Avery turned 1 on April 10, 2013. She continues to be one of the sweetest little girls I know. She spends her days warming our hearts with her giggles, her snuggles, and her ability to make herself happy by finding a shoe or remote to chew on. She is very curious, which can make her a little naughty as she wants to get into everything, but her heart is in the right place. At this point, I can't imagine her doing anything mean. She's just so cute. She's stubborn too and very determined. You can tell her a million times not to get into something (like the dog bowls for example), but she'll keep plowing through until she's splashed in that water. She won't quit, I'll tell you that much. We've had to a do more baby proofing, that's for sure.
She is currently transitioning to just one nap a day. To get her through to the afternoon, I often give her a power nap in the morning (from about 10:15 to 11 am) and then put her down for good at 2:30. She'll sleep until 5:30 on a good day. Yay, for another good napping child. It's probably partly because she's marching around all day, either at home or out with Connor. She still naps on her pillow pet that looks like an elephant. We have purchased 2 more, but the original one used to be Connor's and he named him Dumbo, so that's what we call him. She loves that thing and will dive bomb on top of it whenever she sees it. She's just more cuddly though. She'll walk up to me and wrap her arms around my legs and just hang out giving me a hug. It's awesome.
She eats all table food now and seems to be eating nearly everything in site. It's sooooo refreshing to see her be such a good eater. She is starting to get picky about vegetables (as in, she'll spit them out), but I know Connor was really bad with them too, so we keep putting them on her plate and trying to sneak them in with other bites. I also supplement with those drinkable baby apple sauces that have the vegetables in them. She loves them and so does Connor. It'll work for now.
She doesn't seem to be as much of a milk fiend as Connor was, but she certainly loves drinking from water bottles pretty much all day long. I joke that she has a drinking problem. I guess it's good that she likes to hydrate. I'm pretty sure though, the sucking action feels good on her teeth though. I read that somewhere once and since she's now up to 12 teeth, I think she's in a constant state of teething. "I" teeth are up next as she just finished up her 4 molars.
As I referenced earlier, her favorite toys are not really toys, although she has seemed to be more into balls as of late. She loves chewing on remotes and shoes probably the best. She also likes pulling stuff out of our kitchen cabinets like cupcake tins and spatulas. She will chew baby toys occasionally, but she mostly just likes walking around and exploring new things. One other baby toy she likes is the xylophone. She loves making music and she loves dancing. Yeah, it's as cute as you'd guess. She dances more than Connor ever did.
Here are some pictures from her actual birthday and then her birthday party, which we had two days later at a park in our neighborhood with some of the Moms from my playgroup. It was a hit and Connor and Jeff even got to come.
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| Avery playing with a balloon on her actual birthday, April 10, 2013. |
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| Hello everyone. I'm in my birthday party dress. |
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| Her bloomers had a #1 on them with a cupcake. |
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| They also said, "I'm One." They were cute. |
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| We had Avery's favorite...noodles and pasta sauce. She loves to get messy. |
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| After dinner cupcake. |
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| Finger licking good. |
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| Connor and Daddy helped her open some presents. |
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| These balls are really fun Daddy. |
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| It's my birthday. I can walk around in nothing but bloomers if I want to. :) |
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| Two days later, we had a birthday party at a local park. The turnout was great and so was the weather. We all had a blast. |
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| Trying to get Avery to stop moving long enough to take a picture in her cute birthday party outfit. She doesn't stop. |
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| My sweet birthday girl. |
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| Avery checking out the park. |
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| Peak A Boo! |
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| I love climbing around on my birthday. |
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| Connor had school that day, but we pulled him out so he could come to the party and play with his friends. |
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| I love birthday sweets. This birthday thing is pretty great. |
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| Avery playing with her balloons in the guest of honor seat. |
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| Singing Happy Birthday! |
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| A family picture. Jeff got to come to help me set up and chill for a while before he headed back to work. |
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| Happy guests. |
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| That weekend, Gigi and Pagger Don were in town and the celebrations continued with Gigi's birthday just a few days after Avery's. |
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| Gigi and Avery high fiving with their bracelets on. |
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| My hungry girl. She can put it away. I love it!! |
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| Gigi snuggle time. Happy Birthday to my dear sweet Avery! |
