16 Months

Avery Claire, at 16 months, you:

- weigh 24 lbs, 12 oz.


- are expanding your vocabulary. If I ask, "Avery Claire, can you say (insert word)?", you always nod yes. Some of your new words are car, cow, mooooo, hot, cat, and be right back. Blair was singing the ABC's the other day, and I swear when she was done, you said "x, y, z." Papa heard you, too.
- have learned to do Ring Around the Rosie, except you won't fall down. But you sure do love to pull everyone else down.
- like to snap your fingers and dance. You make sure everyone around you is snapping, too. You put your little fingers together like you're snapping and you think you're doing it.

- are doing much better at leaving your pacifiers in your bed. You throw them down when you get out of the bed, and usually don't have one unless you are sleepy right before nap or bedtime. You do get one in the car sometimes, too!
- can point to your eye or someone else's and say "eye."

- love to eat chicken fingers! You love grits now for breakfast. You like to eat poptarts, Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Flakes, mac-n-cheese, roast beef, Gerber veggie curls, sweet potato puffs, grapes, crackers, Doritos, and french fries! We cannot let you see french fries before you finish eating whatever else it is you're eating. You loved bacon the other night with Nana and Papa. You do not love vegetables! We're working on it. You almost ate a bite of corn with Mema, and you might eat one or two green beans at a time. I still let you eat some baby food fruit so you get fruit often. You love grapes, but not any other fruit.

- love to play with other kids. We feel like we're depriving you by not taking you to daycare. We really need to have a playdate with Hudson!!

- understand everything we say. You know how to throw things away when we ask you to. You have learned how to swipe your hands together to get them cleaned off - because you've started to be bothered by something on your hands. I just asked you to lay in the floor so I could change your diaper, and you laid right down in front of me. We think you're pretty smart!
- love animals. You like to pet the cats...even though they run from you a lot of the time. You like to sit at the door and look at them and talk to them.

- can turn the water on in the bathtub at Papa and Nana's. Thank goodness the cold water is on the outside.

- have skinned both knees and gotten a fat lip since we've "moved" to Clay County. I'll post those pictures soon.
- like to look for cows from the window of the car and in the pasture across from Nana and Papa's.

- love to hide. You run in a corner or behind something and wait on us to find you. You know you are supposed to be quiet because you will say "shhhhh" and sometimes put your finger over your lips.

- can sometimes tell us how old you are by holding up one finger {very quickly}.

- you pretend to pick things up and eat them or feed them to us.

- love babies! If you hear a baby cry, you get a surprised look on your face and you pretend to cry, too.

- have a little temper and don't like it when things don't go your way {which isn't very often}.
- love to spin around and around and get dizzy. Where you learned that, I'll never know.
- would stay outside all day long if someone would stay with you. You could care less that it's 100+ degrees out there.
- love to pick leaves off of the trees. You come inside with handful of leaves every time you go out. We can usually talk you into throwing them away.
- still wear a size 4 diaper.

- run up to our legs and give the sweetest hugs. Melt.my.heart. You also love to give kisses lately because you like to make the "muwah" sound. P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S girl!!!!!
- are so friendly and speak to every person, every tree, and every car you see. Your "bye-byes" have gotten so clear,although sometimes they come a little after the person has left.
- love to pick leaves off of the trees. You come inside with handful of leaves every time you go out. We can usually talk you into throwing them away.
- have a fascination with American flags. You can spot one a mile away. Your daddy calls you a fine American citizen. But you like flags of any kind.
- have adjusted very well to life away from home. You may not like it when we get a place of our own again and you have to go back to life with just Mommy and Daddy!
- LOVE to swim! I think you like jumping off the side of the pool more than you like swimming in it! You are still a daredevil!

- are such a joy to our family. You keep us on our toes and you keep us laughing all. of. the.time! We can't imagine life without you and we can't remember what life was like before you brightened it! It's so hard to put everything into a blog post. I wish I could just record every single second of your life because I don't want to every forget anything. We thank God every day for blessing us with you. We are so proud of you, baby girl, and love you more than you could ever, ever, ever know!

Some things I've realized I forgot to add {and I want to for memory's sake}:

- Teeth #s 13 & 14 have broken through. And #s 15 and 16 look like they are well on their way. They are the "canines," and I don't think they are fun! Those poor gums are swollen!

- You love to talk on the phone and pretend everything is a phone.

- You have a shoe fetish! You love shoes and make sure there are none lying around. If you see shoes with no feet, you find someone to put them on! You do not like for us to take your shoes off.

- You can say shoes and it's the absolute cutest! You have also said bowl and now understand the difference between bow and bowl.

- You have been taking great naps in Barfield! You take a 2 hour nap almost every day. And you love your bed. There will be no cuddling or snuggling when you are ready to lay down - you reach for the bed!

- You love to offer something so you can snatch it away.

- We are trying to teach you words for things you want so you won't have to grunt, grunt, grunt!

- You may have entered the whiney stage and you get your feelings hurt easily when it suits you. Sometimes you ignore us and sometimes you poke your bottom lip out and cry so hard if we get on to you for something {something that's usually to ensure your safety!}.

I'm catching some grief for not blogging all week. You'd think I would have lots of extra time with lots of extra help, and you'd be right. I do not, however, have my own computer. The computers around here will not download my bulk uploader on photobucket. One of my goals this week is to use a computer that might let me. So, whoever offers first....hint, hint.....