We love Leap Frog!

My old roommate Tiffany just got a new job in the corporate offices at Leap Frog right across the bay in Emeryville. We are thrilled for Tiffany's new job because a) it's great to get a new job in this economy and b) Leap Frog makes excellent educational toys for kids. I've told Tiffany we would love to be guinea pigs for any toys that need focus groups for :-) We've gotten a few Leap Frog toys for Avery and she loves every single one. Tiffany came to have dinner with us last week after work and brought Avery a great gift- his name is Scout and he is a green and white dog that you plug into your computer, pull up the Leap Frog website and enter Avery's favorite things- colors, animals, food. Believe it or not- it downloads the info to Scout and when you press his different paws he sings her songs or spells her name or just says "I love you Avery!". His little voice is so cute too (apparently it's the voice of the son of a Leap Frog employee). While Avery's still a little young to push the buttons herself, she is mesmerized when Scout says her name or her favorite animal (for now, giraffe, in honor of Sophie the amazing teething giraffe toy!). Here are a few pics of Avery's variety of excited faces over her new toy and also Auntie Tiff. Thank you Tiffany!

New friends and new milestones

It's always so much fun for Avery to meet our friends for the first time. Over Thanksgiving, we were in Lompoc with Guy's family and were able to see some of his childhood friends. One of Avery's newest buddies is Marisa, who we were able to meet up with at a restaurant for a brief visit with her family. Marisa lives in LA so we don't get to see her much, but Avery hopes to see her again very soon (and so do we!)

We've started noticing another fun little development with avery. She loves to take objects and move them back and forth from hand to hand- twisting from side to side and watching every move. She's been very interested in everything to do with her hands for the past few months and the ability to shift something from hand to hand is another development. We hope you enjoy this new video from breakfast on Thursday!

8 Months Old!

On January 3rd, Avery turned 8 months old! We still can't believe how fast she is growing and how fast her first year is going. Each day continues to be a joy- she is engaging, alert, happy and full of laughter. Her recent developments are clapping and waving goodbye- it's so cute to see her really respond to other people. She's growing like a weed still- tall like mommy- and wearing mostly 9-12 month clothes. We're so grateful for all of the clothes and toys she received at Christmas- she's loving everything!

Almost crawling!

Avery's been working hard on her moves toward crawling! she's getting stronger and stronger with her arms, pushing up in a "cobra" position (for those of you who do yoga :-) and then pulling herself around. She hasn't quite connected the arm and leg movements. What's funny is that after she moves with her arms, she stops, then moves her legs. I think she'll be crawling any day now!

Fun with Uncle Grant

Guy's brother Grant came to visit a few weekends ago and had a great time playing with Avery. He had her laughing all day and we were able to capture a few minutes on video. Avery loves her Uncle Grant!