The Story of Us: September 2012

Instagram is the best app on my phone. I love that I can upload pics there and facebook at the same time, and then I can save them and use them on the blog {which I need to do a better job of}.
We've been going to Daddy's games on Friday nights. We sure did miss football life, even though it does take Daddy away. Often.

There's nothing like seeing my girl run to find her Daddy after the games.

Jewelry organized!

I washed her sheets and had to pile all of the things I found in her bed together. How does she fit in there?

Avery Claire and her class studied the letter "n" week before last. She loved reading her n book, "The Nicest Newt."

Last Sunday, I was in my bedroom and Avery Claire was playing in the living room. It got very quiet and this is what I found.

I know it's hard to believe. But I promise this was the first time this has ever happened in her 2 and {almost} 1/2 years. She has never, ever just fallen asleep with me like this unless she was riding in the car. She did it once with Dusty before she turned a year old. Never again. I couldn't believe my eyes.

We had a VERY rainy Monday last week. We did some snuggling on the couch after school.

She had her students all lined up for a lesson last week. I love that she is learning so much, not only new skills, but that she watches every one so closely so that she can do things like the grown-ups do.

She was so excited because Bev sent her a bear book in the mail. She is thrilled when I tell her she has mail!

WARNING: This one's long. But maybe it counts for several posts since I am so behind!

Since I stopped doing monthly posts, I haven't done a lot of posting about how much our girl has grown. She is such a talker. I don't know a lot of 2 year olds, but I think her speech is pretty developed for her age. I might be biased, but we think she's pretty smart!

I started this post in July. That shows you how busy life has been. I haven't had time to sit down and finish. But, I've been able to add a lot to it, so that's good.

Maybe these are "you had to be there" things, but there are things she's said lately that I want to make sure I record so I don't forget them.

-One day, I asked her to please take her baby dolls and her blanket and put them in her bed before we left for the grocery store. She was holding her pillow and her purse. She looked at me and said "I got twos hands!" And....she was taking her pillow with her to leave in the car "just in case I neeeed it!"

-We were walking down the sidewalk and she saw a cigarette laying on the ground. She asked what it was. I told her and told her they were yucky. She said, "Those are ucky in my mouth!!!" I asked her where she learned about those and she told me "on a sunny day." When I asked who told her about cigarettes, she said "Mad-son." Her friend at daycare - Madison - gets the blame for a lot of things!

-When talking to her baby doll and giving her bites of food from her plate, she finally asked her baby "ewe not talk, baby?!" And when a baby won't wave or tell her hi, she says "him/her not tawka me!"

-One day, we were riding down the road and I saw a man riding a horse. I pointed him out to Avery Claire and she said "Was he a wipe man?" {aka: white man}. Let me be clear - we have never acknowledged or distinguished between the color of people. I asked her where she learned about that and she quickly said "at church!" Oh, that girl.

-She told her Nana that she acted ugly when she had to leave Baby Grant's house one day this summer. When Nana asked her why, she told her because his toys were great!

-Sometimes, she pretends to go to work. When I ask her where she works, it's always at the pink store. And when I ask her what they sell at her store, she always tells me "water." The other day, it was "water and milk."

-She called me into her room one day and told me her baby needed her mama. I said "you're her mama!" She said, "No! I's her sister!"

-Apparently, they thank God for things at school every day and there must be someone there who is thankful for his brother and his Daddy. Avery Claire started saying every day "thank you for my brudder and my daddy." Sometimes Mama got thrown in there. And Matt-Sarah got a mention a couple of times, too. That's funny, too. It's not Matt AND Sarah. It's always Matt-Sarah.

-She'll point to the seat beside her in the car and say "I need a baby brudder right there." Hmmmmm. I can't imagine where she's have gotten that idea, can you, Nana?

- Calls her freckles "pretzels."

- When I told her to wave hi to a little boy the other day, she said "I not tawka boys."

- Told me she at too many M&Ms. "4 MANY!"

- Said something one day about a nice lady. I asked who was a nice lady. She said, "me and ewe, Mama."

- After I ordered a mocha from "Mackydonals" with no chocolate drizzle, she said "I wanna water, no chocit gizzle."

- Avery Claire and I were eating dinner at Jacks {one of her favorites}. Dusty was at practice. I had my feet propped on the other side of the booth. She looked at me and said, in her bossy voice, "When Daddy git here, ewe gotta move ur shoes."

- She and Daddy have been wrestling. She is constantly telling getting her straw hat and telling me she has on the "winner hat." And she'll point to her pretend belt and tell me she has on her "champon belt."

