ONE YEAR STATS!

ONE YEAR baby stats:

We have all survived the first 12 months! Below are some stats of how Baby Averie has progressed so far.

When I kept this baby stats part of the blog, I wasn’t sure how long it would last. I hoped to do it for a full year, to document the things that happened before the blurry blindness of memory hazed into inaccurately recalled events. The first (second?, fifth?, nineteenth?) year(s) of parenting can feel like that.

Dimensions & Facts:

We had a grand birthday party to celebrate her first year on this tumultuous planet. Averie wore a pink ballerina dress complete with tutu. A headband and pearl necklace were also part of the outfit and both mercifully lasted all of 3 seconds on her head and neck respectively.

She had a “smash cake” which she didn’t smash but instead ate with a spoon. Our daughter is class.
If you are lucky enough to have gotten this far in life and are not familiar with the term “smash cake” count your blessings. It is apparently a known term for a small cake given to babies on their first birthday so they can, well, smash it. In the weeks leading up to her birthday, there were times when I felt I might smash my own face if I had to hear that term ever again because I find it immensely stupid. Pinterest is not for the faint of heart, people.

365+ Days of growth
Here’s to the first 365 days of growing. A full year has passed. Time is sneaky and we forget how easily it slips by. The bathroom mirror is an inaccurate gauge because we look at it daily and conveniently don’t always see ourselves age. But having a child is a constant visual reminder of growth and time. Our baby is no longer a tiny pink burrito I can scoop up with one hand. I almost can’t remember her being so small.

In a few short weeks, Averie went from being able to walk right under the edge of our dining table to now solidly whacking her head on it when she walks by. The top of her head is now taller than our table. And she is hopefully learning to get better at walking around it.

365 (x10,000 times) of hearing me sing Groovy Kind of Love to help her fall asleep. Without fail, I always draw a blank on bedtime songs. It isn’t my favourite song ever it’s just one of the few things I can remember the words to.
“when I’m feeling blue,
all I have to do is take a look at you,
then I’m not so blue”  
Plus it is easy to hum a saxophone solo to a crying baby.

365+ Bath times:
For much of the last year, I have overseen bath time. Averie loves her bath, she always has, and I love bathing her. Even though, in full disclosure, I don’t really know how to bathe a baby. Yes, I use a washcloth, making sure to wash her face before her bum. But generally, I just sort of splash the water around and we play, it is not structured and it can last as long or as short as the water temp and the crinkles on her toes and fingers allow. We could have the least well-bathed child ever and I would be none the wiser. Averie has had approximately 365–375 baths in her lifetime. (There is no factual basis to that range, in the early newborn days of chilly spring we skipped bath days so I added some extras for those days in the Caribbean when necessity showered her sweat off sometimes more than twice a day.)

I hope she always loves bath time as much as she did this first year.

365+ of Eating: Averie has eaten approximately 75% of all the food we have put in front of her. 25% on average is shared with the floor or any animal that happens to be close by. (To clarify the animal is always a dog. No dolphin ever floundered by for a nibble of avocado nor bramble lurking gorilla ever waited to pounce on an errant banana. So far.)

We are so far blessed with an infant who loves to eat and does so with a healthy dose of adventure towards all food. I hope that continues.

365+ times that I dressed her in some questionable non-matching outfit (or as I call it fashionably hilarious) and 365+ times that Claudine changed her into something less hilarious and more coordinated. (Ok that didn’t happen that often, just most of the times I dressed her to go out.)

Skill Set:

365+ Days of learning

I a feat of growing reluctance Averie still only has two teeth. She might only ever have two at this rate.

Averie walks and runs about as well as a chronically drunk person. Every day she improves her balance and agility. Unlike a chronically drunk person.

Even though we never taught her baby sign language she learned the sign for ‘more’ and says ‘maaw’ simultaneously with the hand signs as if to show off. Overachiever.

She says “baaaw” whenever she sees a ball and “boooe” when she wants a book. So, we pretty much have her language skills totally covered. Maaw, Baaaw and boooe should get her through every situation in life. She can order a ball and a book to eat at a restaurant and ask for more when done. Our job here is done. *drops all plans to further teach Averie language*

Since she figured out how to, Averie loves to dance. Her moves are unleashed with a fervent commitment. Once a good beat comes on her arms and bum don’t stand a chance of staying still. It is adorable and I know if all else fails she will have a future at being one of those inflatable tubes of fabric that are filled with gusts of air and wave flappy long arms around erratically. (Truthfully, those things terrify me so very much)

I am not sure if it is a skill set to be loved. But if it is, Averie has mastered it completely. She leaves a trail of stolen souls behind her. Hearts melt when she blows kisses. She has aunties and uncles and cousins and family/friends and Great Aunts and Great Uncles and two Grannies and a Grandpa and two Mums who adore her to the bounds of infinity. She throws her love right back at us by blowing world’s best baby kisses with her flat open palm repeatedly hitting her open mouth or chin. Her Aunt Trudy taught her to blow kisses so I blame her for any future kissing debacles. Her fan club is dedicated and passionate.

Likes:

milk, milky drinks, milk boobs, milk to be everywhere. She likes so many things it is getting hard to list, but it is probably not too much longer that I can use that milky line so I am keeping it going.

I hope one day she will like all these words I wrote about her and will not mind that I put her pictures up on the internet for all and sundry. I hope she knows everything I said was part of our truth and that she changed our lives in every beautiful way. I hope she likes us as much as we like her.

Dislikes:

I hope she doesn’t dislike this blog so much that she sues us. I hope she never dislikes anything enough to file a lawsuit.

Overall Score: 100/100

It has been an incredible ride this past year. I am pleased that we all made it. We have had the distinct honour and pleasure of falling deeply in love with our daughter. Every day she squeezes a splinter more of adoration into our hearts. And just when you think you can’t hold anymore, a little more joy wiggles in and makes room.