Lemons & Giggles

Yesterday we attended a reception to welcome the newest member of our family, Sophia.  Sophia is my cousin's daughter, so according to this chart on wikipedia, that makes Sophia and Avery second cousins.  We were very excited to meet her and I was hoping to get some cute pictures of the little girls together, but we were off to a rough start...  I put an adorable ponytail and bow in Avery's hair and a new pair of boots on her, and she was determined that she was not going to wear either.  She has figured out how to rip out ponytail holders and bows, so my efforts were futile and resulted in my flattening her hair back down with a napkin and a cup of water. It was then even more difficult to snap the perfect shot because Avery was trying to be a thief and steal Sophia's jewels and headband. 

We will see Sophia again before she flies home, so I will try one more time for my perfect picture before they leave. 

Later in the afternoon we decided to try for a funny picture of Avery tasting a lemon for the first time. I sampled it first to see how tart or sweet it was (VERY tart), and then we gave Avery a taste... But the joke was on us because she never made a face! She kept going back for more, and chewing and sucking on it to get more flavor out! So.... apparently raspberries, strawberries and bananas make her gag and vomit, but lemons are delicious.

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Josh is at school this evening, so I am on my own with Avery. Avery considers Josh to be the funniest comedian in the universe, so typically I can't get her into hysterical fits of laughter the way that he can.  Tonight, however, I tried out one of his "jokes" (saying, "Eewwww, gross!" right in her face), and she had a gigglefest.

New Highchair

So we finally made it to Target at 6:30 this evening to get Avery a highchair. Better late than never I guess.
I wanted the full-sized, big sturdy highchair, but Josh was being cheap and wanted this smaller one. It came in the same print as her bouncy seat, and I liked the idea of having a matching set, so I caved in easily. It is actually a pretty nifty "space saver" highchair that straps onto a regular dining chair, and is easily portable.  After pulling it out of the box and spending more time reading the instructions, we found that it converts to a booster seat for when she gets older. (At which point Josh boasted, "See, it pays to be cheap").
But there is only one opinion in this house that really matters when it comes to rating baby products.  And that would be the opinion of Miss Avery, who quietly enjoyed having a larger tray on which to smear her food around. So it seems the queen bee has been appeased, and the highchair gets a passing grade.

Naturally, far more fascinating than the highchair was the box. 

(In fact, all three of our "babies" thought so).

Weekend Eggstravaganza

I'm trying to get back on track with the blog... After Avery got a little cold last Wednesday, of course we all got sick. It's the kind of virus that just hangs on and does not want to seem to go away. But we slowly seem to be getting back to normal.

Despite the runny nose, Avery has been up to her usual T-Rex tricks, which prompted the purchase of another baby gate this week.  This afternoon we will be making a trip to Target to get a new highchair. The bumbo chair has a tray and is great for feeding, but Avery can almost flip it over when she is sitting in it, so I think it's time to retire it to the garage.
Avery found a new cabinet this week; one of the few we haven't baby-proofed yet. We decided instead to just leave it unlocked, and only keep things in there that are okay for her to play with, since it will keep her quiet for an unusually long period of time.

This morning while I was making popcorn, I opened the fridge to get the butter out, and of course T-Rex crawled over immediately to touch all the items in the door.  Pretty much everything within her reach we have determined is too heavy or awkward for her to lift, so we have made it a habit of letting her play in the open fridge while we prepare food. Today, however, she threw us a curve ball.

(Needless to say, this prompted an "uh-oh").

Test Results

Avery’s doctor just called and said that the ultrasound came back, and she has “spaces in her ventricles, consistent with benign autoaxial cranial [blah blah blah]…….. Basically a long-winded way of saying it’s nothing.”   (I just love Dr. Messinger! He kills me).

So she’s doing great. We will just keep insisting that she has a really big skull to hold that really big genius brain of hers....  ;)

Tower of "Uh-oh"

More "uh-oh" videos... She is really amusing me today!

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdZzCl85_rc 
Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTMQH1VxgVM 

As I was loading these videos and testing the links, Avery heard her voice and my voice on the computer and crawled over to take a look. I pulled her up on my lap to watch. Every time she would hear "Uh-oh" on the video, she would say "Uh-oh" back to the screen. And when it was over she clapped for more.

Uh-oh

I have been trying to upload these videos for the last 24 hours and was having trouble with the Youtube website... But finally I was successful after about 10 tries!

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYwyquvmlPw 
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liN6DGIWZNs 

I Stand Corrected

Today when I got to Lizzy's house to pick up Avery for her appointment at the hospital, I told Lizzy that Avery said "Mama" over and over yesterday, and we're pretty sure it was an actual word.  I also mentioned that she is saying what sounds like "Uh-oh" a lot.  Lizzy said, "Oh yeah, she says 'uh-oh,' and she also says 'Ojo'" (Pronounced "O-ho," meaning "eye" in Spanish).  So apparently the kid knows at least three words already, and is bilingual. I am way behind.
Sure enough, when we were in the waiting area at the hospital, Avery dropped her teething ring and her bottle over and over and over again, so that she could say "uh-oh," and hear me say "uh-oh." The woman at the desk even remarked that it was so cute how she just loves to say "uh-oh!"  I explained that it is one of three words that she knows. The lady said, "What are the other words? Baba?" I said "No, she says 'mama' and her babysitter taught her 'ojo,' which is 'eye' in Spanish."  Just then, Avery blurted out "Baba!" And the woman said, "Oh, she does know 'baba'!"  Boy, did I feel like an idiot.