Tag Archives: growing up

When Did Our Toddler Get So Smart?

We had just come to terms that our baby is toddler, but now she’s transforming into a smart/tricky toddler of sorts. Smart, because she’ll call out all letters of the alphabet, numerous colors, stack blocks (instead of just destroy) and speak in complete sentences sometimes.

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In Mary Katherine from SNL style – Superstar Smart!

Tricky, because, well, she’s figuring out how to delay things at night when it’s bedtime, and how to use her cuteness to get her way.

Smiling on kitchen floor
Stop what you’re doing and just play with me!

But make no mistake, Going Mom and I are not complaining. We couldn’t be me happy to see how our little girl is growing physically and intellectually. But also make no mistake, it drives us insane at times!

Mainly, the nighttime toddler delay tactics. She has this thing where she likes to do a “jump” into her pajamas after bathtime, so Mommy will let her jump once, but then she says “Again”, and she goes again. But two is not enough, and she’ll continue going until one of us makes her stop. Some nights, she’ll accept it, other nights, you’d think she’s auditioning for an opera.

Then, we normally only read one book, but now she turns on the bottom lip to try and delay the inevitable; sleep! Well, at least going into her crib. We had a nice few weeks of an easy transition from putting her in the crib and she’d go to sleep soon after, or at least not throw a fit. But now, WOW, this girl makes her demon days look like a cute and cuddly kitten!

When her screams aren’t radiating throughout the house, she’ll pace around her crib and talk to herself. We consider this much better than the alternative, and even nice to see how her brain has developed. Just listen to her talk amongst herself to decide if she wants the blue plate or pink plate tonight.

Saying “Blue plate tonight” has become the majority of our daily conversations. I ask her if she wants water, it’s “Blue plate tonight”.

Me: Did you go poop?

Avery: Blue plate tonight.

Me: Do you want to go for a walk to see the moon tonight?

Avery: Blue plate tonight.

Me: *Silence*

Avery: Blue plate tonight, blue plate tonight, bluuuuueee plate toniiiiiight!

You get the drift.

Don’t get me wrong, she says more than Blue plate tonight, but those three words are repeated all day long. Other popular phrases are:

  • Crazy football
  • See you tomorrow, goat cheese. (Now she says “See you tomorrow, blue plate”)
  • More goat cheese. Please, goat cheese.
  • The moon’s a coming.
  • Biceps and triceps.
  • Clean the boo-boo on the butt.
  • The light’s on!
  • I’m a crazy Avery.

I could go on with a few more, but these are the ones that stand out right now. Needless to say, this girl truly is crazy, and we’re loving how much fun (usually) she is.

With the increased fun/craziness, means decreased blog posts, or at least shorter in length. Naps are becoming scarce and I’m keeping busy with other things. But don’t worry, I’ll be around to post updates when possible and even share product reviews, workout ideas, and maybe even recipes.

Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season so far with more good times ahead! Oh, and here, Avery wanted to say bye-bye with Lamby.

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Monthly Memories Recap: Her First 2 Years

Now that we’re past the 2 year mark, I will be changing my usual Monthly Memories posts going forward. Still not dead set on how I’ll go about it, but I figured it would be good to put all of the past memory posts together.

This weekend flew by (as usual) and our one plan to go out to take family photos got nixed from a bad cold / possibly turned sinus infection. Her eyes keep getting crusty and looked so swollen all of Sunday. I think this pic pretty much sums up how she feels…

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Poor girl, lucky she has an awesome Mommy who stuck by her side and gave her lots of love all day. She still gave it what she could and remained playful part of the day, and even enjoyed watching some “crazy football” as she is currently repeating a lot. That, and “blue plate tonight.”

Pretty low key weekend, as we prefer, minus the sick kid, so nothing else new to share. Hopefully I’ll be able to report our girl is fully recovered before Thanksgiving rolls around. Until then, on with the compilation of Monthly Memories.

Since there’s no memories post for the first 4 months, I’ll  just share pics to see her progression from the start. Then, from 5 months, my first Memories from my Xth Month Since Going Dad post, we’ll go all the way to 24 months.

Newborn

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1 Month

1 Month

2 Months

2 Months

3 Months

3 Months

4 Months

Avery and Mommy with our fat cat photo bombing
Avery and Mommy with our fat cat photo bombing

5 Months

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6 Months

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7 Months

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8 Months

Practicing how to taste test on the spoon.
Practicing how to taste test on the spoon.

9 Months

Flashy Four

10 Months

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11 Months

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12 Months

Our happy little girl.

13 Months

Squishy? Squish THIS!!!

14 Months

bath time, baby, funny, cute

15 Months

toddler, kids, parenting, funny, humor

16 Months

Avery Uneasy in Snow

17 Months

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18 Months

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19 Months

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20 Months

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21 Months

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22 Months

my sunday photo, #MySundayPhoto, toddlers, parenting

23 Months

What should I help with next, Dad?

24 Months

Avery at Play Kitchen

Wow, if you actually went through them all, thank you, for one, and I bet you’re a close friend/relative. Or just love seeing our precious girl, in which case I don’t blame you. 🙂

Now, if you’ll please excuse me, Thanksgiving is coming up fast, and I’ll be busy working on the few dishes we’re having at our tradition-in-the-making gathering. Hopefully with a healthy toddler tagging along as my official taste-tester.

Have a wonderful Monday!

The Kitchen Cabinet and Birthday Kisses #TBT

It’s fun to use various ways to mark the growth of our kids, right? This Throwback Thursday (#TBT, for short), I have two; Avery’s obsession with climbing in one of our kitchen cabinets, and a birthday kiss from Mommy and Daddy.

I can’t remember the exact time she started to get into this particular cabinet, but the first post I could find is from March of this year. It was in How to Hide in the Kitchen where I found this pic.

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And just the other day, still utilizing her crawl space with a blank stare….

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The hair really marks her growth here, but so much more has changed. Attitude, being one of them.

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Yeah, sometimes for the better, and, in this case, for the worse. Which brings me to the other #TBT picture; birthday kisses from Mommy and Daddy in her highchair.

Here she is taking our kisses with that signature blank stare as a one year old.

Ummm, dad, your nose is in my eye and both of you are in the way of my cake!
Ummm, dad, your nose is in my eye and both of you are in the way of my cake!

Even my pointy nose didn’t upset her then. But for birthday numero dos, she showed her true feelings.

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My nose wasn’t even touching that time, geez!

Before I go, here’s one more kitchen comparison of our crazy girl. In August of 2014, she looked sweet and innocent hanging on to drawer handles.

You need something?
You need something?

But now, screw the handles, she romps and stomps her way around the entire house, and even does ballet if she damn well pleases.

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Growth, it never seizes to amaze me.

Happy Thursday!

Any big plans for the weekend?

Have any meals you can make now to get ready for Thanksgiving?