Avery at 18 Months: A Novel

Avery had her 18 month check-up today. The poor thing had to have FOUR shots! I am pretty good at keeping my composure when her beautiful smiling face all of a sudden turns into that pitiful "WHAT THE??" face....and then the screaming and crying ensue. All while I'm helping to pin her little arms down. Whew! As soon as it was over, I scooped her up and cuddled on her. She was still pretty ticked off, but I was able to distract her by pointing out one of the nurse's Hello Kitty scrubs. Avery and I are obsessed with Hello Kitty, so she calmed down pretty quickly. My princess had FOUR blowouts before 12:00 today. Her tummy is very sensitive to greasy food and we gave her some Smithfield's fried chicken and a few fries last night. I think that was the culprit.

Here are her stats:
Weight: 23.2 lbs (58%tile)
Height:  31.25 inches (32%tile)
Head Circumference:  18.75 inches (84%tile) 

Dr. B gave her a clean bill of health, praise God! She seems to be allergic to this nasty pollen, so we're giving her Zyrtec for that.

So in essence, I have a somewhat stumpy baby with a big head. No wonder the poor thing keeps falling down. But boy, is she beautiful! Those blue eyes, brownish-blonde baby-fine hair, rosebud lips, long black lashes, perfect cheeks, little pot-belly, her sort-of-outie belly button, that cute little hiney! I swear, her hiney looks like two little butterbeans laying side by side. Ohhhhhh and she smells soooooooo good! She has her own sweet smell that I wish I could put in a bottle. By the way, if you want some SHMELL GOOOOOOOD lotion for your baby, I highly recommend Mustela!!!!! The name is not synonymous with the smell, promise! They make all kinds of products: baby wash, baby shampoo, etc. It's a little pricey, but lasts a long time. You can get it at Target in the baby section.

Ok, back to my subject. *Ahem*

Avery is wearing 18 month pants/shorts, 24 month shirts, size 5 shoes, and size 5 diapers. Her favorite foods right now are bananas, broccoli, turkey, green beans, chicken, peaches, pears, oatmeal, ANY cereal, spaghetti, rice, waffles, and CORN, CORN, and CORN! The child could live off of broccoli and corn! Of course she loves chicken nuggets and French fries, but we try to keep that to a minimum. Those fruit/veggie pouches....OH.MY.WORD. What a God-send! Avery can suck one down in about 20-30 seconds. She loves crackers, Goldfish, and Nilla wafers. Avery's way of communicating that she wants something to eat is to grunt, "Mmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmm!" 

What she's saying:
"Daddeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"
"Momeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"
"Ankoo, ankoo, ankoo" (thank you)
"Noooooooooooo!"
"Gwakwee" (broccoli)
"It ot!" (It's hot)
"Nandon" (Landon)
"Nah-nen" (Amen)
"I uh oo" (I love you)
"Nigh nigh" (night night)
"Wan baff?" (Want bath?)
"Byyyyyyyyyyyye, byyyyyyyyyye, byyyyyyyyyyye"
"Bipuh" (diaper)
"Eat eat!"
"Tongue"
"Eyes"
"Bopple" (waffle)
"Meel Meel" (milk milk)
"Nana" (banana)
"Sotts" (socks)
"Sooz" (shoes)
"Baooow" (hairbow)

I know there's more, but that's all I can think of right now. She pretty much repeats everything we say. Avery can count to 7. She knows the numbers 1-10, but once she gets past 7, she gets 8,9,&10 out of order. We're working on ABCs. Avery LOVES to jibber-jabber. She sounds like a mad little Chinese lady when she gets to talking. I'm sure she knows what she's saying. Wish I had an interpreter! Y'all I wish I could describe how girly and sweet of a voice she has.

