crayons and paper..

so we were prepping for our christmas party, and Zoe was opening drawers, and found our stash of paper and crayons... she quietly got them out, and started coloring.. she was entertained for about 15 minutes or more... (I asked Anna if this is something they do, she said no; I had never showed Zoe where that stuff was).

update...cold passing,

Zoe and I survived her first cold.. we had three terrible nights.. one I remember waking Bruce up with the phrase "I can't take it anymore, you take her".. she was crying, kicking, screaming, it was 2am, we hadn't slept, I couldn't calm her down. Bruce took her, she cried for 5 more minutes, he handed her back, she and I slept like logs until 6am, she nursed, we slept until 9am.. ah... the fever broke.

now she is just a bit congested, and coughs; strangely she is not very snotty, not like me (I'm so congested)...

fever...

Now we know what it means to have a sick baby.. Zoe's "first cold" was nothing. She is now (and has been for 36 hours) running a fever around 102 (ear).. they say when it gets to 104, then worry. It is hard not to worry all the time.. she is so very, very warm. Now it is in her sinuses, and she has this squeaky (oh so cute and painful) voice, and she is tired, all the time. We (she and I) haven't really slept for two nights.. I think we finally got 4 hours in row around 4am this morning. She stayed with the nanny today and got a proper nap (yeah!) Now as we get ready for dinner.. she is finally playing with her toys (the barn set from Nana and Grandpa).

The cold is either a reaction to the 5 (!) shots she got last Friday (part of her 1 year boosters), which included a flu shot, or something she got playing there and her immune system would normally handle, but didn't now due to the shots.

More sauce please

Zoe is heavily motivated to eat in the presence of sauce... This started with a simple cup of our favorite anchoivy based ranch, which she also loves, and has now covered ketchup and other dressings. Tonight she stopped eating too soon, so we gave her a pile of dressing (Annie's Green Goddess), and she finished off her salmon and several more noodles.

(Did I mention I think this is a trait passed down thru the Gooch genes? Barton and Brooke are the same way).

eating with a fork!

Auntie Heather sent us home a bunch of little sets of plates and silverware.. so I set up Zoe with a little fork last night. She is a pro at using it.. she stabbed steak and pasta, and only a few times did she stick it on the fork and then in her mouth.
Very coordinated!
(I have video, I'll have to try to digitize at some point)

reprise of Thankgiving (in Utah)

Zoe had her 3rd thanksgiving of the year at her uncle Jeff and auntie Heather's house. There was a good crowd and Zoe's favorite item was Nana's cranberries.. she ate several spoonfuls, and only managed to partially wear it as a clothing color and hair gel.

The trip started with a night with Nana and Grandpa's.. I haven't seen her so wound up and excited in a long time. Nana pulled out a bunch of toys, and had them ready.. after a long airport day, Zoe was so excited to play with them.

The next day we went to The Pie.. the pizza place Bruce & I spent many days and nights at (closest place to get beer next to campus.. I'm sure Nana and Grandpa went there too during their college days). There she met up with Kristi (and two of her friends), as well as Rich, and Elaine. Then she spent the afternoon with Nana, and part of the time with Carrie and Rebecca while Mom and Dad tried to recruit Utah students. Zoe had a fabulous time.. she played with the new shoes Carrie gave her.. then we caught up with everyone of Paella (home-made by Carrie.. delicious).

Then Zoe found herself in the company of her cousins Brooke(5) and Barton (7) and her sister Rachelle (18)... She was soooo wound up, she didn't go to sleep until almost 11.. those 4 cousins sure have fun together, but it has to be acknowledged that Barton is Zoe's favorite. In the morning when she woke up and I brought her upstairs, Heather, Brooke, and Barton had a contest to see who Zoe would run to first.. they all tried various ploys.. but it was no contest from the start.. she runs to Barton, and sits in his lap... so cute.

We had a fabulous trip, and are now trying to figure out how long we are going back for x-mas.. I'm sure I'll have a few more stories from the trip to tell later. now I need to go put PJs on a cutie.

wiping hands, revisited

Zoe & I are trying to visit all of the parks in victoria, to find our favorite.. so went to a new one, after having gone to the beach and seeing that the play ground was full of large puddles... She played on the stairs, slide, tunnel, see-saw.. and then started playing in the wet sand.... but hated when it stuck to her hand, so of course, she wiped them on me.. then aftrer a while, she wiped them on her polar fleece, but then came to me to have me shake it off her shirt.

one more story of the day. We dropped Mischief off at the vet to get hydrated.. he is suffering from kidney failure... I was fine until Zoe cried when they took Mischief away. We will be picking him up tonight and then dropping him off tomorrow for another round.

I remembered a few things I needed to put down about Zoe:

She loves to peel onions.. that is what she is doing now.
but back to the thing I was trying to remember to write up...
When we were in Lynwood (suburb of Seattle) in our favorite mall.. Zoe was playing in the kid zone..(I'll put up so pics later).. she found a couple of boys, that came in two types.. all taller than her by at least a head. The first kind, she would come up to and hug, hard, while walking forward, until she tackled them. She even did this backwards (walking), and the kid ended up on top of her. I was laughing so hard.. crying really... it was too funny. The other kind of boy kids she antagonized into playing with her and we had to interfer a bit.. they got kind of rough. (one tried to walk on top of her.. I think he had a crush on her).

All parents talk about how smart their kid is.. this next part is one of those stories. Of course we went to the book store and found lots of books. On the ferry on the way back we were going through one large board books of animals I found has these "find the matching image" pages.. she can do it.. cats, bunnies, I said "find the donkey" and she did.. I can only think of one other book that I even mentioned donkey.. didn't know she knew that one.

updates

well.. its been so long since I've posted.. I'm not sure what to post to catch up. Zoe is now playing with her Nanny, while I'm working from home (yes, even then I sometimes I just need a little break to think about her)... her other front tooth is almost broken through.

darn.. now I have to go to a meeting.. more postings later.. hopefully with pics!

more Teeth!

Zoe has more teeth coming in.. her top right front and next right tooth have broken through (less pain then the ones below; we only notice when she is excessively whiny, especially when eating or chewing on toys). the other two on the left side can't be far behind.

Shoes!

Here is a picture from 11.02.07.. Zoe loves to play with Crayons..

