15 Months!

Avery, you are 15 months tomorrow!  Excuse me, TIME, where did you go?

Here are some things you are up to right now.

 First of all, you are walking everywhere, which is quickly turning into running everywhere!  Walking has really helped you reveal so much of your personality.  You are eager to explore.  All day long, I chase you around, making sure the things you want to touch, turn upside-down, empty, and lick are safe things for you to do so.

 You still love to play with Mommy's mixing bowls.  You pull them out of the cabinet by yourself and bang them on the floor, slide them around, put them inside each other, and lick them.

 When we say "smile", this is what we get!  You bring so much joy into our lives every day, it's almost too much to bear sometimes.

You are getting more comfortable with your Bompa (above) and your PawPaw.  You are always a little more weary of men, but you're learning that they are good men to love!

I love being able to see you interact with your grandparents on a regular basis.  I hope they are always special people in your life.

Gramma is the next best substitute for Mommy!  I suppose that's because Gramma "feels" a lot like Mommy.

 When you wake up from your nap and I ask you if you want to play, you always respond with, "Ball!"  And it's the first thing you go for.

You love to feed your baby doll her food and give her medicine.  You give your babies lots of love throughout the day, too.

 You are in love with books, and always have been.  It's so fun to watch you read to yourself.  Your favorite place to read your books is in your glider chair in your bedroom.  At least twice a day, you make me follow you in there and you pat the seat and sign "help" to get  you up there and give you some books.  Anytime I ask you if you want to read some books, you respond with an emphatic, "Ohhh!"  It's your way of saying, "Yes!"

If you and I are playing in the living room, you constantly pick out a book, bring it over to me and back yourself up onto my lap.  It melts me.

 There's that "smile" again!

 Today, I was watching you read 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and you were "reading" each page to yourself, complete with finger-pointing when the doctor says, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" and touching your head when a monkey bumps his head.  You are so smart.

Some other words you say are: Buh-bye, hello, Ra-Ra (Riley), more, no, oh me! (oh my), oh bye! (oh boy), Dada, Mama, nite-nite

You have started grabbing your diaper and whining when you have a dirty diaper and need changing.  Potty training might be around the corner for us!

When I ask you if you're hungry, you sign "eat" and run to your high chair.  When I ask you if you're thirsty, you find your sippy cup of water and go to town on it.  I'm pretty sure you understand 90% of what I say to you.  You are able to follow pretty much every command we give you.

You still fall a lot throughout the day, but you always pick yourself back up again.  You have determination that can't be beat.  You love to walk around with your hands clasped behind your back and you look so proud while you're doing it, like, "I am so grown up, I can walk with my hands behind my back!"

Avery, you are such a gift to Daddy and me.  We have plans to give you a little brother or sister someday, but if for some reason we couldn't, we would be so grateful that we have you!  Your happiness and love for life are such a testament to me of how I should live each day.  I love you, baby girl.

First Sign of Counting...

When I weaned Avery from breastmilk to whole milk back in December, I was diligently warming the bottle of milk in our bottle warmer that never got used when I was nursing her because she rarely had a bottle.  I figured it was about time to use the thing.  Usually, when I'd make her a bottle, Avery would be in my arms, observing my every move.  At first, she was very patient and would just sit quietly on my hip and watch.  That lasted probably 3 days.  Her patience began to dwindle and eventually, she would start screaming when she saw me put the bottle in the warmer.  She had realized that the warmer kept her from getting her milk, pronto.  However, she wouldn't really drink it straight from the refrigerator because it was too cold.  In the warmer, it was room temperature - just right.

Well, it didn't take me too long before I ditched the use of the warmer and just popped the bottle in the microwave for thirty seconds.  Thirty seconds is a lot faster than 2-3 minutes in the warmer!  This time, it was only about two bottles before she figured out that the microwave also kept her from getting her milk right away.  By the way, my child gets her impatient nature from her daddy.

I'm just sayin'...

Anyway, last week, I decided to start counting when I push "start" on the microwave to distract my impatient munchkin, which totally works.  And she thinks it's hilarious when I say, "beep, beep, beep!" when the microwave beeps.

