Avery 11 Months

That's right - Avery is one month shy of a year!

Her little personality is coming out more and more. She is quite the little ham. She definitely gets that from her dad. My mom, grandma and I took her to eat at The Cheesecake Factory a few weeks ago and she had a blast! I don't think she stopped eating from the moment she sat down. They gave her a "baby plate," which was bananas and bread, and she devoured that. I also fed her the food I brought for her as well as bites from our plates. She might have also had her first bite of cheesecake (don't tell her dad!). There was a station behind our booth where the waitstaff would put in their orders, and she loved showing off for all of them.

Then I had to take her to the doctor the other day. She has red bumps on her face we can't seem to get rid of. Come to find out she has perioral dermatitis...? Anyway while we were in the waiting room and there were people around, she was as happy as could be squealing and looking at them. But when we went to the exam room where it was just me and her, she got fussy. But then the nurse came and she was happy again and showing off.

She refuses to let me feed her anything. Last time I tried to give her something with the spoon she cried like I was hurting her. But the problem is she doesn't like dices of fruit or vegetables, so I had to get creative. I have to either smear baby food on bread or mix it with Cheerios and let her feed herself. It is so messy, but she loves it. I guess that's for the best since she still has zero teeth. This is her favorite way to sit...

I took the following video of her eating lunch, and I was tickling her feet. At the beginning you can see her trying to give me some of her pasta. That's her new thing - offering people her food, paci and bottle. She even tried to give Baloo her paci.  

She has also learned how to do several things this month. She knows how to wave bye bye now. Her Lolly (Rustin's mom) got her a recorder and she loves playing that. Rustin decided he wanted his drum that he got in Morocco on display, and she's learned how to play that too. Another one of her favorites is her sippy cup. She takes drinks as if she's dying of thirst then breathes really hard when she's finished. I've tried giving her juice, but she only likes water. But that works for me!

I'm surprised no one called CPS on me because for weeks she had Howard Hughes fingernails. I tried every trick in the book and she would not let me cut them. I tried distracting her with TV, teaming with Rustin to cut them, even sneaking in while she was sleeping. Nothing worked. But I finally figured it out - do it when she's in her high chair. She doesn't even notice.

I wish I had done this other months but I thought I would write down our little routine (times are approximate):

6:30 - wake up
7:00 - go for a 30 minute walk/jog (this is the only time of day it's cool enough)
8:00 - breakfast
9:00 - nap
11:30 - lunch
1:00 nap
3:00 - snack time
The time between when she wakes up from her afternoon nap and when we start bedtime is the longest and also the time when she's most prone to being fussy, so that's when we usually run errands. It seems there's always somewhere I need to go, and she is happy as long as we're moving.
5:30 - dinner followed by bath then bottle, books, and bed. I usually end up getting her down around 7pm and she rolls around and plays in her crib for a while before going to sleep.