Before we start, let me just put this right here……
Lamby picked the picture.
We’re taking advantage of her still being too young to fully grasp the concept of birthday parties by keeping it low key at home with a few friends and family. I expect we’ll have plenty of big birthday bash requests in the future, so no need to rush into those, right?
Avery, you have truly transformed in just this past month by talking so much, running all over the place, and being so playful. You’ve given Mommy and me way more than 24 memories for the month, but tradition’s sake, that’s the limit for this post. 🙂
1. Like I said, you’ve turned into a playful tot who frequently joins me in the kitchen where I am cooking meals and cleaning up my mess. But when you stand at my feet with your pretty blue eyes, I can’t help but to take a break and play a little.
2. This month you got your very own fork. And not just any for, AirFork One! 
3. Mommy and Daddy took spent the weekend camping for our belated 8th Anniversary celebration (and Mommy turning 31!) while G-Ma stayed with you at our house. We enjoyed our time together, but had a dramatic return where you had us all believing your wrist or arm was severely injured. So conniving at such a young age….turns out you were just fine. 4. Mommy’s work had their annual Halloween event for families to bring their little ones trick-or-treating. We dressed you as a pumpkin (again) and you proudly walked around the place announcing “I’m a pumpkin!” Obviously, a very crazy pumpkin… 
5. On Halloween, we carved our first pumpkin together as a family. You helped us take the guts (seeds) out a little, but you were more interested in eating them after I roasted the innards. 
6. You walked our little loop on Halloween night to trick-or-treat where your first and only treat was an organic banana our friends kindly had set aside just for you. You wasted no time trying to eat it, and even bit into the peel before we could unwrap it for you. 
7. Blue is the color of choice for you lately, and there’s no question about which plate you get for dinner. It’s the Blue Plate Special every night! You even repeat the phrase “Blue plate tonight.” well over 10 times throughout the day, just to make sure we’re clear. 8. Before your beloved blue plate dinner, you’ve also become keen on what time it is before our nightly walk and dinner; it’s smoothie time!
When the #vitamix stops, she knows what time it is. …. #Smoothie Time! And a #cheers to boot! @kelley_liley A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on
9. I try to make dinner interesting, but always ends up being the same thing one way or the other. One of these things is quinoa, which you surprised us by pronouncing amazingly well!
10. Another dinner time staple is goat cheese. We always have it in a certain container, and if you see it out, you’ll repeat the words goat cheese and more until we finally say you had enough. At this point, you’ve learned to say “See you tomorrow, goat cheese” in the cutest way possible. It puts a smile on Mommy and Daddy’s face each time.
11. The shin I hurt when climbing up to save you on the slide last month is taking forever to heal. Over the time I’ve had it, you learned about kissing boo boos and now you kiss everyone’s boo boo multiple times a day. I even caught you pulling your foot to your mouth to kiss your own boo boo on your toe!
12. Kissing your own feet takes some major flexibility. Must be from doing yoga with Mommy. 
13. Your eagerness to help us out with everything you do is cute, but not always helpful. One thing, “helping” with wrapping up the vacuum cord, is one such thing. 14. You actually do help me when putting up your cloth diapers after they are dry. I will ask for a certain color and you grab it from the drying rack to hand to me. 15. On the topic of diapers, you play what seems like a rapid fire session when I first pull them out of the wash and hang them to dry. As I hang each one, I can see your face crinkling trying to quickly call out the color I have before moving to the next one. 16. The blue plate might be your preference for dinner, but for breakfast, you have taken a liking to your purple plate. Banana and pumpkin seeds are the staples on your plate, and once you’re done, you will bring your plate over to me to put in the sink. You learn so fast! 
17. After Mommy gives you your nightly bath, I’ve been setting your new friend, Lamby, up on the couch waiting for you to come and get her for bedtime. I’ll be cleaning the dishes and see your naked, wide-grinned self run up to grab Lamby and run back to your room to get ready for bed. It’s cute to hear you giggle with joy as you see Lamby sitting there.
18. My injured shoulder finally bothered me enough to go to a chiropractor which resulted in having to make multiple weekly visits for therapy. Luckily, I found a great husband and wife practice with 4 kids of their own who know a thing or two. They have you setup to watch Dinosaur Train on the kindle as my shoulder gets worked on. You also enjoy the play kitchen area and take it seriously, just like Daddy. 
19. I thought I’d take advantage of the better-than-normal weather and run with you to a playground just 2 miles away. Of course the wind picked up, but we made it. And we found out you’re still not a fan of being above solid ground just like when on our friends’ trampoline. 
20. Besides not wanting to walk on platforms, you absolutely love the slide part. That’s why we were too excited to wait for your birthday to give you one of your gifts; an indoor slide! It’s nothing fancy, but you are loving it! 
21. With your increased playfulness, you’ve begun to initiate foot fights with me randomly throughout the day. Sometimes I’m even holding a knife to chop food, but it doesn’t deter you.
Pre #breakfast foot fight. She started it the first time. #toddler #sahd #growingup A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on
22. We love, well, everything about you, but how you pick up so quickly on new words and letters. I’ve been playing the show Super Why for you while we have lunch and we’ll try and guess the Super Words in each episode. Mommy and I would love to take all the credit for your increased word knowledge, but that show really has helped you learn.
23. What we can take credit for is your knowledge of good food. You say cottage cheese when you see my container in the fridge, goat cheese when, well, a lot, and even name the colored jar of NuttZo with amazingly great pronunciation for a 2 year old.
24. It’s probably apparent that Lamby is your current Bestie. She’s become part of our nightly reading and goodnight kisses routine to where you INSIST everyone kisses Lamby after reading the nighttime book, and she even has to kiss my boo boo some nights!
Watching how much you change every day is so bittersweet, Avery, but you make our little family of 3 complete and fill us with joy. So much so we just want to squeeze you all the time! Maybe too much…
Happy Birthday, dear, thanks for giving us so much joy! We look forward to so many more birthdays and good times as a family!