Then, on Friday, she started "counting" with me.  She uses the same tone with her voice and makes some made up word for each "number."  I was impressed.

Then, last night, I was on my own for bath and bedtime routine because Stephen was at basketball practice.  So we did bathtime, which is always a huge hit, and it was time for milk.  I closed the microwave door on the bottle of milk and when I pushed "start," Avery said, clear as day, "ONE."

Excuse me, come again?

So, she knows that "one" comes first when counting?!?!?!  I know every parent thinks their child is the brightest, or whatever, and I'm learning that I'm no different.  But bigger than that, I am reminded all the time when she surprises us with things like that at how amazing our Creator is.  He created this little girl and gave her to us to raise up and enjoy.

Clearly, she is smart and is soaking up everything she can throughout the day, and I am so thankful that she has a longing to learn.

I am most thankful that she is happy and healthy and has the most adorable giggle I've ever heard.

We are so blessed.

Mama Knows...

The past fourteen months has been the longest learning experience of my life.  I have learned that Mama is really the one who doesn't sleep very much.  I have learned that my husband is sort of willing to get up in the middle of the night, if I really want him to.  I have learned that that doesn't do much good, since it is impossible for him to produce milk.

I have learned that Avery does things at her own pace.  For example, right about the time I started thinking, "Gee, Avery should probably start rolling over soon," she did, the very next day.  But she just did it that day.  She did it several times that day, but then she didn't do it again for another week or so.  She had decided she wasn't ready to get all crazy and roll over all the time.  It was like she was saying, "Look, Mama, I can roll over.  I just don't really see the point at the moment."

She did the same thing with walking.  We knew for several weeks that Avery was capable of walking or actually running all over the place before she did.  And then one morning a couple of weeks ago, it was like she had decided in her crib before I went in to get her, "Yep.  Today's the day I'm going to start walking!"  It's been very humbling as her Mama because there is nothing I can do about that.  Now that I've realized this, I actually like it.  It makes me so proud of her - that she is her own person and not even her Mama can push her any faster than she likes.

The most recent thing I've learned is that I definitely have a Mama's intuition about some things.  I know when it's time to go in and get her up from her nap.  I know when she falls down and can just brush herself off and move on, or when she needs a little hug and reassurance that she's okay.  I know when she just wants to feed herself, dang it!  And I know when she's sick.  On Monday, I knew something wasn't quite right, so I took her to the pediatrician's office to get checked out.  Of course, the nurse practitioner said nothing was wrong.  Actually, she said she might have a sore throat, but she didn't have an ear infection or anything.  And I felt really self-conscious and embarrassed because this was the second time I've brought her in, thinking she might have an ear infection, and she did not.  I do not overreact, by nature, so when I feel like I've overreacted, I get annoyed with myself.  Anyway, we went home, without any answers, really.  She continued to be fussy and not eat very well, and pulled on both of her ears - which is not something she typically does.

Then this morning (Wednesday), she woke up earlier than usual, wouldn't eat her breakfast, and then I noticed she felt pretty warm.  I took her temp, it was 101.4 - the highest temp I had ever gotten from her, and I contemplated whether or not I should call the Doc.  Since I am a level-headed person, I perused the binder from the pediatrician's office and concluded that she probably has a "cold" now and could run a fever for the next 3 days or so.  And I don't need to call the Doc, unless her fever reaches 105 degrees?  That seems a little high to me, but whatever.  She took some Tylenol, we continued to hang out, and she continued to get fussier and clingier.  And warmer.  So I checked her temp a few hours later and watched the thermometer shoot up to 102 quickly, until it reached 102.4 degrees.  Then, I felt really bad for my sweet baby.  She was just miserable!  But I made the promise to myself that if it reached 103, I would definitely be calling Dr. P.  Thankfully, when I took her temp before bedtime, it was down to 101.1, so I'm hopeful a good night's sleep will do her some good.

And I'm trusting my instincts that when I know my baby's not feeling well, I'm probably right.  I guess I was right just a couple of days too early this time.  It's okay, though - I have at least another 17 years to get my timing down.