Jumping

Just in case you were wondering how Avery was feeling last week when she got over being sick.

Snow

Since the blog is running about a week behind real life, here is Avery's reaction to last weekend's snow.

Avery had to be drug out into the snow by either Laura or myself.  Turns out she was getting sick that lasted the next couple days.

 We finally got her to stand in the snow and take a look at it.

 This picture is the moment where she realizes that the snow is falling on her.  2 seconds later a meltdown occurred.  When I had taken her out earlier, she got upset when the snow was landing on my black jacket.  She kept on crying "Daddy jacket dirty".

Oyster Roast

Last weekend we went to Lumberton for a Gentry Family oyster roast.  The weather was nice and the oysters were slimy (I did not partake, but Robert had enough for the both of us).  Avery enjoyed hanging out with her cousin Wren, as usual.  This time we brought Avery's baby and stroller so there wouldn't be another showdown.
It was also Gina's birthday (my cousin's wife).  They have the cutest little baby boy, Aiden, born in November.  Sorry I didn't get any pictures of his cute face, he still sleeps a lot.  Avery enjoyed Gina's birthday cake though.

Eating with a Toddler

Eating with a picky toddler is a challenge each and everyday.  However, it does make for some interesting and funny comments.  Some of the more recent ones:

When she eats crackers she likes to have 2 of them.  She will say as you hand them to her "1, 2, enough..."  She will eat one and then say "1" (hold up the one she has) and then hold out her empty hand and say "2."

Tonight she wanted goldfish and said "5."  Laura gave her 5 and every time she ate one, she would say "5" until Laura gave her another one.

In this picture she is eating a muffin out of the purple bowl with the blue spoon, drinking out of the all purple cup, and goldfish out of a yellow bowl.  No other color combinations are allowed.

The good news is that after Sara's baby shower, we told Avery that the baby needed all the bottles and we gave them to Aunt Sara.  So far she has been off the bottle since without any push back other than the first 20 minutes or so of crying the next morning.

Park Day

So Super Bowl Sunday we decided to take Avery to the park for a little running around before sitting down to watch football.  We went to the park near our house at the elementary school that used to be too big for her.  Now she has a pretty good mastery of stairs and is losing her fear of a lot of things.

Dropping in the big one with mommy.  Baby had to go on the slide as well.

These set of pictures are from the large twisty slide.  We thought it was too big for her, but she insisted that she try it.  So us being weak parents, let her do it.  She got the technique down pretty quick.  

 Happy to be at the bottom.

 Intense concentration and focus at the top.

Baby Shower

So last weekend Laura (with help from my mom) through Aunt Sara a baby shower.  There are ton's of pictures, but for the most part none of the Aunts and Cousins could all look at the camera, keep their eyes open, or smile at the same time.

We would ask Avery, "Where's the baby?" and she would pat Sara's belly.  Avery also got her hand on a delicious cake pop.

 Avery helping bring in one of Sara's present.  She wants to do everything now by herself now.

Comparing belly sizes with Paw.  I think Sara has finally passed him.

 Sara with the host and a punch bowl.

 Sara and a couple of her friends that came down to surprise her.

 A picture with Sara and her two grandmothers.

 Sara and the grandmother's to be.  Well I guess my mom is already one, but Mark's mom will be a first time grandmother.  Pretty sure Baby Rotman is going to be spoiled.

Toddler Fun

Everyday with Avery is a new adventure.  Recently there has been an explosion in her vocabulary and her ability to string words together into phrases or sentences.  

A few recent highlights:

- Leaving daycare, sometimes we pass by where the dumpsters are which is within eyesight of where her playground is.  She points at it and says, "Garbage truck go boom right there."

-  Learning to count...if you ask her to count to 10, sometimes she will, sometimes she will go 1, 2, 10!

- When I pick her up from daycare she always says, "Mommy work, mommy shop."