Weight:  18 lbs. 12 oz.

Height:  28"

Head:  18 cm (this is her highest percentile)

Demeanor:  Silly and dainty

Currently munching mostly on:  grapes, watermelon, chicken & egg jook (rice porridge), asparagus, salmon, broccoli, bone soup, cauliflower soup

Currently obsessed with:  airplanes and books


Avery communicates mostly by sign language.  This makes it tough for most people to understand what she is trying to say, and frustrates her too, because shouldn't everyone understand her spastic arm movements?  So below is her dictionary of signs.  In a few cases where I've included the Mandarin phonetics, these are words she knows only in Chinese.  Ave loves showing off too, so you can ask her to practice a few of them when you hang out with her.  Note that not all of these signs are official ASL signs, but made up and/or modified by us or herself:

Again:  Puts fingers of one hand onto palm of the other hand (often times it ends up looking like "help")
Airplane:  Moves index finger across the air above head like an airplane
All done:  repeatedly twists both open hands at the wrist
Apple:  twists index finger knuckle by her ear
Baby:  clasps hands together and pretends she's rocking a baby at her stomach
Ball:  touches fingers of one hand to corresponding fingers of other hand (sometimes looks like "more")
Banana:  uses one index finger to "peel" the other index finger
Bear:  clasps hands and squishes them repeatedly, or grabs forearm and squishes it repeatedly
Bird (niao niao):  flaps arms like bird
Blow a kiss (fei yi ge):  puts an open palm to mouth
Book:  puts palms together and opens them like a book
Boy:  at her head level, puts four fingers of one hand to thumb on same hand (as if tilting a cap)
Brush Teeth (shua ya):  waves index finger in front of her teeth
Bunny:  holds out index finger and bounces it up and down like a hopping bunny
Butterfly:  makes a butterfly by linking thumbs and waves fingers (sometimes forgets to link thumbs)
Bye bye:  waves bye bye
Car:  positions arms as if grabbing a steering wheel, and twists torso repeatedly
Cat:  draws a whisker with index finger from her nose to her ear
Cereal:  puts index finger to thumb repeatedly (like the "ok" sign)
Chicken:  flaps elbows like a chicken
Cold (bing bing):  shakes bent arms back and forth, as if shivering
Cracker:  makes a fist with one hand and taps the inside of her elbow
Cute:  shrugs her shoulder(s) so that it touches her cheek(s)
Daddy (ba ba):  taps index finger to her temple
Dog (gou gou):  pants like a dog
Duck:  opens and closes fingers like a duck bill
Eat:  puts all fingers and thumb of one hand to mouth
Elephant:  straightens an arm and moves it up like the trunk of an elephant
Fall Down and I don't know:  makes the "I don't know" sign with arms
Firetruck:  wakes an index finger around in a small circle like a flashing siren, somtimes says "woo"
Fish (yu yu):  with an open palm and fingers together, moves it across her body like a swimming fish
Frog:  sticks out tongue
Girl:  takes fist and moves it from ear to chin in one motion
Gorilla:  thumps chest with both open hands
Grape:  crosses arms and makes an "x"
Happy / Yay:  claps
Head:  touches top of head with both hands
Help:  claps once really hard
Hi:  waves hi
Hot:  waves one open hand with fingers spread apart (sometimes follows up with pretending to blow on somthing)
(ride) Horse:  bounces up and down as if riding a horse
Hurt (tong tong):  touches tip of index fingers together
Lion:  roars like a lion, but fingers straight and together
Monkey:  moves hands up and down on side of torso
More:  taps all 5 fingers of one hand to the fingers of other hand in front of body
Orange:  puts hand over mouth/chin area and squishes it
Penguin:  waddles body like a penguin
Piano:  moves hands up and down as if pounding on a piano
Pig:  looks like "eat" but closer to her nose
Please:  puts hand(s) flat on chest and moves them up and down
Sad:  pretends she's rubbing her eyes with fists
Sea Lion or Seal:  claps hands
Shower (xi zhao):  puts hands flat on chest and moves them up and down in opposite directions
Sneeze:  puts 1 open hand to her mouth and fake laughs
Sleep (shui jiao jiao):  tilts head onto one open palm
Thank you:  bends elbow up and down (like the left and right turn bicycle signs)
Touchdown:  throws arms up above head
Train:  fist pumps with one arm and says "mmm"
Tree:  grasps her wrist with one hand, and repeatedly twists the other hand at the wrist
Water (shui shui):  Touches mouth repeatedly with one index finger
Watermelon (xi gua):  puts index fingers together in front of face, and moves them away from each other until they are as far apart as possible on either side of her body
Zebra:  moves index finger across forehead


On another note, this is what it's for:



But this is what she insists on: