"Can I smell your breath?"
D and I were talking about another of Avery's quirks last night. I don't recall documenting it on my blog, so that would be what this is. Avery, for the last 3-6 months (time eludes me) has been asking to smell our breath. Or she'll ask us to smell her breath. It's usually to see what we've been eating. She'll know that I just ate some chocolate and ask to smell my breath. Making it more odd is that she needs to have you blow your breath right into her nose, so she's really, really close.
Movies
We saw Source Code and Win Win last night. Win Win was definitely the better quality movie, but I also liked Source Code as an action adventure sort of movie. I'd recommend Win Win to almost anyone - it's funny, touching, and entertaining. As for Source Code, I think it's a good movie for folks who see a lot of movies and who enjoy action flicks. You have to really suspend reality and be willing to overlook a few illogical plot points to enjoy Source Code.
Motorcycles
Avery and I went to look at motorcycles with D yesterday. I realized it's pointless for me to participate in this purchase. I know nothing about motorcycles. My entire opinion on bikes comes from what color they are. I like the apple green ones.
Anyway, the toy motorcycle purchase is moving forward. D bought his helmet, jacket, and gloves yesterday. I think he also still needs rain pants and something else. Can't remember. Then he's waiting for a new bike from Triumph to arrive in the dealership so he can test drive it. I think he has it narrowed down to a decision between the Triumph and the BMW.
Late Licker
Avery was never one to put things in her mouth too much. She did it, as all babies do, of course. But it wasn't much of a challenge to take it away when she was small enough. When she was older, I would say no and it just seemed effortless to get her to not put things in her mouth. Now, at 3 years old, she is licking EVERYTHING. Yesterday I caught her with a wrench in her mouth. At Disneyland, she would lean forward and put the fence or railings in her mouth. You name it, she's licking it. WTF, I ask. I thought only babies and toddlers did this. She also never sucked her thumb, but those damn fingers are in her mouth all.the.time now, it seems.
1h 45m
Avery had three dance classes totaling 1 hour and 45 minutes yesterday. And she was engaged in all of them. I am not foolish enough to think that she'll be as engaged in each one in the coming weeks, but I was pleased it was not too much to handle.
A summary of our Friday (travel time included in activities):
- 9:30 - 11:00 Doctor's appointment for Avery (all is well - no worries)
- 11:00 - 11:30 Ballet shoe purchase
- 11:30 - 12:45 PDX Playdate with Henry
- 12:45 - 1:30 REI to exchange shoes
- 1:30 - 3:45 Dance: hip hop; pre-ballet; terrific twirling
- 3:45 - 4:45 Car seat installation marathon (see below)
- 4:45 - 6:45 On my own with the three kids at home
- 6:45 - D comes home and I cash in the fact that he's going out with buddies next Saturday night whilst I do a G date night solo, which meant I told him he was putting all three kids to bed for the night. He, thankfully, obliged.
Car Seat Installation Marathon
I offered to take Nolan and Elise directly from dance class (Elise is in Avery's third dance class, the terrific twirling one). I have a spare seat for Elise, but needed one for Nolan. For some reason, the spare seat for Nolan wouldn't install correctly. Each time we thought it was in there securely, I'd do the forceful wiggle-test and it would make its way loose. Eventually, RHG decided to remove a Britax car seat (read: easy enough to install and a guaranteed safe installation) from her car and put it in mine. Anyway, there's not much else to note other than after ensuring all three car seats were properly and very, very tightly installed, I kind of felt let down when we didn't get in an accident on the way home (jk, of course). Car seat installation is like insurance: you want it to be solid, but you don't really want to test it's solid.
Double Date Night
We have date night tonight. We're not doubling with another couple, but we are doubling our movie viewing; we'll see Win Win and Source Code. I am really looking forward to this date night. And Avery is really looking forward to heading to the G's house. I told her this morning she was going over there tonight. She asked, "Can I go now?!"
