Backyard Fun

10 Months

Avery turned 10 months old today and spent the day doing some celebrating. She enjoyed her first biter biscuit (kind of like a cookie) and managed to cram an awful lot in her mouth at once. She also spent a lot of time playing with her Fisher-Price Learning Home that we got last night. These exciting activities made her think there was no need for napping! I'm not sure whether to blame our night out last night or the tons of sleeping she did yesterday. Who knows with this one!

We don't have any official height and weight updates since we (hopefully) don't visit the doctor this month. Avery is still fitting into her 9 month clothes but is also filling out her 6-12 month and even some 12-18 month clothes. She is wearing a size 3 diaper. We're still trying to love shoes! We made the switch to a new pacifier this month and moved Avery into convertible carseats in each vehicle instead of her infant carrier. Car rides are still sometimes loud, but I'm starting to realize we may just have a loud child...She seems to have an awful lot to say and will sometimes just lay on the floor and talk.

Avery is quite the eater! She eats most any Stage 2 foods we give her including meats and meat dishes that she once turned her nose up at. We have tried a few Stage 3 meals and she looked like we were trying to kill her. I'm not sure if it's the texture of the taste. We introducing some table food slowly, not because she's not ready, but because Mama just can't find good instructions! She's had a variety of Gerber snacks, yogurt, banana, potatoes, green beans, mashed beans, chicken, bread, Cheerios, and a little piece of pancake at Jen-Jen's. She doesn't seem to quite know what to do with the chicken. She tries to use her sippy cup with water or diluted pear juice but seems to enjoy chewing on it more.

Avery likes to play and really enjoys her Songs and Smiles Silly Town, standing at her activity table (or anywhere), blocks, and rings. I think her new Learning Home is going to be a big hit. She loves books and always giggles at the kitties. Her most favorite play things are anything that could poke out an eye, call 911, reprogram the TV, or break into a jillion pieces. I'm hoping that by the summer we'll have some play space downstairs also for a change of scenery. Avery still loves outside and is always happy in the stroller as long as it's moving. At Jen-Jen's I often find her outside sitting in one of the Cozy Coupes! She is rocking back and forth on her knees like crazy and has done a few crawls forward and backward before hitting her stomach. She gets VERY frustrated when she can't move like she wants to! She loves to stand and is trying to pull up on whatever she can.

Avery's sleep habits remain the about the same. She goes to bed between 7:30 and 7:45 and wakes around 6. She has 2 naps a day that last about 1.5 hours each, although somedays, like today, naps don't work out well. Yesterday was amazing for sleep! She slept until almost 6:45, had to be woken from an hour an 15 minute morning nap, and then slept over 2 hours in the afternoon. I think there's hope for the summer! At the same time I know that we really can't complain.

I think next months post will contain lots more movement, and I'm not sure that we're ready. Our days can have yelling and fussing but also infectious belly laughs, big smiles, open-mouth kisses, and pat-pats on the back. We're all excited to see what the next month will bring and eager to slow it down as much as possible.

All in a Day's Work

It was Daddy daycare for three days this week. I'm sure that in a few years this will consist of Avery running around naked outside playing with fishing lures and eating junk, but Ned rose to the occasion this time. Their days were spent having naptimes and meals at home and then heading off to Lankford Insurance. I was very uneasy about this...what if she's fussy, what if they're robbed and Avery's kidnapped (yes, I think these thoughts), but according to Ned it went well. Avery enjoyed playing with toys on the floor, watching the customers and the fish, and banging on anything Mimi would let her bang on. The only slight glitch occured when Avery banged a little too close to Ned's keyboard as he did a quote and changed someones homeowner's coverage from $200,000 to $2,000,000! Luckily Ned caught those extra zeros! Daddy daycare also meant that I got to leave Avery home in her pajamas, so I could get up at a very reasonable 6 am. I enjoyed getting to school at my pre-baby arrival time and even treated myself to a breakfast biscuit this morning. It's back to Jen-Jen's we go tomorrow. I'll be up earlier, at school later, and a little more rushed in the morning. But that's all worth it to have Chinese jibberish being squawked from the back seat during the drive and watching Avery kick her feet with glee and pat-pat her Jen-Jen to death. Hopefully Lankford Insurance will get put back in order too. Last week Sammy was scaring customers out the door. The people are probably starting to wonder.

Purple Fingers

So this explains why Avery had purple fingers and a purple smear on her leg Wednesday! As much as I love this sweet gift, I believe I love our babysitter even more. This is the second special gift that Avery has done at Jennifer's. I don't even paint with my second graders, yet she was brave enough to do handprints of children ages 4 months to 4 years. Avery is so lucky to have so many people to love her, and I am so thankful that she has made me a mom.

