Dragon

Lodge

We drove up to the base of Mount Hood on Saturday morning to check out a lodge as a potential company retreat location for D's work.  Avery had a great time running around.  Her new favorite phrase is, "Let's run, Mommy!" I vastly prefer that to the non-uttered, "Let's dawdle endlessly, Mommy!" 

It was on the playground near there lodge where Avery started to get the hang of how to pump her legs when swinging. She saw another kid doing it, so D explained further and then she got the basic motion right, though it did nothing to help her swinging motion.  It'll be interesting to see if she maintains any of that knowledge next time she's on the swings. 

Same Room

Elise and Avery fell asleep together in Avery's room last night after a successful effort the previous night at the G's house.  I couldn't very well let the G's feat go unchallenged, could I?  Truth be told, I suggested to D that, after the girls were asleep, we should get Nolan and lie him on the floor next to them, take a picture, then post on FB that we see their two kids in the same room and raise them one.  Ha!  The idea that I'd mess with a sleeping baby or child and risk non-sleep is ridiculous.

Ultimately, the girls fell asleep, but not without several exits from the room by Avery.  Sweetly, Avery came out of her room calling for me.  When I went up to check on them, she told me, "Friend Elise dropped her giraffe." I asked Elise if that was true and she responded yes and pointed to where it was.  Since it was trapped between the PNP and Avery's bed, neither girl could get to it.  So sweet that Avery was looking out for her friend, especially since she got two time outs earlier, one for spitting water in Elise's face during the bath and one for hitting Elise. 

New Game

Friday afternoon, Avery and I headed over to Rachele's house a bit early to hang out for a bit before I left for date night.  Rachele needed to pick Elise up at school, so she left Avery and me with Nolan for a bit.  Needing to occupy Avery's time, I stumbled upon a new game that held Avery's attention very well at Rachele's house (a repeat effort of this in my house proved unsuccessful for holding Avery's attention).  Rachele usually has foam letters that form a mat on her floor.  I cleared the pillows and toys off the mat of letters, then explained to Avery that she should place the baby doll on the letter I called out.  She loved picking the baby up, finding the correct letter, then putting her down.  Trying this game yesterday just resulted in Avery being so excited that she tore apart the letters one by one.

Dragon

This morning/afternoon, we saw How To Train Your Dragon (a well deserved 97% on Rotten Tomatoes).  Had it been about 15 minutes shorter, Avery would have made it through the whole movie without issue, which is another way of saying Avery didn't quite make it through the whole movie, but came close.  After being very fidgety for five minutes and with around ten minutes left, she declared she needed to go potty.  I knew she didn't, but I can't very well ignore such a claim since the one time I do, it will be when I'm wrong and she really did need to go.  She knows that's how she can get out of pretty much any situation.  Since she was ready to leave, she played the potty card.  Anyway, I managed to coax her back into the theater for the last couple of minutes, so I didn't miss much in terms of plot. 

As for the movie, I loved it.  Avery even wore her 3D glasses for most of the movie, which is way longer than I was thinking she'd make it.  I was relieved to see plenty of other kids around her age in the theater.

Dinner

We're having Christie, Darren, and Henry over for dinner tonight.  Avery will be thrilled to have a third night in a row playing with a friend (Elise, Elise, Henry). D and I will be thrilled to have other adults around!