The blog has been quiet because we’re been busy with a guest: Aunt Sandy arrived on Thursday night. She’s been spending a lot of time with the girls, and she got to a witness a quasi-first the other day when she greeted the baby and Avery responded with a clear “Hi.” It may have just been a coincidence – after all, Avery has been practicing her h’s lately – and she also says “mama” and “dada” a lot these days, but it still kind of felt like her first word.

-M

One of Avery’s favorite things to do is sit by her toy shelf and choose various things to play with/chew on. She looked a bit like a toy herself the other day, and when I took her picture I was reminded of this classic shot of Zoe. Both girls obviously like their toys!

-M

It’s been, admittedly, a bit of a rough week: we’ve been recovering from illnesses, Avery hasn’t been sleeping well (which means we haven’t been sleeping well), and my work is a little crazy right now. But there were two moments this week that made me forget (at least temporarily) about my troubles. First, Zoe was dancing and jumping around the other night, and Avery, perched on her dad’s lap and watching the scene, suddenly burst into laughter. These were big-time giggles (that continued until Zoe stopped dancing), and this marked one of the first times Avery laughed over something her sister did. I couldn’t help but smile at the cuteness. Then this morning, I woke up to Zoe’s little voice saying to me, “Excuse me, but Avery’s crying.” I told her I would be right there, and Zoe promptly went into Avery’s room to tell her, “It’s okay. Mommy’s on her way.” What a way to start my day!

-M

Baby brothers seem to be on Zoe’s mind lately, based on a few recent conversations with her. The other day, I asked if she wanted to have a baby in her belly, like Mommy once had, someday. “Yes, I’m going to have a baby brother in my belly,” she said, rubbing her stomach. “And when it comes out it will hurt.” (Woops, I guess she’s heard me talk about labor before.) I quickly assured her that it might hurt but (cliche alert!) it would be worth it.

Then, a few nights later, she had the following exchange with Q:

Z: “Dora has a baby sister and baby brother. I have a baby sister but I need a baby brother.”
Q: “I need a baby brother, too.”
Z: “No, Daddy! You already have two baby brothers!”
Q: “I do? Who?”
Z: “Uncle Gil and Uncle Dan!”

We were pretty impressed that she got that right. I guess she’s starting to understand how everyone is related!

So, our house was buggy again this weekend: all the girls, including this one, had some sort of illness. The good news is that everyone is feeling better: Zoe’s back at school, and Avery’s back to her happy, bouncy self (see below). It’s unfortunate that we’ve all been getting sick so much lately – but at least we recover quickly!

-M

Speaking of firsts, Avery chatters a lot – but I don’t think she’s officially said her first word yet. If Q has his way, though, that word is going to be “dada!”

-M

Another first happened last night when Zoe fed her sister at dinner. Oh sure, she’s given Avery some Cheerios and “puffs” before, but this was her first attempt at spoon-feeding. Avery was a little confused, I think – and she clutched on to her little duck with dear life – but all in all, Zoe did a good job.

-M

When I was little I enjoyed the Amelia Bedelia books, in which the main character always takes things literally. (In one book, for example, she’s told to “dress” the turkey for Thanksgiving, so she puts a little outfit on the bird.) Zoe reminded me of Amelia – and the fact that little kids often take things literally – twice this past week. “Let’s go around the room and say what the best part of our day was,” I suggested at dinner one night, only to have Zoe jump up and start walking around the table. I explained with a laugh that “going around the room” was just an expression – and what I meant was that the three of us should take turns talking – but it was lost on Zoe, who by then was having too much fun going in circles and talking about her day. And a few nights later, when I asked Zoe to “flip on” the light in her sister’s room, she looked at me like I was crazy. “I can’t flip the light!” she said with a laugh, likely thinking of the flips she does in gymnastics. It made a lot more sense to her once I asked her to turn on the light instead.

-M

On Sunday the four of us went to Zoe’s school for another Purim celebration. Zoe had tons of fun running around with her friends, getting her face painted, playing games, going down slides, etc. – and our little court jester was content just looking around and being held. Here are my favorite pics.

-M

The Butterfly Princess

“Purple is my favorite color!”

The court jester with her dad

Up the slide…

And down the slide

The princess says: “I don’t want to go home!”

X

Zoe’s school celebrated Purim yesterday, and the kids got to dress up, parade around and shake their groggers during a morning party. (It reminded me of the Halloween parades we used to have at my elementary school.) Zoe the cat was at the start of the processional, followed closely by one of her best friends, Leo (the monkey). Here’s a short clip.

-M

Q went out of town on business this week, which meant I had to fly solo for almost two full days. I wasn’t, of course, looking forward to having to “single parent” it – taking care of two kids can be challenging and exhausting even with both parents around! – but I wound up being pleasantly surprised by what transpired. First, the girls were great. They were easy to get ready both mornings, putting Zoe to bed (which sometimes can be difficult) was a breeze, and neither girl woke up in the night. There were a few challenging moments – like when Avery was crying from hunger, and I had to wait to feed her until Zoe (who was taking quite a long time) was done in the bathroom – but overall I don’t think it could have gone smoother.

This trip was quite the contrast to one of Q’s first post-Avery overnight ones, when both Avery and Zoe were upset at bedtime, and I didn’t know how to – or feel like I could – comfort both of them at the same time. (I remember bouncing a newborn Avery on the ball, trying to get her to stop crying while silently cursing Q for not being around to help.) Part of the reason it was so much better this time is that, of course, the girls are older and easier to manage. (It’s hard to deny that an 8-month-old is easier to care for than a newborn.) But it’s more than that: I also think Q and I have gotten this whole caring-for-two-kids thing down. I still wouldn’t categorize life with two as easy - but it is the new normal, and we’re better equipped now to handle certain things, like doing it alone or comforting two crying girls at the same time. (I wish I could go back to the “me” of seven and six months ago and give her some tips.) And I’m proud that something that once was incredibly difficult for me really isn’t so bad anymore!

