Time Out

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Time-outs no longer seem to be an effective form of discipline for Aves. She seems to think that it should resemble the above photo, lounging on the floor and smiling up at me after the initial two seconds of "crying". So today I propped her up, sat behind her, and I had her sit there for her minute, during which she (while crying) leaned back, looked up at me, and said, "Hi, Mommy. How are you?" I prayed that she would look back down so I could giggle silently. I think it's time to re-examine our discipline methods.

Aunt Dell

Aunt Dell (Michelle) is VERY popular with Avery - she asks about her all the time, and I think she'd choose Aunt Dell over me some days.

Today we had lunch with Aunt Dell up at her school. We got there a few minutes early and walked into her boys' choir class, which meant all chaos broke loose and they were unruly the last ten minutes. Oops! They kept yelling, "It's a baby!" and Avery ran around and helped Aunt Dell play the keyboard and entertain the boys. She would run back into the office to see me, and then run back out again to yell "Hi!", which sent the crew all into a fit of giggles again. 

Aunt Dell is on the right, directing her boys' choir. Avery's head is barely peeking over the table, as she was trying to get to the piano.

trying to capture these pics without distracting the boys further

Aunt Dell's fridge was very popular...please notice the chicken nugget on the shelf. I think it was still there when we left.

Thanks, Aunt Dell, for letting us interrupt your class today!

Loving the Weather

We have all spent a bunch of time outside the past week or so, because the weather has been amazing! We're getting to know our neighbors better, and all of the kids play together while the adults sit and visit. Our new neighbors are very generous with their toys, pulling the play kitchen out many evenings, and the kids have a blast. We've also spent some time on our own outside, and I thought Avery looked too cute in her prairie skirt and rainboots (which are her shoe of choice these days), so I snapped a few pics.

Yay! Daddy is home!

♥ Day

We kicked off our Valentine's season with some homemade cards for Nonnie and Nana - I hope they got them in the mail by now, or else this will ruin the surprise! Avery drew on her red construction paper with her crayons, and then I trimmed the design down into hearts, matted them with white paper, and let her add stickers at the end. We walked them to the mailbox together and she dropped them in.

her new face - wide eyed head tilt; coloring her valentines

On Saturday we were surprised by a knock on the door - it was flowers for Avery from D-dad! She loved them, but the monkey was more her style I think.

flowers from D-dad

she loves her new monkey

(why sideways?! ugh) Heart shaped chocolate and cherry scones for breakfast

On Monday I baked up a batch of scones as a special treat...everyone should start the day off with something sweet and chocolatey once in awhile! Too bad Avery wasn't into them, at least not until later that day.

she only had two bites...and we tried to convince her that it was a cookie

From there we headed to our MOPS Valentine's Day party, where they decorated bags for cards, had a lot of sugar, and played for a couple hours. Super easy to entertain them at this age!

MOPS playgroup Valentine's party - coloring their bags. I had to decorate Avery's...

...because she was eating noodles

inspecting her loot - hooray for candy!

"cheese!" We're missing a couple kiddos, including mine, b/c she won't pose on command

Dinner for my valentine

Luke and I ended the day with a quiet dinner at home. I recreated the butternut squash soup from South Congress Cafe, down to the grana padano cheese shavings and the sage brown butter. Oh, it was delicious. For dessert, homemade chocolate pudding while we watched a movie.

Normally, this isn't one of my top holidays, even with a special valentine of my own. But, we had the perfect day this year, and some of these little holidays are so fun when you see them through a child's eyes.

Avery's Pick

For some reason, this is her favorite outfit. Tonight, she ran to her dresser, pulled open the jammie drawer, and said, "clothes!" - she rejected the jammies Daddy had pulled out for her in favor of these, which aren't even a real set. They're like our back-up when I have failed to do the right loads of laundry that week, and I think it's even a 6-12 month top. She'll even request to change into this outfit at random times of the day, if she happens to think about it (thankfully it's not very often).

She's Home!

Our girl returned home from a fun-filled week with my parents, and it's been a whirlwind of emotions for her (and me). She was so excited to see me and wouldn't let me go, and then she wasn't sure about coming home with me, and then she was super excited, and then she cried when we pulled up to the apartment (I do that sometimes, too...kidding!), and then she was happy to see her daddy, and then sobbed, and then nap, and then whimpering, and then sobbing mixed with laughter (something all girls seem to master), and then happy sad happy sad all over again. Whew, exhausting! But she's adjusting, and we are so glad to have her home! Apparently she didn't ask for us all week (both good and bad) until this morning, so it's good she came home today.

She's already giving the new baby a taste of what it's like to have an older sister by taking the baby's food, otherwise known as my smoothie.

How'd I do on my checklist?

• Work on decorating the dollhouse In progress, but I got a lot of work done on the furniture and the living room walls and picked out fabric for the bedding
• finish painting the furniture
• flooring and walls
• Finish the alphabet blocks DONE!
• Simplify paperwork in the house In progress, though I made a strong start in scanning my inspiration files into the computer to reduce our paper clutter. I also need to buy a paper shredder.
• Continue adding to the donation pile DONE! And out of the house, thanks to MOPSwap
• Deep cleaning of the apartment, with the more chemical work left for Luke (yay pregnancy!) Um, yeah...we did dishes and laundry and general picking up.
• Sew the valentine's postcards for her mailbox (pics will come later) Not at all - I kept forgetting what I needed for this project when I was at the craft store
• Make valentine's for her playgroup party printed, but need to sign them and find envelopes
• Make it to the gym at least 3x this week embarrassed to admit - not at all
• Cook dinner nightly In some form or another, and we tried a couple new recipes

 All in all, a productive week, with some visiting with friends and resting early in the week when I was feeling bad. I did learn that I felt like I had no purpose without my child - such a weird feeling to have. 
 

