It’s been a few days since we returned from Madison, and we’re all back in the swing of things here at home. Zoe wasn’t quite herself when we first got back, and a quick trip to the doctor on Thurs. revealed a minor ear infection. Thanks to medication, though, Zoe seems to be feeling much better now. She has also adjusted to her home time-zone, and she even slept in yesterday and today. (Isn’t it scary that waking at 7:40 is considering sleeping in??)

It’s a good thing Zoe is in tip-top shape, because her Safta just flew into town this morning. She’ll be here for the next week, so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of updates/pictures to post in the next few days.

-M

As mentioned here before, Zoe spends a good amount of time being flung and twirled around. Her dad’s the flinger and twirler, of course, and it recently occurred to me that he often treats her more like a toy than a little girl. Doesn’t she look a bit toy-like here??

-M

As promised, here are more pictures from our trip to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Sandy. Zoe had a lot of fun and can’t wait to go back. I think you can see why from the pictures below…

Jon Q

Just chillin’ at the airport –

Visiting with her favorite aunt at work –

Can’t get by without my morning coffee, paper, and Zoe –

Relaxing with Grandma and Grandpa –

Hide-and-seek time with her socks –

Reading Grandpa and Coco a book –

Kissies for everyone! –

Getting into the holiday spirit –

Zoe and the Fam (sounds like a rock band) –

It’s been several days since we last posted, but that’s because we’ve been busy hanging with family and traveling. (We got home last night.) We had a fun time in Madison, and Zoe got to spends lots of bonding time with her Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Sandy. Of course, we’re all pretty exhausted from the trip, and poor Zoe – now used to Central time – woke up at 4:30 this morning. Yikes!

We’ll be back to post more when we catch up on some sleep (yawn); for now, here is a picture of Zoe hanging out on her grandparents’ stairs. (Note: one of her favorite activities on the trip was climbing up the stairs. She moves pretty fast!)

-M

They say some things (wine, certain cheeses, etc.) get better with age – and that seems to be the case with Zoe. She is just so much fun these days: so active, curious and happy. She’s always zipping around, playing, laughing, getting into things… It’s hard to keep up with her at times, but the payoff is so worth it.

Zoe spends most of her time cruising around and exploring areas of the house. She loves pulling books (and other objects) off of shelves, unfolding laundry and other objects of clothing, and reaching for her biggest objects of affection: phones (cell and land-line) and remote controls. A few of her favorite things are off-limits – like pulling out her diaper wipes from their container, throwing toys in her Diaper Champ or pulling the lid off her wicker hamper. When she’s doing something she’s not supposed to, she usually looks at me for a second and waits for a response. Then, she usually does it anyway. And smiles. (sigh)

The majority of Zoe’s time is spent on her feet; she loves to stand, often sucking her thumb while doing so, for long periods of time. We know she knows *how* to walk (she frequently takes a few steps forward on her own) – it just doesn’t seem like she really *wants* to yet. I think for now she’s content getting to where she needs to go by crawling or walking while holding on to the furniture.

As mentioned above, Zoe is at a really fun, happy age. She recently started saying “hi,” which she now says all the time and to everyone, and she also often repeats words that we say to her. (The other day, for example, she said “thank you” back to us.) She’s constantly singing and clapping, and she tends to get very excited (with giggles and flailing arms, etc.) when one of us walks into the room. On the flip-side, she tends to get very sad (with big tears and wails, etc.) when one of us leaves. She never has a problem being dropped off at daycare in the morning (thank goodness!), but she does does exhibit classic signs of separation anxiety here at home.

The only other time we see Zoe’s less-than-pleasant side is when we take something (usually an item she shouldn’t be playing with) from her. It’s now common for her to cry, grunt or even shake in anger when that occurs. We have our little tricks to minimize the outbursts, but I do occasionally long for those days in which she barely noticed things around her!

As for physical stuff, Zoe is just under 24 lbs and 30 inches. She still eats a lot, and she’s grown a little pot-belly (which, of course, we love). She has only four teeth, though the doctor said two more top teeth on on her way. I kind of like her gumminess; it makes for cute, wet “kissies” (which, of course, we also love).

-M

Zoe had quite an eventful day. As usual, I thought it would be fun to show you in pictures…

First Zoe went out for some pizza –

Then she had a little playtime with Coco –

In the evening she got to suds up –

And finally, she got to open some late birthday presents –

Needless to say, she got to sleep quickly. More pics to come…

Jon Q

We made it to Madison without too much of a hassle. We hit a long layover in St Louis because of fog (didn’t seem that bad to us…these guys don’t know what REAL fog is…) but Zoe made the most of it. Check out the picture below of her hanging out in the airport. When we finally did make it, she was sleepy from the long day, but made some time for hugs and “kissies” for Grandma and Grandpa. We’ll be sure to post more later tonight and tomorrow.

Jon Q

The three of us are heading out to Madison, where the high temperature today is 38. The last time Zoe got a taste of the cold, snowy Wisconsin winter was in Feb., when she was quite little. (Pictures are below; check out how small she looked on our plane ride back home!) We can’t wait to see what she thinks of the snow this time around.

