Avery hadn’t seen her friend Natalia in awhile, so she and Greta (and their moms) headed to her house yesterday. The sun was out, and so was Natalia’s little water table; needless to say, the girls had a lot of fun splashing around!

-M

GGma is on our minds and in our hearts today. We’re so lucky that our girls had the chance to meet her…

-M

The other day, I was surprised to see Avery climb onto a chair by herself. (I’m not exactly sure how she acquired this new skill, but I had to smile at how proud she looked.) Then yesterday we started playing a little game: she would sit at her table, drop one of her toys on the floor, climb down to pick it up and then triumphantly return to her chair. She must have done this five or six times before I grabbed the camera and took a quick video. (Oh, and for you nervous grandmas out there: Don’t worry, her head was fine.)

-M

Despite not feeling well, Avery managed to put on a happy face these past few days – and we snapped a few pics for proof. (Oh, and I’m happy to report she’s doing much better. To quote ZuZu Bailey, not a smidge of temperature!)

-M

As Q mentioned below, we had a fun birthday weekend. The only bad thing: Avery wasn’t feeling well, and what we initially thought was just teething was actually a pretty nasty virus. (We learned that after a quick trip to urgent care yesterday.) Yesterday and last night were a bit rough*, but the good news is Avery seems a bit better today. And here’s hoping the bug stays away and we all sleep better tonight!

-M

*Nights like this make me wonder how we made it through the newborn stage with both girls. Getting up multiple times in the night is just so exhausting!

With Mommy’s birthday falling on a Saturday this year, she got the whole weekend to celebrate! Saturday we went down to Gilroy to get some much needed sun and have some garlic at the 32nd annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. Of course we also had to have time to squeeze in Mommy’s favorite and we stopped by the Gilroy Oulets for some shopping. We had such a good time on Saturday we went up to Petaluma the next day for more outlet shopping! Sprinkle in some cake, cupcakes, and presents in the middle and we’ve had a nice little weekend.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Jon Q

Avery has reached the age where she can actually play with her sister – and when the two aren’t quibbling over toys, they do pretty well together. The other day, they happily sat side by side playing with Avery’s tea-set, and I just had to snap a pic.

-M

While Q and Zoe were away, Avery and I kept busy by going on strolls, shopping, and meeting up with various friends for playdates. (Though we missed them terribly, it was kind of nice to have some one-on-one time.) And when I had to do my own thing at home, Avery kept entertained by playing with a new toy: her ExerSaucer-turned-entertainment station. She loves it!

-M

Zoe and I took a little trip accross the country to see her Great Grandma (G-ma) in Florida last week. Two plane rides and a short drive later we finally made it to Sarasota. She had a great time entertaining everyone and meeting her cousins, uncles and aunts. We’ll have some great videos to post from our trip later but for now, check out our trip in pictures.

Jon Q

Nothing like jumping in bed with Pop Pop and Safta after a long trip

Hanging with G-ma and the family

Catching up with everyone at dinner

Mini-golfing with Daddy

Dancing with Cousin Allon

Calling home to hear from Mommy and Avery

Saying good-byes to all her new friends

Flying back home with Uncle Dan

This month brought some big changes and firsts for Avery: She took her first steps (more on that in a bit), learned to clap and wave good-bye, and fed herself for the first time. She continued to “talk” a lot – mostly in her own language, but sometimes using real words – and she began uttering the phrases “Uh-oh” and “I got it.” She started following simple commands (she crawls over to me when I ask, for example), and she learned to identify her first body part: the nose. (Well, she actually points to my nose, not hers, but at least she knows what it is.)

Avery’s favorite activities haven’t changed much: She still loves spending time in her sister’s play kitchen and playing around with her toys (stacking dishes and rings, little wooden animals and blocks, and a musical tea-set she got for her birthday being her favorites.) Some new things: she can now put her blocks and other toys back in their box (versus just take them out), and she recently made up a game that involves crawling over to the Boppy or other pillow on the floor, rolling around and burying her face in it – and then laughing. She also recently started to crawl over to me and sit in my lap when she sees me holding a book – her signal that she’s ready for storytime. She continues getting more interactive with her sister; one of her favorite things is when Zoe gets on all fours and chases her.

