Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Avery 101



If you're interested in your Schaefer BS degree, you need to become proficient in the most fabulous little boy ever:  Avery.  He's pretty much amazing and very unique.  He was born August 24, 2005 (a month early) with an alarmingly blue swollen face.  It wasn't cute.  He shocked Michael and I with his dark brown hair and long dark lashes.  Avery was opinionated from day one.  He was adamant about being held, snuggled, and nursed most of the day.  When I had to leave him as a baby, Michael would hold him with a worn shirt of mine and he would stop crying.  It seemed that when our friends came over, he was on his worst behavior (esp. if those friends were considering having children... Mike and Rozel).  He used to make some elongated goat bleat.  It was adorably strange, especially during the silent moments at church. People commented everyday on how beautiful he was.  Absolutely everyday.  Except they usually said "she" was gorgeous.  Cool.  He could have been a twin to the Gerber baby.  He has two crazy cowlicks bordering his Eddie Munster widow's peak.  It's endearing.  Avery was a baby with impeccable timing.  He would have a poop blowout right before church (regularly), he would belch in the middle of prayers (remember Schaefers?), and he would spit up (almost exclusively) on store floors.  He has the most infectious laugh I've ever heard to this day.  From an absurdly early age, Avery was mimicking the noises and movements of animals, even obscure ones like lemurs.  He performed on demand until he realized that's what we wanted.  He knew a lot of words in sign language too.  Avery's never been a good sleeper.  I nursed him to sleep for a good 2 years.  He slept in our bed longer than that.  We thought for a while that he might be "that" kid that wouldn't leave our side EVER.  Then he began to make friends and we became significantly less important.  His best buddies so far have been Dylan (in AZ), Jaden, Caleb, Sam, Wynn, and cousin Tyler.  He also thinks Caillou (the French Canadian cartoon bald boy) is a good friend of his.  Like his Dad, Avery is very loyal to the select few friends he chooses, yet despite the loyalty, peer pressure means nothing to him.  He does not waver in what he does and does not want.  He tells us all the time how much he loves his friends... and what they want for Christmas.  He also loves his grandparents on both sides very much and talks about then regularly.  He loves to snuggle with me and I love to snuggle back.  Its snuggletastic.  He still comes in our room in the night for just such a purpose.  I don't have the heart (or desire) to kick him out.  And he gives the best little boy puckered kisses.  He now goes to bed in his own room with a book and a prayer, although recently the idea of monsters have caused a hitch in our convenience.  We gave him "monster spray" (aka:  Febreze) and he about smoked us out of the house with it.  But there are no more monsters now.  Avery does things on his own time.  I've learned its better that way for all involved.  He crawled, walked, and weaned later than the average tike.  Potty training is following suit.  I think somehow he was born with a constitution of rights in his own little mind that he is certain he's entitled to.  Seeing as only certain things he won't be pushed or hassled on, I let him have his illusions of importance.  Like when he would not, could not go inside the house if Dad unlocked and opened the front door.  It had to be me.  Sure, sure Avery.  No problem.  Amazingly, Avery has been able to survive on Ramen, chicken nuggets, pancakes, hotdogs, apple juice, pb sandwiches, and the occasional round of fries.  I suppose I shouldn't forget the candy, cake, and cookies he's willing to choke down.   In fairness, he was quite allergic to dairy and eggs for the first couple years.  Now he won't touch the stuff and he absolutely refuses to try new things.  Soon he might have no choice because he has become "sugar sensitive."  A short time after consuming sugar and some "white" food, he goes certifiable.  He gets infuriated over anything and seems to feel his soul has been injured to the core.  In his words, "sugar makes me mean."  Its true.  We're on three days sugar free and he's had no fits of rage.  Amazing.  Avery has long been a poop-denier. He'd be pooping (OBVIOUSLY) in his diaper and we'd ask him if he was.  He'd say "NNNNOOOO" in a very strained voice with a red face.  Recently, he started to say, "Mom, I pooped, and that's the truf."  Its hilarious.  Avery enjoys being a dog or a dinosaur on occasion.  One time after nursery, his teacher told me he stayed under the table most of the day roaring at the other kids like a lion in a den.  Avery loves Quincy... but he's kinda mean to her.  She spoils his plans.  So he has been known to push her down then run himself to timeout or hide from me.  He is a sponge ready to learn.  He loves books, puzzles, cartoons, animals, Monster trucks, and most boy-ly things.  He's very smart and observant.  He sees and points to things that I just can't seem to find.  He loves to cook, and has an obsession with squirt bottles.  He says the funniest things, like one time after sugar intake, he was fuming over something irrational and yelled, "I don't wanna follow Jesus!!!"  Or on the sweet side of things, after eating out once, Quincy was walking the wrong way as we were leaving and Avery said, "But we will miss her so much!"  He's often very polite.  In his sweet squeaky toddler voice, he often exclaims, "OH!  Thanks MOM!"  Melts my heart.  We love Avery so very very much!    He's got us wrapped around his crooked little pinky.  (It really is crooked).  Class dismissed.






