Avery is now officially one point five years old. Well technically it's not official until 6:45 p.m. but still. Whoa. She's almost over the one year hump, tomorrow she'll be closer to two than one and my heart will hurt a little bit because my baby is very much a toddler now. So many strangers in the last month have made the comment to "enjoy her now" because time passes so fast. And it does, it really really does. I don't long for the past and I can wait for the future, I really do just want to focus on right now while it's happening. Besides, as her momma, I'll always think of Avery as my baby!
It seems like she's learning something new every single day. I still answer in months when people ask how old she is because I feel like it's not fair to say she's one. Avery at 12 months and Avery at 18 months are two completely different tots.
She's picking up new words daily and has added a few new signs. She mostly signs and speaks the word at the same time so it's really cute to watch. She'll look through the baby signs books and then try to copy them on her own which always impresses me. "More" is still her most commonly used sign and not only does she use it when she actually wants more of something, but she uses it when she wants something and doesn't know the name. Like chewing gum, candy, etc. If I have something she wants she's likely to say, "more," and basically that means she wants whatever I have. She gets frustrated easily when we take something away or don't understand and she'll scream. But if I tell her to please ask nicely she bends her head to her shoulder and says, "Peeaasssse?" It's really really cute, I don't know where she got the shoulder shrug thing but it makes it very hard to resist anything.
Her current favorite songs are No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and a counting fish song. She'll get in my lap and start bouncing up and down saying, "Mut-me!" which is Avery for "monkey" and means she wants me to sing. It's cute because when she jumps up and down her feet don't actually leave the floor, it's more like she goes on tip-toes. She's got the doctor's part down, not surprising given her joy over saying NO. When I get to that part, I always ask what the doctor says and she shakes her finger and says, "No no no no." Itsy Bitsy has been a favorite for a while. Her little spider hand motions are very cute! And the counting fish song is really short and I don't think it has a name, but Avery loooooves her some fish these days. Sometime over the last month we watched an episode of Elmo's world that was about fish and it spurred days of fish crafts, reading books about fish, playing games about fish, watching her fish in her faux aquarium. She's very excited about "dissssh!"
We've been spending time on colors and sorting lately. I do believe her favorite color is blue or "booo." She can say the names of purple, yellow, blue, pink, & red. I think she can actually recognize blue for blue. She picks blue items the most, while saying blue. She always wants to get her "boo marma (marker)." And let me just say that washable markers are not always so washable! In the tub she'll pick the blue cup and tell me it's "boooooo!" then she'll point to all the other buckets & toys asking, "Dis? (this)" so I'll tell her the color. We use different colors of construction paper to sort items. Right now we're mainly working on red, green, yellow, and blue. I know I've said it before, but it really is amazing to watch a child learn. And not just colors or shapes, but to see the motor skills developing too - it's just all really neat!!
Avery is becoming an excellent copier so we've been working on emotions and opposites. We own lots of good books that go over both. One of my favorite visuals is a set Baby Einstein flash cards. There's a mirror on the back for your baby to watch herself expressing the emotion. She does excited, happy, surprised, sad, & scared like a pro. She'll hold on to the scared card and just keep pointing at the spider that she calls a bug, and then acting scared like Bard. And speaking of being scared, one day last week I put her in her crib to wear her down for a nap and after several minutes of listening to her talk, I peeked in to see her facing her crib piano. She roared like the lion on the piano and then said, "No no!" and clutched her chest like she was scared. It was so funny because, while she's never liked looking at lions, she's the one who roared in the first place! I laughed and of course her nap was forgotten in favor of playing. She's just too cute sometimes. :) Opposites are fun too and we've been fans of Quiet LOUD for a long time. Avery has mastered screaming when asked, but her whisper is a work in progress.
She loves plurals and possessives. She's always telling us what's Mommy's, Daddy's, Baby's, etc. I think maybe she just likes to say the S sound. She often talks about books, paints, snacks, and the list could go on. Definitely likes the S.
She is so fun and loving and just the best girl around! When I asked Deran what his favorite thing about Avery is right now, he said it's how fast she learns, that it's pretty amazing. And I think that kind of sums up our girl right now - amazing. I'm listening to all the strangers and I'm enjoying right now, every day.
Happy 18 month birthday baby girl, we love you lots!!
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