Wild & 18 months!

Dear Avery Girl,

Yesterday you turned 18 months old AND the Broncos won the SUPER BOWL!! 

You certainly are growing up quickly, partly because you have an older brother and partially because time is just mean. It never goes fast enough when I need it to (read: 4pm on any weekday and we have 1hr and 45min until dad gets home), but yet it goes too fast for me to remember what it was like just a few short months ago.

I'll be really honest here, sister. You have made it your mission to test our parenting skills. You push and push until we occasionally think we'll break. You are feisty and full of adventure. You have NO fear and a VERY loud scream (which you remind us of hourly). You don't want to listen to anyone but yourself, and you march to the beat of your own drummer (or should I say dance to the beat). Like I've said before, I know this will come in handy someday when you're working hard to fight your disease, but for now, it's hard on your parents! We're constantly trying to save you from breaking your arm or neck while simultaneously putting in earplugs to save our hearing (and that's not a joke, your dad has to put earplugs in when you're in one of your screaming moods!). Please go easier on us these next six months, will ya? ;)

Here are some other tidbits about you lately:
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You are a CLIMBER. You climb onto any and everything. You move other things so you can use them as stools/ladders to be able to climb on bigger things. Ain't no mountain high enough!!! Your fearless nature makes you also want to dive off these things in a way that always makes dad and I flinch.

You LOVE to say/sign 'more'. Some of your favorite phrases that you regularly screech throughout the house: "Mo cacker, mo cacker!" (crackers) "Mo puppy, mo puppy!" (puppy videos) "Mo wawa, mo wawa!" (milk) "Mo kokey, mo kokey!" (cookies) "Mo boop, mo boop!" (books) For example, see below while watching a video of the puppies that David & Emma's dog Wilson just had:

You have to eat A LOT because of CF. We load everything you eat with extra butter or oil or cheese. Sometimes you get really picky about what you eat, which is really tough for us after we go to the trouble of making you a special, fattening dinner/lunch/breakfast. Lots of your food ends up on the floor. Lots of your food doesn't end up in your belly. It's real fun.

Speaking of food, there are two foods you can eat in large volumes at any time of the day: craisins and fruit strips from Costco.

Still speaking of food, you love to rub food into your hair. Also fun.

You love to "talk" and think you're making a whole lot of sense. (You're not quite yet) It's fun watching you try!

You love to turn the Roomba on about 115 times per day. 

You're obsessed with Benjamin's red chair. You use it to climb on things, you love diving into it, you love to sit and read in it. You've used it about 200x more than your brother ever did.

You LOVE to dance. Anytime you hear anything that remotely resembles a beat, you wiggle your hips and dip a few times. It's the cutest thing you do and very reliable. Sometimes just the mention of a song and you're already moving.

You're in love with dogs. So much so that we are getting a puppy to be your little companion!!! Stay tuned. :)

You're growing SO well and we're so thankful for that news. We got information about vests at your latest CF clinic visit, so it looks like you'll be getting one in the next few months. We're excited and nervous about it, but mostly excited!!

You love to "read" books by yourself, build with duplos, megablocks, and wooden blocks, and pull your toy lobster (first called "Lobby" then called "Bobby") around the house.

You love your brother to pieces. I'm so thankful that even though you two couldn't be any more opposite, you love each other so deeply. You trust him, and he protects you. He loves you so much sweet girl. I'm so thankful you have each other.

You hate wearing headbands. But you still have no hair and often look like a boy, so I try to force them on you every now and then. In other hair news, after naptime you look like Donald Trump.

You love saying YES very emphatically, even if you don't really mean it.
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That's it for now Avery girl. Here's a few random pics from the last six months!

We love you <3 p="">