Angelic

New Phase?  Please, oh please!

The past three days, Avery has been so amazingly well behaved.  She's been polite, hasn't thrown any tantrums (not even small ones), and moments of pouting are done and over within a matter of minutes.  Yesterday, when we got home after a great morning out running errands, I sat down on the chair to read and D sat down on the couch.  I then turned to Avery and said it was time for quiet time and she needed to head up to her room.  She said, "OK," and headed up to her room.  Then she asked D to put the blanket on her ... and went to sleep!  Until now, quiet time has been minimally successful.  It usually results in her constantly yelling for me to come play with her in her room, or just doesn't happen at all.  This time, she went upstairs happily and on her own, then decided to make use of quiet time by taking a nap.  I tried it again today ... same result!  She's now napping in her room upstairs. More than the nap time / quiet time, I'm loving how sweet she is in this phase.  And I do so hope it's a new phase and not a fluke of a few days.  Because two was definitely challenging here at CdT.  I'm hoping three is going to be sweet.

I'm not sure how to handle the return of napping, if this is indeed a return versus a blip.  On the one hand, yea, napping!  On the other, that means a pushed back bedtime.  I suppose we could tell her that, after our bedtime routine, she can play quietly in her room for an hour or so, then go to sleep.   That might work.  Trying to work it out now is jumping the gun a bit since it's only been two days of napping.

Complete answers

Avery's been talking in complete sentences long enough that I can't tell you how long it's been.  I'm also starting to notice that she is more thorough in her answers lately.  For example, this afternoon she asked for water.  I was on the couch and I didn't want to get up I wanted to encourage independence, so I told her she could pause WordGirl and go get the water herself, both things she knows how to do.  She thought about it for a second, then replied, "First I will finish WordGirl, then I will go get some water.  OK, Mom?"   

Flossing

I bought floss sticks for Avery about a year ago.  It seems she now understands the purpose of floss sticks.  Example one: she was eating her piece of candy for the day* in the car.  It was a Milk Dud.  When she finished, she told me she had chocolate in her teeth and that she needed a floss stick to get it out.  Example two: after eating her piece of candy today, a Tootsie Roll, she trotted over to the drawer and got herself a floss stick.  She used it, then threw it in the trash.

I often read pieces (blogs, articles, status updates, etc) mothers' write about how they start to feel wistful and/or sad when they see their child(ren) growing up so fast and becoming more independent.  As of now, I've not yet felt that.  I just feel like I'm about to burst with pride and love.  I absolutely love to watch her gain independence and do things on her own.

* We decided to let Avery have a couple pieces of candy on Halloween night, then put the rest away and told her she could have one piece a day.  I assumed she'd forget in a few days.  She has remembered to ask each and every day. 

Family Day

We had a most excellent family morning yesterday.  I would have thought I'd type that sentence after a planned family outing of some sort, but no, I'm typing it after we took D's car in to get tires, went carpet shopping, and had lunch. That's it. We took D's car to the Les Schwab (greatest customer service ever!) near the Pearl District to get snow tires put on it.  They told us it would take a few hours, so they gave us streetcar passes and said they'd call when it was done.  First we walked to a nearby carpet store to examine flooring options for D's office.  Avery walked so nicely, then played so nicely in the store while we talked to the guy for quite some time.  She would pull out square samples and then set them up on the floor, then wait for the music, then bust a move for all to watch.

After we were done there, we caught the street car to NW 23rd and decided to walk to Kornblatt's for lunch.  On the way, we stopped in a hat store and bought hats for Avery and me; D had no luck finding something he liked.  Kornblatt's was delicious and Avery was very well behaved.  We then went window shopping, with our final destination a toy store and a bakery.

I think what made it such a good morning, at least for me, was the lack of a schedule.  The lack of planning.  The lack of tantrums.  I also think, oddly, the lack of the car helped.  It's like the journey from and back to the Les Schwab became our activity, rather than driving ourselves to each activity. 

When we got home, we played several board games that I bought at the toy store.  Avery grasped almost all the rules, though needed to be reminded of them occasionally.  I'm hoping she takes to doing puzzles soon because that's something I would definitely enjoy doing with her.  As of now, it doesn't hold her attention.

Following board games, it turned into family nap time!  The G's arrived for their date night around 5:15.  Elise and Nolan were perfectly behaved and not a single kid cried or protested when it came time for bedtime.  Awesome.  Simply awesome. 

Our Date Night

Tonight is our date night since I had book club on Friday night.  Assuming D finishes working in time - he's been working all day today - we'll be seeing two movies tonight.  There are 5:00 showings, then 7:50 showings, so we should be able to squeeze in two without having to do a really late movie.  Perfect!