17 Months Old

Make way, make way...big girl coming through! It seems so weird to be writing "17 months" for the post this month, I can't believe that next month I can start calling her a "one-and-a-half year old". Her development this past month has just been fascinating to watch as she is just like a sponge, soaking up new words, new experiences ..and of course a few new dance moves. As you can tell by the pictures, her personality and sense of humor come out more and more each day. In the past month we've developed a few more routines, she started sleeping all the way through the night, and she took up an interest in drawing. I'll tell you all about it and more in this month's post.

Let's start with her 17 month photo shoot, which I've learned is not an official "photo shoot", just a time in the day when I can combine the sign, Avery, and my camera all in one place to hopefully capture a picture. This mama has learned all too well. So let's see how it turned out.... 


Success! The "monthly photo shoot" stars must have aligned for this one, catching little Miss Diva and the sign all at the same time...sweet! Thanks Avery.

Now for some other fun shots from our shoot...
"I guess I can smile for you Mom."

She was smiling like crazy here
because she just threw the 17 month
sign across the room...silly girl!

Sometimes I see pictures of her and
she just looks so stinkin' old...this is
one of them.

Can you tell it was almost nap time? Here she is in
"Sesame Street" land.

Before the nap, I did manage to squeeze one more
happy photo out of her as she helped me
decorate the sign with some chalk.

Here's a little bit more about what else she's been up to this past month:

1. Favorite food: Blueberries, without a doubt. She'll eat upwards of 30-60 blueberries at a time! "Blue-bees" as she calls them. If there was a blueberry eating contest, I think Avery might win it not only because of how many she can put away, but how quickly she can eat them...wow.

I always keep blueberries on hand for Avery!



Runner up: mushrooms...raw!

2. Favorite activity: sweeping leaves with Daddy on the back porch, as you saw in this post. Brandon will get his broom, Avery will get her little broom and "a sweeping" they will go. 


Second favorite activity: Drawing or "draw draw" as Avery calls it. We've accumulated some craft supplies over the past few months and at least once or twice each day, we have some art time at our kitchen table.

The artist at work.

I found this little drawer storage container at Wal-Mart for $5 and I thought it would be a great thing to help organize our art supplies and make it for "Avery-friendly". So if she wants a marker, she knows what drawer to look in...and if she needs to put her crayon away, there's a place for it.

It's fun to see what art supplies SHE wants to choose.

"Hmmm...foam stickers, I like it."

Here's today's masterpiece...

We let her help us display them on the
fridge, our "Avery Gallery".

3. Favorite word: "Running". Aside from all the funny words and phrases she's been saying lately, "running" is the one that sums up the past month, because she really has been running everywhere! This words cracks us up the most because she says it while she's doing it. So I'll tell her, "Okay Avery, it's time to change your diaper." She'll look at me at start sprinting down the hallway away from me, yelling "Running!" (as if to state the obvious).  Even better, sometimes she'll say, "Avery running."  Silly girl.

"Running!"

4. Favorite book: Bingo! by Rosemary Wells. Combine two of Avery's favorite loves: dogs and letters, you've got an instant classic on your hands. This board book is a shortened version of the classic "B-I-N-G-O" song, with fun dog illustrations, which Avery loves. 

Avery's new favorite book: Bingo!

This is her favorite page where the dog has a shoe in his mouth, she insists on disciplining him and saying, "Oh no! No no Bingo!"

"Oh no, Bingo!"

Moving on to my New Year's Resolutions of one date night a month and one Pinterest-craft each month...

Pinterest Craft of the Month...I wish I had time to craft, but this month it just wasn't happening. Maybe next month!

Date Night: While I didn't have time to craft, Brandon and I did manage to go out on a few dates and one was to a local pizza restaurant Waldo Pizza. There's not too many places I can go out to eat with my gluten-free, vegan diet...but Waldo Pizza is a new one I can add to my list. They have a gluten-free, egg-free crust, and vegan cheese (Daiya). 


We topped our pizza with red peppers and mushrooms and it was pretty good! It's nothing like the thick crust I had back in my "wheat days" but it's better than no pizza at all! Besides, my company was the best part of the date anyways. ( ;

Gluten-free, egg-free, vegan pizza with mushrooms and
red peppers.
Well that wraps up 17 months...but before we go, how about some "kisses" from Avery. If you saw her somewhere  she'd probably be telling you "Bye Bye! Love you!" at this point. (  :


Recently this post was linked up to a blog party called, "Tuesday Baby Link Up". This is where other bloggers can gather together and share their baby-related posts, such as: pregnancy & birth, adoptition, newborn & baby, or toddler & child. You can find more of the "Tuesday Baby Link Up" over at the blog Growing Slower, as well as a number of other blogs that are listed in the link above. So hop on over and check out some other fun baby posts!