Merry Christmas!

Its Zoe's 2nd Christmas and it has gone well. We've really messed up her nap/sleep schedule but she is adapting well.

The first few days of our Christmas vacation were spent at Nana and Grandpa's. There was one memorable evening where Zoe demonstrated her talents singing.. it started with the usual, "No don't do that" anytime anyone tried to join in (or she'd just stop singing).. but eventually she wanted a sing along, and wanted everyone to join in. She has mastered: "Frosty", "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer", "Mary had a little lamb", "Row, row..", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little star", The theme to Dora.

At the Gooches, she loved playing in Brooke's room.. (boy did they ransack it).. her favorite was the Dora toys, Polly Pocket, and baby doll stuff. When we get back I'll get her a doll stroller and bed. She is in love with the idea of snow, but not the coldness of it. But spent some time out playing in it.

Christmas Eve she enjoyed opening gifts at the Gooches, but very slowly, and eventually I think I opened a few. She was particularly in love with some of Brooke's toys.. in particular her Bath time Barbie and some other bath toys that Bruce got for Brooke.. there was a bit of cry-fest on that one.

It is now Christmas night and she was spoiled again by too many gifts, so many that it took several sessions to open them. Santa brought her the Rose Petal cottage, Baby alive doll with carrier, some videos, Mermaid Dora figure, My little pony, lots of candy, etc.
Other gifts include: Alive Elmo (took a little adjustment, but she is now a big fan)
A grocery cart, books, shoes, clothes, Dora book with iPod like device, Curious George doll.

Now it is 6pm and without a nap, she will not last more than 60 minutes more.. time to try to get some food in her.

singing all day

Zoe has been making up her own tune and singing it all day.. super cute.

Now she is playing at the sink, she's naked, shreking with laugher.. power water all over her naked self.

conversations with a two year old

"Zoe, please do not color on your place matt"
"NO, Mommy, don't say that. Listen"

minutes later I grab paper to write this ditty down and she wants it, I say no.
Daddy walks in

"Daddy, he will help me"
"Help you with what?"
"Paper, I need the paper"

Pirate Zoe

One night, Zoe decided to play dress up.. it was very cute!

Me and my friend Panos

Taken on Nov. 28th, 2008; The park where we played before Music class (Windsor Park)



Snacks after class, and then a cute little cuddle on a chair at Panos' house.

story...

Zoe told me a story this morning at breakfast.. I think unprovoked.. when I told her dad about it at dinner, she started to tell it again:
"Once upon a time, there was a girl; here name was Abby. She was crossing a bridge and she saw a crocodile. It went snap"

then the story repeats.

occasionally Abby falls in the lake.

;)

Dear Santa,
This year I have been a very, very good girl. I'm happy, always busy. My favorite things are singing and my new love is painting (I've always loved to color). I'm starting to perfect my own way of filling in shapes and have a great sense of color.

This year for Christmas I have a few things I would like:

• Art project book and coloring books, really anything I can doodle with
• Puzzles (I'm nearly bored with the ones I have)
• Movies (Disney cartoons/CG films (I have all the Pixar ones though, but am not excited about them) )
• Curious George Videos (George is a funny monkey, always very curious and he makes me giggle everytime I watch him)
• Thomas the Train set (my Auntie Heather is going to set me up with some of these)
• Leapster games (Mommy bought Dora the Camping one, but really I like the paint/drawing program that comes with the leapster more)
• barrets for my hair (okay, my mom wrote that one)
• baby doll stroller and bed
  

I promise to leave chocolate out for you this year (Mommy says that is your favorite and you get enough cookies already), and carrots for the reindeer.

Sincerely,

Zoë Serenity Gooch

What's his name?

Zoe's favorite thing after reading through a book and starting to go through it a second or third time (she loves to read things multiple times still).. is to ask: "What is his name?".. she will do this to every character (people, animals, etc.).. for every page.. the thing that gets me is that she remembers them! I'm developing quite a library of kids names.. not creative or anything, but able to give a name to any character ;)
She also is getting really good at differentiating between girls and boys.. and almost always gets ti right (for living and book characters).

singing girl

Last weekend we went to party, they pulled out the music and guitars (three of them) and started singing.. Zoe did not hesitate to list what songs she wanted to sing: Row, row your boat. followed by Mary had a little lamb... followed by Itsy Bitsy Spider.... she could have gone all night..

She now sings quite often... and has quite a memory.. I sang "Jingle bells" once, and she repeated it to Panos (just those words, but almost to the tune) one day later.

She can now sing the first few verses of "Frosty the snowman" and parts of "Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer"

it is not a tunnel.

I was putting laundry into the dryer, Zoe looked into and said,
"It is not a tunnel".

I thought, "why, you are right" (imagining that she now knows she does not need to crawl into it to find out where it goes).

getting taller

For the last month, Zoe has been using this box in the kitchen to stand on, to get into anything she wants.. she carried it around, puts it down where she needs it and stands on it. She can now get almost anything off all but a small region of the kitchen counter, including getting into the utility drawers (yes, scissors, tape, screwdrivers).. I need to re-baby-proof my house.. again.

She is also in love with stickers.. Nana sent her a bunch.. she put all of them on one hand (~10 smiley faces).

a few of Zoe's favorite phrases:

a few of Zoe's favorite phrases:

"Mommy, I was worried about you" (when I got out of the car to get us a spot at a resturant and she and Daddy parked the car).

"Ayúdeme" (spanish for "help me", phonetically sounds like "a-U-na-may")

"I'm stuck in the muck" (from Duck in the Truck books)


Recent Pictures:

waterpark break

We took a long weekend at the end of fall break and went to Great Wolf Lodge just south of Seattle.
We caught the 10:30am ferry out of Port Angeles.. the weather was okay, but the seas were rough.. Both Bruce and Zoe did not enjoy it.. in fact Bruce wanted to lie down.. Zoe was telling me that she was tired.. both of them fell asleep for the voyage... It was too early for Zoe's nap, I think she was just shutting down because she didn't like the motion sick feeling.

The drive from there was along highway 101.. it was beautiful!
Through the Olympic National Forest.. we quite enjoyed it. Zoe did so too, she got to watch endless episodes of Clifford. It took us about 3 hours to get to the hotel/waterpark.

The waterpark was fun, and there was an age appropriate area for Zoe.. we had fun until Saturday when all of the people showed up.. it was too crowded. I'm sure it would be a bunch more fun with a group of people or slightly older kids.

Durning this vacation, Zoe's favorite phrase was "I'm too young"... she was too young to sleep, too young to eat, too young to sit in the car.. it was funny.. she also came up with a tune for "no no no no no"... sort of like that thing kids do on the play ground when they are teasing some one "nah nanny nah nah".

new shows

Zoe is now branching out.. likes to watch a bunch of different shows. Currently she loves (and giggles so much during) Curious George (shown on PBS) and on our last road trip only watched Clifford (discs that she has turned her nose up at for more than 6 months). I think it is time to start her on the good old Disney cartoons. (Christmas presents?)

Speaking of Christmas presents, I'm thinking for her:

• Puzzles (she is getting really, really good at them)
• Movies (Disney cartoons/CG films (I have all the Pixar ones though) )
• Curious George Videos
  
• Thomas the Train set (but I'm asking Auntie Heather about their old one first)
• Leapster games (I bought Dora the Camping one, she could use a Diego one)

memories

It is amazing what Zoe remembers.

Out of the blue, she started searching her dress up clothes box

and when I asked her what she was looking for, she said, "looking for Dora treats"

and then looked in the mirror and said "Auntie Carrie has Dora Treats".

These are popsicles.. she had one....

last July.....

night terrors are back

Zoe didn't nap on the way back from our drive north, and as a result was much too tired when we put her to bed a 7:30. at 8:30 she woke up with the worst night terrors yet. I spent over 20 minutes trying to console a screaming baby, finally Bruce came up and we tried to do it together.. we tried things to wake her up, she was really still asleep, stuck in this terror rut... it just seemed to get worse. We just wanted to reset her and restart the sleep. Finally we took her downstairs to watch a Dora, but shock.. she didn't even want to watch that.. she said "Tired".. We took her back upstairs to our bed, I told her a Dora story (I have two "episodes" in my repertoire now).. and she fell back to sleep.

She had another night terror last night, but it was much shorter lived, and went away on her own (although I was cuddling her then too).

She does have a head cold, I don't know if that contributes to these or not. She's also been around too much arguing and I feel a little guilty about that too.

Salmon run (or how mean Mom and dad are that they won't let Zoe jump in the river)

Salmon run (or how mean Mom and dad are that they won't let Zoe jump in the river)...


