few tid bits

Zoe's becoming a bite-er.. she likes to bite me.. she gets all lovey, then crazy energy, and then the bite game.. reminds me of when Mischief was a kitten and would try to attack me.. and I was always trying to scurry away from him until he settled down. Based on someone's advice, the only way to stop her is to bit back, but it doesnt' stick (ie she does it the next time (day) she gets a craving ;)

Zoe will sometimes call her Daddy "Bruce".. the first time I heard it I thought I was hearing things.. but she says it pretty clearly.

Dora is still her favorite thing.. but now we have Dora legos, Dora books, Dora socks, Dora pajamas, so we don't always have to be watching Dora for her to get her Dora fix.

Last night Zoe either had diaper rash or is allergic to infant Motrin (I finally found an 8 hour medicine).. I'm going to wait one more day, and then have her try it again.  We gave it to her yesterday afternoon, and before bed noticed a diaper rash worse than I've ever seen.. it cleared up by morning though.

Among Zoe's favorite things:

peeling: those baby bella cheese wheels (all by herself) or stickers or even a hershey kiss

hiding among pillows: I left her downstairs on one of her Dora watches, came back seconds later.. she was not sitting where I left, I couldn't see her anywhere, it turns out she had our body pillow directly on top of her, and was quietly waiting for us to return... she is ever sneaky.

photo essay: ode to pink leg

This is Zoë's new "say cheese" face... I have several of this exact expression...! She is ever hillarious...

hop-along...

Zoe is doing really well at getting around.. she seems to have stopped using it as the leg she knows and loves and finds it much faster to just drag it along.. (still tugs on my heart strings, but she is very fast).. she still won't stand on it, but will crawl and climb onto just about anything (like the box of dress-up clothes that Auntie Carrie gave her.. she rides it like a horse!).

She is also doing better at night.. last night was the first without the screaming fits that never seem to end.. I put her on a every 4 hour medicine cycle and I think her pain is starting to subside.

oh, and we found the lost Dora.. it was in the grain silo of her barn... I can't say I looked in there ;)

18months and a fracture

After a lovely day on Easter, I was taking Zoe downstairs for some Dora time, and she had this little Dora figurine in her hand, so that didn't leave a hand for going down the stairs.. well I went to scoop her up, and I slipped (socks on wood stairs..) and I fell hard, with Zoe sort of in my arms, I think I must have pushed her to sit down onto the stair to keep her from falling.. she was only a couple down.. I hit my elbows, remember hanging onto the railing, and twisting around to hold onto her.. I have a softball size bruise on my rear.

She cried for at least 30 minutes afterward.. I stripped her naked, checked for bruises, marks, etc.. she didn't have any red spots, save one small bruise on the pad of her big toe. But over the next couple of days, she would not walk on it at all, we thought it was the knee, then the ankle, she wouldn't straighten her leg... and at night, she would have these crying jags I could not do anything to help her with.. they lasted at least 30 minutes... so all of this and talking to family, I took her in to the doctor after work on Tuesday. We were too late to get into the X-ray office, our choices were go to the hospital and gets results reported on Thursday, or go Wednesday morning and get results reported immediately (they have to be able to tell the doctor, who tells you what to do). So this morning we went in.. luckily Bruce went with us.. because it took both of us (and tape!) to hold her for 3 x-rays.... well, I had convinced myself I was paranoid.. but it was a fractured and "should not involve surgery, probably just a cast".. I nearly passed out.



























Well... we survived the day... I haven't felt so miserable in so long.. I mean, I'm supposed to be the protector of this lovely.. as a parent, I'm not supposed to break them.. I feel so awful.. Zoe's break is in her tibia, the doctor said it was a "twisting break" not an impact break (which makes sense, there were no bruises)..pictures from the x-rays will be on the blog soon; The Dr. said 4-5 weeks.. we are going back in for follow-up x-rays in 3 weeks. A friend's son (similar in age) had a cast, and at 3 weeks they switched to a below the knee cast.. I like the idea of a below the knee cast, but Bruce said they discourage that because kids pull them off (Zoe would do that.. she is already trying).

The casting process was difficult.. she would not have it.. finally, the nurse swaddled her, like we used to, and she was finally able to calm down (about the time they got the sock, the pad, and two of the layers of casting material on, before they put on the pink part). They finished, I scooped her up, still swaddled, and we headed to the x-ray to check it.. she fell asleep, warn out, and very warm in her swaddle. She slept through the first x-ray, but woke when the turned her on her side.
Her cast is florescent pink.. from mid thigh to toe.. she gets around crawling, and it is getting used it, but keeping up the tylenol seems a must at this point.