What she's doing:

• Avery can work the iPad like and adult. She knows how to do EVERYTHING on that thing. Thank God we have to put in a password before we can purchase apps, because we'd probably be out $1000...at least.
• Climbing - knows her limits and boundaries
• If she wants you to open something for her, or turn on a toy, she'll come up to you, pry your fingers open until you take it from her. Her way of letting you know she needs help is to say, "Ankoo, ankoo, ankoo."
• Uses her manners! So far she says "Ankoo" when you give her something.
• Responds very well when we tell her, "No!" She's finally gotten the hang of obeying that command!
• Throws a temper-tantrum if Landon takes away something she's playing with.
• Coloring and drawing on paper. She loves it!
• Using her forks and spoons. But she'd much rather use her God-given utensils. It's faster!
• "Reading" books.
• Sleeping 11-12 hours through the night. Doesn't even wake up (don't hate).
• Takes one 2ish hour nap a day.
• Despises being rocked to sleep. She'd rather lay on down in her crib and go to sleep on her own.
• Developed her own routine and sticks to it like a charm. Landon did NOT do this as a baby. Amazing how different they are, yet alike in many other ways.
• Shakin' her bootay. Girl loves to dance! Got that from her brother and daddy. Mama can't dance worth a lick :/
• She sings! It's like a little angel voice. I can't tell what she's singing, but she knows! I hope she takes after me and is a singer! That is the one true God-given talent that I have.
• Gives TONS of kisses.

What she loves:

• BALLS, BALLS, AND MORE BALLS. I'm chuckling as I type that, but what else to you call them?? The child has bouncy balls, beach balls, any ball you can imagine, she has it! I'm all the time finding the smaller ones under the couch and other hard to retrieve areas.
• DOGS! Real, stuffed, cartoon, she loves them all. She laughs at every dog commercial that comes on. In fact her very first real belly laugh was at my moms. My mom's dog, Regis, was running & jumping around and I'm quite sure she wet her diaper 10 times, at least, laughing at him.
• Her stuffed Lady doggie from Lady and the Tramp. Her cousin brought it to her in the hospital when Avery was born. She and Lady have been inseparable since.
• Her brother. They are both so in love with each other. Landon is very protective over his baby sister and takes very good care of her. He's always concerned for her safety and always gets teary when she gets hurt. Nobody makes Avery laugh harder than Landawg does! She'll climb up beside him on the couch and watch take over him playing on the iPad or watch television with him. Every morning when Landon leaves for school, she runs to the door to watch him leave. The whole time she says, "Byyyyye, byyyyye, byyyyyyye!" Many times, Landon comes back up the steps, opens the door, and gives her ANOTHER hug & kiss and tells her, "I love you Avery. You are sooooooo cute! Hahaha" He calls her "baby strong legs." The child can kick & jump like nobody's business! They help tuck each other in. Oh my heart just puddles at the sight of them together.
• Her daddy. Cody wrestles with her and she LOVES it! I think she's gonna be a tough chick. She'd rather cuddle with daddy than with me, unless she's sick or daddy has popped her hand. On the rare occasion that Avery does wake up during the night, she will let daddy be the one to rock her back to sleep.
• Her mommy. Avery is both a daddy's girl and a mommy's girl. More of a mommy's girl though...right now at least.

Every time we sit down to eat and bow our heads to say the blessing, Avery starts laughing?? I don't know why she thinks it's funny. She just sits in her highchair and observes. In the middle of our blessing, she chuckles and we get tickled too. Before we can even finish the blessing she has already declared, "Nah-nen!"

There is sooooooooo much more that I could write about my darling girl, but this blog's length is getting out of control, lol! I've told many people that I do not know how to write short and sweet. I am very detail oriented. Maybe as I get more used to blogging, I can learn to abridge and still give my readers the full scoop ;)

I never knew I could love a little girl so much! After I had Landon, I always thought, there was no way little girls could be as loveable. But she is! So glad I had a precious baby girl. She completes our family. I thank God everyday for granting us the privilege of being parents to Landon and Avery.

Finally, here's a picture of my 18 month old bundle of girly joy:

Easter Sunday 2013

 

John 16:21 (NKJV)

A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.