A more timely e-mail has never been received. “It’s 3 a.m., and you’re sound asleep,” the weekly note from BabyCenter.com read. “Suddenly, you feel a poke, a tap, then another poke. Try as you might to ignore it, the nocturnal assault continues. Eventually, you have no choice but to open your eyes. Before you stands your forlorn-looking child, uttering those all-too-familiar words: ‘Mommy, I need you…'”

The e-mail arrived in my In-box following a few very rough nights in our house. On Wed., Zoe showed up at our bedside at 1:30 AM and had a difficult time getting back to sleep (poor Q was up with her most of the night); the next night, she refused to go to bed at all – crying and screaming and not settling down for a good two hours after her normal bedtime. I’ve been scratching my head trying to figure out what was going on – Zoe has always been a great sleeper; why the problems now? – but this e-mail, directed towards parents of 27-month-olds, shed real insight. “Not even the most competent snoozers are immune to sleep disturbances,” it read, going on to explain that this is the age that kids, thanks to nightmares and common preschool fears, have the occasional sleepless night. And now that they’re mobile (i.e. not in a crib), children are likely to come straight to their parents’ room for some TLC.

Zoe slept through the night last night, thank goodness, but that didn’t stop me from waking up with a jolt in the middle of the night. (I was expecting to see Zoe’s little face next to mine, I guess.) I got back to sleep eventually, but I suspect we’ve got more long, “Mommy/Daddy-I need-you” nights ahead of us…

-M

Michelle’s Dr recently informed her that her more accurate due date is June 20th. That means today is another milestone as we are down to double-digits and Michelle has only 99 days until Poppy is due! Next Friday is exactly 3 months until the baby is due and the start of her third trimester. Coming down the home stretch!

Jon Q

When I was in high-school, there was a funny TV commercial (probably for Weight Watchers or the like) that featured a mom who kept eating food from her child’s plate. (“Mommy, that’s my food!” her child would say, as the mom looked on in shame.) Because I was a big eater, and not much of a sharer, my friends would joke that I would be like the mom in the commercial someday…

Fast forward to Tues. night, when the three of us were enjoying some pizza at a party. I took a slice and Zoe promptly snatched it out of my hands; a few minutes later, she did the same thing with a new piece. There wasn’t that much pizza left, and I felt myself becoming agitated. “Zoe, that’s Mommy’s!” I told her, as I took the slice out of her greasy little hands. And as I took a bite, I couldn’t help but wonder what my high-school friends would think if they could see me…

I like to think I’m a fairly giving and kind mom under normal circumstances – and I just don’t feel shame over this incident. After all, no one should mess with a pregnant woman’s pizza!

-M

Purim began on Tues. evening, so the three of us headed to a little party. Dressed up (once again) as a princess, Zoe got to run around, play games, eat pizza and get her face painted – and she’s still talking about the little red hearts on her face. Here are some pics.

-M

We’re not completely unfamilar with temper tantrums (we commented about them just a few months ago), but Zoe has taken them to a whole new level lately. Almost daily now, she throws little fits – complete with foot stomps and major tears – over the smallest of things, and she recently started using the phrase, “no way!” when upset. (I’m not sure where she picked that up!) Monday morning, before our fun zoo adventure, she also displayed her stubbon side: after throwing a fit and being sat in her “you-sit-here-until-you’re-ready-to-say-sorry” chair, she refused to apologize for lashing out and swiping at me. For a good 20 minutes, she sat and cried and yelled “no way” when asked if she was ready to say she was sorry; both Q and I were surprised at her resistance. Finally, of course, Zoe approached me with a hug and a sniffly “Sorry, Mommy,” and all was normal again. But for a few minutes there I couldn’t help but think: what happened to my sweet baby??

-M

Since I had to work on Friday, I took yesterday off – and Zoe and I spent the morning at the zoo. (Zoe usually goes there with her dad, so I think she was a bit confused as to why he wasn’t with us.) We went early enough that it felt like we had the entire place to ourselves, and it was very relaxing strolling underneath the cypress trees, looking at the penguins, koalas, giraffes and other Zoe faves. The only negative: it was a bit chilly when we first arrived. But Zoe didn’t seem to mind having to bundle up!

-M

One of Zoe’s most faithful companions is her panda; she likes to take him (her?) or Big Dog wherever she goes. Yesterday she hosted a little (Play-Doh) ice-cream social in the kitchen, and of course Panda was there. Luckily, so was Q with the camera.

-M

It’s always gratifying (and fun) to hear Zoe repeat things that Q and I say to her. As mentioned before, she frequently tells her stuffed animals that she misses them – probably because I often tell her, “I missed you today,” when picking her up from Elena’s. And the other day, when she got in the car and saw “Big Dog” waiting for her, she greeted him with an enthusiastic, “Hi, sweetie!” It’s the first time I’ve heard Zoe use this term of endearment (one that we use all the time) on her stuffed friends, and it made me smile.

-M

I had a big event at work yesterday, and Zoe was the beneficiary: she got to keep a big bunch of leftover balloons. The balloons weren’t pink (Stanford’s colors, after all, are cardinal red and white), but she still had fun carrying them around the house.

-M

As many of you know, Zoe is a big fan of the camera (if you couldn’t tell, check out all the pictures of Zoe on this site!) She also loves to snap a few pictures every now and then. Well today I checked the camera for new pictures to find over 20 self portraits! I’ll put a few up here for you guys to see…could this be a career path?

Jon Q

Zoe got a new robe a while ago, but is just now ready to wear it. After her bath yesterday she put it on and looked very cute. Of course getting 2 pictures of Zoe at the same time tends to be a bit difficult these days. The life of a 2 year old…always on the go.

Jon Q

Sat. night was a rough one at our house. Zoe, who was starting to come down with her little bug, had a terrible night: like a newborn, she would sleep for an hour or two and then wake up crying or screaming. And then it would take another hour or so to get her back to sleep…

Sun. morning found me bleary-eyed and more than a little grumpy, but things took a turn for the better when Zoe took a long nap while snuggled up against me on the couch. There was a several-minute stretch were I could feel both the baby kicking and Zoe’s little body twitching in her sleep – and I couldn’t help but smile. I have yet to feel terribly bonded to Poppy (I’m not worried, though – it was the same with “Sesame”), but I definitely felt a connection at that moment. And as I lay there with my girls, I very much felt like… a mom.

-M

Thanks to another pesky flu-bug, Zoe had to call in sick to Elena’s today. I stayed home with her and am happy to report that she was a good little patient – and appears to be feeling better. She spent most of the morning snuggled in bed, watching favorite shows, and later felt well enough to color and play with Play-Doh. (Amazingly, I even got a lot of work done!) Here’s hoping she’ll be as good as new by tomorrow.

-M