To celebrate the holiday weekend – and our upcoming anniversary – Q and I decided to take a little family trip down south. We spent the weekend doing all sorts of fun things in the Monterey/Santa Cruz area: swimming, watching (and touching!) fish at the Monterey Aquarium, walking through the redwoods, and even catching a flick at a drive-in theater. But I think Zoe’s favorite activity was just hanging out with her dad, as she’s doing below.

More pics to come later.

-M

About 15 minutes after I wrote my last post, Zoe decided it was naptime, after all. Glad to know I’m not totally losing my touch; I *knew* she was sleepy!

-M

It was a gorgeous warm and sunny day today, and Zoe and I took advantage of the weather by doing some strolling in the Marina with our friends Susan and Zander. I assumed Zoe was worn out from all the activity, and I put her down for a nap as soon as we got home – but take a look at what I saw when I went to check on her not long after. Does this look like the face of a tired child??

-M

Zoe is crawling all around these days, and we have to watch her pretty carefully or she’ll scoot away on us. I don’t think we’ll ever lose her, though – thanks to a handy tracking system on one of her outfits.

-M

Because of daycare and our Friday get-togethers with Miles and Zander, Zoe is always hanging out with other kids – usually boys – her age. Our trip to Madison was no exception: not only did she get together with her cousin Tanner – who is just five days her junior – but she also had an afternoon playdate with four adorable girls (courtesy of my high-school friends Tara and Sarah). During our time at Sarah’s, Zoe played with new toys and rode around on the twins’ little bus, and I discovered one very important thing: it’s virtually impossible to get a decent photo of five little girls! We had a lot of fun trying, though…

-M

As mentioned below, Zoe did really well on her flights (4 in total) to/from Madison. We tried to keep her occupied with various toys and books, but the thing that made her most happy – and quiet – was, of course, food. She went through massive quantities of Gerber Graduates banana puffs, and – thanks to a sweet flight attendant who took a liking to Zoe – she also enjoyed two soft (and big!) chunks of focaccia bread on our SFO-St. Louis flight. Zoe spent a good 20 minutes or so gnawing on the bread; check out the video below to see her in action.

-M

So, we made it back from our trip to Wisconsin. Zoe did really well during the flights, and she really enjoyed the past few days’ activities: visiting lots of family and friends (including her cousin Tanner), laughing at Coco and Olive (her favorite little dogs), going on walks through the park with Grandma and Grandpa, and hanging out at the Middleton Good Neighbor Fest. (As Q’s post indicated below, we did do a little bit of shopping, but not much!) Zoe also experienced several “firsts” on this trip: she said “mama” (finally!) on Fri., she climbed up a stair (all on her own!) on Sat., and she had a bite of a snow-cone (cherry flavored) on Sun. Next time we visit Wisconsin, she’ll try cheese curds for sure!

Check out some of our favorite photos below. (And thanks, G&G, for everything!)

-M

“Flying is fun!”

“Hi, there!”

Snuggling with Grandma (and a duck)

“I like Mom’s old highchair!”

Playing with Cousin Tanner

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…”

Strolling along

“I WILL get up these stairs!”

“That tickles, Aunt Sandy!”

Hanging with Grandpa

“Yum!”

“I love you, Grandma.”

…to the mall Zoe goes! Zoe is off shopping in Madison. More pictures with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Sandy to come when we get back to San Francisco on Monday.

Jon Q

As much as I want to be sentimental and dwell on the fact that Zoe has been with us for three-quarters of a year now (!) I will stick with the facts and report on what she’s been up to this past month…

The big development, of course, is Zoe’s ability to get around. As documented on this blog, she graduated from her inchwarm crawl to a real, on-the-knees-and-hands crawl this month. It quickly became routine for Zoe to crawl across a room to reach an object of interest; for example, she often scoots over to her box of toys and plucks one from the top. More recently, she has crawled longer distances – down our long hallway and from room to room. She’s especially fond of crawling back and forth between me and Q (if we’re in different parts of the house).

Zoe recently started showing interest in non-crawling type movements; when in a standing position and holding someone’s hands, she can now take tippy-toe steps forward. And just this past weekend, she stood on her own (holding on to the edge of the bed for support) for the first time. I don’t want to rush the “cruising” or walking thing, though – I think crawling is a big enough development for now!

In terms of personality, the key word for Zoe is “curious.” Zoe, like other 9-month-olds, is constantly looking around, and reaching for, grabbing and crawling towards objects of interest. If she hears the most common of sounds (a cough, a sneeze, the garage door going up when her dad gets home, etc.) she’ll stop what she’s doing and stare in the direction of the noise. And, as she has done for several months now, she tries to get anything and everything in her hands or mouth: remote controls, telephones, toys, food, hair, glasses, necklaces, etc. (You have to be quite careful what you have around her!)

Zoe continues to be as happy as ever; Elena tells me that other parents at daycare still often comment how she is always smiling… Things that make Zoe particularly happy: flying through the air with her dad, bouncing on her Jumparoo, being fed by a train (“choo choo”), hearing the Itsy-Bitsy Spider and playing crib peek-a-boo. Favorite toys include her little rubber ducks (still), a toy phone (courtesy of our local Sprint store) and anything that sings or makes interesting noises.

I feel like a broken record saying it, but Zoe still loves to eat. A few weeks ago, she began picking up small objects (little pieces of bread, Cheerio-type puffs, etc.) and putting them in her mouth. She recently started eating meat dishes, but she is still most fond of the old stand-bys: bananas, applesauce, sweet peas, etc. She has gained a few ounces since the 8-month mark; she’s currently just shy of 20 pounds.

And another broken-record comment: she’s just so much fun to be around. Each stage is better than the one before, I think!

-M