Here are some fun, cute and new things in Month 22:
When we want to get Avery's attention we say "Look at my face" so now Avery will take our face in her hands and say "Look at Avery's face" when she wants to tell us something
She loves me to sing "My Favorite Things" when we rock before bed. She knows most of the words and helps sing along. Makes me melt! She also loves You are my Sunshine, 1,2 Buckle my Shoe (and at the end says "A BIG FAT HEN"), Doe a Dear, and ABC's - she is getting pretty good at knowing the words and singing along. And she can now sing "Hail to the Victors"
Avery has started putting "Ms" before everyone's name. Since she calls her teachers at school Ms. Lauren and Ms. Becky - we know hear "Ms Mama" "Ms Dada" "Ms Uncle Du" "Ms G" etc. We keep trying to tell her she doesn't need to do that but it just seems to come naturally at the moment
Avery is VERY polite - Lots of Thank You, Please and Sorry. Her teachers also tell us how sweet and polite she is. One day, her teacher Ms. Becky hurt her ankle while putting the cots out for nap and Avery heard her say "Ow" so she ran to her other teacher Ms Lauren and said "Oh No! Ms. Becky hurt by cots".
She also likes to "Clean Up" - Which I think they do a lot at school. Sometimes she actually cleans up but usually she just likes to talk about it.
When you ask Avery a question and she doesn't know the answer she says "I don't know that". You can see her thinking and trying to answer and when she isn't sure we get an I just don't know!
She loves to say "Look Mama" and "Look Daddy" when she wants us to watch something. And "Look at Me" when she's doing something cool or funny.
Avery likes looking for trucks when we drive and the minute we pass one, she says "more trucks!"
She really likes school but most mornings she tells us that she wants to "play with mama and daddy and not go to school".
If you tickle her belly and she doesn't want you to she says "No, get out Avery's belly"
Avery loves Sofia the First right now - and every morning she wants to be a Princess. She always twirls after we get her dress to see if it's Princess Appropriate.
If she can't find something she calls out "Where Are Youuu?". Like if she can't find her book she'll say "Book, where are you?" and run around looking.
Avery is not a fan of driving in the rain - She'll say "Daddy, make the rain stop!"
Her favorite book right now is the Wave Book - She loves to watch the little girl play in waves, run away from the waves and find seashells. She talks about finding seashells on our vacation coming up and going to the beach.
Avery LOVES her friend Micah school - she talks about him a lot. Apparently all the girls love Micah.
She is talking in pretty long, grammatically correct sentences. I wish I could capture all of them!!
Avery is very tall for her age - wearing 3T and almost a size 8 shoes. She seems to get bigger and more chatty every day! And her hair gets wilder and thicker and longer.
This month's "photo shoot" consisted of Avery wanting to color her sign on her table and on the wall and then give it a kiss.
We headed to Chicago this past weekend to visit friends. Hung golfed with Du, Josh and Kirk on Saturday. Avery and I had a busy day of our own - we met John and Jill at the zoo in the morning. It was a little cool and lot of the animals seemed to be hiding inside but the kids had fun running around and played for about 20 minutes on the binocular stand (random!). After lunch and nap, we picked up Jill M. (who is sporting the CUTEST baby bump) and headed over to meet Lisa's new baby girl Clara. Avery was a little jealous and also tried to stash some of Clara's toys in our diaper bag but she kept telling us how cute the baby was. Clara was VERY sweet and it was fun to hold a little newborn again. We then all headed to dinner at a Korean BBQ place near Uncle Du's house. After dinner we got ice cream - which Avery loved the best! On Sunday morning, Uncle Du took Avery to a new park near his house while we loaded up the car.
Given that it was Central time, Avery was QUITE the early riser. So despite some sleep deprivation, we all had a fun time.