Zoe was fitted for her first real pair of shoes... at StrideRite in Bellevue. She is a size 5.5... I picked out two shoes for her to try on, the first my favorite (and most expensive) brown with pink flowers, and shoe laces (who would have thunk they still used those!).. and another pair with velcro.. well I tried on the first, had her run around. Then I tried to take off the first and well.. she screamed! I put on the next and she screamed louder... I put on the first, and she was off and running.. yes.. well that is the pair we bought. If you goggle for "toddler stride rite Kaylie Lace Stage 3" you can see a picture of the shoe; we decided that she will wear them 'til them don't fit and then we will sell them at the used kid-stuff store.

Arrgghh! Pirate Princess

Zoe was a very cute Pirate for Halloween (she's now been to two parties dressed up as a pirate, and actually, she found her pants this morning is wearing them now!)







On Halloween she went reverse trick-or-treating (gave out candy) at my office. Then we went home and went to one house of the street (Cindy gave her a really cute light up bag).. then off to Panos' house for party with 6 other 1 yr olds. One mother told me she was a leader.. I was telling Auntie Carrie about it and she asked me why.. I couldn't answer.. I talked to Bruce about it and he said it was because Zoe dictated what toys got played with, and she would never let one of those boys (yes, all of them were boys) take toys away from her.. she would also play with something, give it up to another toddler, then take it back.

We gave her candy the day after Halloween (Betty across the street bought her a special trick or treating white chocolate on a stick ghost).. she stayed up 2 hours past her bed time.. at 10pm I finally gave her some warm milk and she finally gave up on the playing. I guess sugar after dinner really is bad.

I really need to get that internal2digital voice recorder.. I always am composing blogs in my head, but you can imagine how chasing after a 14 month old (tomorrow!) keeps one from a computer.

Let's see.. some remembrances of this week:

Zoe loves to get dressed up and play with that baby in the mirror.. typical dress up items include Mom's shoes (which are generally more frustrating than fun); Mom's head bands (she looks so darn cute!); Mom's sequin belt. Did I mention the Mardi Gras beads? also a major favorite accessory

She has really taken to climbing.. with one leg up, she can be on the fireplace shelf (which she is clearly not supposed to do). She loves to climb on this tote we have in the front room and has now decided she can stand on it. Did I already post the part about her with the Nanny, and while the Nanny was cleaning her high chair tray, she houdinni'd into the high chair and giggled with glee? She also likes to try to get up on the dining room chairs, and table if she can get away with it.
Last night (whiel we were having a diner party), she paraded back and forth on the middle step (20ft long?) of our sunken front room.. of course, she fell off once.. in between it and the chair.. ugh!

At night she gets "organized" and likes to play with her puzzles.. stacking blocks, and then puts them (mostly) away.

She also seems to under stand "put it back where you got it" and "not ours". Did I tell you the onion story? Zoe loves to play with the contents of the onion and potatoe shelf...I was telling her to put the onion back where she got it from, (as she was busily pulling off little bits of onion skin) and she proceeded to pick up all of the pieces and try to put them back on the onion.

Zoe has also figured out how to very quickly remove her diaper.. she only (and everytime) does this when she doesn't also have pants on.. so now both operations have to happen very quickly (one babysitter wasn't fast enough).

Pumpkin time...

We are getting ready for the Halloween Holiday. Today we went Galey's Farm, saw some farm animals.. took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. She played for a long time in a pen that housed 4 goats and an enormous sheep. The sheep didn't like Zoe much and felt cornered (well, he was) and so it butted Zoe in the chest.. I know, but it was gentle, she fell back easily onto a foot of hay.. she cried (not physically hurt, but the other kind of hurt).

Then we did that hayride.. I think she will love it much more in years to come.. she's still kind of young. (Also, the pumpkins were so picked over.. next year we go sooner).

dressing up the mirror baby

One of Zoe's favorite activities is dressing up and looking at that mirror baby. She has a few headbands, a belt or two (a sequin number and another cloth one) that she likes to parade around in.. she's a girly girl.

missing mama

The Nanny (Anna) reported that Zoe was looking through a photo album, saw a picture of Mama, and pointed at the front door, and then cried... She said it had happend before, but this time Anna tried many, many things and couldn't distract Zoe.. she almost called me, but Zoe finally got over it.

signing

Zoe is finally getting the baby sign-thing.. she can do "eat", "more", and "all done".. so I think we will start doing more. She seems to have stopped talking, and now just screams or points (luckily, mostly points). Its kind of odd.. she used to have half-dozen to a dozen words, but she doesn't use them anymore.. but then again, she has become much better at pointing and communicating what she wants.

Favorite things..

Things that make Zoe smile:
Splashes in the tub (and I don't mean just a little splash)
The tickle tent (A tent that she goes into and we tickle her)
Blackberries
Dumping water on her head in the tub
Standing on top of something
Playing dress up in the mirror (she uses headbands, scarfs...)
Fishes (the eat-able cheese cracker kind)
Getting squishes (she crawls behind me and I squish her)
Sitting on Mama like a horsey
Daddy holding her upside down

Things that make Mama smile:
Zoe laughing as she nurses
When I see her after returning from work
Okay, anything involving Zoe...

Things that occupy Zoe's time:
Stacking (cups, boxes, ...)
Emptying out Mama's purse, and putting everything back
Actually filing and emptying any container with anything
Reading books

Zoe's favorite books:
The small tiny book Auntie Rachel gave her (Sing a song of six-pence)
The Big Red Barn
The Freight Train
There is a wocket in my pocket
Mr Brown can moo
Pajama Time
Hey! Wake Up!

Zoe's vampire blood...

Zoe hit her mouth with the wood puzzle last night.. and bled for ever.. it turns out she hit the inside of her top lip, probably with her bottom teeth.. and every time she would stop bleeding, she'd just end up rubbing her mouth again... We tried ice, pressure, etc... she finally was so wiped by the event she fell asleep (after I had changed us all into black, put on black sheets and towels for bedding, and after her second bath). I won't talk about pulling out the clotted blood clumps.. She bled for about 2 hours (on again, off again).. oh so scary. She also has two scrapes on her chin too.
But she is all herself today..
I'll scribe more adventures of Zoe tomorrow, she's ready to play now.

here is picture dated the same day... Zoe on the phone (my phone)..

Feeding Bunnies

Zoe feed the bunnies almost every day.. this also means she is eating fresh blackberries from the bushes too.

Here are few picts from the 17th and 12th of this month.

first cold

Zoe has her first cold (yes, at 13months), and as a result, she cried harder than I've ever heard her... she was unconsolable after waking up about 10pm last night. We finally held her down and got some tylenol in her (I had the same cold 4 days ago.. and with it some very awful headaches, typically in the evening, so I felt for her). It took some time, lots of cuddling, and patience, but she finally settled down. She woke up one more time that took another 15 minutes to settle her, and a few bouts of crying in her sleep. Now she just looks a bit sick (swollen eyes, nose draining) and tired (me too!).

