In terms of skills, Zoe can identify all the letters of the alphabet and can almost spell her sister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name. (She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had Zoe down for awhile \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it helps that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short!) She now knows her shapes, as mentioned above; just yesterday, she surprised me and Q by drawing (for one of the first times) rather accurate-looking circles, squares and ovals. She has also started to do some simple math problems (if there are four objects and we take two away, she knows there are two left, etc.).<\/p>\n
Her speech gets better as she gets older, but she still mispronounces a few words. For a long time, Dr. Fernandez was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dr. Nandez.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Beautiful comes out as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153booty-full,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and excused comes out as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153accused.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (We recently taught her to ask nicely to leave the dinner table; now every night we hear, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can I be ACCUSED?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d)<\/p>\n
Zoe still has a bit of a bossy personality \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she likes to take charge when possible, and she always tries to negotiate things with us. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have an idea,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll say, before launching into a plan that will allow her to watch another show, get a treat, stay up later, etc. As example, just this weekend, Q bought a cookie and told her she could have one bite now and the rest after her nap. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How about I have a bite now, a bite when I get home and the rest after my nap?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Would that be a good idea?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (On a funny note, before Zoe was even born, I wondered<\/a> if she would wind up with this type of personality.)<\/p>\n As for bedtime, her ritual has been the same for some time now: she usually watches a 20-min. show to unwind and then gets a book, story and song. She started having some rough nights (tantruming and refusing to go to bed) about a month ago, and we tried different tactics to make the nights better \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with varying degrees of success. A few weeks ago we started giving her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thumbs up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thumbs down\u00e2\u20ac\u009d based on her behavior, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a funny story related to this. I was having a bad day and snapped at her recently, and she told me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it when you talk to me like that, Mommy. Thumbs down.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (After I told her I was sorry, though, I got a thumbs up.)<\/p>\n Zoe still loves playing and cuddling with her sister, but recently (within the past few weeks) she has started taking toys away from her when Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s playing with them. She usually gives them back and says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sorry\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (after I ask her to) but I suspect this is the just start of that form of sibling rivalry! <\/p>\n And speaking of Avery, Zoe very much likes to give us little reports on what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up to. She looked into Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room and told me recently, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crawling around in her crib.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She always tells us when Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crying (often she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll hear her cries before I do!) and one morning she yelled to us from her room that Avery was awake. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is somebody going to get her?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she called out. <\/p>\n She can be very sweet \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s known to come up to us and give us a kiss for no reason. And I like when she gets happy and excited about the simplest of things. Recently, when packing Zoe’s lunch, I asked if she wanted some ranch dressing for her carrots. “Oh, that would be very, very nice,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said excitedly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thank you!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Comments like that make otherwise mundane tasks\/moments special.)<\/p>\n And, lastly, some stats. She was recently weighed and measured, and she comes in at 41 lbs and 41 inches. That puts her in the 96th percentile for weight and 97th for height. No wonder she’s wearing some 5T clothing!<\/p>\n -M<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Zoe-3-yr-3-mo.jpg\" "\\"Zoe")
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