Energy update
While nothing like yesterday, my energy is decent today. Mood is good, too. Well, it is now. It was awful about thirty minutes ago when I returned from a short walk with Eddie and Avery. The walk with Turtle and Avery = piece of cake. The walk with Eddie and Avery had me yelling at Eddie within two seconds. He is such a pain in the ass to walk when I'm not totally focused on him all the time. Such a diva, that dog.
I had my second call with Andrea this afternoon. I've decided that my health care funds that pay for my therapist/drug dealer would be so much better spent if I just paid to talk to her every month. Alas, despite this, I'm quite sure my health insurance doesn't cover food coaches.
Bib Use #157
Make a stage using carefully placed bibs! Yes, Avery danced in the middle of her stage for quite some time. And yes, she got quite upset when Turtle Girlie claimed her usual spot in the center of the rug Avery's stage.
Avery's still sick
She is still being a total trooper about it, but the runny nose is still present. As of last night she still had a minor fever. I felt it best to keep her home from school. And we have a day of relaxed rules again, though she's eating better and watching less TV on her own. I'll take it.
Shoppers, help!
OK, I have these little shelves in my kitchen that I just can't figure out what to do with. I've had various items on the shelves, but haven't particularly liked any of them. So, I'm looking for suggestions for what to put on them. I'd prefer functional, but I'm open to simply decorative.
I'd prefer things from Etsy or local shops, but again, if you have a great idea from Crate & Barrel, bring it. Oh, and there are two sets of these shelves - each on either side of the sink.
Ideas? No color preferences, though I definitely need some color in my kitchen so Bold is Better.
Weird & Fidgety & Off
If I'm being honest with myself, I'm in a rather weird state right now. Something is off. I don't know what it is, but I feel like I'm trying to find my balance. I'm not feeling down. I'm not feeling overwhelmed. I'm not feeling anxious, though my body is telling me otherwise (see next paragraph). However, since Christmas ended, I've been not quite myself. I'm not worried so much as I am confused. I'm waiting to figure it out. Because I've had points in the past where I've essentially crashed, I'm always kind of on the lookout for signs that I need to make an adjustment to avoid another crash: am I sleeping excessively? am I losing interest in things I normally love? am I feeling the urge to hide from people? am I moodier than usual? am I crying more? is my energy non-existent? etc.
One clear sign that I must be feeling some sort of anxiety, even if I don't know why, is a huge increase in my urge to fidget. I've always been prone to fidgeting. But my urge to fidget goes down when I'm on the anti-depressants. I hadn't put that piece of the puzzle together until recently. As I type this, both my legs are bouncing up and down furiously. I find myself bouncing my legs or shaking my foot.
I suppose I have a few other signs of things going somewhat awry: I haven't been blogging nearly as much. The increase in things I'm getting stuck on (e.g. email organization). But normally I see those things reflected in mood, as well. I don't feel unhappy at all. Quite the contrary. I'm very happy with things at the moment. I'm happy with one child (oh so very, very happy about that decision!), I'm happy with my choice to stay home with Avery, I'm happy I get so many breaks (deserved or undeserved) from being a SAHM, I'm generally happy and content. So WTF is going on?!
I do plan to talk to my drug dealer PMHNP about it during our next appointment, but for now I just find it perplexing, if not life disrupting. A thought did just occur to me, but it doesn't make logical sense: I haven't been to acupuncture since December 21st. If one subscribes to the belief that acupuncture does indeed have the power to direct energy flow in the body, then maybe stopping it has resulted in pent up energy coming out through fidgeting and offness? I don't know. That sounds crazy. I still have a hard time writing about this stuff because a big ol' portion of me feels like I am obviously making all this stuff up in my head and it's not real and I'm just a big baby. OK, that statement almost made me cry, so maybe there's something there. Especially since I hardly ever cry when I'm on anti-depressants (seriously, it takes A LOT to cry and even then it's like a 30 second moment and it passes; Megan off anti-depressants is often a weeping mess).