Daddy = Everyone Not Mama; Mama is nameless

After thinking on it, I've discovered that Zoe never calls me mama, or mommy, or anything (well, except that special scream she has when someone not mama has her)... further, she knows who Daddy is (sees picture, points at the real thing) and calls him Daddy... well, and sometimes calls Anna (her nanny) Daddy too..

So, Daddy = Everyone Not Mama; Mama is nameless

ahh.. she's learning...

A few notes about Zoe now.. it is strange how much of them surprise, yet don't surprise me if I think about it. She is learning to communicate, and pretty much throughly understands us.. like "come over here and I'll take off your jacket" or "shoes first before you go outside".. and she understands you and reacts the way you'd think. At first you're surprised because she does react as expected, then you're like, well, she should, she is a little human afterall.

She now reacts to hearing airplanes and looks up for them (and usually spots them).. if the weather ever works out, perhaps we will go watch the float planes take off and land (I saw a posting on it on the UVic parents list).

I bought her some of those wood puzzles by "Melissa and Doug".. one with sounds, one that is just really pretty.

We had a first (and Zoe's real first) Canadian Thanksgiving.. at Jim and Debra's, a friend of Bruce's from swimming.. they were fabulous, we had a great time. Zoe loved playing with their Fisher Price Ferry set (from their kids.. 30 yrs old).. I need to find a few more of those old sets for her.. they are fabulous toys.

Zoe's favoriate books are "I love you as much" and "Freight Train" (the last of which surprises me).. We read about 10 books before bed every night, so I bought a few more and we'll see how they go.

Well.. she's awake.. gotta get her before she jumps out of bed.

climbed (fell) out of the crib

Thursday/Friday night, Zoë woke up crying at 4:30am and would not go back to bed.. we stayed up and watched cartoons until 6am then I put her back in bed.

It is tooth pain again.. I think she is getting all 4 top teeth. Ever since we've been keeping her on either infant tylenol or this homopathic stuff.. guess what the top ingredient is.. Belladonna! But it works much faster than tylenol and was recommended by every mom who has used it (and my pharmacist with the qualifier that she is not a doctor).

Zoe woke back up at 8:30am, and I left her in her bed for a while (she hadn't cried yet, just making noise playing).. until the big crash... I ran in, she was lying spread eagle on the floor, and started to cry when she saw me.. I felt so bad.. she fell/climbed out of crib.. I thought the bump would be on the back of her head, but it was on the same front corner of her head from last week... the bump was huge! So now I'm more cautious with leaving her awake in her crib.. and I put the memory foam mattress from our apartment days on the floor in front of her crib.
(which she now loves to play on.. sooo soft).

Happy Birthday Nana!

Zoe's love to Nana who is celebrating her birthday today! Wish we were there to eat cake with you.

I see Daddy!

wiping hands

we were outside and Zoe was playing in the wet grass and Zoe was a little upset that blades of grass were sticking to her palm, and she looked at me with "get this off", so I told her she should wipe her hands on her pants, and showed her on my own pants. Then wiped her hands on my pants. Then she got them wet again, and wiped them on my pants (Repeat at least one more time ;)

Climber Gooch

Zoe is perfecting climbing.. without aid, she climbed on top of our bed this morning.. she scaled the neighbor's couch.. she can easily stand on her riding toy and loves to climb on top of wastepaper baskets.

(and it scares the daylights out of her parents!)

Riding a "bike"

Zoe's latest favorite thing is to ride her little 4 wheeled "bike" while being pulled around... next we will have to buy her a big wheel (or so her Daddy says).

Are you reading this?

Hi, I'm curious to see who is reading this.. please post a short comment (to Zoe of course) so some day she'll know who was tracking her ;)

New Car seat

I finally bought a new car seat for Zoe.. she is going to be out of her infant seat and facing forwards! I really should have done it about a month ago... her poor little legs were getting cramped.

Zoe is very proficient at putting change in her piggy bank.. last night (the night she refused to go to sleep.. it took a 10pm car ride by dad to get her to sleep).. but before the night night ride, she ran back and forth about 20 times, from dad to the bank to me she loved it.. so much fun watching her just run about.

We have a new nanny starting on Monday and are very excited (Anna)... although Zoe was just starting to bond with Vicky, I think she will very quickly like Anna (she's 40-something, has an 11 year old daughter, and has nanny'd since she was 18).

Oh, and the day I'd rather forget: wednesday.. I was playing with Zoe before her nap and I headed to work.. we went up to the resevoir behind our house (its all cemented and lawned over.. I thought it would be a good place for her to run around).. she was running around in our front yard, then the neighbors front yard, and the other neighbors, I couldn't get her off of their steps.. so we went up the reservoir... well she played well, in the rocks, grabbing moss, then just bolted off the edge (about 8").. rolled an got a good knock on her head.. I was so worried, almost skipped my meetings.. but Bruce talked me down.. she was fine.. didn't pass out or throw up (which was the same questions the Nanny asked when I told her to watch her and her eyes carefully over the day).. so she survived that one, just to get a purple bruise on the other side of her head after dinner when she was doing the same crazy running around.. I was done.. I wanted to lock the two of us up in padded cell... it was more knocks on the head than one baby or mama should take.

She is now getting unruly at resturaunts.. we went to Earl's .. this kind of bar/resturaunt that has college girls in small black skirts and white shirts with tons of makeup.. trying to look all NY run way.. always interesting to watch how different girls "do it up".. anyway Zoe found this ramp and stairs which she could circle about 10 times.. and did.. we ate in shifts.. it was hard to hold her back.

ah, tonight we eat at home.

piggy

A cute Zoe story: She has this piggy bank and loves to put coins in... I was trying to distract or rather reorient her from a visiting playmate's (Moritz, 9months old) cup, and gave her a coin to put in her piggy bank.. well the closest piggy as the little piggy that comes with the farm set she received for her birthday.. she picked up the little piggy (just a bit bigger than the coin) and gave me this weird look..
so cute.. but its good to know that she understands "piggy"... she then happily went over to the piggy bank.

trash...

Zoe's new fascination is trash... but it is starting to be productive.. she loves to throw it away.. this includes her diapers, bits of toilet paper she has pulled off the roll, things from the yard.. and yes, those cigarette butts that everyone leaves lying around. The bad news is that she also puts other things in the trash cans and has learned to open everyone of our trash cans (even her diaper one, which requires foot petal action that I have not showed her or a very cleaver finger nail).

chasing deer

I came home a bit early, so Zoe & I played in the yard.. she chased a squirrel up a tree and three deer off the neighbor's property ;)

slides...