We decided to break out of town and head up-island... not very far past Costco is Goldstream park.. which is now full of Salmon.. The Salmon migrate from the ocean, to return to the very spot in a river that they were born to. They pair up together (male/female), dig in the sand with their tails, female releases eggs, the male fertilizes them, they cover up the eggs, and then die shortly after in the river. We've never seen anything quite like it.. I'll put up videos soon.
These are 10-20 lbs fish.. lots of them, fin to fin, some in water not deep enough to swim in as they make their way upstream.

We wandered a bit more to find other streams, and sure enough, salmon in even the smallest of brookes... there were two teenagers walking (foolishly) through the streams, and Zoe thought that looked like great fun.. it took a lot of restraint to keep her from running in to. Eventually we just had to leave, the puddles and river looked like too much fun.

We then drove up to Nananimo.. 2 hours north of Victoria. The weather was not great, so we didn't explore the beaches.. just found dinner, a hotel overlooking the harbor, and then went to this fabulous Nananimo pool complex.. it had a great boat for Zoe to explore, a river pool, a wave pool, etc. The water wasn't quite warm enough... Zoe got tired, frustrated (she couldn't get the Diego ball for 30 minutes until the lifeguard fetched it down), and then was too cold to play (and wouldn't warm up in the hot tub).. it was a full day.

The next day we explore a pub for brunch, mall for toys and books... it was kind of strange, Nanamio is more up to date than Victoria, the shopping is much better, store better stocked.. just newer.

Friday a great day for puddle jumping

Last week (Thurs, Friday), we had about 36 hours of straight rain.. hadn't seen anything like it in Victoria yet.. Then on Friday, we headed out for our music class.. I successfully navigated Zoe past the puddles (in her puddle stompers) without her getting too wet. But the same can not be said about after class.. She ran through every puddle she could find and then despite the pouring rain, was determined to go the playground... did I mention deep puddles? Zoe headed straight for the puddles beneath the swings.. just a little at first, then out, then back in a little deeper.. not 5 minutes later she was running through them, the water much higher than her boots.. filling them up.. she'd leave the puddles and I could see the water sloshing out of her boots as she ran around.

I finally had to extricate her from the park, she was getting cold, I was getting wet (she was already way past wet).. as I'm carrying her like a 2x4, she kicks off her boots.. I pick them up, she managed to free a sock.. I got her in the car stripped off the wet, and went back to find the sock. We went to Tiffany's house, borrowed pants and socks.

Halloween

Zoe had a good time on Halloween.. she did nap late, so I ended up kind of waking her up at 4:30 when her friends showed up and she was not excited to get up, and liked it less that there were people in the house. But we made mummy hot dogs and sat the three little ones (Jeremy, Zoe and Panos) down to eat.

Everyone but Zoe really enjoyed the hot dogs.. Zoe only wanted to eat the dip (ketchup).

Then about 5:30, we took the kids out.
We went to about 15 houses in one hour and got bags full of candy... more than any two year old can eat.

I was dressed up as a pregnant cheerleader.. and unfortunately, the pictures of me did not turn out (lighting, blur).
But the pictures of the "Village People" did: Bruce, Zoe, Tiffany, and Panos.

The rest of the part that night (when the working Zombies showed up) went okay, probably not my best party.. I was so very tired, went to bed at 9:30.. leaving the party playing a board game. I've decided I'm too pregnant to host any more parties.

puzzles

Zoe is amazingly good at assembling puzzles now.. she received a really cool box of them for her birthday.. one duck of two pieces, another with three pieces, a crocodile with 4 pieces, and then two 6 piece puzzles..

Her dad also bought her a Diego Magnet one (about 12 pieces) that she is getting good at.. if you hand her two pieces that go together, she can line them up. Sometimes she does still try to put pieces in the wrong place, but she has the basic idea.

Dancing with my friend daddy

Zoe and her daddy started a new thing after bath.. they go to the mirror, Zoe in front, Bruce behind, and Zoe leads the dance. "Stomp like a dinosaur" and they prance in place.. "Clap for the dinosaur".. clapping... "Roar like a dinosaur"... shaking of heads and a loud "Roar"... repeat at least 3 times...
I tell Zoe, time to calm down and get ready for bed.. she responds: "No, I'm dancing with my friend Daddy".

ahhh.....

Zoe update

I'm not sure what to say about Zoe of late.. she is growing by leaps and bounds, is really self entertaining.. even when sick (sinus thing) and the hiccups (which she also has right now). She started out by telling me she has the hiccups by saying "just like Benny the Bull".. there is an episode (Hic-Boom-Oh) where Benny has the hiccups.. so cute.

She loves, loves stickers.. we go to the grocery store and she asks for her sticker...and knows which one she wants. Of course a trip to the grocery store always includes sampling.. an apple, a pepper, sometimes a carrot.

she is still a binky baby.. and further knows which one she wants.. not the silicon one (we have a half a dozen), but the brown nipple kind (I know where one is).. and you can't trick her.. even in the dark, she knows which is which.

cat chasing, screaming

Zoe's new delight is to chase the kittens... corner them, scream, watch them scramble. Again, its not that I let her, but she does it as long and as frequently as she can get away with it.

She also enjoys sitting "near" (read that as "on") them as she can. Cowboy just shrinks into himself and dreams of England (as Bruce said)... Midnight is quicker and gets away (and the chase ensues!)...

washable crayons

can I just say bless the person who invented washable crayons? Zoe has now drawn on nearly every window.. a few walls.. my dining room table, the entertainment center, a dining room chair... these crayons just wipe off with water.. no scrubbing. (doesn't mean I let her get away with it, but still)

Gooches

Zoe off hand starting saying our names, Amy, then said "Bruce Gooch, an I'm Zoe Gooch" and then said, "the Gooches!"

pictures/videos from Oct 5th

As anyone in my family knows.. I've been very lax on uploading images... I'm so behind on uploading to shutterfly.. I'm on June... But in an effort to show you her now.. here is pics and video from last week.

And a video on a trip to "see the mouse"... (sorry for the rotation... I just can't believe they don't fix that automatically!)

Mommy, I'm sad

Zoe has a few new expressions that surprise me.. the most surprising: "Mommy, I'm sad"... typically it just comes up and it takes me a bit to find out what she is talking about. But the most notable time: we were in my bed snuggling, and she said "Zoe's bed".. which means she wants to go snuggle in her bed.. well, I knelt on her bed earlier that day and broke the support board.. you see, I was so worried about Zoe being in a real bed and so far off the ground, that I didn't buy a box spring.. big mistake.. means Bruce and I can't lay on it (we ordered it yesterday, it will be here today).. anyway, I told her that Mommy broke her bed, and that although it is fine for Zoe to lay on, Mommy weighs too much... Zoe started to huff and sniffle and said, "Mommy I'm sad" ... heart breaking... I tried to fix it.. but she was just, well, sad.
But they say to teach your children about expressing their feelings.. it is a big milestone for them to be able to say how they feel.

She also says now and then, "Mommy I'm getting a cold"... of course when she said this, I said to myself, I've never told her that.. wonder where she got that... The next day she told me that "Benny has a cold".. Benny the Bull is a character on Dora and there is an episode where he has a cold and sneezes a lot. I had just forgotten.

sharing

Zoe loves to share.. but sharing means handing it to someone to check out, and getting it back in a relatively short period of time.

For example, We've gone swimming three nights in row this week (MTW), and on Tuesday, I pulled out Dora and Diego, so we could sit and enjoy the warm pool while she played.. three 5-7
year old girls saw her, and came to play too.. they really wanted the toys... Zoe didn't mind handing them over, but wanted them right back.. she look at me, and frown and say "Ask Mommy, Ask!".. which means get them to give them back. Then they would, and she would look them over, and just pass them back and it would start all over again.

sings like a mermaid

If you ever need a smile, all you'd have to do is watch Zoe "sing like a mermaid"... and this would be easiest if I could get it on video.. I have yet to.. but it is a wonderful thing. (love the facial expressions!). The thing is that sometimes she just won't perform on command ;)

I'll get it today.. I must!

music class today

We've now attended our 3rd "Music Together" class... on Fridays at 10:15 for 45 minutes.. we go with Tiffany/Panos and about 6 other kid/parent/grandparents. We usually go to the park first, then class, then the park, then lunch... today we didn't wake up until 9am.. so we missed the park.. which was bad.. Zoe spent the whole class asking to go to the park.

But really, she loves the class.. almost every other kid sits on mom's lap the whole time.. not Zoe.. she is running around, dancing, all to the beat of her own drum. She loves the maracas and can't wait until instrument time (a box full of toys is layed out, they just jam to the music with anything they want). Zoe spends her time handing toys to the younger kids (people do this class with kids as early as 3 months, but I think the youngest in our class is probably 10 months). It is a great class, but I don't think I'd really worry about doing it with a kid younger than Zoe.