- Lately, if she says something and I don't hear and ask her "what," she says "nuffin," like she's 13 and annoyed with her mama.

We have been so impressed with the things she comes home from school and shows us that she's learned. It's so sweet and makes me wonder what in the world I've should've been doing that her little brain could've soaked up.

-On Day 3 of school, she came home explaining to me the process of washing her hands. "Ewe put soap on 'em, and put 'em in the water, and do like this {rub them together}, and then you wash 'em off."
-After a couple of days of school, she started singing If You're Happy and You Know It all by herself. We've sang this at home, but then she started doing her little fingers on her cheeks when she said "your face'll surely show it." Melted my heart.
- heard others say she turned 2 in March. When I asked her what her "brudders" name was, she'd say "2 in Mahhch."
-I asked if she played with her friend Ella at school. She says, so seriously, "Ella not there!!!! Her at the beeeeeeeeach!"
- Can sing Jesus Loves Me.
- Talks about chapel all of the time. They go daily at school. One day, she learned a song about praying and getting to heaven. Last week, she told me "eewe get a box, and ewe put it in the gah-bage. And ewe put ewe sins in it." Then a couple days later, "ewe get a box, ewe put it in the gah-bage, and ewe put ewe Daddy's sins in it. And ewe put ewe Mama's sins in it."

- loves to get Skittles for tee teeing in the potty at school. She gets one for telling Ms. Laura she has to go and another for actually going! She loves it! Ms. Laura tells her when she tee tees and poops in the potty with no accidents for one week, she gets to get the princess panties she's picked out at school.

Other things to document about this stage/age in Avery Claire's life:

-sleep + no paci = glad that's over, but not as easy as I wished it had been. We can't complain because I know some people have children older than Avery Claire that have never slept through the night. But she's always been such a good sleeper. Now, she wakes up at least once, usually twice. She usually needs to be covered back up or wants her pants legs pulled down, then goes back to sleep quickly. Her naps decreased to an hour and 15 minutes at the most, but then went back to 2-3 hours.
- Speaking of sleep, she still needs a good nap to not be a cranky pants at night. At first, it took some getting used to napping on the cot at "school." They have a 2 hour nap window at school. She would take a while to fall asleep, then wouldn't get close to getting her nap out. So by 6:00 pm, she was exhausted and ill. Those were fun nights! Now, she goes to sleep quicker, but still doesn't get as much of a nap as she needs. So she is usually tired pretty early. She starts asking for her pillow pretty much as soon as I get her in the afternoons.
- She knows how to pause and play DVR on the tv. It don't know how she learned to do it.

- has such a sweet heart. She hates for someone to be sad about something. And it hurts her feelings so much to be in trouble.
- is well on her way to being POTTY TRAINED! She is very good about telling me when she has to tee tee. She has pooped in the potty a couple of times. I felt like even more of a failure after she caught onto the potty thing a week into school. But I think seeing other kids do it helped. And I really don't think she was ready this summer. That makes me feel better about my mothering skills, anyway, to tell myself that! She still wears a diaper or pull-up at night. And she wears them at school. But at home, she wear panties a lot. Don't tell Ms. Laura. I think it might not be good to switch back and forth. But she very rarely has accidents in her pull up, and it's easy to leave the house with one on. I guess when she earns her panties at school, we'll wear them exclusively at home.
- is such a sweet, sweet Mama. As I type, I hear her in the kitchen telling her baby "It's okay! Shhhhhhh!!!" And then she brought her in here and told me to give her a big hug. And she told me to be quiet because her baby is sleeping. I love to see her play with her babies. And it's hilarious to see her discipline her babies. I don't think we are quite as harsh with her as she with them.
- pretends to whisper. I have to get it on video. She kind of rolls her tongue and goes "bluhbluhbluh" and squinches her nose. Too funny.
- has such a great imagination. She will tell me she is "pretenning." Yesterday, in the car, she told me she had a baby right there {pointing to her lap}. And she kept talking to the baby.

- never forgets anything. Usually, if I question something she says, I can think about it for a sec, and she's right.
- has such a friendly, outgoing, sassy, sweet personality. I know I'm biased, but seriously, she is just perfect. I could not be more proud to be her Mommy. I miss her sweet baby stages, but we have so much fun these days. She keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing. All. of. the. time.
We love you sweet girl. I cannot believe you are almost 2 1/2. Most fun, hardest, bestest, fastest 2 1/2 years of my life.

Mommy and Daddy love you MUCH!