Continuing Obsessions
When I realized I should send an email to coordinate details for our trip to The Mexico!, I knew I had to seize the opportunity to create a Google Site for the effort. So I did. It's way overkill. It's so not necessary. Yet I'm so happy I did it. Except for the fact that I stayed up until 1 AM doing it and messed up my sleeping schedule for a 24 hour period.
FSA rules
I spent several hours today trying to sort out a few things for our FSA for 2010. I hate the FSA. It makes me mad that you lose the money and that you have to set it aside to start with. It's just a stupid process. But I digress.
Here is what I learned today: if you have an FSA account with a company, then you quit or get fired or lose your job somehow, you are entitled to claim the full amount you designated for your FSA regardless of how much you've actually contributed to the FSA. Confused? Let me explain further. Let's say you quit your job at the beginning of January, therefore you've made one contribution (from January's paycheck) to your FSA account. Let's also say you had elected, before quitting, to contribute $2000 to your FSA for that calendar year. For the time that you're still covered under the insurance for that plan, you can claim the entire $2,000 (assuming you have legitimate medical expenses in that amount in January) despite the fact you've only contributed $83. And this, people, is how I discovered that we really, really should have incurred a hell of a lot of medical expenses in January of 2010.
Eddie The Pooper
Eddie's inability to control his poop has returned after a lovely month-long hiatus of accidents being somewhat under control. I'm grateful for the hiatus.
Sleeping Beauty
Avery has consistently slept in her bed (all night) for the past week. She has earned her first $2 and says she wants to save it to buy a "tiara and a leotard and brown shoes and a yellow dress and red shoes." She's going to be a bit surprised when she learns how much things cost. I've explained she won't be able to buy all that with $2 and that she'll have to save up, to which she responds, "OK, Mom, I will save my money and then I will buy a tiara and then I will wear it." I'm not convinced she gets it yet, but we'll see.
Also very odd to me is that she wants another tiara. She has several and she hardly ever wears any of them. It's odd.
Growth Spurt?
Avery has been eating constantly for the past several days. She ate an entire package of grapes in a day (among other things). She'll eat a whole pint of blueberries and then ask for some bagel. Either she's going through some sort of growth spurt or the milk-in-a-glass thing is a bigger difference than I thought it would be.
Her desire to drink a large amount of milk out of the glass (without a straw) is increasing. At first, she'd drink it like I see most kids do it: a little bit at a time and sometimes even leaving milk left in the glass. The past few days, I've seen her down the whole glass in maybe 5x the amount of time it would take her to do the same amount in a sippy cup. Keep in mind that she can drain 8 oz out of a sippy cup in probably 2-3 minutes if she wants to. I am hoping this desire to drink large amounts out of a glass doesn't put us back to where we were with the milk consumption.
Counting
Last night I was reading Ten Little Ladybugs to Avery. She's been solidly able to count (1-1 counting) for months and months now. Last night, with each page, she consistently was unable to remember the number before the last number she was counting. For example, if we were on seven, she count the ladybugs: 1-2-3-4-5--7! On six, she'd do: 1-2-3-4--6! She always got the number right, but couldn't seem to come up with the second to last number. Very weird indeed.
Movie
D and I are seeing the Hood to Coast movie tonight at the Keller Auditorium. I best be getting ready.
Avery quirks
Not a day goes by when Avery doesn't mention her birthday in some manner. Just now, she was heading out to the pool with D. She said, "Thanks for getting my googles, Dad. I'm going to be three in December!" as if those two items are things that anyone would say in conjunction with each other. She's also quite pleased with the fact she can do the traditional sign for three with her hands (index, middle, and ring finger).