Did I mention how much Zoe loves to go down the slide? (and that she hates swings!)..
we were at the ferry terminal in Anacortes, and there is a ramp, and I didn't want her to play on the stairs, so I got her over to the ramp.. she walked part way down, then sat down and had the look: "Wow..a giant slide" and proceeded to scoot her way down the ramp (well.. tried, with the non-slip grip stuff on the ramp, it didn't work very well).

Speaking of slides, in the Alderwood Mall (in Lynnwood, a suburb of Seatle) there is a fabulous
kid play area, which has all of these very moldable, soft, yet, plasticy slides and climbing pieces.. (pics coming soon)

First year mark!

So much has happened all at once. Zoë turned one on Wed.. September 5th 7:58am CST.

We had her party the Saturday before. Lots of neighbors came and friends from work. She was spoiled as usual with lovely gifts such as: a cat that looks like mischief from Betty and Bob Long; her buddy (the grand-daughter of the neighbor that is moving next month) played with her all day and gave her a book where you find the dog on every page; Julie, James and their 5mo. old gave her a book on the park where you slide and turn everything.. she's starting to get the hang of it; Tiffany, George and 13 month old Panos gave her wooden stacking rings, and a duck security blanket; Rachel (and Sven) spoiled her as usual with toys like My Little Sea Ponies book and 3 dolls, 3 (or 4?) cat like rubber duckies, a ninja rubber ducky, a pirate rubber ducky, and the pirate's mate rubber ducky, as well as a cat with magnets for sticking to the fridge; Isabel (her adopted grandma/auntie from work) gave her the cutest bath robe with flower petals that go around the face.. she wore it like a cape (with it pulled over her eyes) and walked around.. I have video.. I laughed quite hard; Pam, Mike and the boys from across the street gave her the book "Each Peach Pear Plum";

More Zoë tid-bits: last week her new thing in the morning is to pull up her shirt and rub and look at it in the mirrors.. so cute.

last night: we usually dip our fingers in drinks (like beer) when she begs to have some... she will now motion that she wants to try something by pointing her finger and then sticking it in her mouth; last night, we had constructed our "monkey nest" of bing bags and were cuddling with her in the middle, and she pulled up her dad's shirt, stuck her finger in his belly button and then to her mouth.. that was so, so funny (sounds weird, but it was so cute).

we've had two days of the Nanny: Vicky from Venezuela.. we love, love, love her and are trying to persuade her to stick around (but I think she has a better offer for higher pay and more hours) ... hard to compete. The typical crying happens, which hurts me greatly, but Vicky says she recovers okay.. Vicky is really good at distracting her and plays with her all day. The first day was kind of rough, I had to leave while she was sleeping.. I told Vicky to call me when she woke... she did and Zoe was crying so hard.. I biked home, by the time I got here.. Vicky had distracted her and she was mostly okay.. we spent 20 minutes with her on my chest, snuggly, and then she started playing with Vicky again.. I worked downstairs and they went and played upstairs for 1 hour.

The next day went better.. Vicky got her down for a nap, a little crying when I left, and after her nap, but mostly she loves Vicky and will go back to her for play and cuddles (even when I'm around).

bday invite

me and my girl

Just a little update on Zoë. She is now very adapt at drinking through a straw (however she will just keep drinking and let the overflow seep out of her mouth if you let her).

She is almost used to crawling down stairs backwards and feet first.. I can see her thinking about it, where as before, she would just step off. (Nana worked with her a lot).

She loves brushes: make-up brushes, hair brushes, tooth brushes, and brooms.

She also loves to push around objects much bigger than her.

Birthday: dry (and wet) run

Because Grandpa and Nana won't be here for her birthday, but are here now with presents in tow, we had a practice run at Zoe's birthday yesterday. I made a cake (from a package: lemon with creamcheese frosting) and iced and decorated it myself.. I can say, it turned out pretty well..



First we started with presents.. From Auntie Rebecca she received a cabage patch newborn babie.. so cute.. so loved, loved, loved it.. kissing it, sucking on its bald little head, etc.


Uncle Hang gave her this crazy hippo, which she also loves (I can't say I think it is pretty, but Zoe loves to "ride" it and cuddle it.. and its crazy colors will match her room).










From Grandpa and Nana she received the Fisher Price Farm set, with lots of cute little animals and people to add to it from Auntie Carrie. She's had a grand time openning the doors, pushing the animals around, etc. She also received a plastic piggy bank and is completely able to put the coins in herself, but then frets (a mild term for her screaming) over where the coins go.

Then it was cake time: we gave her the whole top to do with what she wanted, but we must have fed her too much dinner, she wasn't interested in eating it, but got both hands in and good and covered in icing.






For her real birthday, I will do things a little different, and make the cake after she goes to bed, so it too will be a surprise (she saw us making it because she woke up early from her nap).

Slide!

I'm sure the picture will say it all, (which I will put up as soon as I download the pics from my mom's camera)... but Zoe went down a tube slide at the waterpark all by herself today.. she and Nana were so tickled.. we did it about 5 times, me at the top, letting her go (hard to do by the way.. having to trust your child to a plastic tube), and Nana at the bottom to catch her.. so cute!


















Zoe is also fearless when it comes to the water, and went head first into the sprinklers, getting her face wet multiple times.. it was very, very cute.









Today we faced major teething pain and are now on a every 4 hour tylenol cycle to keep Zoe content... speaking of which.. time to go give her more. oh, and I was wrong, not just one tooth on the bottom, but both, are coming in!

one nap a day?

I think Zoe is shifting to a one nap a day schedule.. she gets up about 7:30 or 8am, then has started napping around 11 or 12 for two hours.. sometimes she takes a nap again around 5pm, but tonight she made it until 7:30pm and is now peacefully asleep in her crib.

pushing and pulling

Zoe's favorite new thing: to push and pull objects.. while waiting for the flight home, she grabbed the purple bag (which I fill with toys and books for her) and dragged it about 10 feet away, then it kind of got stuck, and she kept dragging it in a circle.. very cute. She's now pushed and pulled a resturant chair (which resulted in a guy from a nearby table saving her from a bonk as it nearly toppled over), and at home with a small garbage can and empty kitty litter container.

first tooth! and Siggraph in review

Zoë's first tooth has finally made an appearance... well, what I mean is that I can feel its sharp bumpiness... but we can't get her to grin and show it yet. (its the bottom front left one).. the ones on top and the front bottom right one are close too.