We had a surprise party for G's 60th birthday this weekend and it was a total success. My mom was 100% surprised and shocked. I could not believe we pulled it off - but am so happy we did! We had a lot of out of town guests (Dennings, McDaniels, Lawrences, Mike and Robin Ronayne, and Sally Booth). And also lots of friends from Indy - about 75 total at the party at La Margarita in Fountain Square.
We got to spend a lot of time with Lawrences who came in Friday afternoon. Pat, Mike, Elisabeth and baby Matilda came over for dinner on Friday and Avery fell in LOVE with Mike Lawrence. She put him down for a "nap" and covered him in "bittys". He was a great sport!! All night she said "Mike, Let's Go!" and led him around the house to whatever she wanted to do. Matilda is one lucky girl to have such a sweet grandpa (and mom and grandma, too!). Avery and Matilda had a ton of fun together, too. The first night they played until almost 9:00 - they were having too much fun to go to bed. After the party the next day, we all met up at my mom's house for dinner and to have more cake (which Avery had no problem eating after deciding that would be her dinner). Again, the girls riled each other up and were so funny together. Matilda put on her jammies and Avery decided she needed to put on jammies, too. We didn't have any so she put on a t-shirt of my mom's and loved her "Jammie shirt". The girls played until almost 9:30 - so late for both of them but they were on a bit of a sugar high and we were all cracking up watching them squeal and run around. We had brunch on Sunday and Avery and Matilda ran around outside after we ate. They were just too cute together and were so sweet to each other. I hope we get to play with the Lawrences again soon - we miss them already!
We had a friend take some pictures - sadly they did not come out that well but the few we got are below.
Mike going down for a nap - Mike said "Avery I need a blanket" and Avery goes "Mama - Mike's Cold"
At the party
Avery enjoying her 2nd piece of cake of the day and reading to Mike and Grammy
The girls playing in their Jammies - They were both jumping up and down and giggling and squealing - hard to capture in the photo
Playing outside the restaurant after Brunch on Sunday
My cousin Emily stayed with us last weekend. She was in town for a theater workshop/competition and it happened to be in Carmel so it worked out well for her to stay at our house. Avery immediately loved Emily and started calling her "Femy" - Every night before bed she would ask if Femy would be here in the morning. We got to have a couple dinners with her and go to the Splash Park one afternoon. We are excited to spend more time with Femy and the rest of the family next month at our Family Reunion!
Avery was putting me down for a "nap" tonight after dinner and I asked her to sing me a song. She broke out "Hail to the Victors" and put her fist in the air. I have not been able to capture it on video yet but I have never been prouder :) I guess my singing it to her almost every night has paid off - Hung just shook his head.
We went to a BBQ at Mike, Poonam and Savera's tonight. Avery had SO much fun playing with Savera and Ava and she really loved Savera's Kitchen set. It was great to see the girls playing together rather than just around each other. And the adults had lots of fun catching up (maybe a little too much!). It was the perfect way to spend such a lovely summer evening.
We had a great weekend despite the cloudy and rainy weather. On Friday we went to play group with Avery's friends and I had fun reading books to all the kids. Uncle Du and Otis came to visit (Otis will be staying with us for a week and half while Du is on vacation) and Avery could not get enough of her Uncle Du. She was constantly asking where he was if he left the room and wanted to play with him non stop. Uncle Du was a great sport and played with her a ton (we got a good picture of Du putting Avery down for a nap).
Saturday night Uncle Cullen and G came over to watch the Pacers beat the Heat in Game 6. Avery had to watch her nighttime show on Dad's iPad since the game was on - and she decided she needed to hold Dad and G's hand the whole time - very sweet!
On Sunday, Hung and Du went golfing and Avery and I met our friends Henry, Holden and Leah at the zoo. Avery had a great time (when she wasn't preoccupied with the straps on the strollers). We hit almost all of the exhibits and all three kids had lots of fun seeing the animals and running around - It was hard to get great pictures as they were very wiggly, on the go, and full of energy. Avery got to feed the giraffes a carrot which was very cool - I'll have to get a picture next time. It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning!