For the past few nights, Avery has come up to one of us and announced she's tired and wants to go bed. Then she actually goes to bed! Unreal. I couldn't believe it when she did this last night because we had friends over for dinner and there was a lot going on. She knew there was cake we hadn't yet brought out, yet she still turned to me and said she was tired and wanted her night time milk. I will be so happy if this trend continues when we're home.
Happenings
On Thursday we took a boat out to Coronado Island and the white sand beach. At one point, Avery announces she has to go potty. D and I did rock, paper, scissors to determine who had to take her up to the composting toilet. I lost, so up Avery and I went. She actually went this time, whereas last time when Nain took her up, she refused. We must have the only preschooler on Earth who won't pee in the sea.
Last night, we had our friends over for dinner. They drove down here from Canada a few weeks ago, stopping along the way in wine country. They arrived with five cases (that's 60 bottles) of wine. We joked that good wine is in Loreto Bay as cigarettes are in prison. Anyway, it was good wine and good food. D roasted a couple of chickens and some roasted vegetables, I made fetticine alfredo (thanks for the recipe, Christie!), and Victoria and Mike made the best carrot cake and cream cheese frosting I've ever tasted.
This morning I woke to the sound of the mixer - a housewarming gift from Vic and Mike - making whipped cream for the freshly baked scones Vic made. Needless to say, getting into my pants when we get home might be a bit challenging for me.
We've now finished the first season of Sons of Anarachy, which I very much enjoyed. We started East Bound & Down last night, but I hated it. My guess is we'll start True Blood tonight since I don't think we'll be able to convince Mike to go for the first season of Glee.
I have the afternoon shift today. I hope Avery's in as good of a mood as she was in before she headed off to the pool!
Long Stint
For a few reasons, our division of Avery duty got a little off schedule such that the person who is on duty does the afternoon, bedtime routine, then the morning shift the next morning. This is good when you're off duty, but more challenging when you're on duty. Perhaps we'll try to get back on the original schedule, but not until I've enjoyed by off duty stint which starts ... now!
This morning, Avery and I mostly stayed around the casa. We made BD cards for Henry and Aunt Victoria, whose birthdays are both today. We played some form of a Dora inspired game on the roof terrace with the strollers. I still can't figure out what exactly the troll bridge guy was paying us for as we crossed his bridge, but Avery was the leader, so I did as I was told. When the Dora inspired game became too dull to continue (for me), I decided to bring up a pitcher of water and some cups. Avery loves to dump water on things, so that kept her busy for a while. A rare glimpse of Megan Creative Mom surfaced when I realized we could dip our fingers in the water and draw pictures on the cement floor. When we tired of that, Avery decided to take me outside the casa to "paint" out there. She pushed her little stroller and I pushed the larger stroller. Both were empty, but that didn't seem to bother Avery. She told me just where to park it and exactly where to sit and exactly how to play properly. I would call her bossy, but as I infamously (in my own mind at least) once said to my mom when she called me bossy, "Where I come from, that's called leadership."
Uno, dos, tres, ...
I keep forgetting to note (at least I don't think I noted it) that Avery can count to ten in Spanish. We didn't teach her, so I think she picked up from watching Dora. It's possible she learned it at school, but I highly doubt it since they've never noted this in their summary of activities. She often counts things in Spanish rather than English now, which I find intersting.
Potty
An Avery quirk that I've been forgetting to put in the blog so I wouldn't forget is her tendency to carry her potty to a particular spot for use. This is particularly prevalent after she's gone to bed. She'll get out of bed, take the potty that is kept in her room into the hallway, put it at the top of the stairs, then proceed to use it. It is both amusing and odd to come up the stairs to find a full potty sitting there waiting to be emptied.
She likes to move the potty around down here, too. Mostly she moves it into the center of the interior courtyard.
Pink Eye
I woke up with pink eye in my right eye this morning. It's oozing and gooey and gross. It's not actually all that pink anymore, but it's gunky. I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow anyway, so I will see if I need eye drops then.