Of course, that same figurine from the first part of this story is her favorite by no where to be found.. Rachel spent all night looking everywhere.. so I ran out to get night clothes that would fit over her cast, and find Dora stuff.. I found the perfect thing.. a Dora Mega block set! It seemed to be a good treat for girl who had a rough day.

Easter

Here is Zoë on the Saturday before easter at Winsor Park... She got her face painted (a first!).. pink on the nose and whiskers of a bunny (she sat on my lap, and the cute little girl who did it had to work fast).

She is seen here in the swing, with her hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket because it was really cold out, and this was a great way for her to try to warm up her little buny paws.











Here is Zoë with her "easter basket", as you can see behind her, some kids were running crazy.. Zoë was just enjoying picking up eggs, and checking to see what was in each one.
























This is Zoe on Easter Morning in her party dress.. We had a big party with about 6 kids, ages ranged 1 year to 3 years old. The kids hunted eggs in our backyard.
Everyone had a great time.

words, Dora, babble, Dora

Zoe's life revolves around when she gets to watch Dora. She wakes up and it is a miracle if she doesn't run to the gate and start chanting "Dodo, Dodo, Dodo" (how she says Dora).

Typically I let her watch one while I shower, and then we go upstairs, get dressed, brush teeth, breakfast, and read books....
She is a good eater at breakfast.. probably the best meal she eats.. typically I make her an egg, some toast with salmon creamcheese spread, some fruit (berries, apple or banana "nana")...
then she chants "Dodo, Dodo" again and I have to sidetrack her.

On work days, then the Nanny comes over; On non work days, she's starting asking for her... she loves Anna. Sometimes she wakes up, and the first thing she says is "Anna".

she is still napping for about 1.5 to 2 hours at about 2pm, sleeping on the pad on the floor. We still need to buy a mattress and set up her bed... she hasn't slept in her crib since she jumped out (long ago). She still likes to fall asleep via a stroller ride.. but car rides and sometimes just laying down with her works (we did the latter when on vacation)

When I come home, the first thing she wants is to nurse, and typically she drinks a lot. Then if we are in the tv room, the next thing she says is "Dodo"... if not, its about books. She is now parroting almost anything we say. she says "book" "cook" "blocks".. she loves to play with blocks (big legos, duplo blocks). Yesterday I taught her to say "pretty" and "necklace" (I was wearing one.. when I got home, she touched it gently and said "pretty"...ahhh)

She typically has whatever we are eating for dinner, and if she won't eat it, then I give her peas and pasta and some "dip".. (yogurt or dressing, sometimes ketchup)

After dinner we either play or head straight to bath depending upon mess level and time of evening. I tried to switch her to going to bed by 7:30, based on some things I read, but no matter when she goes to bed, the most amount she sleeps is 11 hours. We are now back to going to bed by 9pm (due to spring forward/daylight savings).. I like it a bit better.. I sure hated waking up at 6 or 6:30am, but do miss the downtime with Bruce, lazing in front of the tv.

Bedtime is typically not too painful, we read in her room on her pad, about 10 books, then we lay down and I nurse her a bit, and sing her songs. As she starts to fade, I cuddle her with a stuffed animal (typically the monkey or sheep-blanket). She has now got pretty good at sleeping peacefully until abut 2am, unless something wakes her (loss of binky, noise, etc.).. but by then she is ready to cuddle with us. Sometimes I just can put her back in sleep in her room, but by morning, she's always with us.

In the morning she wakes up saying "Mama" "Daddy".. and sometimes "Anna" ;)

The other night something strange did happen.. I was putting her to bed and she would not lay down, she went to the door and screamed "Daddy Dada".. over and over. I finally got him to come up and cuddle with us. She seemed relieved.

She is starting to bond with him, and seeks comfort from him more and more (I'm told 20 months is when this starts). It is sweet.

I started this intending to talk about her babbling.. the cutest thing.. on Dora there are "buga buga babbies".. bugs.. that say "buga buga".. well that is sort of Zoe's chant. The cutest thing she says is "bus".. as in "wheels on the bus" and if you get her started, you are in for a treat.. she gets so excited, dances around, twirls, (this too is from an episode, her favorite, of Dora where they sing the song).

Her favorite "I'm bored" activity is to peel stickers off things... she does this at every store... here is a picture of her doing it in Florida at the Key Deer Refuge center.. she placed all the dots from the hats on her tummy.

Mischief...

It has been so long since I've posted... busy, busy.

A couple of days ago, Mischief, our loveable cat of +14 years, found peace under the canopy of our oak trees. The last few months have been very hard on him (kidney failure), it was hard to watch.