-M

PS – Q, this isn’t an invitation for you to start leaving more often. I much prefer having you around. :)

I mentioned earlier my plan to take pictures of some of Avery’s cutest (and now too-small) outfits. Yesterday I had to get out the camera before saying good-bye to this classic outfit: a velvety tracksuit that Zoe wore to AllStar FanFest in 2007. Sadly, it’s now too snug around Avery’s tummy – but I’m packing it away with fond memories!

-M

I mentioned the other day that Zoe recently started drawing shapes. Below is the picture that she put together and proudly presented to me and Q on Monday morning. As she pointed out – starting at the top and going going clockwise – there’s a circle, square, acorn, snake and oval. (Okay, okay, so acorns and snakes aren’t exactly shapes, but we were impressed nonetheless!)

-M

Every three months, on her quarter-birthday, we measure Zoe. Usually she’s the only one to get the honor, but this time around Avery wanted to join in on the fun… Only 15 inches to go until she catches up to her sister!

-M

It’s been great fun watching Zoe grow and mature these past few months. There was a big difference between 33 months and 36 months, but I think perhaps there was an even bigger one between the 3 year and 3 year, 3 month mark!

Preschool is playing big role in Zoe’s life; she’s excited about going, and she has learned a lot. I can always tell what they’re focusing on in class because she talks about it at home; one day, out of the blue, she started talking about shapes; on other days it was trees and snails she was talking about. She’ll often burst out with something I know she picked up from her teachers; she recently scolded me, for example, for not paying attention to her and said I needed to put my “listening ears” on. (That’s something they obviously do at school!)

Her school has sing-alongs on Mondays and gymnastics on Wednesdays (Zoe recently learned to do a somersault), and they do art projects (which are her favorite things to do, I think) almost every day. Throughout the year, they also teach a lot about Jewish culture and holidays: Zoe can now say and sing several blessings, including the hamotzi (blessing over the bread), and she can sing Happy Birthday in Hebrew. And during Hanukkah she would come home and report on how many candles needed to be lit that night.

Zoe’s favorite things to do at home are similar to what I reported last time. She plays make-believe a lot; most of the time, her imaginary friends are kids from school, but sometimes Dora and Boots come by for a play-date too. She also loves playing school, telling stories (as seen here), cooking and playing “Happy Birthday” (by making “cakes” – usually out of toilet paper or tissues – and having us blow out the candles), and pretending she’s a doctor. She also talks about being sick (even when she’s not) and asks to go to the doctor a lot; I guess she’s a big fan of Dr. Fernandez, and the “boy doctor” she recently saw.

In terms of skills, Zoe can identify all the letters of the alphabet and can almost spell her sister’s name. (She’s had Zoe down for awhile – it helps that it’s short!) She now knows her shapes, as mentioned above; just yesterday, she surprised me and Q by drawing (for one of the first times) rather accurate-looking circles, squares and ovals. She has also started to do some simple math problems (if there are four objects and we take two away, she knows there are two left, etc.).

Her speech gets better as she gets older, but she still mispronounces a few words. For a long time, Dr. Fernandez was “Dr. Nandez.” Beautiful comes out as “booty-full,” and excused comes out as “accused.” (We recently taught her to ask nicely to leave the dinner table; now every night we hear, “Can I be ACCUSED?”)

Zoe still has a bit of a bossy personality – she likes to take charge when possible, and she always tries to negotiate things with us. “I have an idea,” she’ll say, before launching into a plan that will allow her to watch another show, get a treat, stay up later, etc. As example, just this weekend, Q bought a cookie and told her she could have one bite now and the rest after her nap. “How about I have a bite now, a bite when I get home and the rest after my nap?” she said. “Would that be a good idea?” (On a funny note, before Zoe was even born, I wondered if she would wind up with this type of personality.)

As for bedtime, her ritual has been the same for some time now: she usually watches a 20-min. show to unwind and then gets a book, story and song. She started having some rough nights (tantruming and refusing to go to bed) about a month ago, and we tried different tactics to make the nights better – with varying degrees of success. A few weeks ago we started giving her “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” based on her behavior, and there’s a funny story related to this. I was having a bad day and snapped at her recently, and she told me, “I don’t like it when you talk to me like that, Mommy. Thumbs down.” (After I told her I was sorry, though, I got a thumbs up.)

Zoe still loves playing and cuddling with her sister, but recently (within the past few weeks) she has started taking toys away from her when Avery’s playing with them. She usually gives them back and says “sorry” (after I ask her to) but I suspect this is the just start of that form of sibling rivalry!

And speaking of Avery, Zoe very much likes to give us little reports on what she’s up to. She looked into Avery’s room and told me recently, “Avery’s crawling around in her crib.” She always tells us when Avery’s crying (often she’ll hear her cries before I do!) and one morning she yelled to us from her room that Avery was awake. “Is somebody going to get her?” she called out.

She can be very sweet – she’s known to come up to us and give us a kiss for no reason. And I like when she gets happy and excited about the simplest of things. Recently, when packing Zoe’s lunch, I asked if she wanted some ranch dressing for her carrots. “Oh, that would be very, very nice,” she said excitedly. “Thank you!” (Comments like that make otherwise mundane tasks/moments special.)

And, lastly, some stats. She was recently weighed and measured, and she comes in at 41 lbs and 41 inches. That puts her in the 96th percentile for weight and 97th for height. No wonder she’s wearing some 5T clothing!

-M