Snow Day

We finally found a cable to upload pictures - we'll start with the snow day and then work backwards a few weeks.

Avery and her friend/neighbor E.

mid-squeal of delight

helping Daddy build a snowman, though they could never get it to pack well enough

We thoroughly enjoyed the snow for 10 or 15 minutes before Avery started crying "Done, done, done!" Her poor little nose was bright red, her mittens got wet, and she woke up from her nap later that day with bright red chapped cheeks. Snow is fun for a few minutes, but I think we're all glad that we don't have to live in it all winter.

 We stayed home for 3 days straight last week during the cold spell. Avery discovered my nail polish collection and practiced standing all of them up and then returning them to the drawer, over and over.

 A couple weeks ago we were hit with a stomach bug, although in this pic we weren't aware of it yet. Avery fell asleep around 6:30 on the couch, which has NEVER happened before. We snapped these two pics, and then 5 minutes later she barfed all over that blanket. Thankfully it didn't end up on the couch.

 She woke up once, because she couldn't feel the iPod in her hand anymore...once she knew it was safe, she fell back asleep. (And then puked.)

 So, we spent the next day watching movies and cuddling in bed, with protective towels and blankets should the Barf Bug make a return.

Feeling better, and wearing Daddy's boots.

 She insisted on this scooter over anything else in the store, so the grandparents gifted it to her. But - it's really for kids at least the age of 4 - she has no idea how to properly ride it (it's a momentum toy where you wiggle it back and forth to get going), but she LOVES it. She rides it in our tiny kitchen, going as fast as she can so she can slam into the trashcan, which makes her erupt into a thousand giggles.

Accountability Checklist

Since Avery is gone for the week to visit her grandparents, my goal is to get a ton of stuff done around the apartment; it's hard to keep a place picked up, or really get into projects, when your toddler is constantly raiding your closet for shoes and purses to add to her pile of toys.

A cute quick update from the grandparents - they kept Avery in the service with them, and when she got restless as the sermon was starting, Granddad quietly left with her. But, as they were walking out, she yelled "Bye, Nonnie!", and thanks to the acoustics in the sanctuary, everyone now knows who Nonnie is. Love that girl. And apparently there was a bully on the playground, but she learned his name and kept telling him to excuse her ("me me!") Polite, even when frustrated.

So, my list:

• Work on decorating the dollhouse
• finish painting the furniture
• flooring and walls
• Finish the alphabet blocks
• Simplify paperwork in the house
• Continue adding to the donation pile
• Deep cleaning of the apartment, with the more chemical work left for Luke (yay pregnancy!)
• Sew the valentine's postcards for her mailbox (pics will come later)
• Make valentine's for her playgroup party
• Make it to the gym at least 3x this week
• Cook dinner nightly

Wish me luck!

Brrrr, Cooooold!

When Avery asks to go outside this week, I say no, it's too cold, and I get "brrrrr, cooooold" in response from her.

We have done TONS of laundry and dishes while ignoring everything else as we bum around the house together. I've had a few days where I feel awful, so it was a lot of Veggie-tales on those days, but this week has been better, so I try and distract her from her "mu-mu" (movie) as much as possible. Her new favorite thing is to sit and rock with me while I sing (poor child must be tone-deaf if she likes my singing). She always asks for more when I finish a song, and if we're just sitting down playing and she wants me to sing, she'll say "more". I'm trying to teach her the word "sing" instead.

We have read so many books this week, and her patience for them has increased substantially. She has always loved books, but her attention span has been so short. We're able to get through an entire Dr. Suess story (some of them are long!), and then she still asks for more.

Luke has been working 16 hour days all week, and he worked most of the weekend and late every night last week as well. Apart from 30 minutes spread over the past two mornings, I haven't seen him since Sunday. It's been a hard week all around, being cooped up inside with only the boring Mommy to play with (Daddy is the best at games), and Luke is exhausted. My parents are awesome and are taking Avery for a few days next week so we can rest and catch up with each other.

Oh! And look at me go - I remembered to do a monthly post on her actual month-birthday. Today marks 22 months.

She has a gazillion teeth and loves to brush them.
She always asks for a bow in her hair, but it disappears within 5 minutes. Every. Single. Time.
I refuse to cut her hair; we're going through an extended awkward stage until it's long all around.
She will sit and read through a picture book of all of our family members, and she can name almost all of them, though she has a bit of trouble with the extended fam still.
She talks all day. A guy at Target asked me a couple weeks ago if she always talked that much.
Her bear and her baby have to sleep with her everynight, and when we cuddle, or leave the room, they have to come to.
She is fascinated by the trash can; thankfully it has a lock on it. She will tell me "ucky" as she opens it.
She likes to help me unload the dishwasher - I let her put the silverware away, and then I reorganize it.
She is so responsive to requests (if they interest her). She seems to understand so much more than I expect.
She is a master at jumping! She loves to jump and dance.
She cried the first time we left her in the nursery at church after the holidays, but since then we've had no problem. She just walks right in, and we don't usually have to pull the lovie out anymore.

While the week seems to drag, it's been so fun having tons of cuddle time with my girl. I am so thankful for the sweetness she brings to each day.