Yesterday afternoon we headed up to Marin to spend time with our friends Giselle and Jon and their little girls. As in summers past, Zoe spent hours splashing around in the pool, followed by an evening playing and dining with Elena and Lila. The girls were so cute together, and we’re already planning our next four-girl get-together.
-M
As my belly has grown, so has Zoe’s interest in (and awareness of) the baby. Yesterday morning, as we were heading down the stairs, she looked at me and said, “You can’t carry me – Baby Sister’s inside.” (This, of course, made me really want to pick her up and hug her – but I refrained.) And the other day, when we were cuddling on the couch and watching TV, she pulled up my shirt and started talking to my stomach. “Baby Sister, do you want to watch Mommy’s show?” she asked as she patted me – and she proceeded to check every few minutes if the baby was enjoying the program. Hopefully she’ll be this attentive and caring when the baby is outside of the belly!
-M
More stuff to share from last weekend – this time in the form of video. Check out Zoe as she makes some new puppet friends and, later, shouts and claps with Angela.
-M
As mentioned below, we chose to go to Napa for the weekend to visit Angela (or, as Zoe calls her, Angie-lah). We skipped out on the usual Wine Country activity (i.e. wine tasting) and instead did some swimming, shopping and exploring – and I think Zoe had a good time. Here are some more pics.
-M
For the holiday weekend, we again wanted to escape the cool fog and go somewhere warm – and we settled on Napa. Angela, who flew into town last week, was doing some work there, and we met up with her on Sun. afternoon (pics coming soon). Before doing that, though, we checked out a new place in Napa called Scientopia – and I’m happy to report that Zoe loved it. She spent several hours running around, painting, “shopping,” playing with puppets and even gardening. It’s an hour away from our house, but we’ll definitely go back. Hopefully, Poppy will like it too!
-M
Q and I both do a lot of work on the computer, and apparently Zoe has noticed. Here she is the other morning, doing her own important work.
-M
As we mentioned below, Zoe had her first backyard swimming experience last weekend. We took a ton of pictures and this video…enjoy!
Jon Q
Well, Michelle had an appointment with her Dr on Friday and we are officially in the final countdown. Looks like Poppy will be appearing in less than a month! The Dr says if the baby isn’t here by the 22nd of June that we may schedule the delivery for that date. That means Zoe will have her little sister within the next 30 days! We are all very excited…
Jon Q
In honor of Zoe’s half-birthday today, we treated her to a half-cupcake and a round of Happy Birthday. (I should mention that the cupcake came from a little pre-baby, surprise lunch my co-workers threw for me on Thurs.; I knew Zoe would like the white-and-pink-flower one as much as I did.) When we asked Zoe what else she wanted to do on her special day, she responded with “horsie ride” – so Q took her to the zoo for a spin on the Merry-Go-Round. I think it was a good way to celebrate!
-M
Time to break out the half-cupcake today, in celebration of Zoe’s half-birthday.
Though it can be a bit trying at times (see below about tantrums), this is generally a sweet age. Zoe is always making us smile and laugh – especially when she’s imitating us or commenting that something is “so cute.” (Her “Oh my gosh” line is one we now hear quite frequently.) She often gives us compliments (“Pretty shirt, Daddy!”), and tells us, out of the blue, that she misses or loves us. She’s recently become quite affectionate in the mornings (she routinely climbs into bed with us and plants a bunch of kisses on our cheeks), and she is also terribly sweet with her friends – both live and stuffed. She gives a hello and good-bye hug each day to her best friend at Elena’s (a little girl named Brianna who calls Zoe “Bobee”), and she’s often cradling her stuffed animals or dolls and putting them to bed (“Shhh,” she’ll tell us, “they’re sleeping”). This past week, she also started calling Panda “Sweetie Pie” – which made us smile.
Zoe has been a bit more clingy than she used to be – occasionally getting upset when I drop her off at Elena’s or when Q and I leave her to go out. Then again, sometimes she surprises me – like the other night when I was getting ready to have dinner with a friend. “Where are you going?” she asked me when she saw me putting on make-up. She was quiet for a minute after I told her, and I thought she was going to be upset – but then she said, “Okay. I’m going to stay here with Daddy.”
In terms of play, Zoe still likes reading, coloring and painting, pushing around her friends (especially Panda) in the stroller and playing pretend. She’s often making and serving us ice cream or tea, and her new favorite game is “salon” where one of us (usually her dad) pretends to wash and dry her hair. She also loves talking on the phone, and – as displayed in this video – she always has lengthy, life-like conversations.
Zoe is showing an early interest in fashion, which of course makes me proud. Though she hasn’t yet demanded to pick out her own clothes, she does like commenting on patterns (“That’s stripes,” “That’s polka-dots”) and colors (almost every morning she tells me the color of my pajamas) – and she always points out when something matches. (The other day she got really excited when we both had on jean jackets. “My jacket blue, your jacket blue!” she said.)
As for developmental milestones, she can spell her name, identify most of the letters in the alphabet and count on her own to about 12. She can put on most of her bottom-half clothes (underwear, pants, socks, shoes) on her own, but she still needs help with her shirts. She’s not completely potty-trained yet, but I blame that mostly on laziness on her parents’ part!
Another big development (which we’ve documented here): she recently got a new bedroom. She knows that she moved to accommodate “Baby Sister,” about whom she talks all the time – and we’ve had fewer problems getting her to bed since the move.
Zoe still has tantrums – her biggest meltdown ever actually just occurred last weekend – but her outburts aren’t that frequent, and they’re never (knock on wood) in public. I also felt a bit better when a friend told me that his daughter (who is around the same age as Zoe) recently behaved as if the world was going to end when she was refused a second banana. Zoe isn’t the only sometimes-irrational 2-year-old out there!
The next time I write one of these updates, things will be very different in our lives – not only will Zoe be older, but she’ll (officially) be a big sister. It’s difficult to imagine how things will be, but you’ll be the first people we’ll report to!
-M
Q and Zoe frequently go to Sat. morning classes at the zoo; Q blogged about their most recent one last weekend. During this class, Zoe learned all about gorillas – but she appeared to have the most fun just jumping around and making music. Check her out below.
-M