One Of My Favorite Subjects

I wrote this over a month ago, but since I've lately been suffering from near-fatal blogstipation, I figgered I'd publish something.

Avee pretty much fascinates me. She has for most of her life. As a newborn, she was colicky, so basically the first 5 months of her life are a blur for me. But as soon as she started sitting up and maneuvering herself, I have simply stood back and watched her go.

When she was 6 months old she started being able to pull herself up to the standing position. Within hours of discovering this ability, she was climbing.

At 6 and a half months we were staying at my mom's house and Avee, plunked in a booster seat that was attached to the table, figured out that by pulling on the table cloth, she could get all of the stuff I had put out of her reach, to come back. She only pulled on the cloth when she saw something on the table she wanted.

When she was 9 months old we moved to Texas. On the drive to there, I totalled our Jetta. We prolonged the inevitable a few weeks and then finally went to buy a new car.

At the dealership, I was sitting in the waiting area with Avee. At 10 months she was quite agile and almost walking. She was also very tiny. She didn't break 20 pounds until she was a year and a half.

I was looking at a form and she was standing at a chair next to me. Or so I thought. Suddenly I hear a man say, "Uh, ma'am, uhhhhhhh....your baby...." I looked up. Avee had pulled herself up the "trunk" of one of those decorative potted trees and was swinging from a limb. She was having the time of her life, but every other person in the waiting area was panicking. That is one scene of her life I wish I could have caught on film.

I started blogging on her first birthday so I've gotten to capture a lot over the last year and a half.

Yesterday, it just seemed like everywhere I turned, she was doing something that made me laugh or I felt like I had to capture on film to cherish forever.


J and I were working upstairs and J laid Danyo down in Avee's bed. When Avee discovered baby Danyo in her bed she was delighted. A little baby just her size... She covered him in her blanket and gave him her binkie.



After sweetly cuddling with Danyo, she moved on to jump on Bo's bed. That would be the very action that caused her to get a bright pink cast.

In my native tongue, we call this SLOW LEARNER.

A week ago I reorganized the kitchen. I put a new stand in there for storage and decided to put out a basket with "healthy" snacks that they kids could get to whenever they wanted. (ie, I decided I was tired of feeding my children regularly.) While the kids were sleeping, I filled the basket with rasin boxes and little bags of pretzels and granola bars and never said a word to either of them about it. Within an hour of being awake the next day, Avee had discovered the basket and all the treasures inside. During the day I kept finding the basket in random places throughout the house, as it had become her new best friend. Saturday she put in a movie to watch, and invited her best friend...

And lastly, her outfit: My sister knows what kids like and always gives the best gifts to my kids. When she came down to Texas to help me pack up for the move, she came bearing gifts. One of them was a darling little "princess" tutu for Avee. S was pretty excited to share the joy with Avee, but Avee took one look at it and ran back outside to throw dirt clods at our door. I heard S say, "hmm, I guess she hasn't discovered princesses yet."

Saturday she discovered them. She insisted on wearing the tutu the second she got up, then threw a huge fit when I tried to dress her in appropriate clothes for Bo's basketball game. We compromised and she wore it over her jeans and shirt. So, there you have it S, she's discovered princesses.

A more recent addition:
Yesterday I took Avee to the grocery store and she insisted on wearing a headband. No big deal, right?

She also insisted on putting it on herself.