Kings Canyon 2012

July Photos

Dear Avery at 14 months:

Dear Avery,

I like to think of you as my little good time girl.  You really do just love to have a good time.  It could be as simple as starting to move in circles and clucking with glee as you move across a cement circle patio at a park in Tahoe.  Somehow the space suddenly felt like a dance floor or a new sort of space to move about in. 

Or, it is when you and Zealand are on a bed together.  You flop backwards and roll around in the covers being “silly kids” as we like to call it.  It is as if you were born a tiny performer personifying fun.  You love to move about and you are really into to sensory experiences, whether it is pillows, couch cushions, sand, or water. 

On a particularly hot day in Walnut Creek not so long ago we took you and Zealand to Dillon beach in Marin County.  It was after an afternoon at the Discovery Museum and a dinner on the coast.  It was later afternoon, still bright, and the sand was still warm from a hot day.  The sand was particularly fine and I believe this was your first real beach experience as a one year old.  You were absolutely hilarious. 

Your first instinct was to roll around in the sand like a pig in the mud.  You rolled on your back, on your stomach, and had dark grey sand splotches all over your face.  Sand lined the crevices under your eyes, and there was even a sand tear running down your cheek.  You were in absolute heaven.   Rolling around like nobody’s business.  All of this accompanied by squeals of delight and sandy smiles.

I love watching you.  You get so much delight from moving your body and feeling the world with all of your senses -  mouth, skin, eyes, and ears.   There is little interference from caution, fear, or self-consciousness.  You are a wonder to behold.

This month you also began saying “mama” with a clear sense that I am indeed your mama.  You call out for me and I respond in kind – so delighted that you do in fact know who I am.  Other words: “ball,” “Dada,” “Papa,” “Moo” (for moon), “Chee” (for cheese), and “Jen” (for my good friend Jen who stayed with us for a week in Tahoe).  I am sure there are more.  Frankly, I am not so concerned with which words.  Overall you are very expressive and vocal about your needs, which, I think is more important than words.  They will come, I know.  In fact, I have a feeling that in a month or so they will all start coming out like coins in a jackpot.  You have been listening and I know very soon we will start hearing all of the words you have been collecting.

Have I mentioned yet what a mischievous and willful little girl you are?  You are very playful and understand what it means to exercise your own will.  When I see you with a fistful of sand heading toward your mouth I will say “No Avy.”  You look at me knowingly and throw the sand in your mouth and then rapidly scoop up another load of sand for your mouth.  And then, you smile.

You love to be chased and tickled.  And, you love the game where you hand an object over and then at the last minute pull it away toward you.

Mostly, you prefer to be on the move.  You aren’t one for the lap.  And, you aren’t content to watch the world.  You want to move and interact. 

Except when you don’t.  Sometimes you are the most cuddly, sweet, and soft thing out there.  You want to be held.  You take your thumb and lean your head against my chest and just cuddle.  It is as if your battery is recharging.  It is the sweetest thing. 

I love this yin/yang to your personality.  There is a nice balance.  You are reckless, wild, active, silly, adventurous, curious and then when it all becomes too much you take your thumb, cuddle, and zone out.   You know your limits.

In the past two weeks you have really filled out and steadied your walk.  You are now pretty fast and confident on two feet.  Already I can see the outlines of toddlerhood.  You seem so proud of yourself for finally having the ability to truly be in the mix – walking, climbing, chattering along with the rest of us.  I can’t wait for what is next.  I know it is going to be good. 

We all love you baby Wavy.

-Mama

Dear Avery at 13 months:

This was the month when you mastered walking.  Shortly after turning one you took a few tentative steps and from that point on each and every moment represented an opportunity to practice steps.  Like your brother, you are a first rate explorer.  And, movement and curiosity are your closest friends. 

As I write this, a week after your 14 month milestone, you are now a confident and fast walker moving about with mostly ease.  It is hard to remember otherwise.  I had to look back at videos and pictures to recall the wobbly, wide leg drunken sailor stance that characterized those early walking days.  Or, it was the Frankenstein walk, or hands high at your chest to help you with balance – and always falling on your bottom many, many times throughout the day.  But, you never stopped.  Always, always, trying to walk.  Trying to keep up with your brother, to stay where the action is.

You are such a scrappy little thing.  You dive headfirst into your days without hesitation.  If Zealand slips out the screen door into the backyard there you are walking unsteadily on the bench that wraps around the house and is a good few feet above a cement patio. 

Somehow it seems that Zealand had a few more tablespoons of caution in his disposition.  Or, maybe it was the environment, or circumstances.  But, whatever it is I feel like you are apt to head straight into danger with a huge smile on your face.  I turn my head for a minute and there you are on the verge of digesting something inedible or ready to fall three feet. 

As I have mentioned before, you will put anything and everything into your mouth.  Sticks, mud, sand, anything and everything. 

 When you aren’t forging ahead conquering your 3 foot environment you crave cuddles and will often put your arms up to be held.  There are times when you seem really needy but I think it is more the fact that your brother can take his feelings out on you, grabbing toys and slight pushes, and you at times feel lost in the whirlwind of a mama and her boisterous three year old and a mama in the midst of packing lunches, washing oatmeal from a bowl, etc..

You demand that I slow down so I can hold you while you elegantly place your thumb in your mouth and regain your bearings so that you can again wildly explore and move about.   On the whole, this is probably a very positive thing.  You are demanding that your needs get met – and, they should be met.   Dirty dishes and the bottomless pit of attention that a three year old demands requires limits and boundaries. 

