Look who's 14 months now? My not-so-little Avery! Being home with her this summer has been fun because she is changing more and more each day. From saying new words, to doing funny things, the changes just don't stop. As I mentioned back in the "13 Month Update," I'm trying this chalkboard sign that I made instead of the monthly number stickers I used her first year just to mix it up a little and hopefully make our photo shoots a little easier. Well, the problem I didn't foresee is that she has to hold the sign...did you read that? HOLD the sign. Does any 1-2 year old want to old anything (that they don't choose)? That's right the answer is NO. I think I got lucky that first month with #13 because she held it (she did some throwing, but in the end, she held it). Well, this time around I got her all ready, the month written on the sign, my camera all set then I went to hand it to her and she said, "No!" So I went with placing it in front of her and snapping my camera as fast as possible before she throws it. With that I did manage to get a few good shots. |
| Happy 14 Months! |
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| "I'm not touching that sign!" |
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| The throwing in action. |
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| As her hair gets longer, she looks so much older. |
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| She was happy to pose without the sign. |
Wonder what life is like for Avery now that she's 14 months old? Here's some of her favorite things:
1. Favorite food: Veggie Straws...without a doubt!
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| "Love my straws!" |
2. Favorite word: "Whoa!" You'll hear her say this when she's very excited or impressed by something. Sometimes it's because of something yummy someone is eating or just if she hears a really loud sound. It's pretty funny. You can see her do it in this video about how you can make your own fruit and veggie wash (it's about 40 seconds in):
3. Favorite book: The Very Lonley Firefly by Eric Carle (or as Avery calls it "lie lie")
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| Thanks to Grandma Karen for sharing this book with us! |
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| When she wants a book, she come up holding it then drop it by your feet saying, "Book, book!" or "Please, please!" That's when you know you've been chosen as a reader! |
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| We have our own paraphrased version of the story we say as the firefly goes along looking for fellow fireflies, we'll say: Mom: "Is that a firefly? Avery: "No" Mom: "That's a candle." |
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| You can often find her reading on her own too. |
4. Favorite activity: swimming at the pool! I was pretty sure Avery would love swimming at our local pool since bath time is one of her favorite activities, but you just never know with kids. We took her there and she was hesitant for all of 5 minutes, and then there was no turning back...she was hooked.
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| Testing the waters... |
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| "This place is amazing!" |
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| The addition of the Puddle Jumper Life Jacket has really helped our trips to the pool because Avery was so adventurous in the water, but yet she didn't want me holding onto her at all times. |
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| The Puddle Jumpers have helped her to be more independent in the water, and for me to breathe a little easier too. I'm still right next to her at all times, but now I don't have to be touching her the whole time. |
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| You better have Veggie Straws on hand when it's time to get out for Adult Swim! |
See her swimming in action in this video about how you can go green with a reusable swim diaper:
Second favorite thing to do: look for bunnies, birds, and squirrels out of this window in our dining room. Every time we walk by this window, we'll say: "Do you see any bunnies?" Usually the answer is "No." But sometimes she'll say, "Bird!" and we'll come watch them. It's funny how certain areas of your house become "baby hot spots" that you never would have guessed. Back before we had Avery, I never would have guess that she would have loved this window so much. But she is crazy about animals and this window gives her the perfect spot to view them.
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| Standing on tip-toes to try and see out. |
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| "Bunny! Hop hop hop!" |
Another fun thing we've been up to this past month is Potty Training...let me re-phrase that: "Pre-Potty Training." I call it pre-potty training because I don't expect to potty train her now and be done with diapers, although that would be nice. But I do think she is aware enough to start learning what a potty is, what we do with it, and all the lovely vocabulary associated with it. I'm sure it helps that I have a little bit more free time this summer to work with her on it, but nonetheless, she's showed some interest in it, so I'm going with it. Let me tell you about our set up and potty routine...- About two times a day (in the morning and after her nightly bath) I give Avery chances to sit on the potty and see if she will pee. The time usually last for about 10 minutes or sometimes longer.
- While she sits we read books, and I jokingly call it our "Potty Story Time". If she pees during the time that I'm reading, great. We talk about the word pee, she helps me flush the toilet, we sing a little song and we go on our way.
- If not, no big deal. We go put a diaper on and call it good. That's basically it.
Let's see it in action.