More updates: we just returned from a week in San Diego at Zoe's first SIGGRAPH.. she even has a badge with her name on it. (which is why we haven't posted anything in a while).
During our trip to San Diego, Zoe & I went to the Hotel Del Coronado... with some of the prettiest sand I've ever seen (only rivaled by Siesta Key, FL).. the sand appeared to have flakes of gold.. maybe the picture will show it, I doubt it though. Of course, Zoe found a 5 year old to play with.. the girl wasn't very keen on sharing her bucket, but her mom persisted and after half an hour and a small bribe from me (an very tiny, whole sand-dollar).. they warmed up, traded toys, and played in the sand.

We also went to the San Diego Zoo, where we received a personal tour (Sam's uncle Don) of the reptile exhibit.. Zoe slept through all of that.. but Bruce, Sam and I loved it. The only animal I remember Zoe really interacting with (ie intently watching and calling after) was a hyena... it was grooming itself, chewing on its paws.. it was amazingly beautiful.. very fuzzy.. Zoe call it "doggy" and "Molly".

pictures soon.

teddy bears and toys...

Zoë now gets stars in her eyes when we get near the toy section in a store.. we went to Winners, the Canadian TJ Max, and Zoe had a ball piling up the toys she wanted or liked. Of course, her father is just as bad, and as a result, she now has 160 faux wood (foam) blocks... much fun to be had there. She also fell in love with a teddy bear as tall as her.. I couldn't resist.. it is a Russ. She carried it all over the store, when she tripped, she fell on it; She also laid down on it as if to sleep on her new pillow, she calls it "baby" which from her sounds like "dadee".. it was so cute... I'll get a picture. She carried it around the house tonight until she was banging into our front room chairs and now has a bruise on top of her bruise from last night.

Bath Time

In going thru this month's pics, I found some great bath time photos. Zoe loves her sponge, and loves to have it jammed all the way in her mouth, freeing up both hands.


She also loves to drink, from a cup, the sponge, and even the faucet.

zoë and isabella

Zoë spent the weekend playing with her new friend Isabella who lives in St. Louis (parents: Cindy Grimm and Bill Smart, both CS Professors). Initially, it was kind of a challenge for the parents to ensure nice playing, since Zoë's favorite position is standing up and patting Isabella's head, while Isabella preferred to sit; but by the end of the visit, they were trading favorite toys (mostly nicely); only when Isabella tried to take Zoë's binkie did Zoe strongly protest. They enjoyed splashing baths together and synchronized naps in the car too.


They look forward to their reunion at SIGGRAPH.

updates...visit to Redmond

Ummm.... unlimited free beverages...

Zoë has now attended another conference, with Rachel Gold (her best buddy) watching her... She cried every time Rachel went away, as she does with Bruce & I.


Pictured here is Zoe and Rachel.. and a computer.. which ended up with a missing key that Rachel carefully put back ;)

She has re-learned to roll-over, doing about 5 turns in a row like I remember doing down grassy hills as a kid. She also has learned to grab door frames or railings when needed to cross raised thresholds, or go upstairs. For about 2 weeks, she has refused to crawl, even when going up stairs where she will do it on 4 straightened limbs, just to freak me out I swear. No luck on the going down. She still believes either someone will catch her, or provide a hand when she needs it.

she now calls all animals "Molly".. so cute.

Almost saw Harry Potter

We (Zoë and I) almost saw Harry Potter tonight. Dad's idea... I wanted it to work, but knew it wouldn't. She wanted to play, march the isle, touch the little kids watching the show.. We lasted 1 hour, sitting on the floor of the front row, eating munchies, while she moved from carpeted area to slick cement, until she wasn't sure on her feet anymore.. then we came home. Leaving Bruce, Jan, Sven and Yolanda at the movies.

I just decided I'd rather see the movie for real, and Zoe wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. Ah well, worth a try.

New Word: Molly

Okay, I wasn't expecting this.. but Zoë's next word is "Molly".. the name of her kitty.

I was walking around the house with her on my hip, looking for her shoes, to go the grocery store, and I started calling out to the shoes, "Shoes, Where are you".. over and over, and Zoë suddenly said, "Molly" .. in her best kitty calling voice.. I thought, Bruce will never believe me. Upon finding her shoes, we went downstairs where Bruce was waiting, I told him and we asked Zoe to call Molly.. she did three times.. perfectly clear.

Words: Kittie and Baby

Zoë can now pretty clearly say what I recognize as "kitty" and "baby"... I've also heard her use "dada" to refer to Dad (and rarely to refer to other men); and of course "mama" when I'm out of ear shot and she screams for me. She also has said "doggy", as well as "bunny" and possibly "ducky", but far less often.

Back to "baby"... "baby" and the pointing gesture happen every morning when she wants to see the three 8x10 photos of her on my dresser.. she points to each of them in turn and looks with the wonder and happiness only a baby can have, as she gazes on her pictures.

I finally tried to hang the pictures up today.. but as it turns out, hammering scares the living daylights out of a little girl.. I got 5 nails in the wall, 3 while the screaming got progressively worse (yes, it takes a while to figure out an infant), and 2 while holding her (that I wouldn't recommend), she buried her head in my chest the whole time.

Babies everywhere

Zoë is close in age to several babies (with parents who are friends with her mom and dad); I thought I'd list them (and their links) so it will be easier for me to keep tabs on them. ;)

Panos Tzanetakis (August 6th)
Gabrielle Jarrett (August 22, 2006, 6lbs, 8oz)
Henry Benjamin Watson (Sept 5th, 7lbs 7oz,) (Same day as Zoë!)
Evan Weinstein (Sept 13th, 4pounds 9 ounces)
Eda Defne Memik (September 26)
Isabella Rae Smart (Nov 17th, 7lbs 12 oz)


(Note: If I get any of this info wrong, let me know.. I'm crawing my mail box and interpolating)

Here are some pics I took on 07.05.07 (yes, we've been experimenting with hair ties)

new babble

Zoë has found use of her tongue in her babbling, the result is very sweet:
(heard here only a small bit, but she added a clap too)




Walking around the room with a toy:



I put all of her toys in a bin... today she emptied it out and sat in it (on her own):



Watching cartoons:



oh, and a side effect of blogging with Zoë in the room, my "h" key is now tilted and partially broken.