All in all, she is very well socialized (for not doing day care, etc.)

Today, unfortunately, although she was having so much fun at the park, she cut across Panos' path when he was on the swing, got bowled over (hit in the ear) and fell to the ground.. she was inconsolable for a long while.. it really hurt her.. We went back to Panos' house for more play, lunch, etc.. but there was another bonk (Panos hug, knocked over) and that ended out play time. We are now at home and she is now sleeping.

fear of sounds

new for us the past few weeks.. Zoe is afraid of airplanes flying over head, cars going by (especially big trucks), the vacuum, and sometimes the hair dryer. She'll scream, and come running.. unless I'm to blame (vacuum) and then she just kicks and screams.

mommy, a spider...

I almost forgot to post this story...

We were in the car, waiting to clear immigration on our way to Anacortes/Seattle, there was a bit of a line, Zoe was getting impatient "all done".. wanted out of her seat, so I put her on my lap. She was there about 2 minutes and she says, "Mommy, a spider", and I'm like, sure, right... and I look down, there is a GIANT RED spider, about half as big as my cell phone.. did I mention red! I've never jumped so fast out of a car, baby in tow.. must of been quite a sight for the people behind us.. and did I mention we were going to go thru immigration? But I was not going to sit back in that car. Bruce took a minute to start to beat on the spider and it got away.. I started tearing through the truck.. found it.. hit is with my foot (remember.. baby on hip, one in the tummy).. didn't get it.. now I'm on the other side of the truck, tearing out things... all the while, we are having to shut doors, so Bruce can inch the car up into the line... finally I found it on a pair of my shorts (not sure why they were in the car), threw them and the spider into the street.. waited for it to clear my shorts.. Bruce is yelling, "kill it".. I must have thought twice about it.. but then I did.. It was red! and it smooshed red too.. icky, icky, icky.

Big sigh, I get back in the car.. Zoe on my lap still... and try not to talk about killing it, but Zoe is asking about th spider.. we tell her it is gone.. not wanting to talk about it being dead.. and she says thing so cute, like "Its going back to see its family".. which it turns out she says often.. must be something Anna taught her.. they've been examining ants, etc.

night terrors

Its been a week since we Zoe had night terrors.. for a while there, she was having them frequently.. three nights and one nap in a row.. the first time (during nap), she was screaming and blathering what sounded like about dinosaurs... The next time it happened, she seemed to be scared of the shadows on the wall.. even when I took her in my room ... when this happens, I don't think she is awake.. and she is inconsoleable.. but I couldn't just let her scream.. I tried to hold her.. it was scary. In the end, I switched her night light from being behind the chair (where it cast big shadows to a string of lights on her drapes which light up the whole room (now I think it is too bright, but I haven't found the right solution yet). I've been thinking about looking for one of those star chart lights.

Zoe nick names

I call Zoe a few things:

• pumpkin
• punky
• punky brewster
• princess,
  

and my favorite

• principessa (Italian for princess)..

she now calls me, "Mommy principessa"

more phrases

"Mommy, don't say that"

"Bate, Bate, Chocolathe"

"last book" (for every book we read before bedtime)

"I'm a boy" (when I put her in a blue shirt; I say, "You're a boy?" she answers "I'm a Zoe" or sometimes "I'm a girl")

Zoe the soccer player

One night, we played soccer in our backyard and was astounded by Zoe's ability to run and kick the ball, several times in a row.. she is really good! (hopefully some video will go here in the future)

Zoe the conversationalist

Zoe is quite the conversationalist.. here is a story and a few quips.

Sometimes, when Zoe wants to be part of the conversations, but doesn't have anything to say, she will just babble-speak at me, and I'll return the favor with more non-sense speech.. we babble back and forth.. so this is the lead into the next bit:

We were at the park; Zoe heard this woman zip off a sentence in Cantonese to her daughter (a little younger than Zoe).. Zoe right afterwards, did her babble talk.. mimicking the Cantonese speech pattern... I wasn't sure whether I should be embarrassed or proud.. ;)

Phrases heard from Zoe:

• Please
• Thank you
• Welcome
• How are you today (sometimes she will answer that question with "Fann-tastic")
• Be nice Mommy (when I do something disagreeable.. it is the phrase I used with Molly when she'd get nasty with the kittens)
• Bless you (when someone sneezes or coughs)

Happy 2nd Birthday Zoë!

Well, we've had two days of celebrating Zoe's birthday. and I think she enjoyed every minute of it (she is still down for a nap, since 1:30 and its 4:10.. almost 3 hours).

On her birthday, she woke up happy, we played in our room, then in the front room, then grabbed breakfast.. she picked soup.. handed it to me and said "twist mommy". It was zoo shaped noodles in tomato sauce, similar to the alphabet soup I usually feed her, so I was treated to a round of her singing the alphabet song.

so she is now 2 and can count to 15 in english, 10 in spanish. She pretty much knows the alphabet song (although I don't know if she knows each letter).. she can also sing "twinkle twinkle" "row row your boat", the chorus to "down by the bay", as well as "sunny days, taking the clouds away" (the seseme street song) and "rain rain go away". She is still in love with Dora and Diego, and can say a bunch of spanish words: up, down, hello, goodbye, open and close.. up and down are her current favorites, especially when we are walking in Downtown Victoria and she wants to get down and walk on her own.

I had to work part of the time on Friday, she was will Ally.. been a long time since they were together.. she didn't like it at first, but Ally and her spent 1.5 hours coloring with chalk.. Zoe's other favorite thing is coloring.. she'll spend at least 20 minutes with her coloring books, and really puts down color. We spend a lot of time drawing, especially when out at resturants.. I'm getting pretty good at Dora and Diego, Boots,.. the rest are coming along. She knows stars, triangle, circles, squares, diamond, and hearts and all her colors (although still occassionally switches black for white).

After dinner that night, she openned her gifts from Nana and Grammpa.. she loved them all.. magic wand, dora backpack, small dora lunch pack, doctor's kit, socks, small stuffed animal purses... she walked around with the backpack, lunch pack, dr. kit stethoscope and wand for at least an hour, and somewhere in the process found my crocs and walked in them too. (pics and video to go here)

The next morning she got up early.. 7am.. we started on the party cupcakes, ate breakfast (a cupcake! and some meat), then her dad took her on a mission to dispose of the garbage we can't get the darn trash guys to take.. that kept them away for at least an hour or more.. I was able to completely vacuum the house, finish cooking and ice'd about half the cupcakes.. I think my lady bug cupcakes turned out the best..there were a few others like lions, pandas, a cat... (pictures to go here)

The party went well.. Zoe fell asleep 20 minutes before it started (3:40) ;) and slept until about 5:15 (as soon as I had my dinner plate fixed but not sampled).. then she spent 1 hour attached to my hip.. then I pulled out cupcakes and she was finally on her own two feet.

The ladybug cupcakes left quite a smile on the kids:




All the little ones (4 of them: Jeremy, Panos, Zoe and Rosemary) played in the yard, when they started to fight over balls, I brought out the tents and tunnels.. should have done that sooner.. they had a ball. But then everyone got tired, and the party thinned out fast.

After everyone left, we opened gifts...She was spoiled by gifts (even though I put a "no presents necessary".. we are surrounded by very thoughtful people)...
In no particular order:
From James and Julie and Liam: wood fruit and veggies that can be "cut" (un velco-d) a part with a toy knife (very cool!)
From Tiffany Panos George: Terry hot pink dress (like to go over a swimsuit?) and Wood play house.. so cute.. I got Zoe unwrapping it on video.. I can't remember what she said, but it was darn cute.
From Ray, Lynn, Derek, Kate: softest little kitty stuffed animal... she calls him "night-night".. he is just like our Midnight, but has white paws.
From Alexandra and family: lovely gap green dress and tank top
From Shawn & Brian: Headband of roses and a flower wand (great addition to our dress-up box!)
From Shona and Paul: Activity Apron (could you imagine if I can get her to paint or, hey, even do dishes!)
From Jeremy, Rebecca and George: Music set (2 "bracelets" with bells, tamborine, xylaphone)

From us she received a Dora counting game, new crayons, coloring books (she picked out, you guessed it, Dora), new sand toys, Dora socks, Dora Shoes

It was a very happy day, she is a very happy, smart, active, talkative, two year old.

Oh, and she learned, one day before her birthday, to say "No" to any question we ask her, regardless of having thought about it.. I guess she really is two!

making funny faces

Zoe's new thing is making "funny faces".. she puts a couple fingers on each side and pulls her cheeks out... and says, "Mommy, I'm making funny faces."
(picture as soon as I can capture it!)

quote from Zoe this moring

Looking at her fingers, she says, "Mommy, I have two owies. Gosh!"