We will always remember Mischief as the cat whom Bruce taught to fetch; the "puppy" (as Rachelle loving called him) who would wait to beg for cat food until he was sure all of the table scraps from our dinner were gone; the cat who Bruce said ate an eggroll that was much bigger than his head (in the 1 minute I turned my back); the cat who always consoled those who needed him, purred loudly, and was the perfect friend.

Zoe had come to call both cats by the same name "MolMol".. although I swear sometimes she said "MishMol" for Mischief. I don't think she knows he is missing.. but she has pointed to his picture a few times.

vacation (Feb 16th- March 3rd)

Zoe had a great set of trips... she did pretty well on the flights.. I remember her crying near solidly thru the first flight because it was short and the steward told her (me) that she could not get down and walk around to see the cute girl a row in front of us.. that really made her mad. The next flight she slept thru (to SFO).

We had a great visit with Naren (5) and his parents Vidya and Amod in Cupertino, CA (home of Apple and HP). We hung out, went to Target (great place to get some cute, cute clothes, as well as Dora videos), and went to the San Jose Children's museum. They had a great water exhibit (water + balls = very wet kids.. especially the 3-6 year old boys), and a cool bubble exhibit. We had a few run ins with some boys.. like the kind that tell you no girl allowed on the fire engine.. I tried to teach them, but like they would listen.

We headed to Miami, waking at 4:30am... so early.. I managed to keep Zoe asleep until we got to the airport. The flight went well... she slept 2 hours, and we watched Dora and read books for the rest. Then in Miami, we got the rental car, headed for some food, and then to the Florida Keys. It took much longer than I thought it would.. we got the rental car about 4:30 or 5.. by the time we made it through traffic, dinner, grocery store, etc.. it was 8pm by the time we made it to Key Colony Beach. Bruce tried to take Zoe to see the beach (it was right on the beach), she freaked out with the unknown noise, we waited until morning.


Zoe was up by 7:30.. Bruce was still sleeping so we went to the beach.. the sun was still sort of rising.. it was beautiful.. the beach was fine, light sand.. Zoe had fun destroying my sand castles, but was not one bit interested in the water.

In fact, I think it was 3 visits to the beach before she would head in, and even then it was not with the abandon that she did last year (luckily). Over our 1 week in the keys, we went to Key West twice.. both on days that hit 85 degrees and were much too hot for both Zoe and I. We tried to see Key Deer in their habitat.. even going to the Key Deer Refuge center.. which turned out to be a room in a strip mall.. it did have stuffed deer (even a baby one), stuffed eagles, crocodile, aligator, etc, as well as bug, snake skin, shells, plants for Zoe to play with (more ick). We went to the "Blue Hole", and hiked a little to a sign that says "Path closed due to poisonous snakes and gators".. like they pay attention to the sign and stay on their side... later Bruce saw video with a aligator warning visitors to the whole... fun..

We also spent two visits at the Bahia Honda National Park... pretty nice.. but overall I think our beach at Key Colony was the best.

I remember two things I would have immediately put on the blog, if
we were (not forced to)/(able to) enjoy a full week without internet!

the first, when we finally got Zoe out in the water.. it wasn't too deep or too sharp a fall off.. but one mom came to warn us that there was a jelly fish spotted in the water (man-of-war, a tiny blue, but painfully stingy jelly fish).. and we were both talking to her, assuming the other was watching Zoe and her head went under.. a bad mom moment.. she was fine.. she didn't get too freaked out.. and stayed in the water with us.

The next, I think the day before we left.. she was playing with the new shower near the beach with her dad, who was turning it on and off and she was running in and out, and then out to the beach where I was.. we she fell face first, into the sand.. she had sand stuck to her eyelids, eye lashes, everything... she was not nearly as freaked as I was... and well, the bath I gave her to get all of the sand off, she hated that.. a lot.


Zoe had a good time on the ship. She did really well staying with Ally, the UVic student we brought with us to watch her. (Ally was also her first babysitter, when she would watch Zoe while I taught my first semester.)
Her favorite things on the ship were watching Dora at dinner (it was at least a 4 course meal, how else do you keep her sitting down and not screaming); but she also enjoyed running from the table to the nearby lounge, where there was a wonderful singer and dance floor.. she was hypnotized and loved to dance; I even caught her humming along once.
We had a great time in Cozumel..unfortunately she did not nap long enough, but we survived the day in the sun.

On that trip we also met Maggy a (7? year old) professor's daughter, and the two of them hit it off really well. I think Zoe made lots of other friends too (some smaller, and of course, at least one boy much older than her who she would chase around.