Welcome to the Team Avery Website!

In the spring of 2008 my then 19-month old daughter Avery lost most of her sight to congenital cataracts.
The Delta Gamma Center for Visual Impairments in St. Louis was there for our family in our greatest time of need; teaching us how to alter our lives to incorporate a visually impaired child. To help them continue helping other families like us, we have formed Team Avery/ Team Margaret. ***To read about Avery's story, go to the Archives and visit Blog "Avery's Story" from January 24th, 2010.
Saturday, January 23, 2010

Meet Avery

In future blogs I will show you all about my little girl and her years of struggle. Right now, though, meet our Avery:



This is one of the very few times you will see Avery without her glasses. She only takes them off for baths; in this clip she had just gotten out and was getting ready for bed. She even wears her glasses while sleeping at night! If you remove her glasses she screams "My eyes fell out! I can't see!" You can tell that, sight or no sight, Avery goes full speed ahead into everything she does. No fear, that girl! (Yes, that trait usually scares the heck out of me. Particularly when she slides down our stairs headfirst, but I digress).

Aside from her sight issues and other medical problems, Avery is like every other happy 3 1/2 year old. She is OBSESSED with the Disney Princess! She loves to sing, dance, and twirl like crazy; she loves to color with crayons and paint. Like most preschoolers she gets terribly annoyed with "brother," but will also go guns blazing at anyone who is mean to HER baby! She gets excited to go to preschool every afternoon...but I'd say her favorite thing in the world is "Dancing Class." This was Avery at her Christmas recital (she's the last one on the left in the pink glasses):



My favorite thing about Avery is her personality. We refer to her as our "Firecracker"...and not just because she was born on July 5th. Although her energy is absolutely EXHAUSTING, the things she says and does can tickle me to no end. For example: I was absentmindedly singing along to the Cinderella DVD playing during "quiet time" (sadly, no more naps for us). Avery shouts out "Mommy, stop singing! Cinderella wants to sing all by herself!" Another favorite Avery moment came a couple months ago. Avery wanted to snuggle with "brother," so we helped her into his crib. She hugged him and said "Auden, you are my best friend." When he fell over from the force of her hug, Avery said "Uh-Oh, you are falling in love with me, Buddy!"

I think Avery's firecracker personality is one reason she has dealt so well with her lack of sight. She is quite a stubborn little thing, and doesn't let anything stand in the way of what she wants. At times it is difficult to handle her, though as her mother I feel blessed that she has such a temperament. That fire is what has helped her battle congenital cataracts, and will continue to aid her in the future battles that will surely come her way.

2 comments:

Gail said...

Thank you for posting videos so those of us who can't be with Avery in person can still see what a beautiful little princess she is. Princess Firecracker!

Team A {Squared} said...

You're welcome! I will be posting more, so keep checking back! And hopefully planning on keeping this up for my far away loved ones :-)

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