I love you so much

Zoe and I were at the mall, buying her a new pair of shoes.. it was our best trip yet.. I used the stroller and the DVD player, and was able to try on shoes.. of course she eventually got tired of sitting, got down, and found her own selection of shoes.. another pair of princess sandals, but it worked out well, she now has a new pair of Dora shoes she finally wore last night with pride (she is already a size 7!). After shoe shopping, we went the food court for a quick bite.. she sat in a chair by herself, and half way through just jumped into my arms and said "I love you so much" and gave me the biggest hug.. very sweet.

Amen Caiman!

I remember a story I was telling Bruce from our visit to Utah: we'd say a prayer at meals with Nana and Grammpa, and then everyone would say "Amen".. Zoe thought we were saying "Caiman" an animal she has learned about from "Go Diego Go".. anytime she sees an alligator, she says Caiman... so now I think, great, Zoe thinks we pray to an alligator ;)

201th post! and am I due

I have a lot of things to post on..

Saturday we went to the beach about 5pm with Tiffany, George and Panos. It was kind of cool out, nice to sit in the sun, but the added bonus is after a year and half here, we finally saw Orcas off the coast.. there were about 8 sail boats sailing in circles and a bunch of splashed, fins and blows that we could see from Willows beach.. the whales were another point away, but it was amazing how much we could see (and of course, the binoculars were not in the car).

On Sunday, we went to the Saanich fair (I always sing the "We went to the animal fair, all the birds and beasts were there" in my head when ever I think of our trip)... Everyone on the island was there, it took about 30 minutes to even park. It had a midway, a bunch of rides, food, and all the things I associate with my memories of the Utah state fair (without the quilts!). First thing we put Zoe on the Merry-Go-Round.. thinking she'd love it.. I stood next to her on the horse that went up and down, she stayed on 2 turns around before insisting "all done".. so I just held her and onto a pole...and we waved to Daddy. I was quite dizzy when we got off ;) Next we looked around, found a bouncy slide she went down twice, she had a great time. That was pretty much it for the rides that looked Zoe appropriate. Then we went to find food, but decided to wait and went to find animals.. we saw donkeys, huge pigs which started oinking and scared Zoe (she clung to Daddy pretty good), we found a play area sponsored by the local milk company and then cows.. she got to pet the ear of a lovely Gernsey.. and then we say baby cows. We we got to the sheep, several of them were noted as being "naked" and some were "earing pajamas". She fell asleep in our arms and slept about 1.5 hours between us walking to the car and getting home.

Bath and Bubbles

In the video you'll hear Zoe say "Bate, Bate, Chocolatte" which is spanish for "Mix, Mix, Chocolate".

alphabet: Soup and Song

I gave Zoe Alphabet soup for dinner tonight, and without my asking, or really saying it was alphabet soup, she started singing the alphabet song.. this recording was the second time through; When Daddy came home, she got all the way to Z...I was really impressed.. I didn't think she was so close to the whole alphabet.

near potty training?

Zoe ran around naked for a while today, while we were prepping lunch, and came to me and said, Mommy, I have to go on the potty... I had set it out in the front room when she was running naked.. she sat down and tooted... I had her sit for a bit more.. nothing else.. she ran around a while, and then came to me... she had gone #2 on the floor.. yikes.. at least it was hardwood.

Notes from Anna

Anna told me last week that she and Zoe were reading a story, something that says something about loving her mommy, and Zoe looked at her and said very thoughtfully "I love my mommy".. and then paused and said, "I love my Daddy"..

;)

birthday coming up

So I just put together Zoe's birthday invitation....



Now I just need to come up with a list of invitees (and hope I don't miss anyone)..

I am also now thinking about what I want to get her.. on my list (but I won't be getting everything...):

Dora Backpack
Toy Kitchen and supplies
Slide for backyard
New toy box to put her dress clothes in
Socks ;)
Dora (sporting-full-coverage type) Shoes (lace up if I can find them, hopefully not velcro)
Doll House (perhaps the Dora one, but generic might be fine)
Toy Computer
Disney little Fairy dolls (she is into fairies)
Disney princess stuff: she seems to like "Belle" best... (easiest to say?)

Then we also need to find time for a stop at Sears for Pictures!

tub 'o cream cheese and spoon

This morning, Zoe said she wanted a sandwich. so I pulled out the english muffin, creamcheese, eggs, and got to cooking.. Zoe grabbed the cream cheese, and insisted I open it.. I tried to distract, but in the end, she sat down with the Salmon Cream Cheese and a spoon (I gave her.. better than fingers I figured).. she ate several spoonfuls (and I have pictures and video).

Zoe-ism

I was thinking of a few Zoe-isms that I might not have put down...

Zoe call M&Ms (smarties in Canada): "Doggie balls"



She says "needa".. as her filler word.. we think it grew from "I need a..." but it could just be jibberish

Zoe calls "Pocky" (a Japanese cookie stick covered with something like strawberry or green-tea frosting).. a popsicle... she prefers the green tea over strawberry

a day at SIGGRAPH

Zoe attended SIGGRAPh for the second time... as always, she was the star when she chose to be.. We went to breakfast and then to the mall at first, to let her run around the toy store while I shopped a minute (Clinque ;).... she crashed before we made it to lunch (with Vidya).. and after that she didn't run around much, I think she was still to tired, needing another hour of nap.. so she watched Dora with Daddy (hours worth) while I went around the exhibit floor trying to round up animations, talk to people (AKPeters, etc.)... Then we walked and talked more, she got more lively after fueling up with a smoothy and cereal... then she took off in real force, running up and down ramps, around in circles in the circly hallways, etc.

The cutest part was her talking to the robot ... a nother missed photo opportunity.. but not to worry, I'll catch it tomorrow on video.. got the camera right here... going in the stroller now.

More Dora to recover, played a bit around Evan (Dave and Helen's little boy).. shared her treats, ate some of theirs.

It was a good day with lots of talking (Mommy and Daddy catching up with Utah folks, my students, etc).. all enabled with the help of Dora. gotta love Dora/Diego.

daddy's penis

This entry is to make Zoe cringe as a 14 year old.... or maybe she won't... Dad is giving her a bath tonight.. shortly into it, she says, "Daddy, shorts off", "Daddy Off" (when he didn't take his underwear off)... then shortly follwed by "Daddy's tummy"... and a bunch, bunch (almost drowned our by me laughing)... "Daddy's penis".... over and over... I don't remember teachiing her that.. Daddy doesn't either.. but said he might.

It is amazing what she knows.

She is turning into quite a parrot...

that reminds me that one morning.. we were kind of cuddling, all three.. Zoe was kind of still just waking, so we were whispering... after a minute or two, she just starts into this whispering bit too (unintelligible.. but cute as it could be).

The same kind of thing happend when I was trying to discretely talk about her Dora treats (we now use the code word "DT").. she barely overheard me, but repeated word for word what I said in three instances.

I just hope we don't say anything that will embarass us later.. I'm sure it will happen

First amusement park

Zoe went to her first amusement park today.. Knott's Berry Farm. One of the stewardesses on the plane said it was perfect for her age, with lots of rides.. we were not disappointed.. Zoe flew the Red Baron Planes, rode Snoopy's Bus (twice!), rode in a hot air balloon, about half were by herself, half with one of us... She lasted pretty long.. crashing when we finally broke for lunch at 12:30.. the last two rides before lunch didn't go so well because she was tired. But the place was mostly empty.. we hardly had to wait for anything.. most we just waited until the current one emptied out. The one that amazed me the most was the huff-and-puff.. think about those pump little wheeled things that used to go on the railroad tracks... the kind you see in the first scene in the muscial movie "Oh Brother"... anyway.. she sits down in this car by herself.. and pumps back and forth.. I didn't think she'd do it... not to say that she didn't get a partial free ride of pushes from the people behind her, but she loved it and did a good portion by herself.

The most disappointing part... I didn't bring the camera.. I looked for it once.. got sidetracked.. forgot it.. we did take some picture with our phones, we'll have to see how it goes, not sure how to get them off the phone.

We stayed at the park until 4:30ish... came home, took some time in the pool, and then I left her for 5 minutes with her dad and she talked him into Dora... she's been watching it on her player for an hour.. I don't know how I'll get her away from it.

more diving!

Zoe, Bruce and I watched the Olympics last night.. Zoe fell in love with Diving.. so much so, as soon as they would change what they are showing, even just waiting for the scores, Zoe would chant: "More diving!"...

"He's juggling..."

