Tuesday, September 16, 2008

14 1/2 months old and fun (but a bit cranky this week)


On Sunday evening, we hired our first "real" babysitter (ie. someone we had to pay, not just a close friend or family member), a student at Sarah Lawrence, so that Carolyn and I could go out to dinner and see Catie Curtis perform. We had been looking forward to this date for a long time, but we were a bit anxious to see how Avery would do with someone else putting him to bed and doing the evening routine with him. When the babysitter showed up, Avery got all awkward and weird -- he lay down on the floor on his back and looked at her and acted bashful. It was funny. He seemed to quickly understand that she was there to play with him. So he stood up after a moment, went to his room, fetched a book, brought it to her, and they headed to the living room, hand in hand, to read. And the sitter gave us a very good report -- they had fun reading and playing, and he went to bed at 8pm with hardly any fussing. From midnight to 6am or so, however, Avery was a beast! He obviously didn't feel well, and he's been getting his molars which seems to bother him a lot. So no one got much sleep, and he's been a bit grumpy all week since then. We got some homeopathic teething tablets that have been recommended to us, so hopefully that will help with the teething pain. And today has been much better than yesterday. We had a pleasant evening, Avery ate a great dinner (carrots and green beans which he LOVES, blueberry-applesauce which is also a favorite thing right now, and these Kosher "grilled cheese sticks" that are easy to prepare and eat), read lots of books, and he has been sleeping peacefully for a while now. So hopefully we're on an upswing. We are going out of town this weekend with Kim, Jess, and Olivia to Lake George. We've been looking forward to this vacation, so we are hopeful that everyone is healthy and not too cranky!

Gogo sent Avery this Dumbo elephant for Halloween. Since he loves his Elphy so much, we thought it would be cute to have him be an elephant this year, but we thought this election year may not be the best time to have Avery dress up as an elephant. But this Dumbo costume seems okay -- it's just cute. The Obama pins Gogo put on don't even seem necessary. By the way, the balloon came from the Yonkers Riverfest we attended last weekend. Avery LOVES balloons!

Avery is starting to dance when he watches his Sesame Street "Dance Along" DVD. He almost always dances when he listens to music and when he hears people sing.

Right now, Avery's favorite books in the usual bedtime rotation include "The Very Hungry Caterpiller," "Goodnight Moon," "5 little ducks" (this book quacks out loud at the end), "Where's Spot?" (Avery likes to open the flaps), a Sesame Street counting book, "Are there Hippos on the Farm?" and this Baby Animals book (with more fun flaps to open):


Playing with the blow dryer (it isn't plugged in) -- he likes to get all handsome!:

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