Whoever invented the throw pillow

must have had a toddler. This is the game we play all day long.


...and whatever philosophy was behind the naming of the pillows -- I'll bet it also applies to stuffed animals, books, and toys in general.

Silly girl!

So, Avery knows the sounds of several animals. She's been meowing and woofing for months. I've been trying to teach her new sounds, but the easy ones are usually the ones she attempts. I've tried to do "ribbit" for frog, "cock-a-doodle-doo" for rooster, and "hee-haw" for donkey. She knows all those animals by sight, and can pick them out of a book. But she won't attempt the sounds.

Anyway, the other night, I was quizzing her on all the sounds she knows, and she was nailing them all, one after another. Then, out of nowhere, I asked her "What does a baby say?" and she immediately responded "Mama, mama." I have no clue where that came from! I never taught it to her, and she rarely even points to me as "mama," let alone calls me "Mama." So weird!

So, I tried to duplicate it today, and sure enough, she said "Mama, mama" again for me.

Stole this video...

from Windy :) Here are Avery and Marylin chatting it up at Marylin's birthday party. It's amazing how different they are now that they're almost 6 months older!

Video

New things Avery is saying!

Her new favorite word is "apple." She says it constantly. She also loves to say "bubble." I have a feeling that "bubble" means something (not bubble) because she points and says it a lot, which makes me wonder if she thinks something else is called that. Who knows!

Other new things she's saying:
grapes (bapes)
cheese
toast
up/down (If I say "up" she'll say "down" -- those teenage years are starting early!)
Pops/Papa
Help, please!
shoes
teeth
eyes
nose
Elmo
Ernie (comes out like Ohiey)
duck

There are so many more -- I can't think of them all. The funnest thing is if I ask her to say something, even something she's never said before, she'll often times attempt to say it. It's a crack up!

The Living Desert

Yesterday, our little family headed out to the Palm Springs area to visit The Living Desert. We figured it was warm, sunny, and not too far a trip for a last minute outing. We had fun.

Avery immediately made her entrance. Everyone knew she was there as she waved and yelled "Hi" to all the other visitors. She grabbed the map immediately to find where the giraffes were located. Fortunately, we found them fairly quickly. Whew.


On our way to the giraffes, we saw several things... an enormous model train exhibit, meerkats, zebras, a cheetah, and ostriches. Avery seemed to enjoy the meerkats most because they came right up to the side of the cage and put on a little show.

I didn't take many pictures of the model train exhibit, because they just wouldn't do it justice. This was about a fourth of the exhibit... it was huge!



Then we got to the giraffes -- Avery loved them. There are several animals she can pick out of books, and giraffes are certainly one of them.


Next we moved on to the butterfly exhibit. There were probably a hundred butterflies alive and flying around -- with several hundred more set to hatch within days. It was very cool... I'd never seen a live butterfly exhibit before. They had a sign displayed with the types of butterflies included, and I actually saw a couple I'd never seen before. They are tough to capture on camera, however.




Before moving on, we sat for a while and just watched the butterflies all around us. It was a cool experience.


We also had to snap a picture of Avery with the body of a monarch :)


We moved on from that exhibit, and saw some other desert animals -- an eagle, bobcats, and a badger.


Avery had a great time being her crazy self, and fell fast asleep in the car on the way home.


We'll be back to the Living Desert, but not until next winter! It was hot there yesterday, and it's only February still!

Picture of the Moment...

Ain't it sweet?

Wow!

Just a few minutes ago I laid Avery down to change her diaper. I was making faces at her and trying to entertain her (she hates laying down to have her diaper changed) and she all of a sudden looked at me and said "Eyes, nose, teeth!"

It was amazing!

Today's Achievement...

Nose-picking.

Avery Dancing!

Click on the picture to see the video.