Avery is so active, that I am having to cover two months in one! We have been having tons of fun with our little munchkin! Over the past two months, she has mastered waving bye, signing milk, clapping, and of course the biggest mile stone of all WALKING! She took her first steps at 10 months and was practically running by 10.5. She sometimes gets a little ahead of herself and stumbles, but she is an awesome walker. I love when she reaches up to grab my hand before walking down a step. Her little toothy smile just melts my heart!Speaking of teeth, she has one more on top and another coming in. That makes a total of four. She doesn't really say words, although she jabbers all the time. She says "Doh" as in "Here you go" whenever she wants to hand you something. She has actually pretty much stopped saying Mama and Daddy. I think that she is so focused on how mobile she is, that she doesn't thinking about talking. She moved to a big girl car seat (still rear facing until she is closer to 30 lbs.) and loves being able to see out of the window on car rides.
She runs circles around our kitchen and dining room, under our table, and stops occasionally to climb into into my pots and pans cabinet. She can stand completely up in it and thinks it is hilarious. You can't tell by the pictures, but she is actually pretty tiny and short for her age. At 10 months she weighed 19.2 and at 11 months 19.14. We are constantly having people ask if she is 8 months old (they are amazed at first to see her walking since she is so small). One of the first things that Dr. Smith said after she was born was that she had really small feet (she takes this from her Mama...size 5.5). Well he was absolutely correct. She is still in a size 1, which is for 3-6 months! Her toes do not even come to the edge yet :) It is hard to believe her tiny feet can hold her up to walk!She loves her shape sorter and does a great job making each piece fit in its designated spot! Right now she is really good at the circle type pieces, but is getting better with the heart, plus sign and star. Each time one sinks into the middle we say "Yea Avery" and she claps her hands and giggles. She like playing chase with Daddy and also loves to dance. Boy can this little girl bust a move! It is absolutely hilarious. I am so glad we have a video camera to catch her gettin down!
I stopped pumping at 11 months at which time she started full time on organic whole milk. As I mentioned in the last post, at 10 months we started mixing whole milk with my milk. By 10.5 months we were at 1/2 and 1/2 and by 11 months she was only on whole milk. The transition has been really easy and I do not miss being tied down with pumping at all. She still nurses at night before bed and I love this time we have together. Nursing has been one of the best experiences of being a mom. I am so thankful that I was blessed with the opportunity to have that bond with Avery.She is slowly but surely growing more hair, but it is going to be a long time before we can use bows! She still loves being outside and touching the leaves and grass. She enjoys reading books in short bursts and loves looking at her clothes hanging in the closet! I know I have mentioned it before, but I love the way she crosses her feet. I think it is my favorite thing she does.
She has learned what giving love to her dolls and teddy bears means. You can say "Give her love" and she will automatically take the doll and hug it tightly with both arms and start patting it on the back. It is so sweet! I love having a little girl!Avery, your Mommy and Daddy (and everyone else in your life) love you sooooo much! You are definitely the best thing that has ever happened to us. I cannot believe it has been a year since we first met you! We are looking forward to making many sweet memories in the years to come!
