My Dearest Avery,
Wow, we've had a lot of fun the past few months. You're coming out of the rough 3-year-old phase just fine, thankfully. For your 4-year-old check-up, you weighed 39 pounds and stood 39 inches tall. It's already time to start looking into booster seats instead of your car seat.
You're still swimming and doing soccer. Honestly, you're the best in your class at soccer but we didn't move you up because it would mean going later during the summer (and there's no AC) so we decided to keep you in this class one more round. You're showing the other kids how it's done but still having a hard time getting back up when you get knocked down. You're learning some defense - at one point you were defending the goal and you were yelling, "get the trash out of my backyard" each time you kicked a ball away :)
For swim, you've been in the same class for a little under a year now - slower than I expected but when Pop was in town visiting, you had a breakthrough and now you're doing "big scoops" (the crawl) like there's no tomorrow!
You are also so so sweet and loving to Evan. You're always willing to help out and make things easier on us and you love doing things to help him grow. For example, you like "holding" him up when he's sitting up. You've had a few times where you are trying to do good but you are too aggressive with it, but you're learning. You even share your stuffed animals with him, which is definitely a step in the right direction.
For your birthday, you had your girl classmates and a few others over to the house for a party in the backyard. We may have gone overboard on the food and candy, but it was a hit and you had many visitors. We collected donations for Hope Animal Shelter instead of gifts. The birthday was Princess Elena themed. We didn't buy you an Elena dress because dad's not a big fan of dress up, but you were bummed without one (you got the scepter from Aunt Ash). So, we cleaned out your dress up bin to make dad happy and went to Target to find an Elena dress - you paid for half of it out of your piggy bank ($6) because you wanted it so badly. You actually gave the teller the money and everything - it was your first time paying for something! You were a little confused why they didn't give you your money back but I think I explained it to you well.
You're getting so long and so much better at coordination. You scoot on your scooter a lot better than even a few months ago and you're learning how to contort your body (dancing and moving around).
Here's your life in pictures right now, including your birthday:
Your time with dad (and one with mom, I think):
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| Ok, I this is like a trainwreck - I can't stop staring. Funny and scary, dad doing face swaps. |
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| smores! |
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| Fun with the whole family! |
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| Cutting veggies for snacks. |
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| Out to eat! |
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| Tired |
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| Just like mom! I love this! |
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| Reading at the book store with daddy |
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| Dad stole you from preschool one day to take you to the D-Backs game....so I couldn't help dressing you in your Royals jersey for the day - heehee! |
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| With Baxter.....the original! |
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| Two peas in a pod! |
Some pics of you with your brother:
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| Entertaining Evan while I'm getting ready for the day! |
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| Two peas.... |
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| Dropping you off a preschool |
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| Watching tv - while he sleeps |
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| So so cute |
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| Helping you get ready for the day |
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| You're the best at entertaining him and calming him down. He LOVES looking at you, as you like to say. |
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| Pretty soon I think this will be the other way around! |
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| My precious babes! |
Here's you at swim and soccer:
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| You always like to be first in line! |
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| Big Scoops! |
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| 1:1 time....probably just what you needed |
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| Haha, bored much? |
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| The Saturday before Mother's Day - kicking it with me! |
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| Love to see you leading the pack! |
Now here are pics of your birthday - you had a blast!
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| Ready to party! |
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| The dress you helped buy and the scepter Aunt Ash gave to you! One happy girl! |
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| Dropping off the donations we gathered! |
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| We got you your American Girl doll for your birthday (complete with matching pjs). Didn't know it until we had finally picked out the one that looked like you that she's the token Jewish American Girl doll - ha! |
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| Another gift from Aunt Ash. |
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| Getting ready for the party |
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| A gift from Aunt Cara. Family (and Aunt Ash) gave you gifts - the rest brought donations. |
You're growing like a weed - some photos that show you getting bigger and bigger:
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| Looking more and more like your dad! |
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| End of school picnic with the family! Barrett asked you to sit next to him! |
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| Getting ice cream at the urgent care - you had a cold. |
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| Your second haircut - and boy was dad mad at how old you came home looking! |
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| Daddy jr! |
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| Who is this and what have you done with my little girl? |
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| Oh my heart - it's about to explode! |
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| Bed head! |
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| So, yeah, you sometimes sleep on our floor because you don't like being the only one on the other side of the house - that will change when Evan gets bigger but for now.....and you lined your horse up with your water bottles (that's my girl!) |
You're also getting into animals. When you ask to go to the aquarium, dad takes you to the pet store (haha - you don't know the difference and there isn't an aquarium in Tucson):
You're so fun right now - goofy and sweet. If only you could slow down growing up....time is just slipping through my fingers. I love you so much! And your dad just oozes with love for you.
All my love,
