2 Years Old!

Now that she's 2, Averi is accomplishing so much.

She weighs in at almost 19 pounds and is officially wearing 12 month clothes.  She has 11 teeth and would use them to only eat sweet potatoes if it were up to her.  She can stack 4 blocks, put coins in a slot, and point to her head, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.

She loves mirrors and will smile and blow kisses to herself all day.  Her second favorite toys, other than her bird,  include anything found in a hospital setting - syringes, paper wrappings, and tempa-dots (disposable thermometers).  She also enjoys drawing on the magnadoodle, toys with stretchy 'tentacles' that she can pull on, bubbles, and hitting balls to make them go down a slide.

Averi loves music and is always dancing.  She likes to sit next to her star stacker, press the button on top, and bounce up and down - over and over again.  The hospital provides a 'relaxation station' that plays soothing music 24 hours a day and shows videos of animals.  It is always playing in her room and I have recently tracked down where to purchase it so we can have it at home.

Recently Averi's signing has really taken off.  She can now sign mama, dada, please, all done, more, eat, play, clean, doll, bird, dog, cat, fish, ball, book, nigh-night (sleep), star, bye (blow kisses), and point.  She is working on help, car and syringe (she needs to know how to ask for her favorite toy).  She has started putting two words together, usually with 'more,' and she has even signed 'more, eat, please.'  She is also getting more vocal and is really close to saying her first word.

Averi has passed several milestones this year, especially lately.  She can clap, sit, roll, get in and out of sit, stand assisted for several minutes, and has started doing an inchworm crawl where she moves forward with her feet until her hands get stuck underneath her.

She has also trademarked many tricks, including blowing tons of kisses, acting surprised, impersonating a lizard (tongue out and to the side), blinking, giving hugs, showing you how big she is, and squeezing her nose if she thinks you are stinky.

Averi smiles constantly, making it impossible to be truly sad when you are in her presence.  She is an awesome example of living life to the fullest and not letting the small things, or big things, get you down.

We are SO very proud of Averi and all that she is learning to do despite the many challenges she's been given.  Keep up the good work Averi, you are amazing!