This is a place holder for videos from a night of family laughter.. hillarious.. started with Zoe dressed in a winter hat, carrying two purses, a bracelet, and dress shoes, ending up with Daddy juggling the dress shoes, followed by Zoe handing him random things to juggle, like dresses, then "a bed" (a king size pillow), a book, a purse.. oh we were all in stitches.. and I caught it all on video. To be posted Soon.



At this point Zoe started handing Bruce lot of miscellaneous things... "Juggle a bed, Juggle a book, Juggle a purse..."

cuddly Zoe

Zoe is just cute, cute, cute... She is now periodically sleeping through the night and spending time in our bed cuddling. In fact, Zoe has gotten a lot more cuddly of late.. sometimes I get home and she says "In Mommy's bed".. which means she wants to curl up with me and cuddle.. with one of my arms behind her head and one resting tightly across her. Sometimes she does the same with cuddling in the bingbags.

"Zoe One; Daddy One"

Zoe calls everything that is small a "Zoe one" and everything that is large a "Daddy one".. For example, when we draw (chalk, crayons, etc.), she'll say "heart".. "Zoe one, Daddy one".. and she want you to draw a small one and a large one.. I tried to teach her a middle one (as in the three bears), called a "Mommy one".. but it hasn't' stuck and I really don't want to break the cuteness, so I haven't pushed it.

Speaking of shapes, she has now learned triangle in addition to circle, star, heart.. she almost has square, but I think it is much harder to say.

Could have danced all night

The rehearsal went well, except that we were locked out of the church and had to practice outside in the 90 degree heat.. Zoe and her dad played on the grass, and watched Dora, ate cookies, etc. Afterwards we went to the grocery store and Zoe had her second ever popsicle.. of course from a Dora box (the first Popsicle was at Mom's when the option was chocolate ice cream that I didn't want her to have)... I need to buy those tupperware home popsicle makers.

The rehearsal dinner went equally well.. In the end, Zoe had Dad, Grammpa, everyone swinging her around:
http://gallery.me.com/cashurst#100030/DSCN1090&bgcolor=black






Then there was the wedding... Zoe did not like being around me, but not being able to be with me.. (I was in the wedding line)... Luckily the church did have a crying room.. Zoe and her dad (and Uncle Jeff) watched the ceremony from there.. I could still hear her a bit, but she wasn't interrupting the ceremony...

It was one of the most beautiful ceremony.. Father Mike Rules.. hopefully I can put up the video soon.

At the reception.. we tried to finish photos.. Zoe was done being away from me... I'll put up the pictures soon.. but there was a few where Zoe is standing behind the line.. bawling her eyes out, while we were trying to smile for the photographer.. My sister, who has always been kid crazy, said, "I don't want kids"... maybe I should rent out Zoe and myself for this purpose.. sort of like that reality show.

When the party really got going, I had Zoe watching Dora.. but then the band started... Zoe loves to dance.. you couldn't take her away.. she easily danced for 1 hour, perhaps 2, we didn't leave until 11:15ish... she was still dancing.. I took her away for a diaper change.. she got away from me and ran right back to the floor. (Video soon).

Trip to Utah

Well... our trip to Utah kept me offline.. nice for a change... Zoe and I had a mostly uneventful trip to Utah.. we read Dora books on the first (short) flight.. her new favorite is "Super babies".. but she also likes the school books. She slept most of the second flight.. I read.. it was nice. Rebecca and Hang picked us up and took us to my parents. This was the start of Zoe not going to be until way late.. which pretty much lasted the whole trip. I pulled out her Dora/Diego legos and she was happy to have them in her hands.

Saturday, we went to Barton's baptism... I foolishly did not bring her DVD player.. I don't know what I was thinking... I started her with cookies and crayons.. as the event started, she was saying, "Mommy, I'm crayoning"... "Mommy is crayoning"... "Mommy I tooted (repeat, loudly)"
ahhh.. so cute. She "lasted" half way, before she was running down the hallways, swinging on the doors, slaming doors... Heather's Dad came out and said she was distracting.. I gave up and took her outside to collect pine cones.
Then we went to the party at Barton's house.. it was fun.. but Zoe soon got very tired and I took her back to Mom's house because I was going to go out that night for the bachelorette party.

The party was fine.. Zoe had a good time with "Grammpa" and "Nana"... they took her next door to the trampoline.. and were impressed by her ability to bounce herself.. she loved it and refered to next door as the "park" for the rest of our trip.

The night ended when i called to check on her about 9:50pm and she was screaming.. tore my heart... I asked how long that had been going.. Mom said 10-20 minutes.. ugh.. I told her to turn on Dora, get her some milk... I drove straight home, fast.. she was tired, but sucked in by Dora/Diego.. didn't seem to notice I was home ;).. but she did fall asleep fairly fastly when we layed down.

The rest of the trip was busy.. at times, it was hard for me... Zoe is still a major Mommy's girl... Sometimes I didn't explain what I needed from my mom or sister (like the time they went shopping while I was watching Zoe running around the fountain, and then said they were sorry that they missed her playing... it is so hard to go shopping with Zoe, hardly worth it, I was a bit mad they didn't watch her while I went shopping)...
I didn't get very much of a break from her, but then again, I did enjoy being with her.. snuggling at night. As the trip went on though, we both were sleeping a little less restfully.. we both missed Bruce.

The one thing I did notice through the trip is that Zoe is really good at remembering names (I remember Bruce saying the same thing of Rachelle)... I introduced her to Auntie Margie.. and she always new her name.... that doesn't mean that she always got it right though.. she called a lot of people "Carrie".. ;) and all boys were "Tice"

Zoe had a really good time with her cousins too.. and we met up with Bruce on Thursday, then started the crazy wedding events...

I'm teaching

I left my laptop laying out, Zoe and I showered, came back and Zoe ran to the laptop, started banging away, saying "I'm teaching, I'm teaching".

New bed!

Zoe got her new bed yesterday.. a double... it really is huge for her, but it will grow with her. Now I need to move all of the pictures in her room and finally nail the shelves to the wall to keep her from pulling them down.

Perhaps a picture of her room could go here if I get it cleaned up today.

Zoe Gooch Manual and Daily routine

Zoe's morning starts about 1 or 3am, when she crawls in Bed with Mom and Dad, squirming until she falls asleep. She burrows down into Mom's armpit.. she loves to snuggle close. Then about 7am (sometimes as early as 6am, rarely 8am) she wakes up cute, snuggly, and we may play the binky game, where I steal it with my mouth (the handle) so I can see her smile. Eventually, either Mom or Dad will take her down for her "Dora" time... if it is Mom, I grab a cup of milk (usually giving her the choice of "cold or hot milk") and sometimes she'll ask for a banana or apple... then I change her diaper and she watches 1 to 3 episodes of Dora and Diego. If it is Dad, he lets her watch quite a bit more and she gets the goods like cookies, berries, and more cookies (animal crackers, so not that bad). I get her off of the Dora and Diego thing by switching to a show she likes less, such as Seseme Street, Word World, The bus show (I can't remember whats it called, but I like it). During these shows she'll go play with her Dora/Diego Legos.

Then we'll go up for a shower.. she gets naked and hops in too.

After the shower I have to wrestle a naked... I've learned that one can get her dressed fastest if she has something to say about it.. so I pick either a top or bottom, and then two of the other for her to pick from.. I've also found that sometimes a song while diapering will work (Wheels on the bus, Black sheep, row-row-row-your-boat)...

Next is breakfast.. on lazy days (or days my stomach is not up to eating), I'll make cereal and fruit.. she pretty much only likes Cherrios.. not the honey ones (I don't feed her sugary cereal), just the regular yellow box. More typically, I make us "breakfast sandwhiches"... one egg each, broken, cooked hard (in pan with lid), typically some meat like Canadian Bacon or Turkey, sometimes melted cheddar, on a english muffin with Salmon Cream Cheese. She loves it, usually eating half an english muffin herself.. but I have to feed it to her.. she is strange about those sandwhiches.. I don't cut them up anymore, she just takes bites. Sometimes, I also make Banana-chocolate chip pancakes with yogurt as dip/topping and fruit... she quite likes them too.

Then we go play.. some days she insists that we go to the park or beach, sometimes she is happy with playing in the backyard (her pool, sandbox, bike, rocks, sticks).

I try to keep her on a regular snack schedule.. fruit, cookies, drink, raisins/craisins, Veggie Booty (a favorite).. so she'll snack about 10 or 11am... as well as whenever she wakes from her nap. We try to lunch about 12..

Then she naps at 1ish, sometimes not until 2:30... I typically put her down by laying down with her and singing a song. Anna puts her down with a stroller ride and then transfering her to her bed. She naps anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours long.

I've been trying to get her a good snack about 4 or 4:30 so that she can make it to a 6pm dinner.. although I'd prefer we ate a 5:30, but that is nearly impossible.

