Last night, Zoe was examining one of her bibs, which is covered with ocean animals. She pointed at the fish and seahorse and then stopped at the shell. “Shell here,” she said and then looked up. “And Shell there!” she said and pointed to me. Zoe has always heard Q call me “Shell,” and sometimes even calls me by that name to be funny. I couldn’t help but smile that she made the connection between the two types of shells!
-M
We managed to capture Zoe’s football signals on video this morning. She had a little trouble with her false start, but I’m a huge fan of the off-side hip wiggle. Check her out below.
-M
Zoe’s been exposed to football since the day she was born (and I mean this literally: much of my labor was consumed by football talk between me, Q and our L&D nurse), and I’ve always said that she’s going to grow up to either really love or, in a fit of rebellion, really hate the game. So far, the “love” part seems to be winning: Zoe gets quite excited when we turn on a game (“football!” she’ll cry out), and this weekend she perfected several official hand signals. She’s known touchdown for awhile; now she’s also able to throw the sign for first down, holding, false start, and off side. Might we have a future official in our midst?
-M
The three of us did some shopping yesterday, and Zoe was on the hunt for some new accessories. This particular pair of glasses was a bit big on her, but trying it on made for a great photo op!
-M
Our next-door neighbors are doing construction on their house, and things were pretty loud over there yesterday. The bad thing was that it interfered with Zoe’s nap, but the good thing was that it led to a sweet moment with a curious Zoe checking things out. She moved her little pink chair to the window and pulled aside the curtains to get a look at what was going on; I was lucky enough to have the camera nearby.
-M
I was brushing my teeth last night when I spotted a black stuffed dog hanging from our towel rack. I glanced around and spotted a few other curious things: a box of crayons lying by the toilet, a folded (clean) diaper perched up near the sink, a small red ball in the corner by the door. And as I sit here typing, many interesting things can be found strewn throughout our bedroom: a small purple sock by the bed, a copy of “Are You My Mother?” by the television, a half-eaten cookie on my nightstand.
I bring up these things not to point out our housekeeping deficiencies (it’s close to impossible to put away every little thing picked up and plunked down by a busy toddler, after all), but to illustrate just how much a little girl can take over your space – and life. Though just 35 pounds, Zoe has a huge presence in our house – not just with the little items she leaves throughout the house, but with her big personality and fun/energetic/demanding/occasionally frustrating toddler ways.
It makes me smile that a black stuffed dog in the bathroom is the new normal for us!
-M
Zoe is very into the presidential election. Just a few minutes ago she was working the phones – for Obama, natch – and checking the latest poll data. Here she is in her little war room. (And check out her patriotic red-and-blue table!)
-M
Our friends just sent two more pictures from Halloween, and I couldn’t resist making a post. These come from early Fri. afternoon, after the other kids at Zoe’s get-together had headed home for naps. Zoe and her friend Jack hung out a bit on their own- running around the house and snacking – and I think they make a pretty cute duo.
-M
The anniversary date has come and gone, but I want to acknowledge the start-date of this little blog. A little over two years ago (10.26.06), Q wrote our first entry – and we’ve been diligently posting ever since. Those early entries are so much fun to read; we were fairly clueless about what we were in for, and my posts – which often focused on my fear of labor – feel a bit like therapy sessions.
I’m not sure how many people visit the site on a regular basis, but I’m glad at least a few of you have stuck by us. It’s been a pretty amazing/crazy/whirlwind-ish two years, and it’s been fun sharing it all. I wonder what the next two years will bring – ?
-M
After a quick nap yesterday afternoon, Zoe was ready to continue with the festivities. Her dad came home early so the three of us could go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood; then Zoe helped give away candy at our house and hung out with Dan, Jenny, Fink and Roopa before bed. All in all it was a great day: the rain stayed away, Zoe’s costume change was a big hit (though people kept calling her a bumblebee or butterfly), and Zoe had a very full bag of candy by the of the night!
-M
