Sock & W Soup

A couple of nights ago I was holding Avery while I was stirring up some yellow squash on the stove. She was watching very closely, so I sat her down with an empty pot and a wooden spoon for her to play with. She found a sock of hers and the letter W magnet on the kitchen floor, put them in the pot, and starting poking at it with the spoon. She's such a show off smarty-pants.

This Just In

Both top teeth.

DAYCARE SUCKS.

At daycare today I was told that when Avery moves up to the Toddler Room they don't want me coming to visit her on my lunch break anymore. That's fine, I know I can't see her in the middle of the day EVERY day FOREVER. They said it would disrupt the flow of the day and the routine that the ONE toddler teacher has. There are a ton of toddlers and they only have one person watching them all day. AND they said that if Avery was going to eat lunch from home (which she IS because their terrible lunch menu is franks & beans, french fries, cookies, microwaved fish sticks... and their fruit is canned and drenched in high fructose corn syrup, and their vegetables are canned with added salt... the list goes on) that she would have to eat alone in a high chair because the other kids at the table would steal and eat all of her home-food if no one was watching them. THEN WATCH THEM. They also said that if I wanted to come during my lunch break to see her that I could park where she couldn't see my car, come through the back door and watch through the window if she wasn't able to see me. WHAT?

Since she started at daycare there have been an ever-increasing number of things arise that I don't like about this place and today was just about the limit.

So, some major life changes are needed- Casey and I are going to frantically look for a new daycare before she has to move up to the toddler room (a matter of weeks) OR maybe I'll just quit for now and hang out with Avery all day, every day. Other options include stealing Aunt/Cousin Kelli as a live-in babysitter or Grammy quitting her job and moving to Georgia to watch her.

It's Permanent

Today I went to daycare on my lunch break, like every single day, and for the first time Avery tried to get a tattoo off of me. It was the fish hook one, she kept pinching it at different angles trying to get it off. I told her "Mine."

Who is counting, anyway?

Not us. After counting 38 consecutive steps a few days back, we said that's it. No more records to break. Congratulations, you're a walking baby!

The Big Break-Up

Avery and her pacifier had to go their separate ways; it just wasn't working out between the two. Avery was abusive, always chewing on or throwing her pacifier onto the ground, sometimes as if to say “I took 34 steps today damn it, I don’t need you!” Only to cry for it later, in the late night past-tired stages of tired. Her pacifier could not take this emotional rollercoaster ride and began to feel taken for granted. Everyone heals better in the long run if the break-up is cut and dry, cold turkey, none of this on and off business.. and so it was. Sure, Avery cried herself to sleep the first night. For so many nights she was used to falling asleep with a mouth full of warm, rubbery plastic and now she was alone, in the dark, with a big empty mouth. It was a hard cry. So hard, in fact, that I think it wore her out and made her sleep better throughout the night; she didn't stir until after 6am. The second night was much better- not even a whimper and out like a light.

And so it goes. She's moving on to bigger and better things, like chunks of tomato and shoes with laces.

Growing, growing, gone

As all our children do, Avery is growing in leaps and bounds! She's so smart and we're not even biased! She is so into exploring and learning but yet slows down for that loving, cuddly time. She is a dream come true and amazes us each time we are with her....not to mention... she looks great in lavender!...grammy & grampa