Anatomy of a Mini-Meltdown

Mark and I consider ourselves pretty lucky thus far. Avery has always been a WONDERFUL sleeper (except if she's teething she'll stir around a lot in the middle of the night), she's very even-tempered like her daddy. But within the last couple months she's had a few mini-meltdowns. I don't consider them full-blown temper tantrums yet, but she has just a few moments of real worrisome feelings when something isn't going just right. (She has to be pretty tired for something to really bother her though.) She's still easily distracted out of them, luckily! :) The pictures above are during her little meltdown I caught last night. She says, " Oh no," or "nooooooo," in the saddest little voice that really melts my heart. It seems that what triggers these is something that almost hurts her feelings more so than angers her. They're pretty precious... right now at least. :) And these pictures also really capture my photography philosophy which is capturing "real-life"! These pictures are very real-life for us and I'm sure other parents out there as well! I can look at these pictures and know exactly what Avery is feeling and saying at the moment and I love that! They "speak" to me and that's exactly what I look for in a picture!

In other exciting news, Avery is FINALLY taking her first steps. She can take about 6-8 at a time. We are so happy and excited. She's not to the point where she's walking to get from point A to point B, but she's toying with it more and more. She'll walk to get a toy if she's already standing and it's pretty close to her. Avery and Daddy have a game they play that really gets her walking. He pushes the ottoman far away from the couch and puts her toy piggy bank on it. He puts the coins to the bank on the couch. Avery takes a coin and walks it (about 6-7 steps) to the bank and puts it in. It is soooo cute. After she does it she screeches with delight and you can tell she's sooooo proud of herself! I don't have any shots of this yet... but I'm working on it.

This weekend, Avery and I went to Eastern WA with my mom. A girls weekend! My mom and I got a lot of scrapbooking done which was nice. The weather is cooling off over there, but it's still blue skies and sunny every morning when you wake up. On our way home, we stopped at a fruit stand and they really decorate their grounds beautifully every season. Avery had a great time playing on the pumpkins! I cannot wait to take her to the pumpkin farm in a few weeks!!! Enjoy....