I find it odd that I've never had laryngitis or pink eye, yet I've gotten both within the last month. I also find it odd, though predictable, that it's my right eye. It seems like everything that goes wrong with me is on the right side of my body. I swear, it's like my left is perfect and my right is pathetic - just like politics! Ha! (Note: I don't actually think the left is anywhere near perfect, but I do think the right is pathetic).
Brick & landscaping
There's a guy putting the brick facing on our front pillars as I type this. It's so hot out today. I feel terrible that he's out there sweating away in this heat doing that type of work. The other bad part is that the porch railing is so damn close to the pillars, which is not ideal from either a functional or aesthetic perspective.
The landscaping is closer to being complete. It still needs some plants to line one side of the sidewalk, but the nursery doesn't get them in until Wednesday. There are also some large rocks due to be installed. The mulch is in and looks nice. I'll update with some pictures tomorrow. It's too hot to take them now.
We met with the designer to pay much of the remaining balance of the work. He came in under budget on most items, but, of course, charged us for the lighting. I'm a little annoyed by that because I sent a two sentence email asking him how difficult it would be and how much it would cost to put in lighting. He responded with something like, "Sounds great! I'll make it happen!" and then proceeded to install tons of lights. The reason I'm only slightly annoyed is that I am actually very happy we have the lights. They haven't been turned on yet, but I know I'm going to love them because I always love outdoor lighting. We definitely would not have done it had we known the cost ahead of time, but since that ship has sailed, there you go.
Acupuncture & NP
I am convinced the acupuncture is working wonders on my energy and sleepiness. Even without dietary changes, I am hardly napping at all. Even with being sick and the family drama, I haven't been napping. It's amazing how much you can get accomplished when you're awake!
I think I am going to chat with the NP next time I see him and just see if I can settle into an acupuncture routine versus taking any dietary steps. I can't see going through the elimination diet successfully without having someone cook every meal for me. I realized another factor in my failure at sticking to it was boredom. Not even boredom with foods, but I would have had to cook every meal at home. We typically eat out 2-4 times per week. I need that just to get out of the house and do things. That is an ingrained part of our lifestyle.
I did ask about eliminating one category at a time, but that is less effective because people often have two categories they react to, so you may eliminate one, but still feel poorly because you're still eating the other.
Avery's Sleeping Rewards
Avery finally earned her pink dress for the latest sleeping reward. It took twice as long as it took to get either of the previous two dresses. I think that was because I didn't have the actual dress hanging up for her to see since it hadn't arrived yet.
For her next reward, we're going to bump up the number of nights from four to six or eight. I also bought her a set of toy kitchen utensils from IKEA rather than a dress. We'll see how well a toy motivates her.
Parking Space
One of my favorite Avery quirks is how she refers to a spot to sit as a parking space. For example, the other day she asked me to sit in a particular spot on the floor. I wanted to stay on the couch, so I suggested she come sit by me. She said no and explained that, "there's no parking space for me."
Just the two of us
It's a good thing I have all that acupuncture energy because D has social or work engagements every night this week. That means I'm on for bedtime routine duty every night this week.
Scootering
I saw this on Free Range Kids: scootering is replacing cars for getting kids to and from school in England.
It makes me think D and I should get scooters for down in Mexico. The pavement is a little bumpy, but I think once Avery is a year or two older, they'll be good for getting to and from the pool and beach.
Full day
It was actually a fairly full day for me today. After dropping Avery off at school - in her new pink dress which is waaaaaay too big for her and makes her look like she's in Little House on the Prairie - I headed to acupuncture, then to do some volunteer pinch-hitting on the database I created for them back in the day, then hooked up with D and some of his coworkers for lunch, then hit IKEA. I spent a good hour and a half at IKEA. I have never spent that much time there since I usually rush in and out because I can't handle the people. It was fairly empty, I had no little person in tow, I had no husband who is just Ready To Leave. So I shopped. I went for paper organization boxes. I left with considerably more.
