Milestones

One thing I realized by being around Avery is that our babies understand much more of what we say than we think they do. The babies and I were so lucky to be with Karen and Avery for almost a full week. We got to see Avery start signing words to her mom for the first time: more and all done. And we got to witness Avery start using mama to address Karen. These were wonderful things to watch. One of the things I love the most about watching our babies and Avery reach new milestones is how proud they are of themselves. They just beam when they take those first steps or put their fingers together to tell you they want more food. They really understand that they have acquired and accomplished something new.
Sometimes I think to myself that our babies don't understand what I am saying. It doesn't really matter if I talk about how the ball is red or point to the word Go in the Marvin K Mooney book or make the sign for milk. Usually they just stare at me blankly. But I could tell from being around my niece that it does matter. Being with her was wonderful in its own right, but it also gave me a little snapshot of where we will be in just a short time.

The photos are some smiles from our time together (alem).