Butterflies and Hair Bows: Avery at 19 Months Old

We are now at the stage in Avery's life where she has discovered how to climb on furniture and objects and loves to do so. A couple of months ago I noticed she was starting to try and climb on the couches in the living room but could not quite get her legs up high enough. With a little help from Emily she was able to get up on the couch and jump with her sister, which always gets me to yell at them to sit down. Going through Emily's accident last year when she fell off the couch I always try and keep my eyes on them. It is getting harder now and they get older and especially with Avery because she is so quiet and has no problem walking off by herself and getting into things. Now it is even worse as she is now climbing on chairs and jumping up and down once she conquers her goal.

When I was pregnant with Avery everyone I came across that had children told me that she would learn faster because she had an older sister. This is true on most parts but is not all true when you have a child who is stubborn and does things at their own pace. Avery has knowledge of many words but does not use them as needed. Her favorite words are "this" while she points at an object. She knows that the object she wants has a name but seldom uses that name. Recently she has also acquired the phrase "what's this?" from her older sister but it sounds like one word. We have a book called "Baby's First 100 Words" that has pictures of objects and animals with their names printed below. Avery loves bringing me this book to read to her and she can tell me what each and every object is that I point to in the book. So I know she knows what objects are called but she just doesn't feel like using them.

Some time ago Avery learned how to move her body a bit more in her dancing techniques. She recognizes some songs on Nick Jr. and will dance to them. She also has a teapot that sings a little tune and she loves to press the button over and over and dance to the song. Avery is a somewhat serious little girl most of the time but her silly side is finally starting to emerge. Avery sure catches us by surprise by some of her actions and can make all of us laugh. She and big sister Emily have their own way of playing with each other which I love to watch. They are so amazing to watch and their friendship and sisterhood is slowly developing into something bigger.