By 7 or 7:30 she starts to ask for her bath, or sleep.. when she starts asking it is important to get her down, otherwise she gets very hard to relax. Of course, sometimes she is not ready (due to a late nap), and I'll do bath, and then let her play for a little bit. Our sleep routine is pretty much ironed out.. Now-a-days Dad mostly does the bath. it is getting harder for me to reach into the deep tub.. if I do it, I take a bath with her. She takes a bath for about 20-30 minutes, then diaper and dressed in PJs.. then brushing her teeth (she sits on the toilet while brushing her teeth; "ahhhh" she says). Then we kiss daddy good night. I usually give her a bottle of warm milk, to work on while we are reading. We read about 4 books. I pick the books, and let her pick the order. She is now very happy with "Good night gorilla", Dr Seuess: "Hands, Hands, Finger Thumb" & "The foot book", "Down by the Bay", "Teddy bears picnic", "Harry the dirty dog", any ABC book. Then I lay down with her and sing her a song, sometimes telling her a story. She gets very clingy at this point, and I don't know how to break the habit.. I've been putting pillows, blankets, and snugglies between her and I, for her to cling onto.. but if I attempt to leave too early, she wakes up and will not sleep.. not a great habit, but it works. Its our system.

The thing I've heard about 2 year old that really works with Zoe is telling her in advance what is going on.. for the bedtime routine, I always let her know whats up next up to the sleep part. Same thing for trying to leave a park or fun task... I give her a warning.. sometimes 15 minutes, sometimes 5.. it doesn't seem that the duration matters, just the number of times she is told whats going on. Then she'll get a 1 or 2 minute warning, then a "do your last thing", then we say "good bye, see you soon" to whatever it is. With this, we've pretty much got rid of temper tantrums.. except for the ones where she can't explain what she wants.

Cookies and Cookies. Run Daddy Run

Story from Dad: Typically, Dad and Zoe will let Mom sleep in, and will go down to watch Zoe's shows. One morning, Zoe and Daddy were watching Dora. Dora was eating cookies.. so Zoe decided she needed cookies... and asked Daddy for them. Daddy said, "Zoe you can't just have cookies. Do you want Cookies and Blueberries or Cookies and strawberries." Zoe replied "Cookies and Cookies. Run Daddy Run" and pointed him toward the stairs.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Taken July 10th, 2008... Zoe had been playing in the sandbox... and ate some... the likenss is uncanny.

No more nursing

Well, last Friday I started my attempt at quiting nursing Zoe cold turkey.. it was a silly thing to do without having done the research.. as a result, I spent 48 hours completely engorged and miserable.. Zoe on the other hand was managing just fine, asside from the major kicks she kept giving me when she crawled into our bed about 3am... but over the days after Friday, it got less and less... my pain however was not abated by the 3 showers a day to keep it from matastiss, stuffing my bra with cabbage leafs, trying to get some relief.. in the end Sunday after noon I finally grabbed Zoe and had her drain it off.. that was the last time she nursed, and well I'm fine now.. haven't nursed since Sunday.

My Name is Zoe

Zoe definitely knows her name and says, "My name is Zoe", sounds like "Sue-e" or "Shu-e".. I have it on video from the morning of the 12th of July. It was recorded on my handi-cam, with Zoe looking at the video as I was recording, so she was talking to herself. The headband is one of mine that she walks around with.. I love the way it looks..but trust me, it doesn't go on very often, and certainly not if Mommy helps in anyway.
Gotta love the sound effects too!

Diego Legos: Catching up...

I swear I posted about Zoe and her Diego legos... but I can't find it... she loves them.. it came with a car, Diego, and Baby Jaguar (who says "Mauw Mauw"). These videos are from June 30, 2008.



In this one, Diego and Baby Jaguar are Kissing.. and I think she says "I love you" too.

Zoe speaking

Zoe is getting to be quite the talker.. yesterday morning she told me 'My name is "Suoe" '... it is pretty cute to hear her say it.. then she was grabbing me around the legs and finally said "I love Mommy".. very sweet.

She still likes to shower with me... often she will not get out.. and I exit, leaving the water on drip.

Right now she is ringing the necks of her kittens.., loving them, "I kissing".. covering them with blankets, etc.

Her favorite is now Diego.. she always is playing with Diego.

I love you

I just heard Zoe coo-ing with her dolls, and telling them "I love you"
... so cute.



Summer has finally made it here, and Zoe has spent the better part of the last two days naked. Yesterday we went to Gonzales Beach... it is a fabulous beach we'd never been too.. I forgot to bring her swim suit and there was a dip in the beach which was full of water.. great for little ones like Zoe.



This morning, Zoe woke at 3am, and would not go back to sleep.. Bruce took the first shift, watching Dora until 5am, brought her to me, and she would not go back to sleep... at 8am we finally went back to her room, slept for an hour.. then I could tell she was starving.. made pancakes. She has not napped either (except the 10 minutes in the stroller). I think it is because it is so warm in the house.

[INSERTING text I put on the wrong blog!]
June 30th, 2008:
Today I bought Zoe a bunch of things, including a swimming tool and Diego legos...
It includes a car, Diego, baby jaguar, and a laptop! I have great video of her playing with them.. to be posted.

Auntie Rachel also brought legos (unplanned by either of us).. two sets of Dora legos, with Benny, a bed, a chair.


Also,

trip to Chicago

I forgot to mention our trip to Chicago... we stayed with Lissa, Dane, Jack (6) and Sidra (2). Sidra is 9 months older than Zoe... they were worried about how Sidra would feel about sharing her toys, but really there was very little bad reactions to sharing.. they'd hand off toys, switch, etc. It worked really well. For Zoe the trip was like a very long vacation inside a toy store... so many new things.. she never grew bored; I'm fairly sure she played with almost every toy she saw.


She also played with Claudia (almost 3?) and Celeste (6).. she loved playing with their bubble machine.. she would put her mouth up to the bubbles... oh dear.. I have pictures... it was hard to talk her out of eating them.

Here she is sitting next to Sidra, popping bubbles.



Zoe took regular naps (even during Jack's b-day party.. with 12 kids screaming near the window)
and went to bed around her normal bed time PST.

so smart...

Zoe continually surprises us...

last night she picked up the book "Opposites" by Sandra Boynton to read.. and started to read it to us.. she can read the whole thing through.. we will try to record it. It has "Big" "small" "short" "tall" "weak" "strong" "right" "wrong"... "wet" "dry"... etc.

At the grocery store this morning we were practicing counting.. I say "one", she says "two".... etc.. or she says "one", I say "two"... she can count all the way to 13 in English and 10 in Spanish.

We are now working on the alphabet.

shoaw-shoaw

Zoe has taken to jumping in the shower with me in the morning.. she calls it the shoaw-shoaw (really hard to spell it phonetically, to capture how she says it). She stands under the spout and everything.. doesn't mind the water in her face.. loves it..

binky! and Potty! videos

Zoe was feeling kind of chatty this one day.. the same day as "row, row, row you kitty"... in this video she was doing her yoga (downward-dog ) and I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was looking for her binky.

the other one is her hanging out on her potty, which she just uses as a chair.. we aren't potty training yet.

the things she says

Zoe has a few phrases that come up often:

"Knock, Knock, Home, Home" (as in "knock, knock, anyone home?")

"I know, I know" (it what I saw to her when she gets hurt)

"I'm coming..."

"Bye, Bye, See you Soon"

"Mama home soon?"
"Dada home soon?"

"hug kitties"

"oh honey"
"Oh punkin"

"Go diego Go"

"I need..."
"a hug"
"a nap"
"Do-do" (Dora)
"booty" (loves Veggie Booty Snack)
"a binky"

row, row, row your cat

Zoe was holding Midnight this morning, while sitting on the floor, and singing "Row, Row, Row your boat"... I recorded it.. but by the time I captured it, it was not nearly as loud as it was before...

Zoe's first painting

I finally got around to painting the wood knobs I bought for Zoe's room (to hang jackets on).. it was fun to do some "art work".  On Saturday morning, Zoe caught me touching them up.. I decided to go ahead and let her play with some paint.  I gave her a sponge brush and a few drips of paint on a thin 8x8 sheet of cardboard.. she did her first painting.  I'll post a picture soon.

painted toes!

I was painting my toe nails as Zoe was bathing.. she was very intrigued by it, and wanted to get out of the bath so she could get her nails done.  Her bath was cute short on her wishes. Surprisingly, she held very still... it was her first time getting all of her nails painted.. her toes are red, her fingernails light pink.  This morning she got up and was so excited "Mommy painted toes".  I asked her what color they were, she says "wed".. so cute.

