Two!

Two years ago today, we were introduced to sweet Avery! Watching her grow has been (besides marrying her Daddy) the biggest blessing that God has given me. The past few weeks have been a time of reflection over how much she has changed since turning one and on more than one occasion I have teared up over the little lady she has become. So, I want to capture the following for our memories...

• Avery loves to sing....her favorites right now are Elmo's Song, Jesus Loves Me, Bah Bah Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, BIBLE, Row Your Boat, Wheels on the Bus, Hokey Pokey, Happy and You Know It, Happy Birthday, ABCs, and Jesus Loves His Little Avery (a song mommy made up). 
• She can talk and sing very plainly, but she really doesn't do it that much in public. She is still pretty shy, so basically we are the only ones who get to experience all she has to say. 
• She has been able to sing the entire alphabet and count to 15 for about 2 full months now.
• She talks about Auburn alot and if she sees the AU on anything (including tiger transits) she yell Auburn Football! Any football on TV is Auburn and she can sing most of the fight song and Glory, Glory. She will get to attend her first game this weekend!
• Her favorite question is "What's that?"
• She is really caring and if you look like you do not feel well, she will ask..."Does your tummy hurt?" If she hears a baby cry, she will ask "Baby crying...does it want her mommy?"
• She is tiny and I must say, this pregnant lady loves it! Her drs. appointment is not until next week, but she weighs around 24 lbs and wears 18 month clothes still. We are slowly but surely moving to 24 month stuff. Her smocked summer dresses are still 12 month...
• She just moved to a 4.5 shoe and almost everyone we see comments on her tiny feet. 
• For about 3 straight weeks (most of August), she was a Daddy's girl and didn't want to have anything to do with me. I contribute this to the pregnancy and being sick and exhausted all the time when I got home from work (I plan to blog more about this in a separate pregnancy update).The last week and half have been much better and she is back to doting on both of us pretty much equally. 
• Minus those three weeks, she is an extremely affectionate little girl who loves to give lots of hugs and kisses to pretty much anyone who will let her. Extended family just eats this up when we are visiting. 
• We have a game called "Avery pillow" where right before here bed time, she lays on our bed and opens her arms for Levi and I to lay our heads. She then wraps them around our neck as tight as she can and we act like we are asleep. Sometimes she does it with just one of us and it is extra sweet, because she will rub your back with the other hand. You would have to be there to understand how sweet it really is.
• She has a great imagination! It is so much fun to watch her pretend with here dolls and animals. She has a plastic tea set and loves to play tea party with anyone she can get to sit and play. Since we told her about the baby, she will ask every now and again if she can hold it. I say yes and she takes her little hand and reaches at my belly as if to grab it. She then talks to it and even through it up in the air and caught it one time. We will make sure this action doesn't translate to when the baby actually arrives!
• She is a breakfast and lunch girl and doesn't eat a lot at night. We still just do milk and water. As far as sweets go, she loves ice cream.
• She does night night with Daddy. He is wonderful at putting her to sleep. They have a very specific routine that takes about 5 minutes. She is usually in bed by 8:30 and sleeps till about 7:00 am. She still naps from about 12:00 til 2:45 everyday. We are so thankful for her sleep habits and are really nervous about the one on the way!
• Like every child I know, she loves Micky Mouse and Elmo.
• She loves to play chase...doesn't matter if she is being chased or doing the chasing.
• We started using timeouts around 19 months and we utilize them at least a few times per week. Her main issue is clingliness, neediness, and whining. Some of it may have to do with the pregnacy, but I think it mostly just her development. We talk a lot about using our big girl voice so that she is reminded of what whining sounds like. Although few, there have been nights where all we can think about is getting her to bed. Oh, the exhausion of parenting. A spanking or two has occured, but now we only have to threaten and her behavior changes pretty quickly.