Beach Babe

We took Zoe to the beach for the first time since she's started walking, and silly us, thinking she'd just like to play in the sand and find rocks and sticks... no.. she made a bee-line for the water. I barely had time to get her out of her pants and shoes/socks, not to mention removing my own shoes. Then I noticed her sleeves were getting very wet, so I started to take off her shirt, and noticed her onesie was also getting wet, so we stripped her down to her diaper.. She had such a ball playing in the ocean.. it was a sandy beach (Cadboro Bay), very shallow, full of seaweed.. lots of things to grab, and surprising warm for ocean water. When she started getting cold, we pulled her out, wrapped a diaperless baby in my sweater, and went to the car to change her (yes, she was screaming, a scream that roughly translates to "put me down"). I'll have to be more prepared in the future.. We spent another hour or so back higher on the beach, playing in the sand, where she proceeded to find all of the char'd logs.. she slept well on the way back from the beach. Of course, it all happened so fast, there are no pictures. Next time.

Videos at nearly 10 months

With a bit of spare time on my hands and a playful Zoe in our TV room, I've captured some new videos:

Temporary bout of sleepy eye awakened by seeing herself on the computer:


Zoe has now taken to carying around soft objects like stuffed animals (she was carrying around the doll that Nana gave her just seconds before.. the same doll that spent about 5 minutes in her mouth as she walked around hands free ;)



A tired Zoe.. hanging out near the bing bags...



Zoe playing with a ball:

Teething... a mystery

Ever since Zoe was 3 months old, I've thought, hey, maybe she's teething... mostly because everytime anyone sees Zoe drooling, or chewing on something, they say she must be teething.. at almost 10 months, she has no teeth. I think the drooling thing until she was about 6 months old, was just about her learning to swallow it (I read that somewhere, but in only one of the books I saw, it should have been in all of them).. She occasionally has these unexplainable boughts of crying and fussing, which are either belly pain or teething pain, but still no teeth. It is a great mystery ;)

Baby-proofing

I'm not sure how many of these kid gates I should buy.. our house has a sunken living room, a stone fireplace and a wrought iron railing, each with their own special element of danger.

Last night we had our first dinner party, Werner from Vienna was in town and stayed with us, so we had Shawna (Brian's wife), Sven, Rachel and Jan over. It went well.. Zoe had the opportunity to play in the frontroom where she never spends anytime... but it means someone has to be constantly over her, due to the two steps into and out of the sunken frontroom.
She still doesn't want to go down the steps backwards, feet first; she'd prefer to just hold someone's hand and go for it, or alternatively, just go for it herself.

So the debate is, 3 gates or 4? Fixed or removable? It would take so long to explain which ones.. part of the trouble is the opening are wide.. its about $150 for the large openings.


Well.. speaking of trouble.. Zoe is awake (yes, 2nd nap went late, 5:30pm) and although she is playing well by herself in her crib (which I'm very grateful for.. she likes to play in her crib), I should go get her and get some dinner on.

Throwing a fit...

Ah, the problem with having a brilliant child who is ahead of the game is that she is also very head strong, and know what she wants. She has now perfected throwing a fit.. she hangs her head back and wails... I should get it on tape. So I've started this thing where I mock her (hang my head back and say "waahhh".. she finds it hilarious, and sometimes it will get her out of her funk.. but about half the time she just goes back to where she was, typically trying to get the thing (pen, paper, etc.) I took from her.

The other thing she has started doing, is that when her dad leaves and shuts a door, she bawls, throwing her head back, like someone pinched her hard or stollen something of hers. She has now done this at home (this morning) and in my office (twice just today). She also did it once this morning when the door between the bedrooms and kitchen/frontroom/diningroom was shut.. she cried as though I had locked her in .. I couldn't tell whether she though I was on the other side or not.. she was quite overwhelmed and hard to console.

rocking and cartoons

Yesterday Zoe learned that if she shifted her weight just right, she could make her high chair rock like her exersaucer.. she was eating strawberries that her dad bought her.. she loves, loves, loves them.

This morning Zoe woke up at 6:30, we usually get to sleep in until at least 7:00 or 7:30.. so we played for a bit with the toys in our bedroom, then headed to the shower. Previous mornings, I put her in her bath tub, sitting in the bottom of the shower, and then I sit next to her and shower myself. Today I decided just to shower and let her play with her toys outside the shower within the confines of the bathroom.. but that didn't last long, she wanted to be playing with the water. So I ended up holding her in the shower... I think the shower kind of scares her, she get really quiet, but she does sort of enjoy it too (but would prefer her tub). Then we ate breakfast.. I usually give her cherios, while I make eggs, canadian bacon and toast. I make her a slice of meet, and a fried egg, then I peel of the whites and just feed her the yokes.. she loves it.. she also had stawberries (of course). Then another short bath in the sink to get the breakfast mess off, and add freshly clean (but not for long) clothes.. then we went to the tv room, and I turned it on.. cartoons came up.. she was instantly hypnotized.. but she was also very tired.. she sat on my lap and we watched about 10 minutes worth before she fell asleep.. so cute... I need to record Seseme street on the PVR.. we should start watching some. (if Dad has anything to do with it, we'll also find teletubies!)

New photos online

I've finally updated:

zoegooch.shutterfly.com

type in

preciousZoe

when it ask for the security phrase.

Shameflully, the new ones go all the way back to March.

climber..

Zoë's new fascination is climbing.. she loves to climb up the front of her stroller, she climbs the restaurant high chairs....

We finally went for a hike while in Banff, and stopped for a feeding, after which she climbed up a stack of logs (where her dad was sitting).







The day's events also included Zoë and her dad spending several hours together while I chaired a session at the conference... he has been really good at trading off with me at the conference.. it is a hard thing having both of us in the same area.

That hike nearly took it out of all of us.. we had to carry Zoë all the way... she's about 20 lbs and wiggly! Zoë was asleep by 8:10, I feel like I'm not far behind
.. just toying with the idea of getting presentable after my post-hike shower and joining the werewolf game down the hall...

sleeping..

This post has been edited to keep it about me and no one else.... it is after all about me, and no one else.

Here is one post, which is sort of just a dump from the mom on being mom.... here I am, 9pm at night, sitting on the "veranda" of our sort of hotel, baby monitor at my lapel, watching a ferret /mink run along the nearby stone wall, staring at the gorgeous mountains at Banff, gondolas in the distance, waiting for that illusive bigger wild animal to just stroll by, me...alone; At 8pm I'm in the small dorm-like room to bathe and put Zoe to bed, wishing I had the time or energy to go hiking, exploring, even swimming at the pool... not to mention that I forgot to bring either a swimming suit for either of us or a backpack to put Zoë in for a hike. Being a mom is a thankless and isolating job.. its not that I regret it, or that I'm not rewarded by the cuddling baby, who comes to me when she's happy, or sad, or scared... but that is not very reassuring when alone with a sleeping baby, who at any moment could startle awake and you are the only one who can put her back to sleep...