She's been able to say black, and blue for a while now, now knows red and is starting to catch on to green and white.

weekend

We've had a really nice weekend.. went to the "Oak Bay Tea Party" which consists of parades, midway, beach, food,  Women's Nail Driving contest... really the only parts we made it too were the beach and nail contest (I lost).  Zoe's nap schedule was off, so we missed the parade.

Today was low key.. dropped "Uncle Chris" off at the airport, went to Island View Park until we were frozen (its 53 deg. F today)... then back to the house for Zoe's nap.  We set up the sandbox on the deck, so Zoe can play there, while we fix food or whenever.. turns out that "play sand" is incredibly dusty, dirty stuff...

Tonight after dinner, Zoe was just playing with her Dora legos, I heard her counting.. in Spanish!  she's pretty good.. got about half of them when we went through it with her.. I kept hearing "uno, threzz, see-ez, ocho"... I'd never practiced with her before..

"Amy, we have a little situation here..."

Anna called this morning: "Amy, we have a little situation here..."
my heart is starting to beat faster...
"Zoe has locked herself in your room."
now I'm trying not to laugh... ;)
I tell Anna to use the small implement that Bruce uses to get into the room when I lock Zoe and myself in there while I'm showering.. it worked, problem solved.

Then I noticed the first call from her I missed (at 11am), the second came at 11:55am, I heard that one... oh dear.. poor Anna.. I can just imagine her sitting at the door, talking to Zoe, singing to her, trying to get her to unlock the door; and I'm sure Zoe was on the other side laughing herself silly.

Zoe's favorite things

Zoe loves, loves, loves raw red peppers.. eats them like an apple.. nary is the time I got to the store that she doesn't need a red pepper (and I must remember to take her shirt off when she eats them.. they stain clothes like crazy).

She also loves to hang like a monkey.. last night when trying to get her to be (at 10pm!.. started at 8:30)... she was hanging on our pedestle sink, saying "I'm swinging".. of course, when the camera showed up, it was all "Cheese" and "A camera".. and it was hard to capture the swinging.. I did get a second of it.. to be posted if I can ever figure out what the heck is wrong with our internet signal (I think it is the PCs in the house hogging the bandwidth (Rachel and Chris!)).

things overheard

I said a few things to Zoe yesterday that my sister overheard when I was on the phone with her:

"No, Zoe, you can not put the kitten in the jar."

"No, Zoe, you can not sit on Molly."

Zoe loves her kittens, all three of them. I was really worried about her and the new kittens (here on called Midnight and Cowboy or as Zoe calls them "Night-Night" and "Cowbee").. but Zoe is learning.. she is getting better about being around them.. for the most part.

Zoe the cutie

Aside from needing to turn over a new leaf as a mom, to be happier, to get over the tantrums, to stop warring with Bruce over when dinner is, I've decided to try to appreciate the good stuff, and let the other stuff go as best as I can.

As therapy, here, I put down the stuff that Zoe does that makes me laugh/sigh.

She loves itsy-bitsy spider (the song, and the two books we have that have extended the verses).. she calls it "ee-ps".

She is now a bit bored with Dora, and is now obsessed with watching Diego (in the car, we only have two discs, but that's all she's watched for two weeks now).

She likes to give "high-5s"

We put down those foam floor puzzles of the alphabet, and I sing to the alphabet to her as she runs in circles.
Because she liked that so much, I put down the number one in our bedroom, landing strip like, and she runs up and down it while I sing numbers to her (in rising and falling scales)... they are numbered 0 to 9.. she always says "ten" when she gets to nine (I didn't specifically teach her that).

She has two cookie monster dolls, a big one and a little one, and she loves to hug them and talk to them.. it is quite cute.

She is a wonder at fastening those plastic buckles on chairs, car seats, bike helmets.. she can do it and is so careful not to get her fingers caught (has yet to happen).

She eats so dainty-ly... I give her an open face sandwich in the mornings, of cream cheese, ham/turkey, and egg... she will not put her fingers on the top of it.. she has always been careful of crackers with topping etc. But she is not careful with dip.. which she loves to get all over her hands.

Soup is now her favorite food. I give it to her in a metal measuring cup.. Sometimes she is really good.. eats with a spoon, if some spills out (noodles) she puts it back in the cup. Then I've taught her to drink the soup up after the noodles are gone. Sometimes she feels compelled to dump it out.. and says "oh no, I've made a mess". Alphabet noodles in chicken broth are her favorite.

Terrible at 20-months

I was thinking last night as I was struggling with Zoe, trying to put her to bed still at 9:30...wow.. I just can't believe how hard this is. It is not hard all the time, and no hard in the way that anyone who has not been through it would understand.. it just builds up over the day. Zoe is now at the point where she knows what she wants, but gets frustrated when she can't do it or get what she wants. It is not something where she is spoiled or badly disciplined, it is just about lack of control... she can't always get the control she wants. I understand that when I think about it. But that still doesn't help when she is laying down kicking and screaming, or pouting because she is not comfortable where she is.. it is still stressful.

For example, this morning we took our two kittens to the vet.. it turns out that they are both boys! and so we may need to rename them (consensus is that "Moonlight" is not a boy name).. well, Zoe was fine until we got into the exam room.. She freaked (fear)... it reminded her of the doctor's office and she would have none of it. We had to go outside. We sat on the bench.. she still cried, shook... there was no reasoning with her, also no blaming her.. but just being around that much upset and not being able to the other things you need (like watch and talk to the vet) was also very frustrating for me.

then there was the dinner thing... she wanted the dip, not just a spoonful of it, but the whole jar. Bruce said when I was pointing to it, picking the jar up, Zoe thought I was going to give it to her, and then I was taking it away. It is hard to see these things, no one can be expected to. She had a complete meltdown. Then I soothed her by giving her a cup of her own of yogurt.. but then I tried to clean up the old dip, so that the mess was controlled, and she started her fit again. Now Bruce is mad at me, I'm upset, Zoe is inconsolable, I haven't even gotten half way through my meal, with no sign of being able to eat.. it sucks.

But she is still the thing that makes me smile... she is very independent, a very strong young lady.. with a hilarious laugh.

Thetis Lake

We packed up and headed out for a hike this morning. It was a beautiful day. We went to Thetis lake.. 20 minute drive... I forgot how nice of a beach it has, which a shallow bit for kids to play and bunch of sand. So Zoe and I opted to stay at the beach and let Bruce and Chris do the hike around (both) lakes. Zoe played for a long time in the sand, but at some point seeing all of the kids, decided that she must get into the water, and since we had no swim suit (well, we were going hiking), she went au-naturale.

sorry for the rotational variation.. I keep forgetting that videos can not be easily turned...
and u should mention tht the water was not warm!

oh the temper...

Zoe has thrown two major temper-tantrums in as many days.

Yesterday in Costco.. I wouldn't let her man handle the plastic on the raw salmon.. so when I pulled her down from nearly crawling in the case, she had a royal melt down.. throwing herself onto her back, head back hard, kicking and screaming.. I walked away.. but Bruce couldn't (I was watching her from the backside of another meat case...).

This afternoon, about the same time, we took her to buy shoes.. it was right after eating, an easy two hours before her nap.. should have been fine. For some reason, she threw several screaming fits... or perhaps one long one... I think that it started when I tried to measure her foot (must have reminded her of the Dr. Office), and carried on through her trying to try on Dora sandals 2 sizes too big.. and me trying to get the ones that did fit ... In the end, we bought the clear pink Dora sandals and a pair of pokadot Vans-like shoes Rachelle would approve of. I had planned on trying a few stores, but we only made it to Payless.

But, she is wearing her shoes now.. while watching Dora.

I'm so exhausted and she is not yet two.

more videos

This video is dated 5.17.08.. Zoe was saying "apple.. I need an apple."... until I pulled out the camera... then when I asked her what she had, she said "cammy" (ie "camera").

morning...

Zoe has been sleeping so much better... she only woke up once about 11pm and really, really wanted to nurse, but then she made it until 6:30am!! yeah!.. last night was just as good (she does wake up, I hear her, but she puts herself back to sleep).

This morning at 6:30 we nursed and I managed to get her (and I) to sleep 45 more minutes. Then she went into the bedroom, woke up her dad and said "e-mote".. which means "I'm looking for the remote so I can give it to Dad to turn on Dora". Then she new that her Dad would need to put on pants, and so she said "butt, butt"... made me laugh.

fun in the sun

We had a really, really good weekend.. We went to the Highlands Festival (Celtic on Sat., Scottish on Sunday). Saturday, we did that during the morning.. came back for the afternoon nap. Then in the afternoon we joined Panos, Tiffany and George and two other families at Willows beach. It was just a lovely day. Then Panos and family came back to our house for dinner. Panos and Zoe even shared a bath (too bad I couldn't find my camera). Tiffany and I learned one new tool.. we can discipline other people's children often better than our own. I was able to with a single look and phrase get Panos to stop banging on my windows, and Tiffany was successful at distracting Zoe from wanting to jump out of the bath when she inhaled some water up her nose (I would have had to pull her out, console her, and convince her to get back in).


