2 1/2

Avery, you are 2 1/2 and I don't know if I want to start this post with how amazingly smart you are or how we are neck deep in the "terrible twos." These two qualities are not mutually exclusive as our strategies to get you to listen have to constantly evolve because you are nearly impossible to trick. You remember just about everything we have ever said and use this knowledge to find holes in our reasoning in order to get your way.

Since, I love you so very much, I'll start with the smart thing. Almost every day, you do something that makes daddy and I stand there with our mouths open, amazed that whatever you said just came out of your mouth. You don't just know facts, like green means go or that many cars are called traffic, but you have started to be able to take multiple facts and put them together to form new ideas and ways of understanding the world. Like, green means go, but if there is a lot of traffic, we cannot zoom fast. Maybe this is common for folk your age, but it is new to us and it is amazing. Plus, that's probably not even the best example.

Your imagination has taken off and listening to you narrate your playing is intensely funny and entertaining. All of your characters are exceedingly polite, "Excuse me, Buddy, I'm going to the water (on the train table)" or "Let's go find our other Buddies!" Clearly, everyone is also friends.

As for the terrible two part, well, it can be terrible and exhausting. You are not very prone to temper tantrums but the whining and stubbornness are at an all time high. You have very distinct ideas about what, where, when, why and how you want to do things and if you're in iffy mood..watch out! It's hard for me to write this right now because you are being exceedingly charming as you watch Word World - your reward for a day of zero accidents. This is by far, your favorite show.

Let's see...other things I want to remember about this time with you:

* You are obsessed with wearing jammies. Getting you dressed usually takes a lot of time and negotiating. And yes, there have been times where we have let you out of the house in jammies, my favorite being the quick run to Qdoba. You wore your heavy, fleece monkey feetie jammies with tennis shoes in 80 degree weather. Lots of people laughed along with me. The second you return home, you want to put on your jammies and your current favorites are the ones with the one monkey with a ban-an-ah on it.
* In addition, you are a houseplant. You would stay at home in your jammies all day. This, for better or worse, definitely something you got from me. Have your met your dad? No grass grows under his feet. Ever.
* You love to sing and your favorite songs are Hey, Soul Sister and anything by Lady Gaga. You were having a meltdown after leaving Hannah's house a few weeks ago and when I turned on the car, Lady Gaga was on. Thus endeth the meltdown, "Hey, it's Lady Gaga!"
* Your top toys are board games, train table (with or without the track), circular racetrack and books.
* God forbid the server brings your french fries without ranch dressing, because you cannot have one without the other. This is your favorite food. You also enjoy ice cream.
* You know all of your letter sounds and we think that it's only a matter of time before you start reading. You know that letters makes sounds and that letters make words. You can recognize several sight words.
* You LOVE letters and now numbers. It's much easier for us to answer "What number is this?" when you string together a bunch of numbers rather than "What does this spell?" when you do the same thing with letters.
* Oh, how could I forget all of the QUESTIONS. It's like living with the Riddler! "What's this do (doing-doing)? What this is? Where's that fill-in-the-blank going? What you doing?" Endless. Questioning. Always. This is a very good quality but can sometimes be challenging to continually come up with creative answers.
* You sleep 95% of the time on the floor in your "camping bed." I wonder how long the novelty of this will last? (I will try and get a picture).
* You talk incessantly at home, but god forbid you say to hello to a stranger.
* I will save the potty training for a separate post, but you generally have only a couple of accidents per week but it's because you're being stubborn.
* You are obsessed with directions and names of streets. Colfax is your favorite, but you can easily get to Annabelle's house by naming the directions (and we're not just talking left/right/straight, we're talking about north, south, east, west) and names of all the streets we take.
* You DO NOT consistently wipe off daddy's kisses (I asked him what he wants to remember about this time and he specifically brought this up).

Clearly, we are madly in love with you.