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.