a little avery

Gotta love these impromptu photo shoots! The boy earned his Avery show tonight.

I actually have been meaning to write a little about what Avery has been up to lately because even though he's growing so quickly that we can't keep him supplied with properly fitting feetie jammies, it is his little brain that has me in awe. The kid can reliably count to 100, read every street sign including the different speed limit numbers, has an associative memory that blows my mind, is such a stickler for instructions and I fear for the game manufacturers that do not ensure that their instruction manual shows the EXACT same thing contained in the box.

The Zingo box shows a bug playing piece and it took Avery about 5 minutes to realize that the actual game does not contain such a piece. There are countless examples of him noting similar inconsistencies. He has also started to understand the concept of 'clues.' Instead of saying "It's a cup of water," when describing a cup of water during guessing games, he can now describe its qualities and uses. I don't know if that's a specific milestone but it shows me that he's gaining a more complex understanding of things. He is very in to games and his number love has somewhat surpassed his letter love. We have also been making lots of forts.

The power of an Avery show (goodness, I cannot wait until he outgrows Dora and Diego. Who in the hell is she yelling at all of the time?) to whip that boy into shape is awesome. We are trying to instill in him the concept of earning privileges and that there are consequences for bad behavior. And no, we are not afraid to say wrong or bad.

Also, have I mentioned how polite he is? Most of the time I get unprompted pleases and thankyous and I just love it. He also uses the phrase 'really, really, really...' to emphasize his point or demonstrate just how badly he needs his Dora fix.

Daddy's iphone is also on his favorites list these days. Games, text messaging, calling people...he'll do it all and beg to keep on. He talked to Arlin the entire way to school last week.

It just so amazing to watch him transforming into a kid, that's KID people. Does a baby wear boxer briefs? I don't think so :)

**I should mention that Avery is smiling because he tooted during our photo shoot.
***I also forgot to mention that Avery is now using terms like 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. as well as single, double, triple. Yup, numbers have surpassed letters. He also always needs to know how many ounces we're feeding Sister.