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| My Heros <3 |
Prior to Avery turning two, he barely spoke at all. He knew a few words but preferred motions and gestures to talking. Once he hit two though, that all changed. Avery went from barely speaking at all to talking constantly and these days he pretty much talks in full sentences with about 80-90% of it fairly easy to understand.
Avery's vocabulary continues to expand and change. He no longer calls us Mama and Dada but Mommy and Daddy (with one of his favorite things to say being, "Hey Mommy"...over and over again). He also now calls Asher "D'asher" instead of just "shhhh" like he used to and for both Grandmas he frequently calls them "Dammy" now. He also talks about his friends "Tina" (Christina), "Ponner" (Ponder), "Brel" (Gabriel) and "Kayin" (Kaylin). His terminology for household items continues to grow, but our favorite is "toilet" as he has a very cute way of saying it. He loves to point out "davators" (excavators) and although he knows what a giraffe is, he usually calls them zebras. He still has a soft spot for dinosaurs and now says them "a-dor" instead of "roar" when he points them out. Most of his foods he pronounces fairly accurately, but I still love that he says "ba-na" instead of banana and "papple" instead of apple. Instead of help me, he will say "do me". Avery can also now count to 10 (sometimes twelve), but usually skips from 3 to 7 while doing so. For a while he would count to 6 perfectly, but now that he's added more numbers he seems to have forgotten a few as well.
As I mentioned Avery puts simple sentences together pretty well saying things like...
- "Daddy! I found Nemma (Emma) in nere (here)"....after they were looking for Emma
- "Mommy, Wike dis so much."...as he pulls kielbasa out of the fridge and shows me he love for sausage.
- "Don't wike it"...Every.Single.Night at dinner.
- "Bopen up me"...when asking us to open something for him.
- And our most recent favorite: One morning Avery came into our room with a VERY stinky diaper. We told him to go back to his room and get the wipes and a new diaper for us so that we could change him. He got the diaper and wipes, came back into our room and then gave them to Eric, who responded with, "What do you want me to do with that?" We expected Avery to respond with something like "change pease" or "poopy diader". Instead he looked right at Eric and said, "Wipe my butt!" We about died laughing!
Asher also loves to talk (still). With the two of them combined Eric and I rarely can get a word in. Car trips have gone from quiet rides to constant chatter, questions, whining, interrupting and more questions...LOTS.more.questions. To help with the interruptions, we taught Asher to say "Excuse Me, Mommy (or Daddy)" when he needed to tell us something. He does quite well remembering to say it but instead of saying "excuse me" he says, "excuse you" and then proceeds to interrupt whether we have answered him or not. It's a work in progress...
So both boys talk pretty well for their ages these days. Asher has mostly lost his toddler/preschool talk and just talks like a kid but he does still have a few words that make us laugh such as "oose" instead of use, "yudder" instead of other, "frix-ded" instead of fixed, and "her" instead of she. He also loves to use the word "extremely", but not in the way you might think. While some might use a sentence like "Mommy, I would really like to go to the park tomorrow", Asher would say, "and Mommy, EXTEREMLY I would like to go to the park tomorrow."
Personality...
Asher and Avery are two very different little boys. Asher is sensitive, organized, perfectionistic, thoughtful, shy, creative, and curious, while Avery is a little rough around the edges, athletic, very strong-willed/stubborn, flirty and also sweet. While Asher typically tries to follow the rules, Avery is typically looking for a way around them. For Asher just knowing that Eric or I is/am upset with him is torture, while Avery could care less. He will just look at you and say, "Not Naughty!"
Also, while Asher does like a good cuddle once in a while, I think his love language is probably 'Words of Affirmation' or 'Quality Time'. Avery on the other hand is a a very affectionate little guy and I believe his love language is "Physical Touch" as he likes to hold hands, snuggle, kiss and be held. He is still my little Momma's boy, while his big brother likes to follow his Daddy around.
Eating...
