In anticipation of Avery starting at the JCC soon (!), I thought a pre-preschool update was appropriate.

As mentioned here before, Avery has very different public and home personas: She can be serious, quiet and shy in new or outside situations. (I’m really curious to see how she’ll react to her new environment in a few weeks.) She does break out of her shell at times, though: At a recent playdate with her friends Greta and Natalia, she didn’t cling to me during our time together, and she gave good-bye hugs to the girls, their moms and even Greta’s dad – which doesn’t often happen. (A breakthrough, perhaps??)

And at home, Avery remains bubbly and outgoing – often running through the house in excitement. Favorite things continue to be playing (or also running around with) her sister, pushing around a stroller, playing with and talking to her babies, and making birthday cake and other goodies in Zoe’s kitchen. She has shown a greater interest in books lately (she likes to sit and page through them, which she didn’t do a few months ago), and she has taken a recent and strong interest in the Itsy Bitsy Spider, which she sings or reads in bed. She continues to copy whatever Zoe does: Zoe, for example, recently used a bunch of animal-shaped paper plates and a pencil “pointer” to administer an eye test on me; for several days afterward, Avery would grab a plate and pointer and do an eye test of her own. (“What’s that?” she would ask, pointing to the animal’s eye or nose.)

Though for most of her life she has (thankfully!) shown no interest in TV, she recently started to enjoy Go Baby, a 5-minute show that Zoe loved when she was a toddler. “I want Baby,” she’ll say to me or Q, or she’ll ask for “monkey,” since the show begins with an introduction from Ooh and Ahh.

She has a devilish streak: often doing things (like jumping on the couch or getting down from her chair at dinner repeatedly) that she knows she’s not supposed to – and then giving us a big grin. (Let’s just say that she’s at the stage where eating out with her isn’t that fun.) She has the occasional full-on tantrum (crying, lying on the floor and kicking, etc.); she had one of her biggest ones ever just the other night. And when she gets really upset she has been known to make a roar-like sound, or even try to bite.

If Zoe is the one getting in trouble, Avery often runs up to her and starts pointing her finger and scolding her (which, of course, we tell her not to do). She has even been known to try to pry Zoe’s thumb out of her mouth, since she knows it’s not supposed to be there.

Avery still doesn’t talk as much as other kids her age, but Q and I comment that she is getting a little more verbal and easier to understand each day. And she’s still very curious: often asking things like “what happened?” and “where did Sister go?” As for her own special words, she says “torry” for sorry, “baw” for thumb, “uppo” for hippo, “bebra” for zebra (which she also causes a giraffe) and what sounds like “got-tay” for band-aid. She still calls most round fruits apples. She also loves (like most kids her age, I suppose) pointing out when things – toys, coats, etc. – are hers. And she certainly knows how to communicate without talking: When it’s time for a change, she’ll often get a diaper and wipes and lay down on the floor in front of us. (And the other night, Zoe actually started changing her. When I tried to help, Avery told me, “No, Mama!”)

Some other things: At her last appointment she was 33 pounds and 35.5 inches – the size of a 3-year-old. She’s growing into a bit of a picky eater. She doesn’t seem to like meat, but she is a big fan of fruit (any kind), waffles, cheese, peanut butter and juice. Over the past few years her bedtime has shifted from 7ish to 8 or even 9 – we often put her to bed and hear her talk, sing and read to her babies for an hour or longer! And my prediction that her bouncing days were numbered was correct; at about the two-year mark, she started squirming away from our bounces. These days she prefers that we lay on the floor next to her and sing her songs before leaving the room.

Lastly, she recently impressed me when she answered “Four” when I asked how old her sister was. (I knew she knew how old she was, but not Zoe.) And when I told her I loved her in the car one day last week, the little voice in the backseat said, “I love you, Mama.” It was the first time she said it and it is my favorite sentence of hers to date!

-M

This entry was posted on Friday, August 19th, 2011 at 10:00 am and is filed under 61.Two kids-August 11. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.