Avett

Well this marks two months that I haven't updated on Avett. Summer, and life in general, has been busy!

Right now, Avett is all about being Mr. Independent. That means turning the water on himself, brushing his own teeth, rinsing his toothbrush, getting his own water, washing and rinsing his hands, picking out his clothes, getting himself dressed and undressed (not as demanding on this), feeding Harken and buckling himself into his car seat. I have also taught him how to crawl into his car seat but that takes forever. He also knows how to crawl in and out of Haddie's crib, which makes me slightly proud. I mean the kid is not a dare devil by any means, so this feels like risky behavior for him. He also likes to go get Haddie when he's awake before her. And he helps by taking her milk downstairs for me, grabbing her toys for her when she's crying, and he likes to hold her when she lets him. Lately, she has really really been soaking up all of Avett's loving. Thse two are becoming the best of friends.
He has been a little more into crafting lately. He likes using his stamp pads and enjoys drawing circles and "snakes". We finally just finished putting Haddie's nursery together and in doing so, moved the chalkboard out into the hallway. More like disassembled it, sawed the legs off, and mounted it to the wall in the hallway and Avett thinks that's pretty fun!
As Haddie gets praised for being such a good eater, he is starting to venture out a little more at dinner time. He still sticks to cereal for breakfast (sometimes oatmeal) and peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt for lunch. But he's tried sloppy joes, fried rice, pad thai, grilled cheese, bananas, plums, kiwi, eggs, bacon, etc.
He continues to play with his dinosaurs and animals, sometimes his cars and planes too. He has started getting more into "soft animals" and now goes to sleep with his blanket, a monkey and a bear. And sometimes his whale, nemo fish or dinosaur with underpants.
He likes playing in the bath tub with all of his animals. Literally, all of them. I hate baths because it takes so much time cleaning the tub before hand and then drying everything off afterwards. 
He still likes reading, but we haven't been doing as many bed time stories.
I finally brought all of the stuff that was cleared out from the living room when we got carpeting (in May) back in, and so he's been very excited about his "big animals" and some of his animal books making a return!
He likes movies. We've been watching Moana, Secret Life of Pets, Minions, Cars, and Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. He knows how to start them on the iPad now. Such a millenial.
He has spent a decent amount of time over at Nana Jean and Papa Mark's as they (mostly Auntie Dorey) helps to babysit the kids due to crazy work schedules and showers and such. They have a "big" pool over there, and Avett spends most of his time playing around in it.
He also likes catching fireflies. He was able to do this with his cousin Maxwell when they were in Michigan together, and the tradition continues at home here.
He still takes a nap once a day around 1:00 and will sleep for a couple of hours. The other week, he put himself to bed. Told Aaron he was tired. Aaron took him potty. Then he walked himself upstairs, closed the hallway and his bedroom doors behind him, crawled into bed with his animals and tucked everyone in. Man, if that doesn't feel like your kid is growing up fast.
He's still physically quite small though. He's wearing size 2T shorts (18 months if we're running low on the good stuff) and size 3T shirts. He likes wearing a baseball cap outside and sandals.
He's still got an incredible memory and vocabulary. His speech is actually getting a little bit harder to understand, ironically because he seems to be trying harder to pronounce words correctly. He is starting to have his initial "s" sound (small, spot, etc) that he didn't have before hand. Has his initial H sound too, but still insists on calling Haddie "Patty". Ai.