Tuesday, August 30, 2011
New Dinner Seating Arrangements
Now that I have two "toddlers" on my hands we have changed the seating arrangements around at the dinner table. Avery was getting too small for her baby bumbo chair which we used to place on the table to feed her. So we got a booster seat for Emily and placed Avery in the high chair, I think they like it.
Someone Found the Candy
After cleaning up from Avery's party I realized I had so much candy left over from that butterfly pinata. So I grabbed a basket I keep in the front foyer and I placed the candy in it thinking I could save it for Halloween. The girls have always crawled and walked by it but never really pay attention to it, until now.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Potty Time
Emily is starting to potty train now that she is headed towards her 2nd birthday. So far we haven't been as consistent as we should be but Emily does know that her training toilet isn't just for standing on. Once in a while she will come up to me and tell me, "Mama, Emily poo poo." So I'll take her to her potty and let her sit on it. She hasn't gone in it yet but it's a start.
Avery's Big Birthday Bash
Avery's big 1st year birthday bash came on a scorching hot August day. We set her party for 4pm thinking it would be late enough in the afternoon so as to cool down some. It wasn't only still scorching hot at 4pm but also humid which made the situation that much more unbearable. In our preparation for her big birthday party, Apa brought a big tent and tables and chairs. Daddy made a water mister for our outside fan and we had lots of cool drinks on hand for everyone. Mommy rented a big pink castle moonwalk for all the kids and we had hot dogs and frito pie. The pinata was a big beautiful butterfly which was fitting with the theme of Avery's party. All in all it was very pink and girly. So cute! We all sung "Happy Birthday" to Avery and she stared at everyone with curiosity. The candle on the cake wouldn't light so we had to pretend to blow it out. Then we let Avery have at her own cake. Instead of diving right into it she calmly poked one finger into the cake and then slowly started to eat it. Once she decided she liked it she put a small fist into the soft dessert and started to have fun but in the most ladylike of fashions. She hardly got any on her and we didn't have to deal with a child sick from sugar overload that night. Everyone had a great time and Avery got some great gifts. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with our baby girl!
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| Avery's Pinata |
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Avery at 12 Months Old
We made it...the big 1! Avery is now a year old and coming strong into her toddler years. There are many new and exciting firsts up ahead and she has already started to dive right into them.
First things first, Avery has moved up to the young toddler class at her preschool and will begin to learn baby sign language and how to walk. The first sign she learned is the hand sign for "more". She does this three different ways all of which include touching her index fingers together, putting her palms together as in a clap, and putting her index finger to her palm. All of these hand signals mean "more" to Avery. Her teacher Ms. Whitney (first name) is also working on helping Avery learn how to walk for which I am grateful.
Last month Avery was having trouble wanting to learn how to walk. I would would try and pull her up into a standing position but she would make her legs loose and would refuse to stand. She has now improved to actually wanting to walk with me holding her hands and will even let Emily hold one of her hands and help. When we practice walking I've noticed that Avery walks on her tip toes and will even step on her own feet. She also has a tendency to lean forward too much and it hinders her balance. As I was dropping her off at school I mentioned to Ms. Whitney my observations and she said she is helping Avery with her walking skills and has been doing stretches to help her tendons elongate. Short tendons in the legs can cause beginner walkers to tip toe which leads to late walking and frustration in learning how to walk. Apparently this is what is happening to Avery so with the stretches Avery should be walking within a month or two.
Vocabulary this month has stretched to include Elmo along with pointing to the character on the front of her diaper. Sister is said often as well as mama and dada but she has now added Alex (ale) to the list of names she can say. Avery also comprehends much more than I thought she did. She can tell you no, no, no verbally and also by shaking her head and finger all the while knowing what the meaning is of the word no. If you try and force something on her she will not hesitate to push it away and say no, no, no.
As we have now hit the 12 month mark, we are going to head towards taking away the dreaded bottle. Both girls live off the baba at home, only taking their sippy cups at dinner time. At school Emily doesn't take the bottle but as soon as we get in the car she's asking for a bottle, know that Avery always has an extra one at school. It's a little embarrasing having your almost two year old walk around her preschool with a bottle in her mouth, but I would rather have that than a screaming child throwing a tantrum in the middle of the hallway. I knew this time would eventually get here but now I'm a little lost. I'm first having Avery take less bottles to school and asking her teachers to keep her on the sippy cup more often. We will try that for the first month and as time goes on I won't take any bottles to school. Then at home we will try only giving bottles at night for bedtime and then eventually be getting rid of them entirely. At least that's the plan. Lets cross our fingers and hope it works.
First things first, Avery has moved up to the young toddler class at her preschool and will begin to learn baby sign language and how to walk. The first sign she learned is the hand sign for "more". She does this three different ways all of which include touching her index fingers together, putting her palms together as in a clap, and putting her index finger to her palm. All of these hand signals mean "more" to Avery. Her teacher Ms. Whitney (first name) is also working on helping Avery learn how to walk for which I am grateful.
Last month Avery was having trouble wanting to learn how to walk. I would would try and pull her up into a standing position but she would make her legs loose and would refuse to stand. She has now improved to actually wanting to walk with me holding her hands and will even let Emily hold one of her hands and help. When we practice walking I've noticed that Avery walks on her tip toes and will even step on her own feet. She also has a tendency to lean forward too much and it hinders her balance. As I was dropping her off at school I mentioned to Ms. Whitney my observations and she said she is helping Avery with her walking skills and has been doing stretches to help her tendons elongate. Short tendons in the legs can cause beginner walkers to tip toe which leads to late walking and frustration in learning how to walk. Apparently this is what is happening to Avery so with the stretches Avery should be walking within a month or two.
