21-month update
If Avery is anything like her sister (who loves these quarterly milestones), she must be excited that she’s officially one-and-three-quarters today!
What she’s like these days? Very communicative. Though she still isn’t as verbal as I remember Zoe being, Avery has no trouble telling us what she wants (there’s a lot of hand-grabbing/pulling and pointing going on, especially in the kitchen) – and she has picked up quite a few new words (like “apple,” which is what she stubbornly calls oranges) and phrases since my last update. She’s often waving/saying bye to things (“Bye-bye, birdie,” we hear a lot, and “Bye-bye, sisser” is what she says to Zoe when we arrive at Elena’s each morning), and when she thinks it’s time to leave the house, she’ll grab our coat or shoes and call out to us, “Let’s go!” She often pats the seat next to her and tells me or Q, “Sit down!” When she drops or can’t find something, she’ll look at us, throw up her hands and ask, “Where go?” and when she’s done drawing, she’ll wave the piece of paper in front of us and say, “Ta-da!”
Speaking of drawing, she has a real fondness for scribbling and making “pictures,” and Elena sends her home with little crafts – usually smiley faces or little animals glued onto popsicle sticks – at least once a week. (She’s obviously very proud of her work; whenever I pick her up, she takes my hand, walks me to over to where they’re hanging and points up). Other favorite things: playing with her baby (whom she often feeds and even reads to), reading her numbers book (she takes particular delight from the page of ten babies), and literally doing whatever her sister is doing. She’s also, as mentioned earlier, very into birds – whenever she spots one outside or through the car window, it’s quite the event.
More good stuff: She’s still very loving, especially with her sister, and each night before it’s time for bed she runs up to Zoe for a hug. She continues to come out of her shell and get comfortable with others, too. Dan and Jenny babysat last weekend and said she was fairly easy, and she has become quite friendly with several teachers at Zoe’s school – even giving one a hug recently. (“She likes you, Mary,” I told her. “Avery doesn’t just hug anyone!”)
The not-so-good stuff: She can be quite the little diva, crying and acting out in dramatic fashion if she doesn’t get what she wants or if we don’t understand what she’s trying to tell us. Her new thing is to go to the corner, arch her back and stick out her stomach and full-on pout when she’s unhappy. She’s also been throwing things a lot more often – which has earned her a few one-minute time-outs in her crib. The only good thing: She knows what she’s doing is wrong, and she always picks up what she threw after her time-out is up and we’ve talked with her.
In terms of physical stuff, she is the height (35.5 inches) that Zoe was when she was two. (We had an official measurement this morning – see below.) Her eyes are still dark grey and her hair – which we so patiently waited to come in – is delightfully curly. I am officially the only straight-haired girl in the family!
-M
