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

April Winter and Spring

Avery Bath Time

More cute photos of bath time with little buggy.

Dear Avery at 11 months,

Dear Avery,

You are really coming into your own these days.  Although you are small, even somewhat small for your age, your personality really packs a punch.  You have always had a strong, lithe body even as a newborn.   Your neck strength was there really early.  And, I was always struck by the way you did not relax into my chest but would crane your head outward looking from side to side as to not miss a thing.

Now that strength is being used for many more purposes.  You are always, always on the go.  Scooting around from object to object, room to room, and even playing games of chase with your brother, squealing and giggling.  Shortly after you mastered crawling you started to pull yourself up from standing.  You do this any chance you have and will hold on swaying your butt and cooing, or talking to the Gods, whatever it may be.  Sometimes you will lift one arm up and look upward while swaying your arm.  You delight in movement and sound.  And, you match the energy and tenor of an almost three year old.

When the two of you are taking a bath together, swimming in a baby pool, or "playing silly kids" on the bed as Zealand calls it, you hold your own and do not get overwhelmed by bigger kid energy.  You holler, make noise, splash, and throw your body around sometimes louder and bigger than your brother.  So much so that you will often lead the play between the two of you.  Zealand will get down on the floor and crawl with you and imitate gestures and sounds you make.

I should say now that any worries about the two of you getting along have dissipated - although I know that there are always stages and phases.  Zealand has been a wonderful with you.  The two of you make each other laugh and egg each other on with sounds and gestures.

Occasionally, Zealand will get upset when you reach for his trains or tracks and we are working on teaching him to not forcibly grab things back.   You don't seem to mind though.  The other day you pushed him right back, which I think surprised and humored Zealand at the same time.

You are a scrappy little thing, to be sure.  And, you get into absolutely everything.  You will put anything and everything into your mouth.  The upside is that you love food, that stuff that should be in your mouth, as well.  So far there is nothing you have refused.  You love to eat and will sit in your highchair with bits of this and that spread before you with a very serious air about you, as if you have an important job to do.  And, with great focus and purpose will begin to clear your tray.  Actually, as I am writing this I am realizing that you may have inherited the Kubischta gene of clearing the plate with meticulous care.

You are very verbal, and like your brother, are able to say what you need with great clarity, even if it is just a shout.  Your favorite sound was dadadada and now you are saying mamamama.  A few nights ago you were trying to sound out ZZ.  And, you can almost say Kitty.

You love, love, love animals.  Elliot, Ami and Papa's cat, was your real first love, which you expressed by grabbing fistfuls of fur.  You now crawl after him with great speed as the poor thing grumpily slides under chairs trying to avoid you.  When you see an animal (dogs, cats, goats, chickens) your whole face lights up and you practically jump out of my arms.  The other day at the park I couldn't keep you away from a very sweet older golden retriever resting in the shade.  You kept crawling over to, again, grab chunks of fur.  You can't get enough.

Speaking of jumping out of arms, I should say you prefer to be moving rather than held.  In the morning after bottle you don't waste a minute and squirm out of my arms to begin your explorations.  You don't have much patience for the Ergo (baby carrier) anymore and will squirm and cry to be LET OUT!  I feel like you are at the awkward stage where you don't want to be carried but you also can't crawl wherever we are so it can be frustrating for you and for me.  Soon enough though.  We all predict that walking is just around the corner, and then look out!

The five percent of the day when you are in my arms your sweet cuddly side shines.  You are now officially a thumb sucker and you will have one hand in the mouth while the other hand cradles the thumb sucking hand.  Your body relaxes and you recharge.  I love sitting in the rocking chair with you as you suck your thumb and lean against my chest perfectly relaxed.  You also lean in for "kissies" by moving your face very near to ours.  And, just the other day you cupped your hand open and closed for "bye."

You are a sweet, soft, tough, strong spirited, curious, exuberant, lively, silly, and dramatic almost one year old.  We are all enjoying getting to know more and more who you are.  I admire your determination to find what you need in this family that came before you.  You most definitely hold your own.  And, when your mind is made up you are unstoppable, must reach that toy, must grab that water bottle, see that dog, or whatever it might be.  I can see already that your will is a powerful one.

We love you Baby waves!
-Mama

Dear Avery at 8 months,

Dear Avery,

This was your first bath in the tub and your first bath taken with your brother and Dad. You were thrilled. You squealed, shrieked, splashed, and was so excited to be in the water with the boys. These photos were taken a week before we left San Francisco.

You and your brother are developing a sweet, fun, and loving connection as you can see in all of these pictures. You watch him so closely all of the time and you are quick to smile and laugh at just about anything he does. He, in turn, is protective of you and will often join in baby play to be right there with you. He too will bite toys that you are playing with and lie down on the floor with you to be a part of what you are doing.

Not only is your relationship with your brother becoming more real and apparent to all of us, but so is your presence alongside your brother and I at various outings and play dates. When I go to the park now I bring a blanket and toys for you so that you can enjoy a good outdoor play as well. You love a good push on the swing and watching other kids play and run around. I suppose it is only a matter of time when I can go to the park and watch you and your brother play with each other on slides and bars.

We are so enjoying you Avery, all of us.

Love,

Momma