Speaking of crawling, it’s still Avery’s preferred mode of transportation. She walks when we encourage her (and she gets a huge smile when we praise her), and she has walked on her own as far as across our bedroom – but she has yet to take the initiative on her own. One thing that she does do on her own, though, is the knee walk: She’ll occasionally get on her knees and scoot over to an object of interest. It’s a lot slower than crawling, but she loves doing it.

Avery is still in a bit of a clingy stage: She doesn’t like being left alone in her room, even for a few seconds. It’s common for her to come up to me and make a whining noise (her way of being asked to pick up), but when I do pick her up she often tries to wiggle out of my arms. It’s that classic toddler conflict: wanting to be babied and held but also wanting to be independent and free.

She’s a sweet baby, overall, but she continues to show a demanding side. She whines a lot more than I remember Zoe doing at this age: Avery definitely lets you know if she wants something or if she’s upset that you won’t let her have it. She threw her first mini-tantrum about a week ago, after Q took the remote control out of her hand. (She flopped on her belly and cried for quite a long time.) And just yesterday morning she got frustrated with something I did with her stacking rings, and she plunked herself on the floor and began kicking her legs. It makes me quite curious to see what she’ll be like in a year or two, when real tantrums usually happen!

In terms of physical stuff, she is 32 inches and just shy of 25 pounds. She’s still off the charts in height, and down to the 80 percentile in weight. She loves food (show her a banana and watch her shake in excitement!), so it’s not a surprise to me that she’s a big girl.

-M

As many of our readers know, Q and Zoe took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Florida to be with family. I’m glad they’re there, but also disappointed that Avery and I can’t be – and sad to be apart from them. When we got to the airport and said our good-byes Friday, Zoe started sniffling and said she wanted Mommy to come along. (“Who,” she asked, “is going to take off my shoes at security?”) Q said she was fine once they checked in, but it was hard to watch her go, especially with her asking for me. (I’ve only been away from her for an extended period once before.)

The good thing, again, is that Q and Zoe are spending time with GGma and other family – and it’s also nice that Avery and I have several days of uninterrupted bonding time. (Avery has never been in the house without Zoe or her dad for this many days; she’s probably wondering what’s going on – and why it’s so quiet!) And the truth is that this weekend is even a bit of a break for me: Taking care of one girl (especially the one who sleeps so much) feels like a breeze compared to two. I can’t wait until the others come home; but for now, I’m going to try to enjoy the (relatively) quiet house!

-M

Avery is a bit longer than the average almost-13-month-old and is growing out of things at a fast clip – and yet another pair of pajamas is about to be packed away. These are one of my faves – I liked them so much that I also bought them for two of my friends’ babies – and I’ll miss seeing these little girls and clouds!

-M

A few new Zoe stories to share:

-A few weeks ago, Zoe commented that she wanted to be a big sister. When I pointed out that she already was a big sister, she responded, “A bigger one! Then I can wear your shoes. And go to work with you.”

-Zoe woke up early one morning and, per the norm, came into our room. After lying in the dark for a few minutes, she called out to us, “Excuse me. When I grow up I want to be a butterfly.” (When Q pressed her for details, she said she wanted to be one so she could fly.)

-The other night at dinner, Zoe asked if she could have more snappea snacks. “You can, but you have to eat all your carrots first,” I told her. “All my carrots?!” she replied. “Oy!”

-As part of a new game, Q recently said words in Spanish, Hebrew or English and asked Zoe to guess the language. She correctly guessed Spanish or Hebrew for the first few but when Q said a word in English and asked the language, she responded, “Regular.”

How does Avery spend much of her time these days? When she’s not chasing after her sister, she’s likely sitting in her room, playing with toys or books, and chatting away. Oh – and clapping and mimicking us. (You’ll see the latter at the :30 mark below.)

-M

One of my all-time favorite pictures of Zoe was taken last year at Fairyland; when we returned to the amusement park this weekend, we just had to take a similar photo. It’s alway fun to compare pictures, and these two clearly demonstrate how much Zoe has grown in the past 13 months!

-M