6 comments:

Brimaca said...

I love your little family classes. He is a funny kid. In some way she...I mean he (he really is beautiful)...is a lot like my little M. I keep seeing glimpses of this none toddler sweet kid I think he's gonna become in between the sugar enraged fits. Aaaahhh. Somehow it's all worth it.

Brimaca said...

Oh and I love the pics!

Emily said...

Does he have an ear infatuation as well? In the middle picture someone (probably you--loving it) is touching his ear. Made me laugh to remember!

Symber said...

HAHAHAHAHA! Adorable!!!!! I miss you guys so much!!! Give Avery and Quincy a big hug and a kiss for me! Love ya' guys!

Karla said...

Ahh Summer... you so have your hands full! I can't get over your babies eyes. Both of them have the most amazingly blue and piercing eyes.. how can you say no to that face???

BTW.. steaks sound pretty good. I'll have to keep that in the mix.

Anonymous said...

Dude sorry about not getting with you over the break. We were not able to go up there. Wyndam got strep throat. So he was contagious. We stayed home and spent a quiet day with just us. I do want to get with you though. We will figure it out. Love ya!!

About Me

My photo
Logan, UT
So I used to think... I used to think it was my world. Maybe Michael thought it was his. But we have been re-educated. By a 4 year old and a 2 year old. It's their world. We live in it.

A peek into our window

Birth of Child #1

Birth of Child #1
He looked like a blue alien. Luckily it didn't stick. And thank goodness we didn't go with Michael's idea to name him based on what he looked like.

Birth of Child #2

Birth of Child #2
Much less eventful, thank goodness! She was born with red hair and 2 teeth... and skin colored skin!

Quincalicious!

  • Quincy says "Where's Avy? I dunno." She talks sooo much and she's so small (5th percentile) that is seems like she shouldn't be talking at all.
  • She roams wildly during church and has become quite the scavenger approaching anyone with food. Its embarrasingly adorable!
  • Quincy's vocab has exploded to include the words, "please, thank you, outside, sucker, candy, Avery, Grandpa, slide, ride, hold you, ni-night, water, bird, doggie, airplane, etc.....! She seems so little!
  • One of the most "wow" things she has done is climb one of those HUGE blow-up slides and slide down REPEATEDLY, ALL BY HERSELF!!!
  • Quincy (with great effort) threw the upper couch cushions on the floor and then proceeded to dive off couch, climb back up, repeat.
  • She says"I want: cookie, go, this, that, drink, wa-wa, play." She also says no, baby, hello, bye-bye, and peek-a-boo. And of course she says "Mom and Da."
  • Quincy talks a lot now. But first thing in the day and then 100 more times: "I want coo-kie." Very telling about her love affair with food.

AVERYISMS

  • A day after being educated, Avery pulled down his pants and touched his boyhood saying, "Hey Grandma, these are my private parts." HA-larious!
  • (After using the bathroom) "I made a waterfall. Then I made it stop."
  • "Hey Dad. This is my [invisible] friend Caillou. Will you be a monster and scare us?"
  • "Grandpa, what's in your belly?" says Avery. Mom says, "What do you think is in there?" "A baby?" guesses Avery. "Nope. Just lots of cherries," says Grandpa Schaefer. HAH!
  • Quincy was crying in the middle of the night and Avery said, "Take a deep breath, Quincy." It was sweet.
  • Quincy was screaming like a pterodactyl for Avery's food, so he snapped "Chill Out Quincy!"
  • In Avery's first attempt at being a smart-a, he was playing with his friend Jaden Knight and we were asking the boys their full names. Avery responded that his name was Avery James Day. Might have had to be there.
  • Avery still tries to stick his hand down my shirt. When I won't let him, he occasionally asks if he can stick his foot down my shirt instead.
  • I told Avery that Heavenly Father lived in heaven. He thought I said he lived 'with Kevin', so in alarm he asked, "With Kevin and Melissa?!!!"
  • Avery was out cold and we had to go. It was odd how I couldn't wake him, so I threw him over my shoulder and started heading out. All of the sudden with startling gusto, he yelled "I see Jesus." I thought he was a visionary, but turns out he woke up just as I walked past a picture of Christ.