Vocabulary this month has stretched to include Elmo along with pointing to the character on the front of her diaper. Sister is said often as well as mama and dada but she has now added Alex (ale) to the list of names she can say. Avery also comprehends much more than I thought she did. She can tell you no, no, no verbally and also by shaking her head and finger all the while knowing what the meaning is of the word no. If you try and force something on her she will not hesitate to push it away and say no, no, no.
As we have now hit the 12 month mark, we are going to head towards taking away the dreaded bottle. Both girls live off the baba at home, only taking their sippy cups at dinner time. At school Emily doesn't take the bottle but as soon as we get in the car she's asking for a bottle, know that Avery always has an extra one at school. It's a little embarrasing having your almost two year old walk around her preschool with a bottle in her mouth, but I would rather have that than a screaming child throwing a tantrum in the middle of the hallway. I knew this time would eventually get here but now I'm a little lost. I'm first having Avery take less bottles to school and asking her teachers to keep her on the sippy cup more often. We will try that for the first month and as time goes on I won't take any bottles to school. Then at home we will try only giving bottles at night for bedtime and then eventually be getting rid of them entirely. At least that's the plan. Lets cross our fingers and hope it works.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Emily at 22 Months Old
I am really late on posting this blog post because we have been so busy with family outings, vacations, and upcoming birthday parties. Avery's birthday is this month and next month is Emily's 2nd birthday, goodness me my babies are growing so fast. Soon we will have two toddlers on our hands and all the fun that comes with them.
This past month Emily has been a wonder with words. She has increased her vocabulary by leaps and bounds and has started putting words together to create sentences. Mostly she listens close to what other people are saying and then repeats their words. As she does this she understands more and more how to do this task herself. Now she is asking for things and saying what she observes and making commands. The other day as daddy was cutting grass she said, "Dada, cut grass." She says this very slow and enunciates every syllable but she says what she needs to in order to get the point across. Emily has also discovered the {k} sound so now she can say things like milk, book, work and Katie (whom she used to call Lala). Mommy is so very proud of her little princess and love that she is better at communicating and Emily loves that she can tell everyone how she feels. Recently she has learned about the emotion "sad" and can recognize when someone is feeling sad. She will usually say "mermaid sad" as she's watching The Little Mermaid or "sister sad" when she sees Avery crying. Emily has also come into the phase, of which I know will take her years to grow out of, where she says mama, mama, mama or dada, dada, dada over and over again even when we answer after the first mama and dada.
Physical abilities Emily has learned include jumping and "swimming", basically lying on her belly in the bathtub and wriggling around. When Emily jumps she comes about two inches off the ground and then slightly loses balance so I have to watch her carefully. She isn't the most graceful when it comes to balance and has fallen quite a lot lately. Her poor legs have bruises and cuts so mommy had to buy her some Dora bandaids which she of course loves. But that doesn't stop her from climbing on objects and then trying to jump off them, it's obvious her ear incident has already been forgotten.
Sisterly love is growing stronger and stronger everday but sometimes Emily can be a little rough with Avery. She tries to make her sit with her by pulling her down or making her stand up by pulling her up. It's not always Emily's fault, Avery loves to crawl around her big sister and then gets her too excited. Emily doesn't know her own strength and doesn't mean to cause harm to sister but instead loves her so much that she enjoys Avery being close. At least that's my interpretation.
This past month Emily has been a wonder with words. She has increased her vocabulary by leaps and bounds and has started putting words together to create sentences. Mostly she listens close to what other people are saying and then repeats their words. As she does this she understands more and more how to do this task herself. Now she is asking for things and saying what she observes and making commands. The other day as daddy was cutting grass she said, "Dada, cut grass." She says this very slow and enunciates every syllable but she says what she needs to in order to get the point across. Emily has also discovered the {k} sound so now she can say things like milk, book, work and Katie (whom she used to call Lala). Mommy is so very proud of her little princess and love that she is better at communicating and Emily loves that she can tell everyone how she feels. Recently she has learned about the emotion "sad" and can recognize when someone is feeling sad. She will usually say "mermaid sad" as she's watching The Little Mermaid or "sister sad" when she sees Avery crying. Emily has also come into the phase, of which I know will take her years to grow out of, where she says mama, mama, mama or dada, dada, dada over and over again even when we answer after the first mama and dada.
Physical abilities Emily has learned include jumping and "swimming", basically lying on her belly in the bathtub and wriggling around. When Emily jumps she comes about two inches off the ground and then slightly loses balance so I have to watch her carefully. She isn't the most graceful when it comes to balance and has fallen quite a lot lately. Her poor legs have bruises and cuts so mommy had to buy her some Dora bandaids which she of course loves. But that doesn't stop her from climbing on objects and then trying to jump off them, it's obvious her ear incident has already been forgotten.
Sisterly love is growing stronger and stronger everday but sometimes Emily can be a little rough with Avery. She tries to make her sit with her by pulling her down or making her stand up by pulling her up. It's not always Emily's fault, Avery loves to crawl around her big sister and then gets her too excited. Emily doesn't know her own strength and doesn't mean to cause harm to sister but instead loves her so much that she enjoys Avery being close. At least that's my interpretation.
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| Kisses for Avery |
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| Helping sister learn how to walk |
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