Avery: 2 and a half!

This little update is a month late, but I have to at least make an attempt to capture Avery in words because she is just too much. I always say that each age is my favorite, and this is no different. I (usually) love the independence and attitude spunk of this fun girl, and I'm guessing that her personality will just continue to get bigger. Granted, I'm a little nervous about the teen years, but here is what Avery is up to at

TWO AND A HALF

• She wears mostly 3T clothes, although 4T is kinda starting to fit, especially in length. The girl is tall! And she still usually lets me pick out her clothes, so I'm taking advantage of that while I can! She wears a size 8-9 toddler shoe and has been out of diapers for at least 8 months. 

• Avery loves to eat, especially FRUIT. Her fruits and vegetables are usually the first thing she devours on her plate. Unless there's bread. Bread always wins. That's my girl. :) And she loves cheese and yogurt. Seriously, she has a cheese-dar and magically seems to know when I'm grating cheese because as soon as I start, she's right at my heels asking for a piece. She really only drinks water or milk but occasional gets a juice box (hooray for Fruitables!).
• I think we're done with her high chair/booster seat thing. She pretty much refuses to sit in it anymore because she likes sitting in a "big chair" at the table. She stays in it though and isn't too distracted, so we don't really have a reason not to let her. She just looks so big in it!
• This little girl is SO verbal. And hilarious! She has us cracking up all the time. Go figure that I'm drawing a blank (I have to start writing stuff down!), but some of my favorite things she says are
• "I love you forever, even if you're stinky!"
• If someone says something she likes, she'll turn to whoever else is in the room and repeat it; you know, just in case they missed it the first time.
• "Hi, little buddy!" (to Landon, of course)

•  Avery is usually very sweet, but she is also a little spitfire! She likes to test the limits (especially if she's tired) to see what she can get away with. What I love about her though is her tender heart. She responds very well to correction and is quick to apologize and give sweet hugs. It's been interesting to see the development of her understanding of how her actions affect others. 

• She LOVES her friends. She's always talking about her friends at church and "school" and including them in her pretend play at home.

• Avery's still a huge Texas Rangers fan! But she also loves everything princess and Tinkerbell. She asks to watch Tangled daily and loves to play dress up.
• Our sleep "schedule" includes and afternoon nap (1.5 hours on average) and a 7:30-8:00 bedtime with a 7:00 wake up. Avery is SO sweet when she first wakes up! She did NOT get that from me, haha!

• She loves books and totally amazes me with her memorization of her favorites! After we read a book a few times, she tells me that she wants to read it to me. I was shocked to find that she actually could "read" me most of the book (most recently Curious George and the Birthday Surprise). Hooray for my little nerd! I loved reading when I was younger, so I hope she continues to love books. 

I really could go on and on with the fun stuff that Avery's doing these days. She acts much more like a preschooler than a toddler, so while I enjoy the "older" interaction and conversations we're able to have, it makes me a little sad that she's more big girl than baby now. Sigh, I guess that's the point of raising kids though!

We sure love this kid! And before I know it, we'll be planning her THIRD birthday party. Eek!