Aveline is 13-and-a-Half-Plus Months

When I realized all-of-a-sudden-like that it was October 22 and I had missed Avie's 13-month marker by days, and then proceeded to put off blogging even longer, I almost just decided to skip this post and wait until month 14. However, as the days go by, I realize how much she is changing on a daily basis, and just had to record what is going on right now.

Just last Friday, Avie decided to try out standing on her own. She would pull up on something and purposefully let go, putting her hands either out to her side or straight up in the air, and just start giggling. I'm sure the "Woah, Avie! Look at YOU!" cheers aided in her excitement. The next day, she decided to just go ahead and stand up from a seated position, unassisted, and do the same thing. This made her even more giddy. As of today, she will try this over and over again until she basically just falls over from laughing or tiring or both. She also enjoys walking around, holding onto one or both of our hands. And, of course, she is still much enjoying walking with her walker wagon. I am predicting around the same timeframe as Elsa for walking, as in maybe around Christmas. But, whatever -- I'm not really rushing it.

Her sign language skills are also improving daily. I showed her the sign for "hat" once, and she immediately started using it. She signs for "baby" and "fish" (and attempts "book"). Her "please" has moved from her fist moving back and forth near her ear, to more under her chin, and sometimes even on her chest. She likes to try to sign for "change diaper" (kind of a difficult one), as well as "cookie." Both make me giggle every time. She is great at signing for "drink" when she is thirsty. She still signs for "dog" and "elephant," and just added "monkey" (complete with sound effects) to the mix this morning. She signs to "eat" when she is hungry. And loves to sign "light" and "fan" whenever she sees them. She signs "where" when I ask where something is and am trying to find it. And she signs for "music" now much more often when she hears it. She is actually trying to communicate more with these signs, wanting us to really hear her.

And speaking of hearing her, her "uh-ohs" are much more clear and pronounced. She definitively says "mama" or "dada" when wanting one of us. And she will still occasionally try to say Elsa's name, as well as "up." She also makes a sound for "choo choo" -- it kind of sounds like "choo choo," but in the back of her throat (difficult to explain).

The girls loves brushing her teeth, crying every time her toothbrush is taken away, and she has a new love for washing her hands. I am not sure what the sign for "handwashing" is, but we now have one here in our house that looks like rubbing your hands together with soap. Avie does it every time we pass a sink, and the other day while in Target, we passed a display with pump hand soap and lotion, and she started pointing and "uh-uh"-ing, and rubbing her hands together like she was washing them.

Avie loves the washer and dryer, especially when I let her push a button or two. Sometimes she is funny and hides her face in my chest when the machine actually starts. And now she has even started helping me put clothes into the machines, which is fun.

She thinks it is funny when I snap and dance to music, and has now started to attempt to snap herself (she kind of uses all of her fingers, but she understands the gist of it).

She is becoming more interested in books, and now turns pages, but does not always have the book facing upright. Too add to Goodnight Moon, her more recent favorites are Dear Zoo, Spot Loves His Daddy, and Maisy's Train.

Aside from some sleep disruption from being sick for about a week, Avie continues to sleep through the night (yay!), and she and Elsa are back to sharing a room and are doing great (even though Elsa is now sick again and dealing with that).

Life is crazy around here with change and sickness and, well, just life. It is nice to have this little one around to put things in perspective each and every day. Nothing is more important than making sure this little family is happy and healthy and living well together.