Warming Up?

Josh took Avery to her second dance class yesterday, and she actually did a little bit better!  (What a good daddy, he even took pictures and put her hair up and I didn't ask him to... but he did let her dance in flip flops instead of ballet shoes!?)

Miss Kristen even got a hug at the end of class!



Tickle Torture

VIDEO: TICKLE TORTURE

VIDEO: AVERY'S REACTION TO "TICKLE TORTURE"

Avery's First Dance Class (Take Two)

We arrived at Creation Station a few minutes early, and everything went swimmingly. Avery seemed to be the most excited kid in the waiting room.

Swimmingly that is, until we actually had to go into the dance class.

The majority of the 45-minute session was spent with me singing, twirling, and jumping with all the little girls while Avery watched from the corner.

My desperate attempts to get her to participate only resulted in me participating while she laid limp on my shoulder.

Josh's view from the waiting room window of Avery hiding in the corner:

The teacher, Miss Kristen, kept the class moving quickly, and would hand out different props to the kids (feathers, teddy bears, crowns, magic wands, etc). Avery figured out if she went to line up behind the red line by the prop room with the other girls, she would get a toy to play with.

And then she would return to her corner.

Although she was being shy, she didn't cry, and she seemed to actually like seeing the other little girls.  In fact, I think she even enjoyed part of the class (from the corner, of course):

VIDEO: AVERY'S FAVORITE PART

Diagnosis:Roseola

The funny thing about Roseola is that it doesn't show its ugly face until it is on its way out the door. Avery finally broke her fever and returned to her normal self today, and then suddenly got a pretty wild rash all over her body.  With the appearance of this symptom, the doctor was finally able to diagnose her with Roseola. The thing is, once the rash shows up, she is no longer contagious and the virus is at its tail end. So that's the good news. The bad news is that she will be splotchy for a couple days....

 

Poor girl!

Avery's First Dance Class (Fail)

I was looking so forward to blogging this afternoon.

Earlier this week I got Avery signed up for "Tots and Tutus" dance class, and today at 12:30 was going to be her first session. My mom was going to come with us to take pictures while I was in class with Avery (parent participation is required with the little ones). 

Here is what my day was supposed to look like:

Instead it looked like this (minus the sunshine):

Yep, awake at 6:30 am with a screaming 103-degree toddler, who went immediately into the bathtub for a cool-down before receiving a mega-dose of Tylenol.  Follow that up with 5 hours in the urgent care, more screaming and clinging, and the biggest thunder and hail storm I have ever seen (it was even setting off car alarms -- Where am I???)

Poor Avery underwent a barrage of tests due to the fact that she has a high fever with no other symptoms.  After all that, the doctor concluded that she just has a virus, and sent us home. SIGH.

Well, stay tuned for next week, when I will *hopefully* be writing about Avery's magical first day of dance class.

Uncle's House and Ikea

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Uncle Aaron and Becky's house.  They live near the Orange Circle and the Streetfair was going on, but we decided to stay indoors instead since the Streetfair appeared to be packed. It's no place for a stroller anyway.  Avery had a blast playing with Uncle's Hot Wheels cars, talking on Becky's iPhone, and watching Barney and Mickey Mouse YouTube videos on the big TV screen.

Today we trekked to Ikea in search of some dinner plates. As we wandered through the children's section, I started to feel bad for Avery because she was being so well-behaved in the shopping cart, and was just watching all the other kids playing with the toys on the displays.  So I finally let her out of the cart so she could explore the "bedrooms."

There were five bedroom displays, three of them with a tiny archway that led from one to the next.  We stayed in this spot for at least 30 minutes. Who knew Ikea would provide such incredibly fun (and free) entertainment?

Taking off her shoes so she could curl up in the bed:



Busy Day

Yesterday morning Josh boarded a plane and headed off for Sao Paolo, Brazil.  This long-awaited nine day trip is part of his MBA program at UCI, and will finish off with a few days in Santiago, Chile, followed by a return flight home out of Peru on Sunday.

In his absence, I am working hard to keep Avery in her routine, and to keep her busy.  Today we went to my mom's house for a walk to the park and some fun in the pool.

And no trip to Shaffer Park is ever complete without looking over the wall to see the firetrucks.

And then Avery REALLY lucked out because the firemen got a call!

After the park, Avery cooled off in the pool. (And by "cooled off" I mean that we filled the pool with hot bath water and a tiny bit of hose water, so it was about 90 degrees in there).

Avery even got a little brave today and put her face in the water to blow bubbles!

And I will go ahead and pretend that she executed the bubble-blowing perfectly and flawlessly, like a mini-Olympic swimmer in the making, without inhaling any water whatsoever/choking violently/almost vomiting. (See? This peaceful picture is proof).

Avery giving our awesome day two thumbs way up!

(Or maybe she is singing "Where is Thumbkin." I'm not telling).