Today we spent the whole day at the festival. Zoe napped in our denim beach blanket for almost two hours, pretty good considering we moved her once, and the noise (bagpipes! clapping!). Before her nap, she got really active, and I started teaching her to do somersaults. It was so cute. I also got some video of her doing her circle dance around Daddy. The weather was beautiful, breezy, clear.. which is how I ended up with a horrible sunburn. I think Zoe (with two applications of sunscreen) is fine.. but it looked like I got a little too little on one check and one leg. Too bad this mom can't take her own advice ;) I'm sure it will be a cold shower in the morning.

Zoe singing...

Zoe has really started to latch onto songs and sing them.. One day last week we were watching a show after Dora, and they were singing a song about "Maggy" the whole time. After the show was over, Zoe started to sing the song, tune and all.

This morning she was singing the tune and some of the words from Dora's Backpack. Video to be posted soon.

We went to the Highlands Festival this afternoon.. they had a bouncy room and this inflated tunnel thing with a slide at the end.. (you go into the dragon's mouth, go through the belly, upstairs, down the bouncy slide)... I had to do it with her.. she was a little frightened of the wind it takes to keep a dragon body inflated.

She also got her first Balloon animal, but was not really impressed.

After all that she demanded to be nursed, and promptly fell asleep in my arms.. very tired.

Our new kittens are quite cute. Zoe likes the stripy one.. she is very friendly, and patient and will let Zoe pick her up (not as gentely as I'd like)..
I think we've finally settled on names:
"Moonlight" for the tabby and "Midnight" for the black one..
When I call them, Zoe says "Night-Night".

Zoe will also point at them and say "two Mol-Mol"; Zoe also likes to climb their cat post as much as they do.

In fact, she will climb almost anything.. I was telling her that she was a monkey, she climbed on top of a stack of tables (3 feet high) and then as she was crawling around, I asked her what she was doing.. she said "I am a monkey".

Bye Bye Rachelle...

Rachelle left Canada for Springville.. we will miss her, especially Zoe who was treated to watching Dora whenever Rachelle could stand it.. which was anytime Zoe wanted ;). We'll also missing hearing Zoe use her high pitched voice to say "mommy? daddy?" and then her normal voice to say "No Chell" (Chell is what Zoe calls her).


Rachelle showed me something she wrote, and I wanted to put it here, so someday Zoe can read about her big sister at age 18.

Rachelle
not your average girl
Girls like me don't come around too often, So grasp the fact you know me and hold on tight because your definatley in for a ride.
LoVE is for fakers
Change is never easy... You fight to hold on,and you fight to let go. By the worlds standards... we will never be perfect.
I formerly reside in a little town i call S ville
I get all these ideas that lead me no where... But I always have fun finding where they go.
I'm starting to turn into a Gym rat for sure
I love to Party and have a good time
I love being crazy and out of control... JOKE
I've changed a lot of things in my life, some for the better.... but mostly for the fun of it.
I do things on the spur of the moment.... for instance moving to canada... Random enough for ya?
I tend to make things up in my head and when I say them out loud I get in trouble.
I'm in love with MOTO X
Bike of choice would definatley be a HONDA
I WISH I could teach you to think the way I do but we would both be wasting our time.
I wont pretend to be someone I'm not just to make people happy
make up is my love
I always pick the worst moments to laugh
And have the tendancy to loose my clothes
Dancing in the rain is a hobby of mine
I wear huge sunglasses to hide what I'm really thinking about you
There are so many things going on in this world and I want to see them all
I wont always tell you what im thinking...unless I trust you
My trust is earned... Not given
I hate when my sneeky plans have been discovered
I forget to keep things to my self and tend to say my rude comments out loud
Laying on the grass and watching clouds pass by is my favorite past time
I'm scared that one day I wont remember all the good times I've had so I'm constantly taking pictures to capture my memories
i worry about not having enough to say, and sometimes end up saying too much
I'll laugh at my own jokes before i will ever laugh at yours
I love braclets.. especially home made ones
Seeing boys smile gives me butterflies
I like to go people watching
I wish I could capture sunlight in a jar
Tye dye is amazing
I think a lot of people need to grow up and take responsibility for them selves
Especially me
making me smile is never hard
making me laugh is even easier
If you tell me your hungry i become hungry too
I am always drinking something, or have a drink in my hand
I wish I had my name in lights, and my hand prints in a star
Sharpie tattoos are the best
Until I figure out what I'm going to waste my time on for the rest of my life Im going to spend it doing things that make me happy. You should come join.
I get along with every one

New Kittens!

Now we are picking out names.. current list...

Scully and Mulder
Simba and Puma
Mickie and Minnie
Magic and Mystery
Angel and Buffy
Tiger and lily
Dora and Boots
Tarzan & Jane
Westley & Buttercup
Hocus and Pocus
Harry and Hermione
Nymphadora Tonks and Moony
Tigger and Eyore

Seek A Boo

Although we haven't played many more times, Zoe does talk about "Seek A Boo" or "Hide and Seek". She is getting quite chatty.. sentences of dialogue that I can't always (often) make out..

A few facts:
* Anna said she came out of her room on her own today after her nap (a first)
* Zoe's bangs are getting so long.. I'm at the point where I really should make a decision on her first hair cut.. I'd like to just grow it out, but she will not allow me to put barrets in.
* Zoe only rarely drinks for a lidded cup, her preference is to nurse, but she will drink out of an open cup.. but what a mess that is
* She can eat her cereal with a spoon; This morning she did it with both hands, using her left more than her right. So far she seems mostly ambidextrous

"Cookies..."

These videos document Zoë's sort of forced laughed.. in this case while
watching Cookie Monster... In this one you can hear her say "Cookies".. the next one is the laughter.

Zoë Laugh at Cookie Monster

cast off!

Cast came off on Tuesday at 3ish... there was quite a line, but they got us through reasonably fast. When we went into the cast room, she started crying, non-stop.. I had to take her into the hall until they were really ready for us. It took two of us to hold her down. They sawed into the fiberglass, a line down each side, then used a pry-bar mini jaws of life to pry it apart. Then she cut the sock and padding, and she was free. Next a quick follow up x-ray (which she hated just the same as everything else)...

She pretty much started walking on it within a couple of hours, and still favors her formerly uncasted leg.. still limping, and still seems to get kind of tighter by then end of the day.

hide and seek

Over the weekend I had a riot with Zoe playing "Hide and Seek"... she would stand in her room, I'd tell her to "cover your eyes and count to three".. I'd hide in one of about 6 places in our bedroom.. she'd come find me, shrieking with glee... it was so funny. She'd say "seek, seek, eyes" and run to her room. I tried to trade places with her when hide and seek got boring in my room.. but that was not how she wanted to play. Sometimes she'd get a little lost, couldn't find me.. I'd whisper her name, she'd come running.

(she doesn't really count.. she can count to two, not quite three)

sink!

Did I mention that zoe loves to play in the sink? I'm sure she does it twice a day now.. can push the big dining room chair over by herself (I used to hold her.. but I get tired way before she does, so I offered the chair as a solution, she now knows to push it over). If I don't take off her shirt, then we have to when she is done.. and wipe down the chair and the cupboards.

Oh, and notice the hair.. this was taken in the morning.. she gets the rattiest bed-head hair ever.. so fine and really tangled.. takes a wet brush and brushing from all directions to put her pretty curls back.



oh, and here is that precious "say cheese" face.

napping

well, the napping of 3 hour stints lasted two days.. the next day (with Anna) she did not nap at all, then 1.5 hours the next day, 2 hours the next.. and well today.. 2 hours.. guess we are back on track (and I'm trying to get her to sleep by 8pm.. which is mostly working).

ABCs

Zoe can now sing the first three letters of her A Bs Cs... so cute

She has been able to sing "Row Row Row" [your boat] for a while..

Zoe the meat eater

Zoe loves meat.. she will now eat two slices of Canadian Bacon at breakfast, and I swear we will have to start cooking her a steak... she'll eat as much as we can cut for about 15 minutes.

sleeping update

I've been trying to get her off nursing at night and it is finally working. I tried this a few months ago, and she would be unconsoleable.. now I've got a water bottle for her and sometimes she just needs to have a drink. But eventually she'll be able to console herself.. She is also staying in her bed for longer.. we had two nights where she was there by midnight, but this morning she slept in her bed until 6am, with only two wakenings that I needed to soothe.. (two more which she consoled herself).