{"id":4794,"date":"2010-05-23T09:17:56","date_gmt":"2010-05-23T17:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/?p=4794"},"modified":"2010-05-23T09:17:56","modified_gmt":"2010-05-23T17:17:56","slug":"three-and-a-half-year-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/?p=4794","title":{"rendered":"Three-and-a-half-year update"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I look at pictures from when Avery was first born<\/a>, I find it hard to believe how small Zoe<\/em> was, too. There is just such a huge difference between 2.5 and 3.5 years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve even seen a big difference between now and our last update<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zoe is a lot more independent and mature (if you can use that word for a preschooler) than she was even just a few months ago. She can entertain and play by herself for long stretches of times (we can leave her alone without fear that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to hurt herself or tear the house apart), and she can do many things \u00e2\u20ac\u201c clean her room, help set and clear the table, get undressed and dressed, etc. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on her own. In just the past few weeks, she has insisted on getting her clothes on and off independently, and she is always really proud of herself when she does. (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Daddy, I put my pajamas on by myself last night!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she told him the other morning.) I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also noticed that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more willing to help than ever before \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the other day, when she heard me say that I had forgotten to get Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s towel for her bath, for example, Zoe cried out, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can get it!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and ran to Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room to retrieve it. <\/p>\n

Much of Zoe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time is spent at school, which she still really likes. Her teacher commented a few weeks ago that Zoe has really \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blossomed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d over the past few months, and for the past few weeks Zoe has been hesitant to come home with me when I pick her up. (She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s having too much fun!) She likes telling us about her friends there, and she always gives me the good gossip \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t listen to the teacher that day, who graduated from pull-ups to diapers, etc. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on our drive home. She still loves playing school at home: she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll organize Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room into different sections (the art studio, the dress-up area, etc.) like at school, and she often pretends she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the teacher and reads to me, Q or some of her imaginary classmates. (And then she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll scold us when one of us talks.) <\/p>\n

Other favorite things to do include drawing (her pictures have recently morphed from scribbles to shapes, straight lines and identifiable objects), reading, playing pretend, taking \u00e2\u20ac\u0153swimming baths\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (where she practices what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been learning in swim classes, which she began in Jan.) and making up stories, plays and songs. Her teacher recently told me that she likes to sing a lot at school, too; a few weeks ago, she made up a song about a princess who eats people. She likes to watch the occasional TV show, and her new favorite is Team Umizoomi<\/a>, which teaches her about math.<\/p>\n

She enjoys playing with her sister, though she occasionally has minor toy-related conflicts with Avery. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still very caring with her: As mentioned here before, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell us when Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crying (if she thinks we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear her) and often keeps Avery company if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not nearby. And when Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sick, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always very concerned and wants to know when she can touch and play with her again. <\/p>\n

Zoe’s vocabulary is growing, and she mimics what she hears me and Q say (she floored me the other day by saying she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure what I was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153referring to\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), but she still says a few things in a baby way. She calls feet \u00e2\u20ac\u0153feets,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and still pronounces yellow like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lellow,” hospital like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hostel-bull,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Muni like “mooney” and beautiful like “booty-full.”<\/p>\n

She still takes an afternoon nap and typically sleeps from 8 PM-6:30 AM (though Avery has been known to wake her up earlier). There was a rough patch with bedtime for a few weeks several months ago, but things have been better lately. (I hope I’m not jinxing us by saying that!) Her bedtime ritual is a bit different now: it usually involves a book, story and song \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but also a play, something that her dad introduced within the last month or so. <\/p>\n

The other night, when Q and I were putting her to bed, I told her I was leaving so she could go to bed. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No! I want everyone to do everything I want!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she cried out. I had to laugh at that comment – spoken like a true three-year-old – but the truth is, though she can be demanding (wanting us to do what she wants to do) and does have the occasional outburst, she is way more mellow than before. She has also become more rational, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier to reason with her when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s upset (and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made traveling<\/a> with her easier, too). We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re moving further and further away from the tantrum days, I think!<\/p>\n

A few other random things: She is quite curious and is known to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why did you say that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recognize the word or phrase we just said. She has a really good memory \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she surprised me recently by remembering the name of one of Avery’s friends (Natalia), whom I had only referenced once, and she is able to read back stories to us after only hearing them once or twice. She talks about being a big girl and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153growing stronger\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lot, and the other night, she said out of the blue that she wanted to be a doctor when she grows up. (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A baby doctor. Or a princess or a prince.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) She occasionally brings up baby brothers and wanting one. (She also talks about having a baby herself someday – though “it will hurt.”) When she thinks people aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t listening to her, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not listening to my words,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and she calls herself \u00e2\u20ac\u0153my own self.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She calls things \u00e2\u20ac\u0153silly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lot, and it’s common for something unexpected to tickle her funny bone. The other night, she asked me for a Band-aid, and I misheard. “You want a pancake<\/em>?” I asked her, and she wound up laughing for a good five minutes. I can’t think of a sound I like more than her laugh!<\/p>\n

-M<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I look at pictures from when Avery was first born, I find it hard to believe how small Zoe was, too. There is just such a huge difference between 2.5 and 3.5 years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve even seen a big difference between now and our last update. Zoe is a lot more independent and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-46-two-kids-may-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4794"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4846,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794\/revisions\/4846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoe.browdy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}