You roll through the day with mostly a smile on your face and loud vocalizations to express your enthusiasm.  Your sleep is regular and your appetite is fierce.  Switching to whole milk was not a problem and really the both of us have this mama/baby routine pretty well mastered by now. 

You are a big sweetie pie with lots of heart, gusto, and beautiful blue eyes to boot.  We are all very lucky to know and have you in our lives.  You line it it with smiles and enthusiasm all around.

I love you baby Aby.  We all do.

Love,

Mama.  

Dear Avery at 12 months,

Dear Avery,

Oh how you love to move!  Climb, twirl in circles on your bottom, lift yourself up, race down the hallway on all fours, and most recently walk with two grown up fingers in either hand.  In the past few days your desire to walk has intensified.  Throughout the day you will go from sitting to standing without any support and then stand there with a huge grin and slight wobble until your legs buckle.

You are so very busy and have very little time for toys colored bright and designed for small hands.  Instead there are cupboards to explore, open dishwashers to climb inside, a pantry door slightly ajar, a iron fireplace about your height, a screen door left open a crack, and a toddler bed that you can climb up on.  And, open doors are just about the best.

When you are tired from your adventures in seeking out ordinary small place dangers you screech loudly and raise your arms up for comfort or food.  And, you are no picky or dainty eater.  You have yet to refuse an offering.  Your pick across your tray of fruit, cheese, vegetable, and meat bits with great purpose and pleasure.  And, you will grab whole sandwiches off Zealand's plate when the coast is clear.  You are in other words, hungry -  for life and food.

Keeping you out of harm's way is my job most of the day.  There is nothing you won't try or get into.  Someone is always peeling you off some wobbly surface, or retrieving you from the bathroom or off of the deck leading to the outdoors.  You love the outdoors and our rough backyard is no deterrent.  So eager are you to move about that scratchy grasses and uneven rock patios are no bother.  You crawl with your butt in the air and knees off of the ground in some sort of modified crawl/walk.

And, you love, love, love the water.  The minute you spot a tub of water that you are certain is for you, you start crying and pushing yourself out of my arms toward the water.  You splash and pull yourself up to standing on the sides of the bath and then release for a huge delightful plop.

The other day you climbed in and out of the baby pool on the grass for a good hour.

And,  when it has all become too much you slide your thumb in your mouth, tilt your head, and use your other hand to rhythmically rub your upper lip or the underside of your thumb sucking hand.  Your eyes become dreamy and you are calm.

When you are not scooting through the house conquering the world you really do stop and take in all that is around you.  There is a depth behind those pretty blues that is always filling up.  You stare intensely at people and objects around you and at times you adopt expressions that can be disarming.  You don't just look at someone - you look inside them it seems.  At times your head will tilt, your eyes will cast coyly downwards, you put on a half smile and you really engage people around you.

You also like to put your head into other people's heads when you are being held, especially if I say "kissy kissy."  You like a good cuddle, and a good giggle, for that matter.

You are a real silly willy and love to be tickled.  You have a low throaty giggle that is just the cutest.   Your brother can make you laugh the most.  The two of you love "silly kids" on our big bed.  Rolling around shrieking/laughing.

In fact, your first word, it seems, is "tickle tickle." At first I thought it was just a sound you were making and then I realized that you were saying "tickle tickle." This is your signature word, so far.  You are even called "tickle tickle" at times.  It suits you, somehow.

Your other words, besides mama and dada are "da" for dog.  I have said it before, but you just love animals.  Dogs, horses, kitties, and birds throw you into a smiley, squirmy place of delight.   I sometimes wonder if you have inherited your love of animals from the other AK, Auntie Annika.  You love books with animals, and babies too.

Story time has become a special time for you.  You now have the attention span to sit with a story.  I love watching your face as I read a story to you.  You smile and your face just lights up with wonder.  You point at the pictures and eagerly reach to turn the pages.  It is very sweet.

I can't imagine a more perfect cocktail of a little girl.  You are a huge mess all of the time.  Did I mention that you love to eat dirt, rocks, sticks, stones, really anything on the ground?  You are feisty, fiery, stubborn, persistent, determined, active, fearless, and you are also sweet, coy, shy at times, with a dab of utter femininity that all the mud in the world could not cover up.  You are so very alive and I feel so blessed to be your mother and continue to be inspired to be my best so you have the most positive role models out there for all it can mean to be a human, a girl, woman, and so on.

You bring so much to our family already in just a year.   And, your brother too - lessons about sharing love, toys, and how to manage all of the feelings that come up when you are so close to someone else.  He is working on it, even if at times he sneaks in a push or pulls to hard when you are chewing on one of his beloved trains.   The funny thing, even as he struggles with jealousy or wanting ALL of the attention, he wants to be just like you.  He will ask to have his shoes off, like "baby avy," or he wants to be in just a diaper, "like baby avy."  And, he will crawl after you on all fours the two of you giggling down the long hallway.

A few weeks before Zealand's 3rd birthday party with his friends at the Discovery Museum I asked Zealand if he would rather you stay at home so he can have his mama, dada, and friends all to himself - a big boy party sort of thing.  That week had been particularly tough for him - more pushing than normal.  He surprised me by saying, no, he would like baby Avy at his party.  I found that to be telling,  a true measure of his love, versus the acting out during long, sometimes frustrating days with his momma and baby sister.

Well, we all couldn't be more proud.  You seemed to have turned one years old in a blink of an eye, gracefully finding your place in our family of four.  None of us can imagine our family without you in it.  Not even a 3 year old birthday party with all boys and trains and the promise of undivided attention from mom and dad.  If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does.

Love,
Momma

Garden Cart

In the Yard