It's wake up time

Avery has been getting decent at reading her alarm clock, even if she doesn't fully grasp what it means.  She reads off the time:  "eight, dot, dot, one, six, that means it's bed time" or "seven, dot, dot, two, three, it's wake up time".  Presently she tends to get fives and twos mixed up, and doesn't say zero, but that's ok - it tells me what we need to work on.  The challenge is when she's upstairs for a nap and starts saying "Mommy, Mommy, there's a three! It's wake up time." except the clock says 1:43, not 3:xx.

Speaking of working on things, during her time here at home Avery has gotten pretty good at spelling her first name and we're getting better with prompting at spelling her middle name.  She can tell you what city and street she lives in/on and is starting to get the right numbers but not in the right sequence for our house number.

Keeping Track

This week, while Avery spends a little bit of time entertaining herself (unfortunately, so I can get some more work done) she started coming to me with different items rolled up in pieces of construction paper telling me she had a present for me.  Is that not the sweetest thing ever?  This kid is wrapping up her toys and gifting them to me!

I also wanted to note a few more little things that I'm terming "LifeWithAvery":
- Another shirt, this one my Jason from Friday the 13th tee.  He is standing there with a big ol' knife in his hand.  She joyfully points to it and says "that is for cutting cake".  That's my girl.

- During prayers I commented about her successful efforts during potty-training that day.  She turned to me with her eyes wide and said "did you say potty train?"  from the look on her face I can only image what she was picturing.

- More commentary on my derriere at bed time.  This time it was with little rhyme or reason:  This time she said "your butt's not big, it's little".  Flattery will get you almost everywhere dear child, but you are going to bed.

Kissing Concrete

Yesterday and today were quite nice, so we went outside armed with big girl panties and one of our potties.  We made it quite a while yesterday before the panties ended up wet, and Avery immediately came over and told me.  I had her on the potty several times and she just wouldn't go, so I wasn't surprised it happened.  It needed to though, so she got a sense for how unpleasant it felt.

This morning when we tried the same not too long into the process she told me "I need to poop Mommy".  YAY!  We came upstairs and she immediately went potty.  That's a huge win.  After we went back outside and it wasn't but a short period later that she took a tumble while pushing her little bus along the concrete.  She went booty over teacup and face planted.  I saw the tumble starting from the corner of my eye, but there was no way to get to her in time.  From the look of the resulting boo-boos on the left side of her face, I would say she thumped the forehead high, bounced a bit, and then hit again with part of her lower forehead above her eyebrow, her cheek, the side of her nose, and even her eyelid.

She was quite unhappy for a minute, so I just cuddled her.  Once she was calm and I got a look I was glad it wasn't worse than it is.  She did let me clean it off and put some ointment on it.  Man that's going to be uncomfortable when it scabs.  Lord help me keep her from picking.

She makes me laugh

Avery is funny, charming, and smart no doubt.  Tonight she proved this three times within a couple of hours.

To start with... if I haven't mentioned it before, she adores ghosties (she's my kid and loves Halloween, go figure). I'm wearing my Pacman blue ghost shirt, so I tell her "this is what ghosts looked like when I was a kid, they were 8-bit". Her reply, unprompted, without missing a beat was "that's a byte". I might be taking some liberties on the spelling of said word to reflect what my mind heard. But she's right ya know.

Then... tonight she jumped into the rocker/recliner in her room and wanted me to sit beside her.  When I said I wouldn't fit not only did she tell me that my butt was too big, she also started to sing "Mommy's got a big ol' butt -- oh yea"

But she wasn't finished.  She and her Daddy have their little gang signs they throw up that involve two hands signing "I love you" every night.  As he left the room it was like she was trying to teach me.  She said "it's ten", stuck up her thumb, "one", stuck up her pointer finger, "and pinky", sticking up her pinky.  Why yes, the sign for I love you is a combo of ten, one, and your pinky.  Good job kid.

I want panties

This request was made this morning.  Unfortunately it's rainy and colder outside - cold enough that we might get snow overnight into Saturday.  That eliminates the way I'd like to approach things:  slap on some panties and go outside w/ a potty at the ready.  Then when she has a few accidents and gets a feel for it - bam, progress.

At least if we're not allowed to go out and live our lives there won't be the obstacle of public restrooms anytime soon.

Just so you know -- I can do this.

Avery has always been the little girl who would hold out until she was very confident she could do something before she gave it a go.  I think she could have walked (and fallen) weeks earlier than when she took her first steps, but instead she waited and just took off.  Her decision to climb over the side of the crib is no different.

She's 32 months, it's a bit ridiculous that she hasn't done it before.  Just under a week ago she told me she wanted to get into bed on her own one night.  Ok, so I said how are you doing to do that?  She promptly climbed up and over into her bed and looked at me with a smirk on her face.  Since then she demonstrated for her dad that she could climb out too.  Today I made her show me as well.  The good news is, she has always been a great sleeper once she's out, so I still don't see her getting up in the middle of the night.  She also patiently stays in her crib during nap time, even when she doesn't want to sleep.  I guess I really need to get that toddler rail that matches the crib.

Earlier today we were watching a show that switched to a scene with a woman in skates on ice with a stick and Avery immediately said "hockey" she gets it - and I haven't even been watching hockey with her, sadly.

Shortly we'll  be heading out to do a cookie parade past Avery's school.  I hope she'll be able to see her teachers as we go by.