7 Months Old

Little Avery is 7 months old as of yesterday - she's now closer to 1 year old than a newborn. :(

She's so much fun, she really does have quite the personality, and is certainly living up to her Taurus sign! She's been very vocal, rotating between "Dadadada" and "Mum, Mamamama." Mum and Mama tend to come out when she's frustrated or in need of something. She's also discovered her scream, which she's not afraid of using if she's not getting the attention her heiness demands. The scream sometimes comes out in the form of a very high-pitched squeal. I feel sorry for our neighbor's dogs! She's gotten very good at the game of peek-a-boo, we can no longer trick her as to where we'll be peeking out from next, she catches on quick! Nana has taught her patty cake and she tries to mimick it with Nana, pretty cute! We've done some work with her on signing, but she's come up with a couple of her own: the "I'm mad pick me up this instant/feed me" stance and the "Please pick me up I can't take it" pose, illustrated below. Very funny.

Avery is growing right on track, but that means I've had to pack up all of her 3-6 month clothes. It's always very sad when I have to pack clothes that are too small. We moved her into size 3 diapers and she's slowly growing into them. In the last 2 weeks she has cut 2 teeth! "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth..." The second one finally appeared last night, so by Christmas she should have 2 full teeth on the bottom. She's gotten much better about sitting and playing in her gym by herself (thanks to training parents and grandparents that it's ok for her to not always be held). She loves to grab her toys and wail them around until they go flying. We've discovered the magic that is Sophie the Giraffe. Sophie was parted from us for 3 weeks (we accidentally left her the photographer's studio) and since we've gotten her back Avery grabs her constantly and gives her a good chew. Sophie is a must-have for teething babies!

This little girl brings us so much joy and makes us laugh constantly. She has shown us what true love is really all about. We love you Little Stink!

As usual, her are the pictures from her monthly photoshoot with Mommy.

Playing patty cake with Nana. It was the only way we could keep her hands down! This is a slightly moderate version of her "I'm mad" stance. When she's really mad she loses her neck and is stiff as a board. This is pretty much the "please pick me up" pose. In action, she does jazz hands with it.

She's also been playing "catch" with Daddy. Sometimes she even throws it back!

This one cracks me up, this is Crazy Baby. Crazy Baby generally appears right before melt-down or when the "I'm Mad" pose hasn't worked. She growls like a dinosaur and makes this funny face. Makes me laugh every time!