Again, the boys are VERY different in this department. I am told that they are both good eaters at daycare, but at home that just isn't the case. Asher is our little garbage disposal and eats constantly and will eat almost anything (although he doesn't like peppers). Avery on the other hand frustrates us daily with his refusal to eat basically anything that we put in front of him other than fruit, junk food or milk. He does have a soft spot for cheeseburgers though. Avery also still often wants to sit on my lap during dinner which drives me a little crazy. He has gotten better, but some days he will insist on it.
Independence...
While both boys love attention from Mommy, Daddy and other family members, they also like doing things on their own. These day's one of Avery's favorite things to say is, "Me do it." Eric and I exercise our patience as we wait for him to dress himself, put on his shoes, open the door, buckle his seatbelt, etc. Asher also likes to do things on his own and often insists on making his own bed or cleaning his room (which I'm all for), trying to create food to eat, get the mail, etc.
Hobbies...
Both of the boys love to play. Asher enjoys riding his bike (he is working on riding without training wheels), building things with Legos or any thing he can find around the house/yard, and crafting (especially with tape, staples and/or glue). Avery loves to do anything that includes a ball, play in the sandbox, ride his bike, build towers and lately his favorite thing to do is build forts. Both boys enjoy playing together much of the time and as they get older they do so better and better (but also fight more and more). Avery LOVES his big brother and wants to do EVERYTHING that Asher does. I often joke that Asher is Eric's Mini-Me while Avery is Asher's Mini-Me. The boys also both love to read. Avery loves his dinosaur books and anything that makes noise. Asher enjoys learning about space, our bodies, animals, etc. while reading but also enjoys goofy stories like Nibbles! The boys both love watching cartoons as well, although we do try to limit them as much as possible. With Jake and the Neverland Pirates no longer on Netflix the boys had to find new favorites. Now, Asher's new favorite is Rescue Bots, while Avery enjoys Dinotrux, Chuggington and Octinauts. The boys also love to watch movies, and Asher is slowly branching out to enjoy several. Avery on the other hand would be thrilled if Monsters, Inc., Minions, Dory and Wall-E were on a constant cycle.
Sleepy Time...
Both boys do pretty well at going to bed these days. They both put up a little bit of a fight, but (thankfully) Asher has gotten MUCH better at going to bed and Avery also goes down with minimal argument. Neither of them are happy when we say it is time for bed, but both go along without too much torture for us. Both of the boys still have rest time too. For Asher, we just require that he is quiet in his bed for a while to let Avery (& Mommy) take a rest. Sometimes he will just read or play legos in his room but often if he lays on his bed he will pass out without even realizing it. One day recently he came out of his room at nap time asking Eric if he could come out because he couldn't fall asleep, not knowing that he had total bed-head and had taken a nap for well over an hour already!
While bedtime has become much easier these days, mornings have become a little more difficult. Avery now knows how to open his door and tends to be an early riser. Nowadays I frequently wake up (long before the alarm goes off) with a little face right in front of me staring me down. Unlike his brother, he is quite the little morning person and when he is up he's up...and thinks everyone else should be too. We've been trying to convince him to go back in his room to quietly read or play, but he isn't as keen on the idea as we would hope. Just last weekend Asher, Avery and I took Sunday naps while Eric went out to run some errands. When Eric returned, he found Avery running around the house on his own while Asher and I were still sleeping. We were both very surprised that he had made it downstairs without waking me and have now begun to lock the gate upstairs so that he can't go down on his own to make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble (or hurt).
Physically...
Both of the boys are growing like weeds! Every time Asher gets dressed it seems I am putting aside clothes that no longer fit. They have both grown quite a bit since the fall. I think Asher is around 44.5" tall and 44 pounds now and at Avery's 30 month check-up he was measured at 36.5" tall and 34.4 pounds (although that was clothed and at home he weighs in at 3 pounds less). Thus both boys have grown almost 2 inches each since last fall!
So, that is my update on the boys at this age (already a month after). Now for what we did this week...