I'm not sure I really want to post this last topic that is on my mind for some time now, afraid of what people will think, but writing has always made me feel better.. oh what the heck...On the topic of sleeping, although Zoe does pretty well, with the twice nightly wakings for a quick suckle (and a long one at 7am), it did take me forever to figure out that the nights when she was waking up and screaming, and wouldn't go back to bed except at my side was mostly due to being afraid of the dark.. a nightlight has fixed that one. I felt so relieved that I hadn't listened to all of the pressure from everyone (ie anyone I talk to) who has anything to say on how you and your baby should spend your nights about the crying to sleep method... with fear of the dark, it would never have worked. I've got to stop reading those stupid baby books... "Your child should sleep through the night now, let them cry it out or you'll regret it".. really? Did you know that "sleeping through the night" is 5 hours straight according to some book I read.. only saw that in one of the books.. what else do they conviently leave out of the other books?
I think the nightlight thing could have slipped right past us, I think that would do more damage. I've decided that parenting of my own sort without the knowledge (ie stress and should-of-s) of those books seems to fit better.. reading and getting advice just makes me doubt myself, I feel awful... parenting is stressful enough. So -- no --even though you have a strong opinion on parenting, I don't think I want to hear it. I feel so snipey by saying so, but sometime my skin gets too thin.

Conference girl

Zoë is now attending her third conference... Computational Aesthetics. Well, Mom & Dad are trading off watching Zoë as she explores the Banff Center campus. (Her first conference was actually the GraphVic Workshop, the second I3D in Seattle, next up: SIGGRAPH!).

Zoë is a good traveler.. she did well on all of our flights of late (Chicago last week, Calgary this week).. typically sleeping for at least 2 hours (to Banff she slept on the 2 hour shuttle ride from the Calgary airport).

Banff is beautiful.. the mountains (strange that they are part of the Rockies that I grew up within) are higher and steeper than any I've seen.. pictures to follow soon.

Update on Zoe toys....
her favorite toy: books or stacking cups (similar to this)
her favorite books (they have fuzzy bits and cute animals): Peakaboo Kisses and Puppy Love

Yesterday I saw for one "first": Zoë putting thing back where they belong.. she has always been a "unpacker"... pulling things out of bins and throwing them over her shoulder. Last night she was playing with a News Stand, throwing papers out.. but then she tried to put them back... Newspapers today, cleaning the house tomorrow (yeah, right.. a Mom can hope).

Mirror baby...

Pointing... and animals

I forgot to add the other thing that Zoë learned when she was about 8.5 months old.. she starting pointing at objects. She now points as we stroll.. when she sees bunnies, ducks and especially dogs, she points, and screams (as though the dog must hear that and come running towards Zoë, instead of what they usually do [run the other way]). It is so cute. I also have it on tape where I swear she said something that sounded like "bunny" when we were bunny hunting (there are bunnies all over campus).

The other part of the pointing, if the puppy goes out of sight (and occasionally bunnies), she screams like someone has pinched her. In one instance, she cried for two blocks, until I was able to distract her.

Speaking of being on animal watch...
Today we saw a huge grey owl grab one of the baby bunnies on campus. (yes, at 1pm, in the middle of the day).

We also have 3 deers in our neighborhood.. Bruce saw them this morning on his way to campus.

And I've seen a raccoon in the backyard scaling the pine trees.

Zoë walks!

Zoë has nearly perfected walking more than a few steps at a time. At the beginning of the week, she would just walk about 2 adult strides worth, between pieces of furniture.. but she will now cross the TV room, cross the kitchen, cross Home Depot Isle.. etc. I'll grab some footage tomorrow.

I also forgot to add that during our trip to SLC, she learned to shake her head and use spoons or sticks as tools (to smoosh cherios, dig, etc.).

Her current favorite car toy: Happy Baby Colors (Board book)

Zoe climbing...

I tried to capture Zoe the climber, she was trying to get up on the shelf in my office... but then she saw herself on the computer.. and starting coming over.

Pics at almost 9months

Wedding... family..

Below is a collage of pictures from the wedding of Rebecca and Hang. It was quite a festive occasion... the place (Franck's) was fabulous, the weather couldn't have been better (okay, picky people might have said it started off a bit warm), the people had great fun (Conga line, YMCA) and the wedding couple seemed happy (Lady and the Tramp-like cake exchange.. so cute!). Everyone looked beautiful.




(the man in the yellow hat is Zoe's uncle Jeff leading the crowd in YMCA!) ;)

update long over due

We stayed at Amy's parent's house (Nana and Grandpa); Nana assembled a rocking horse for Zoe to play on... she loved it!













In SLC, we went to the Zoo for the first time with Zoe. [pictured here with her cousins Brooke (5 yrs) and Barton (7yrs)]












Well, in the time we were in Salt Lake City for my sister's wedding (9 days), Zoe perfected clapping, standing up on her own (from sitting on the floor, no support), and walked a few more steps.. she still prefers for you to hold her hand while she walks. She also has learned to crawl under things (tables, chairs) and now has a new favorite toy: the Fisher Price Crawl'N Cruise which we bought at a second hand store.


























We've moved into our house, Zoe has her own room (which she sleeps in about 85% of the time (until 4am when she refuses to lay back down). We still live in box-ville, but we are starting feel like progress is being made.

Zoë also is really clearly saying kitty and I think doggy is close too.

more on the wedding next...

Zoe loves to read

Zoe's Dad wants us to mention that he taught (much to Mom's protests) Zoe to take of "her confirmation socks" (really her baptism socks --from Mikah and Tice--, but Bruce isn't up on the finer points of Catholic Education). Also, that Zoe's other favorite toy is a credit card.

but I started this entry to comment on how much Zoe loves to be read to. Her current favorite books (the first two from her good friend Rachel Gold):

Jamberry

Babies

Goodnight moon

Brown Bear what do you see

usually we pick a book and read it three times in a row; she turns the pages herself.

Also, now that we finally have the contents of our house, Zoe has finally been able to ride facing forward in the stroller that Hila gave us.. she loves to finally be able to look forward. As soon as I get my act together, I'll take pictures.

Two steps!

Zoe walked two steps at a time, no holding, three different times today..she also did an in-place 360 degree step around holding nothing (about 4 steps)... always in the dining room at our new house.