I'm excited because I bought a large bookcase cube unit (25 cubes) that I'm going to have the handyman install and affix to the wall in the garage. For most people, IKEA would be a bad place to purchase garage organization since it typically doesn't hold up to wear and tear very well. However, I realized for us, it's perfect! We go out and get one screwdriver. There's no heavy use of tools or garage-stored items, so I just need a place to get things out of the way and organized so I can find the screwdriver when we need it (you know, to hand to the handyman). Anyway, what I bought was way cheaper than buying shelving units from Home Depot and should give me plenty of room for storage.
And now it's 5 pm, so I shall leave to get Avery soon.
Coronado Island
We booked a trip out to the white sand beach on Coronado Island after our property manager mentioned she has a friend who is a boat man. The main source of anxiety for this particular adventure was simply finding the correct place to pay and locating Ernesto, our boat man. After those small tasks were accomplished, I was able to sit back and enjoy the trip.
Avery loved the boat, but really wanted to get off my lap and walk around. Um, hell no! I explained to her that I had to hold her the whole time. She said, "But Nain is standing up." I explained that Nain was a grownup and she was allowed to do that.
It was very cool to see the sea lions barking in their natural habitat, rather than cooped up in the zoo. We also saw lots of dolphins. Unlike in the US, where I think there are laws about boats chasing the dolphins, headed straight towards them a number of times so we could see the pod all around us. Not to worry: no dolphins were hurt by our boat, but I remember being very concerned the first time we were in Mexico and our boat man did this. I guess the dolphins are smart enough to get out of the way. At least, I hope this is always the case.
Once at the white sand beach, Avery and Henry had a great time running around. When we got there, we were the only people on the beach. We found some shark vertebrae and sea shells, buried our legs in the sand, and wandered further into the sea. Avery even swam on her own in the sea, though I was never far from her. The sea was very calm, as is typical for this area. In the past, I've been scared to go out into the sea, but with Avery I have no issues. I guess I'm so focused on her that I forget about my irrational fears and just focus on her enjoyment.
The boat trip back to Loreto from the island was a bit rougher than the trip to the island, but it was still very calm relative to Hawaii (which is, I think, the only other place I've been on a boat in open water). Avery was asleep in my arms within about 30 seconds.
Chef Felipe
The chef also came last night. He came on Mexican time, aka over an hour late, so that threw a wrench into bedtime routine for the kiddos. The meal was delicious, though the salad was a bit vinegary for my tastes. The dessert also had vodka in it, with my permission, and I confirmed that I cannot eat/drink a dessert with alcohol in it.
Crocs
I put my Crocs in the sun to dry and they shrunk by at least a size, if not a size and a half. Bummer. I'm glad I learned the lesson on my own Crocs rather than Avery's.
Sandwich
I must have the only child in the world who eats the crust of the sandwich, but not the middle. I rarely make Avery sandwiches, so I've not observed this behavior before, but Avery ate the crust off her PB&J sandwich at the beach yesterday, but wouldn't eat the middle. Odd.
Up or Down?
Two thumbs up for my menu planning and execution this week. Yes, that's only three meals since I'll be out for dinner with friends tonight, then date night on Friday night, but still. It's better execution than usual.
Two thumbs up since I've gone to work out for three days in a row. This is good.
Two thumbs down, waaaaay down. I have consumed dessert on all three workout days, which undoubtedly eclipses all calories burned while working out and walking the dogs. Not good. Last night, I actually drove to the grocery store because I had such a craving for Laffy Taffy (yes, Amber, I was dashing up to the candy section with 2nd graders - made me think of Bend!)
Two thumbs sideways for my Diet Coke consumption. I'm definitely not at a zero level, but I rarely drink it at home despite having it available to me. And I'm not desperate to find some DC when I'm out and about. There have been times when I can't figure out why there aren't soda fountains at intersections.