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| Avery helps me put her special seat on the potty. |
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| She's more mesmerized by the toilet than most of her toys. |
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| I keep a basket of books above the toilet for "Potty Story Time" and I'll read them all. If she pees 3 books into the pile, we take the rest to the bed and finish them there. |
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| She's been loving it when I give her a choice between two books. She'll look back and forth between the two books, then smile at me and make her pick. It's fun learning what she likes. |
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| She loves the page in the Potty book I show above where the character starts to fell like they have to go to the bathroom. He says, "What's that?" She always makes this funny face. This is a great potty-training book! |
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| When she does pee, she gets very excited! Me too! |
Date Night: Onto some more fun topics (other than potty training), Brandon and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary this past month. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. While lots of things have changed since we got married five years ago, (i.e. Avery!) I still feel so lucky and grateful to be married to him, and to share this fun, crazy journey we call "life" together. Love you Brandon.
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| We tried including Avery in the photo, but she was hard to keep in one spot with that 5! |
To celebrate the occasion we of course had a date night (check it off the New Year's Resolution's list) and went to our favorite restaurant, Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ. If you've followed my blog for a while, you know I love this restaurant, so it was only fitting that we went there for this occasion. Here some more pics of the restaurant...
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| Outside of Genghis Khan |
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| These are all the buffet counters with the foods you can choose from. There are endless types of veggies, pastas, meats (if you're into that), or tofu for us vegans, and even sauces and spices. |
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| You then take your plate to this massive grill where they will cook it up for you. We must of hit a slow time because there is usually quite a line around the grill. |
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| Your plate then comes out looking pretty awesome like this! I always get: rice noodles, onions, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, corn, and lots of tofu seasoned with my favorite: chipotle powder! |
We had a few other date nights this month too, and for one of them we went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
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| The Nelson-Aktins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. When I was a kid, I used to drive by this place and think it was the White House...or a castle, I was pretty imaginative. |
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| Our favorite thing to look at was all the Asian art, specially the Buddhas or as Avery would say, "Boo Boo." |
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| This was my favorite one... |
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| ...here's why! It's huge! Look how big it is with Brandon standing next to it. Awesome! |
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| Contempary art was our other favorite area. |
For another date we went miniature golfing...it was a little bit more lively and active than the art museum date. Even better, we threw in some competition and made a bet. If Brandon won, I had to do the go-karts, if I won, we didn't have to do the go-karts. Can you tell I don't like go-karts? Not sure what it is, but they freak me out a little bit. Maybe it's because they don't seem stable, the smell of the gasoline, or the fear that someone might crash into me, or my car would get stuck on the track (that happened to me as a kid). I don't know, I'm just not a go-kart girl-lol. Let's see who won the bet...
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| I tried my best... |
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| Brandon even had a handicap (a cast!) since he broke his wrist skateboarding. |
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| The scenic course. |
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| I did manage to beat him in a few holes, |
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| But at the end of the course, he won. Look at that humble little, "I know I won" face. |
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| And I had to do the go-karts. I guess you could say, I conquered a fear. They really weren't that bad, even though Brandon and all the 12 year old boys lapped me. |
We ended the date by going to another one of our favorite restaurants, Noodles & Company. Brandon was more excited about the pop machine they have there than the noodles, because it now features something called Coca-Cola Freestyle. It's basically a touch screen that allows you to pick a brand of soda and from there pick your flavor. Apparently some brands have flavors that you've never even seen before (exciting news for Brandon)! I've heard of some other restaurants that have these, anyone else ever try one?
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| Check out that face! |
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| So many choices... |
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| Crazy enough, there's only one spout for all the different drinks. |
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| Me, I'm more of a lemon-water girl. I don't need much to make me happy. |
One thing I love about Noodles & Company is that there's great gluten-free and vegan options, which I originally blogged about here.
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| Brandon had Japanese Pan Noodles with tofu, broccoli, carrots, and sprouts. All vegan, but not gluten-free because of the noodles, soy sauce, and tofu (they must use soy sauce or something on their tofu). |
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| I had rice noodles with spaghetti sauce (and no cheese...I always have to tell them that). Mine was gluten-free and vegan. |
Pinterest craft of the month: Okay so I'm breaking my resolution on this one this month. I just haven't been feeling super crafty in my free time. I've had a lot of blog ideas, cleaning-the-house ideas, and cooking ideas...but nothing crafty. I've got something in mind for next month, but for this month, I'm afraid I'm opting out. I think I probably did enough Pinterest-crafts for her birthday party to last me the whole year!
To wrap up with, here's a few more pics of our little 14 month girl...
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| She loves to throw the ball! |
See you guys next month!