On Monday I picked the boys up from daycare and all they could talk about was playing football when we got home. As soon as we got in the house, Asher went and got the football field that I made for Avery's birthday party last fall and we played "football" right there in the middle of the kitchen.
On Wednesday I had an appointment first thing in the morning and then after I picked the boys up from daycare we had the rest of the day at home together. It was kind of a yucky day so I came up with a couple of crafts for us to do. First, we made some button eggs (using up buttons that Eric was thrilled to see go) and then we made some tissue paper "stained glass crosses" to decorate for Easter.
For lunch on Wednesday, Avery really wanted Finding Dory soup, while Asher really wanted alphabet soup instead. To convince Asher that Finding Dory soup was the way to go, I made it the theme of their entire lunch.
On Thursday, Avery discovered my old Piche Farm hat from the 125th anniversary celebration and insisted on wearing it for much of the rest of the week. With the hat pushing the tops of his ears out a little bit, there was no mistaking that he is a (an adorable) 4th Gen. Piche Boy! :)
When Avery wasn't wearing the Piche hat, he was wearing his superhero gear instead...
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| Checking himself out in the mirror. |
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| Tough Guys |
On Friday night, we enjoyed a family dinner at Cheddar's (again with the Piche hat). It was a great meal with delicious food and two very well behaved boys (a parent's dream these days). At the end of the meal, Avery started whining and then asked for a diaper change. I took him to the ladies room and changed him but was surprised to find that he really didn't need one. We headed back to our table and finished up our meal. Then as the waitress came to clear our plates and bring us our bill, Avery's face got completely red and he started grunting. I think any parent of a small child would know what that means, but obviously the waitress did not. She looked at Avery and said, "Wow! Are you so full from eating all of your dinner?" Eric and I could barely contain ourselves from busting out laughing. When she left though Avery started to cry and whine more and was obviously having a hard time doing his business. Eric asked him if he wanted to finish up on the potty and he did! We were so proud of him and he was VERY proud of himself as well.
Video: Who Pooped on the Potty Tonight?...ahhhh Me (Big Boy Avery)
On Saturday, we started the day with a productive morning at home. Eric worked some projects in the basement and the boys were eager to help. He gave them each some nails and wood and they worked away. Asher must have spent a total of two hours that day pounding nails!!
After nap time, we headed North to an Open House party at my clients' new home which they would be moving into the following week. There we enjoyed some drinks and food along with time to tour the home on our own.
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| To go to the Open House I had to wake Avery from his nap. When I went into his room I found him like this. He had filled his bed with pillows to make himself a "fort". |
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| Mudroom |
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| The boys were excited to find one of the toilets. |
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| The Kitchen |
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| Checking out the fridge |
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| The boys also really like the Master Bath. The self-operating toilet/bidet was the favorite though. Of course they love one of the things that Mommy had NOTHING to do with. |
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| Checking out the Master Bath toilet/bidet |
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| View from the unfinished screen room. |
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| Kiddie Cocktails for Everyone!...yes, even Mommy! :) |
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| Great Room Fireplace |
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| Stair way and Dining Area |
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| Great Room to Hall |
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| The front of the house |
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| View from the Front Entry. |
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| Second Floor Hall |
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| Wine Cellar |
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| My coworker John at ONE BIG BREAKFAST TABLE |
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| Eric & Avery enjoying the golf-cart ride from the house back to our car (it was a LONG driveway) |
After the Open house, the boys and I headed to Culver's for some dessert!
We arrived back home on Saturday evening at around 6pm but still had some time to kill before bed. Since I had to return something at Target, Avery and I went on a little field trip together...
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| Avery checking out the animals at Petsmart (next-door to Target) |
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| A beautiful sunset that night |
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| My little ham at Target |
On Sunday, we finished out the week with a lazy day (per usual). The morning was a little rough with grumpy attitudes all around, but after some afternoon naps we were all doing much better and ended the week on a high note (and a trip to Meijer)!
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| Smiley snuggles after family nap time. |
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| How could you not smile with this little monkey around! :) |
Video: Asher Dances When (he thinks) No One's Watching...
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