Happy Mother's Day!

hey, continuity please..

The coolest thing (from the scientist in me).. there is this blue structure with a red button part in the center on Zoë's stroller, she was just checking it from both sides, trying to figure out why there wasn't a red button part on the inside... Looking at the outside, feeling it, looking at the inside, back and forth... she was looking for engineering continuity.. very smart girl ;) (proud mama moment).

dah!

Zoë has perfected mamamamamma and dadadadada, but today on the way to lunch I was walking out the door of our office building, up the ramp, her dad was at the top of the stairs, we passed him and took off down the path, she screamed "Dah!" "Dah!"... She was calling to him. It was the most distinct yet.

Zoë Lists: Favorite non-toy toys

I've been gathering a few lists about Zoë, and I just recorded a related video, so I'm listing the first one here,

Her favorite non-toy toys

1. Cliff bar wrappers*

2. Socks**

3. Wires***

4. newspaper and paper napkins ****

5. pens *****

6. phone ^

7. Remote Control

8. Keys #


* Cliff bar wrappers are nearly indestructible and put up with sucking, as well as make a lot of noise

** Luckily, she likes the socks that are not on her feet, usually the ones from the previous night that have not made it to the laundry; Dad tried to teach her to play with her socks on her feet.. Mom quickly curtailed that one!

*** Wires she doesn't get often, and not for long.. we aren't really bad parents, really



**** Really, anything that shreds and tears apart

*****(pictures from 03.27.07; Diaper wipes take off pen too!)

^ (well, ran out of stars) Of course one of her old favorites is mom's Motorola Pebl Cell phone (it is pink afterall), she used to teeth on it, but I had to stop that (yes, the phone died for some unconnected reason, or so I told Fido)

# yes, the actual metal, not the key chain...crazy

girly voice on record

Zoë has the cutest girly voice... two samples provided below.

animal lover

We were invited to dinner at Paul Lalonde and his wife Shawna's house; they have an enormous chocolate lab named Cailou (spelling may be off)... Zoë has always loved the dogs we passed in the park, and has a special scream for them, but this is the first one she's been able to chase and pet and talk to at length.. she loved it. The dog gave her lots of kisses, perhaps more than a mom would like, especially on the ears, and Zoë just went back for more.. it was hilarious. We were often pulling the two of them apart, which made Cailou talk back and that made Zoë laugh harder and longer than I've heard her laugh in a very long time. I'm really looking forward to having her around the dogs in Utah, it will be a treat to watch.

so this morning, after all of Zoë's animal interactions of last night, she and Mischief (our white cat) also had some interactions, for about 1 minute.. the longest yet.. Zoë pulled hair, Mischief put up with it (I think he thinks that since she has an aposable thumb, he might be able to get her to feed him). She is now so blazè about the cats, Molly always wants her attention and rarely gets it.

Also new on the Zoë can do list: feeding herself.. this morning she nearly mastered piping in the Cherios.. several methodologies were used... picking them up with thumb and forefinger, then using the other hand (left) to refine the placement... then there is the sticky method, where Cherios just start to stick and can be licked off fingers and palms.

babble, babble

Zoë has started to babble like a little girl.. she has this high pitched (very baby girly) voice.. it is adorable. I have yet to get it recorded, she doesn't do it very often. It sounds almost like a conversation.

We gave her a bath tonight, she's always loved sucking on the sponge (since she was old enough to sit up, ~March); but tonight, she stuffed it in as far as she could, then used both hands to gather up her toys.. I tried to get a pic, but she wanted out before I got the camera.

One other too cute thing, she's now just tall enough to peak over the side of the couch, reminds me of Jack Rutstein at just over a year old when he used to say "hi" out his window.

new house!

Well, on Friday at 5:15pm we finally got the okay, it is all done, we are the proud owners of a new house.. Zoë will finally have her own room. We've spent the last two days prepping and painting. Zoë is a real trouper to be around all of this stuff and mostly stay out of mischief.

We also had a visit from Ben Watson.. he's the proud Dad of Henry, who is the same age to the day as Zoë. All of us are heading to I3D Conference in Seattle tonight on the Victoria Clipper at 6pm; we'll be gone until Thursday, then back at the house for more painting. Our Furniture arrives on May 11th.

In the "what is Zoë doing now" news.. she's learning to clap.. up until now, she just rubs her hands together as if she is shaking off the mud.. last night at dinner, she actually clapped with Ben. She has also perfected cruising.. she could decide to walk on her own any time now...

more news from Seattle later...

step, step,...

Zoë took her first step without holding on today.. yes, it was just a little one.. from holding onto the bed, to my hand, while I was sorting laundry and not really looking. She is standing more steadily on her own for 20 seconds or so.. stronger by the day. I also had to raise the "exersaucer" up a notch.. she is getting taller by the day. I'll try to add a recent picture later.

Oh, and I think she is teething.. if not, she is very not herself for some unknown reason; one minute she is fine, the next crying, whining, wanting to be held. On again, off again.

Cruisin' Zoë

Zoë has started cruising.. that is walking along things like the couch. She did it for the first time two days ago, when playing with me; then yesterday with her dad. I finally got her to do it "on demand" this morning.



She is also very good at standing by herself for 15 seconds or so and walks pretty well if you let her hold your fingers.

Laughing herself silly...

Zoë has spent the night laughing herself silly.. unfortunately I waited too long to capture it, she was much funnier about 30 minutes ago. She's also learned to blow raspberries on my leg and arm.. that cracks her up too! She also laughs harder if you laugh at her. You can tell she's been laughing hard.. her voice is getting hoarse.




Then I posted this video, and she sat and watched it 3 times through.

well.. back to laughing with my baby...

Zoë World Traveller

Zoë can now travel the world.. we went to Seattle this last week to take care of Bruce's I3D Conference Hotel set up and I made an appointment at the Seattle Passport Agency... our appointment was at 1pm, we waited until 1:45 to be seen, but then they said, "Come back at 3pm to pick up her passport".. I didn't believe it, but it worked.

Here is video of her passport.. (my testing this embedding of video).

sniffing....

Zoe's favorite new thing is sniffing. Last week, I tried to teach her to sniff flowers.. (also the baby-sign for flowers. One day later she just started doing it herself, although not linked to smelling flowers. Now she does it when she wants to talk to us, like when we are not feeding her Cherrios (her favorite food) fast enough. Yesterday, she started blowing (like the sniffing but with her mouth), similar to what you'd expect if she were blowing out a candle.