M

I was visiting with an eye doctor the other day, and she commented that some children don’t have their permanent eye color until they’re 18 or 24 months old. Though I love Zoe’s light, grey eyes (see below), I do have a strong suspicion that they’re not going to stay that way. We’ve noticed some changes, including a few small, dark flecks, lately, and my most educated guess it that she’s going to wind up with hazel-colored eyes. (This would make sense – after all, it’s a nice mix of my blue and Q’s brown.) What do you all think?

-M

Here is Zoe taking a walk with her cart. Mommy is teaching Zoe early on about her shopping cart skills. Watch how she pushes the cart, checks her item of clothing, and moves on. She is going to make a really good shopping partner for Mom some day.

Jon Q

Zoe’s not always smiling; she does have her serious – and even semi-scary – moments. I think she looks a little intimidating in this picture, which was taken a few nights ago. If it wasn’t for the blue elephant, I would say she looks a little gangster!

-M

According to one of my parenting bibles (“What to Expect: The Toddler Years”) children “should” be able to clap their hands by the time they hit 13 months. Previously resistant to our clapping lessons, Zoe must have sensed it was about time (a week shy of turning 13 months) to give clapping a try – because that’s all she’s been doing since coming home from daycare tonight. It’s so funny: once kids learn something, they suddenly do it non-stop. It was that way with crawling and saying “hi,” and now it’s like that with clapping.

Seeing Zoe’s little hands together tonight reminded me of a short period of panic I experienced a few months back – when I suddenly realized that Zoe had hit all her developmental milestones except for clapping. (Though 13 months is the “should” age, this same book indicates that most children clap or wave much earlier. And all of Zoe’s friends were interested in clapping and waving months ago.) What could this mean? Was this a sign of something bad, like autism? Could she be developmentally delayed? (I spent a few terrifying hours on a website devoted to detecting signs of autism; my advice to any new parent out here is to NOT visit these sites!) I would have been so relieved had I seen Zoe’s hands go together even once, but instead I had to wait months for it. (And by the time she finally did it, I wasn’t worried there was anything wrong with her anymore!)

Zoe showed me tonight that she’ll hit her little milestones when she’s good and ready – and she reminded me that there’s no sense in worrying about it. Now, I just hope I can remember this for next time…

-M

Zoe wore a little cupcake sweater when we were out running around (read: shopping) today, so it was only appropriate that we stop somewhere for a sweet snack. A bit stricter than my parenting counterpart, I advised Q to give Zoe only a tiny taste of our chocolate dessert. Somehow, though, I think she got more than a few bites… (He’s such a softie.)

-M

There is a coffee-shop/diner a block away from our house, and the three of us go there about once a week. The remarkable thing about the place – aside from its tuna melts – is the fact that, without fail, someone there (either a customer or employee) assumes Zoe is a boy. A sample scenario:

Waitress: “So cute. A boy, right?”
Us: “No, a girl.”
Waitress: “Really? She looks just like a boy.”
(This despite the fact that Zoe arrived in a pink stroller and is wearing a head-to-toe pink outfit like the one below.)

I try not to take it personally when people think Zoe is a boy (her hair is pretty short, after all), but the frequency in which the mix-up occurs at this place (and only this place!) is driving me a little nuts. The first few times it happened, we thought it was funny, but now, ten or fifteen visits later, I’m just perplexed. Does the restaurant’s lighting somehow make Zoe appear masculine? Do the restaurant’s patrons not know that girls, not boys, wear pink floral shirts? Is this a Candid Camera situation orchestrated to test our patience and film our reponse?

Whatever the case, we’ll continue going there (for the tuna melts) and continue dressing her in pink. One of these days we’re bound to hear, “So cute. A girl, right?”

-M

It’s been clear for many weeks now that Zoe is a little girl – not a baby. She just had her one-year birthday, but evidence of her graduation from babydom can be found in places other than the calendar. Consider:

-Her schedule: Always a good sleeper, Zoe took three naps a day until she was 10 months old. She’s been religious about her 9 AM and 1 PM naps since then, but she recently started rejecting her morning snooze. (She skips it at home on occasion, and Elena reports that she *never* naps in the morning anymore at daycare.) Although *I* might not be ready to say good-bye to this break (er, I mean nap), the books tell me that dropping it is pretty typical for toddlers.

-Her diet: Though she still enjoys an occasional jar of Gerber, Zoe is eating more and more “real people” food these days – and her dependence on (my) milk is lessening. She’s not crazy about whole milk (obviously she doesn’t take after her Grandpa Larry in this area!), but she gets her calcium by filling up on yogurt and cheeses.

-Her wardrobe: An increasing number of shirts and pants are being tucked away into storage these days, and Zoe is more comfortable in 18-24 month clothes now. (Her pot-belly, I think, is to blame.) She’s also fitting into clothes that I once looked at and could never imagine her wearing. Q and I would look at the long legs on a pair of pajamas, for example, and ask one another, “Do you think she’ll EVER be this big??”

-Her bed: Once upon a time, Zoe’s crib appeared about 20 times larger than she was. (We plunked her in the middle of the crib when we first brought her home from the hospital, and she loooked like a pea lying there. Needless to say, it felt way too big and scary for her, and she cried hysterically.) These days, she fills up the majority of the space; sometimes when I check on her at night I’m shocked to see such a big girl lying there!

-M