Another pumpkin and lots of mud

The sun was out on Sunday, it was unexpected and I wanted to take advantage.  This is why Avery and I headed to Simmon's Farm to do the hay ride to pick out another pumpkin in the patch.  To my surprise the patch is one of mud. I mean, sure, we've had a lot of rain, but I wasn't expecting that.  You see so many people posting pictures of their kids picking put pumpkins and it looks lush and pleasant.  This was hard.  I managed to stay upright, but still got a nice coating of mud.  Avery's bum went down once when I tried to stand her up for a photo.  She promptly wanted nothing more to do with moving on her own.  Do you know how hard it is to carry my pumpkin AND a pumpkin across a muddy angled ground?

I'm glad we went, but I won't lie, it wasn't the fun I hoped for and there aren't great pictures of the event.

My Pumpkin

Today Avery and I headed out and braved the rain. Initially didn't think I was going to be able to take her to get a pumpkin due to the weather but the opportunity arose to go to the Washington Trolley Museum. I'm glad we went! The trolley ride was enjoyable and while we "pumpkin patch" was inside, it was amongst a lot of pretty neat looking trolleys, including one from Johnstown.

We also made a big leap today in that I finally flipped her mattress to the toddler side. I know she could have had this flip two months ago, we'll just say I've been resisting her being anything more than my baby for a while - and it will continue!

Let's talk

Avery isn't saying too much that's clear.  Just a breakthrough here and there that might be by chance (like the day it sounded like she said "Hi Neen" to Danika).  But she is getting on board with her hands.  We can now point to our belly and nose with success.  Of course, the belly requires trying to lift up her shirt and sometimes the nose is moreso mouth.

She is also quite proficient at signing 'more', 'milk', and 'finished'.  She has not however strung them together, nor has she distinguished that she needs to sign 'eat'.  Instead she says 'more' even when she hasn't just had something, but I know what she's telling me.  Instead of signing when she wants more of something she'll also make this distinct squawk, to which if I ask 'more?' she'll then sign.

Mastering the art of flight

Since our last post, Avery has flown on an airplane - twice!  We made the trip to Texas to visit her Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bob.  While there we tried lots of new things and had a few breakthroughs.  First, we shifted to size 4 diapers.  There were lots of pretzels and other things to chomp on, and she's doing better eating a few more chunks, but we still  need to see progress on the healthy chunks!  As to food, beyond the donuts, pretzels, cereal-os, persimmons, and plenty more - including getting foods she's eaten pureed into her hands as chunks.

We woke up this morning, preparing to fly home with a brand new case of vibrant diaper rash.  Poor girl. This is definitely the worst I've seen on her.  She started wailing before I even opened her diaper this evening to change her.  It breaks my heart, but goodness, you have to wipe her after a poo, even if it is the 6th one of the day.

Maybe it's teething, maybe not.  We were using a different wipe than normal all week, but you'd think she'd react faster.  There has been a little more drool and fingers in her mouth too.  She was a bit dry and down to two pellet like poos for a couple of days and then a shift in this direction.  It doesn't seem to have rhyme or reason.

Snuggling up on cold nights

It's been an interesting and varied week.  Sunday night Avery woke back up at 10pm crying.  She was thrashing and hard to even keep a hold of at points.  Several attempts to get her back down later I finally figured it had to be teeth bothering her.  15 minutes later the half dose of children's tylenol settled her down enough to sleep.  I'm glad that happened the night it did, because if it happened the next day I would have been quite worried.

That next night, Monday, Avery got her varicella (chickenpox) vaccine.  She only took a very slight fever after, but did end up a bit unwell on Wednesday - mayhaps unrelated.  She threw up once at daycare in the afternoon, but looking back on her day sheet she ate her lunch and a yogurt around noon, went down for a nap, woke two hours later, and drank her bottle.  We've had a runny/stuffy nose off and on, again probably thanks to those teeth, so we think there was also some mucus in effect on top of all of that food and out some of it came.  She didn't want to eat later, but who does after they've thrown up?  Thursday she seemed okay, despite not being a voracious eater, so back to school she went and fortunately hung in there without issue.

During this week the weather went from summer to very autumn with the temps now going into the 40s over night and the day time not warming up.  Our walks are nice, it's brisk and only long sleeves/pants and a blankie for Avery and we're good to go.  The house however has cooled off enough that I did have to turn on the heat this evening just to take the chill off.  We also pulled out Avery's fleecy nighties, so no worries, her hands were nice and warm when I kissed her little forehead goodnight.

Groomed to Achieve

I'm pretty sure there is an upper molar in too, that would make 8 teeth, but I can't get a good look.  We've shifted to a 'normal' toothbrush, so I can't feel through the rubber nub like I did before to try and seek out the new teeth.  I guess I could take a pass with the old brush to try and feel around and help ensure that we're getting a thorough brushing.

The other thing Avery has taken to lately is trying to brush her own hair.  She will pick up both the hairbrush and comb and put them to her head.  Of course her coordination isn't quite there, so sometimes she's moreso patting her head with them, that is, at least when they're facing the right way so she's not smacking herself in the head with the plastic part.

I was pretty excited yesterday, I managed to take an hour nap while she went down in the morning.  She woke us just in time to hurry out the door to Little Gym.  If she hadn't woken we wouldn't have gone - I was out!  That's definitely a first and record achievement for "sleep when they sleep".

I may have neglected to mention that we've fully shifted to the 18 month clothing at this point.  There are a few of those items that hang like sacks on her, but for the most part it was very necessary to avoid bellies sticking out and floods.

and another!

Tooth #7 for sure is up, another molar.  I've bought the more adult style of toothbrush now for Avery.  It's quite surprising how difficult it is to use them instead of the little rubber nub ones that go over your finger.  She only gives you a limited time in there before her mouth clamps shut, so I'm going to have to get faster and more efficient.

Avery has become more consistent about wanting to go to bed before 8 and I'm often waking her in the morning, not even a stir before I go in, perhaps this is due to the change in seasons and it taking longer for the sun to come up.