Two thumbs mostly up for Avery's TV watching. I've been very good at limiting her to 30 minutes per day. As with most "rules" we lax on it a bit for traveling. The good news is that we completely solved the angry child during the night syndrome by limiting screen time. Some things I have to learn first hand rather than through the "experts."
Two thumbs cautiously pointing to the 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions for Avery's tantrums. To be clear, she is still having the occasional tantrum, so if you witness one, you can't call me a liar. However, it really feels like we made it over a hump. The car seat tantrums are very rare lately. And the tantrums over nothing are decreasing dramatically. We're now in a phase where I can see why people might say something crazy like, "Oh, there's no such thing as the terrible 2's." (And, yes, I know that not all kids go through the tantrums that we've had). I'm definitely not thinking the terrible 2's are done and over with for us. Avery is far too strong willed for that sort of statement to be true, but I'm grateful for the reprieve from the daily, and exhausting, tantrums she was having.
Two thumbs sideways. I didn't plan an activity for Avery and I for today. It's bad because we have no plan which could lead us down a very lazy path. It's good because it means I have flexibility and that could lead us down a very productive path.
Copying
I keep thinking about this, so I want to get it blogged. Every once in a while, when we're out and about, I'll look at Avery and see that she's very closely watching another person and imitating what they're doing. I have video of her stroking her chin as she watched a man with a beard do that while we were waiting for some food.
When we were at the airport after returning from Colorado, she spied a man crossing his legs casually as he rode down the escalator. Watching Avery try to get herself into this same stance makes me smile, even after a couple weeks have passed.
Playlist
Last year around this time, I used to play a Kylie Minogue song that Avery enjoyed. She'd dance to it and ask for "more Kylie!" I put it in a playlist of songs that Avery seemed to enjoy listening to. The song following the Kylie song was Sweet Home Alabama. We've not listened to that playlist for at least six months, probably more. The other night, we switched on Kylie at my suggestion since I was tired of her favorite Michael Jackson song. I played the song outside of any playlist, so when it stopped, it just stopped. Avery sat there for a bit and then said, "Alabama?!" I was shocked she remembered the next song on the playlist. Granted, we played that playlist a lot, but I am still very impressed with her recall, especially since I don't think she could say "Alabama" back when we were listening to the playlist.
Table Setting and Dishwasher Emptying
Avery's become my little helper. Sometimes she even says, "I'm a very good helper!"
Overall, I'd rate Avery excellent at following verbal directions, at least when she's actually paying attention and is in the proper mood. This willingness/ability/tendency to follow directions is coming in handy now. She will set her place at the table for most dinners, though I still have to talk her through all the items she needs to get or she'll end up with a bowl and a full set of silverware, but no napkin or plate or glass. She loves to get her silverware.
She's now "helping" me empty the dishwasher, too. She takes out the dishes and puts them on the island. This is actually useful with the plates and glasses. It's counterproductive that she insists on doing it for the silverware, for each piece of silverware. I should note here that this also works because Avery seems to naturally put glasses and plates and things fully on a surface. I cannot recall her ever putting her glass or plate or whatever down on the table when it's precariously perched halfway on/off.
As she was emptying the dishwasher last night, she pulled out the glass lid for one of our saucepans. I assumed she'd put it on the island with the other items, but she recognized it and knew where it went since it's in a low drawer she can reach, so she put it away. Granted, she basically dropped it from a standing height thereby making a very loud thud, but she remembered where it went and understood the goal of emptying the dishwasher is to put things away. She also puts her plates away in her cupboard rather than up on the counter for me to put away. Oddly, she puts ONLY the plates in her cupboards. She doesn't seem to recognize that she can put away her glasses or silverware. All in due time, I guess.
I also learned last night that I should empty the sharp knives first. I (stupidly) didn't think to do that. I turned around and she'd put the steak knife up on the counter. No harm, no foul, but I made sure to empty the knives first thing this morning even though she wasn't helping me. It's a good habit to have.
