don’t know if it’s that she’s older or that her hearing issue is now fixed (or a combination of both), but she is like a different person than she was even a few months ago. A very happy, bubbly, funny and giggly person!
Like her sister before her, Avery is very much influenced and shaped by preschool. Not only does she (continue to) play school at home, but she often comes home and shares lessons (“It’s responsible to clean up!”), sings songs (“Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” is the current fave) and does other little things (“Freeze like a popsicle!”) that she has learned there. I was concerned she might not feel as comfortable at school without her sister there now, but it hasn’t been an issue. Despite the occasional clingy drop-off (still!), she seems very happy.
Her favorite things to do are much like last time: She likes to play school, restaurant (“What do you want to eat? How about a drink? Water?”), and hair studio. She likes singing and dancing (a few weeks ago she adopted a one-legged hop-type dance, which you can in the video below), running around and using one of her pretend phones (“I have a text!”) and doing most anything her sister does. She’ll watch the occasional TV show with Zoe, but the only thing she truly loves is the movie Dolphin Tale.
She loves playing with her sister, of course, and she’s also a big fan of her new cousin. In fact, we were shopping a few weeks ago and she randomly picked out a little shirt for him. “This is for Isaac!” she told me in excitement and, sure enough, it turned out to be Isaac’s size and for a boy. (We were in the girl’s section.) It made me happy that she was thinking of him instead of picking out things for herself.
In terms of skills, Avery can identify most of the letters of the alphabet and has been able to spell her name and her sister’s for some time now. Her speech, while not quite at the level of other kids her age, has drastically improved since her surgery in May. We give her a lot of encouragement (and mention her old speech therapist, Kelly), and I had to smile the other day when she said out of the blue, “Kelly would be so proud of me! I talk so much.” Oh, and as for cute kid-pronounciations, my favorite is that she prounces girl like “ghoul.”
Also like Zoe at her age, Avery can be a bit bossy and a bit of a negotiator – especially at night when she wants an additional book read to her. She is also (still) feisty – quick to lash out at her sister if she feels she’s been wronged, for example – and naughty. She often does things to get a rise out of her sister, like “discipline” her (“Don’t do that, Zoe!”) or rub it in Zoe’s face if her sister is in trouble. Just last week, for example, we took away a toy shopping cart from Zoe because she was misbehaving. While I was talking to Zoe, Avery strolled past us, pushing the shopping cart, and smirking at her sister.
At the same time, as mentioned before, she has an incredibly loving side. She loves to hug and will often tenderly rub my face as I’m putting her to bed. If she thinks someone is upset, she’ll try to comfort them – “It’s okay,” she’ll say. Her new thing is to come up to me and ask, “Guess what, Mommy? I love you!” And just last night she asked if she could put Zoe to bed, and she wound up lying on the floor next to her (which is what she likes someone to do for her).
Speaking of bedtime, she’s still fairly mellow about it. After a bit of Dolphin Tale and a book or song, she usually asks one of us to sleep in bed or next to her (“just for a little while”) and then calls us back to her room with various requests after we leave. It’s usually not a terribly long process. She made me laugh the other night by crying out my name and sounding very distressed, but then greeting with me a big, happy, “Hey, Mama. What are you dooooooing?” when I walked back in. (Clearly, she wasn’t very tired.)
Finally, a little story: During an open house for parents at the preschool a few weeks ago, the teachers asked us to jot down what we wanted for our child this year. I wrote that I wanted Avery to be happy and healthy – and for her to shine. (Because of her hearing issues. I don’t think she ever showed, or felt, her true self at school last year.) And just a few weeks later: She’s shining!
-M