Test Drive

We've made the switch...to a new pacifier that is. A pacifier that I feel will be a little more presentable on a two-year-old, if we keep it around that long. Avery is not one to keep it in her mouth full time. We just use it to get through the unfortunate moments. First, I must profess my love of the Soothie, as it got us through some tought times. Although I tried many other brands, it was the Soothie Avery wanted, so the Soothie Avery got. The few drawbacks are what kept me trying to win Avery over with something different. Obviously, the size of the thing is something to be dealt with. And while it no longer swallows her face as it did in the older picture, it is a little large. Rolling is also a problem with this little gem. There is no plastic to help it skid to a stop, so it tends to roll right across the room on our hardwood floors. So, because of these issues, I continued to try other pacifiers, and the other day she only gagged a few times before she started sucking away. A big improvement! I have to admit that I feel guilty about taking away something that she got so much joy from. What in the world will I do when I take it away for good? When the pediatrician and I discussed weaning Avery from the bottle at her last visit, she said I would have to pack or throw the bottles away when I cut her last one. She said it would be just as much for me as it was for her not to see them around. That's exactly what I'll be doing with the Soothies this weekend, because while Avery is happily sucking her new pie, my mind keeps seeing the tiny baby above.

***Please excuse the dirty nose and Albert Einstein hair in the recent picture :)

Wet Paint

Last week was busier than normal in the life of the Lankfords. Ned had been saying for some time that the house needed to be painted, which should be an easy fix since Ned's uncle paints, right? Of course not. We don't do simple here. Ned and I discovered during some of our last "projects" that free/cheap family help isn't free if you pay with your sanity. Ned found a very nice little painter who was ready to start right away. Great...except that I wanted to go a tad lighter on the trim. So, because I make 5,000 decisions a day anyway, I turned it over to Ned. He didn't let me down. The painter did a great job and was even able to do something to our windows to delay purchasing replacement windows for awhile. Best of all...he didn't have to store his pimento loaf in our refridgerator.

The main color isn't that much different, but it certainly is nice and fresh. We did decide to do the garage door black, which looks great, but now we always think it's open.



We also went with a cheery red for the door. I need to dress it up a bit with my door bucket, but my flower colors don't match the new shade. A big thanks to our painter who gave us a great price, finished the job in three days, worked normal hours, and did not ask to go to the machine (aka ATM) four times a day. It really is the little things in life!

Avery's Day Out

Yesterday we spent a fun day in Williamsburg. We met Lolli and Poppa for breakfast and then loaded up. Avery took a quick nap on the ride to the ferry but woke when we stopped to wait for it. I think she might have gone back to sleep had she not had Lolli beside her and me in the third row. Who wants to sleep when there are people to smile at? She seemed to enjoy the ferry and checking out the seagulls, then we were off to Prime Outlets for a whirlwind shopping spree. We were trying to beat Avery's lunch clock and got a lot accomplished. Our first stop was Stride Rite to get Avery's feet measured. This made her scream like I was killing her, as did the trying on of shoes. She has only worn shoes on a few trips to church so they may take some getting used to. We continued to zoom around and do all we wanted to. I was very excited to see that Gymboree had some things from last season that I wanted for this year, and I got a bit carried away. The many bags that we piled into the car were all Avery's!

After a quick lunch at Chili's we made our way to Merchant's Square. Avery was an hour past naptime and looking tired but happy. Ned strolled her while Lolli and I did damage in The Carousel. Avery managed a quick catnap in the shade, and by the time we got back in the car, it was way past nap time. I thought a bottle on the ferry would do the trick, but as tired as she was she stayed awake for the whole ride home. She played with her toes and pacifier and burp cloths but would not close her eyes. We were glad to get home and thought an early bedtime would do the trick. Her nose had been running and before bath she had a bit of a fever. She was painfully overtired and cried when I put her to bed, which is rare. She calmed down with the help of another burp cloth (which has somehow become a lovey) but fussed off an on until about 1:30 this morning. Between the busy day and being under the weather her little body had just had too much. Luckily, I'm off today and can rest, and I'm hoping she's having a great day with Jennifer. We were all amazed at how well she did (aside from napping) and could not have asked her to be better. So, as long as we did not teach her that she can function on even less sleep continuously, the day will have been a success. Our next adventure will probably be Short Pump in Richmond...for more shopping!