"Grass!"

Zoe has the "Spring Fever" bug in a bad way. We are outside in the backyard or walking a few miles (well, sometimes Zoe rides in her wagon) any time the temperature raises to a minimum of about 48 degrees. She lets us know she is ready to go out by either pleading for a "Walk!" or "Grass!" Today, in spite of the sun shining brightly, it barely reached the upper 40's, but Zoe insisted we must go out to the back yard. I tried to tell her it was too cold, but she simply contemplated this dilemma before suggesting, "Jacket!" She demonstrated some pretty good problem solving skills, which made it hard for me to argue with her in spite of the fact that I wasn't convinced a jacket was enough to fix the problem. I piled the clothing on her, including a stocking cap, before the field trip to the backyard. Zoe tried to tell me she needed her "mittets" (mittens) too. I figured she was probably right, given how cold it was, but I also knew we would manage to get them on her only to have her insist they needed to come off when she couldn't pick up her ball with them on. Such is the way a toddler's mind works. Once outside Zoe was having too much fun to be concerned with the chill in the air. It was more than just 'brisk," and so we didn't stay out long.

These photos, however, were taken yesterday (Sunday) when it was considerably warmer. Note that Zoe is sporting one of her new silly faces. Daddy taught her that one. This time he can't argue with me that she is showing her "McIntyre side."

She loves to run around on the grass and chase and kick her ball, talk to the cows through the fence, and rearrange the rocks. She only recently discovered the rocks and tends to be quite content to pick rocks out of the rock bed and proclaim each and every one to be a "Rock!" before sentencing it to a pile somewhere on the cement pad by the back door. I think she had about four piles going simultaneously yesterday. You can't spend time with a toddler without rediscovering the joys and fascinations of the simple things in life.

Great Aunt Pat and Great Uncle Ron will probably be pleased to see that Zoe still cannot go anywhere without her beloved hat. If we make it outside without it, Zoe puts her hands up on her head and says "Hat!" over and over again until we obtain the hat and put it on her head in it's rightful spot. It's been a part of her daily outdoor (and sometimes indoor) attire for the past year.

Posts yet to come (when I can find the time)include a description of Zoe's ability to find all kinds of excuses why it is not time for "nap" or "night night" and an explanation as to why we have an inflatable toddler swimming pool in the middle of our living room.

"Castles!"

Saturday was another trip to the park to run in the grass, feed the ducks and geese, swing, and something new...sand!

As Zoe first began stomping around in the sand pit, she announced "No!" We finally figured out that she was saying "Snow." When we told her it was sand, she pondered for a minute before getting busy stirring it with a stick, pressing her fingers into it, and examining the tiny granules. Later, she began saying "Castles!" We had a hard time at first figuring out what she was saying, and then realized that she was associating the sand with the picture of a sandcastle in one of her favorite picture books. She stayed busy playing with the "castles" for quite some time, transferring the sand to a pile on a swing, digging and gripping and grabbing and dropping it, wiping her hands repeatedly on her overalls, and excitedly telling anyone who came near her about the "castles." By the time we got her herded back into the family-mobile, she was covered from head to toe with "castles." It was another day full of toddler adventure.

Bragging Rights

I really hate it when parents brag excessively about their kids. On the other hand, this is Zoe's site, and by default this is my bragging platform, so hold onto your hats....

Before Zoe was born I signed up for visits from the local Parents as Teachers (PAT) chapter. For those unfamiliar with it, this is a service paid for by taxes generated for the public school system. The PAT person visits parents and children in their homes to ensure proper child development and school readiness and avoid learning delays and/or recognize and begin counteracting learning delays as soon as possible.

Last week the PAT lady came. She brought with her all her literature about what Zoe should be doing between the ages of 14 and 24 months. First she got out her plastic pretend picnic, which consisted of little plastic plates, silverware and food items. The point was to engage in a pretend play picnic. Zoe was able to enjoy pointing out the "apple" "banana" and "corn" without any prompting, then went on to describe the spoons as "purple," the dishes as "lellow," and the apple as "red." The PAT lady was a bit taken aback as she stated, "We don't start working on colors until at least 24 months."

Next, she got out her shape sorter. It had a circle, a square, and a triangle. Zoe has one of these of her own, which also has a star. She questioned if Zoe could figure out the shapes. Zoe squealed "Oh!" before getting to work. She then picked up the circle and announced "Blue circle!" before dropping it into the correct spot. Then she grabbed the square and announced "Green square!" and placed it correctly in the square opening. This continued until all the shapes were correctly deposited, at which point she began looking around. I presume she was trying to figure out where the stars were, as she can correctly label the "Lellow stars" and correctly deposit them into her own shape sorter. The PAT lady simply said, "Well, she's got that covered."

Next, the PAT lady said, "Is she beginning to label body parts?" I was thinking to myself, she's been doing that since at least 12 months of age, but I kept my mouth shut. I said to Zoe, "Where's your knees?" To which Zoe promptly uncurled her legs and straightened them out, tapped her knees one at a time, and matter-of-factly stated "Knees!" "Well..." the PAT lady said, "We are usually only beginning to work on eyes and nose and stuff like that at this point. The harder ones like knees and elbows and such come later." "Oh!" I said, (not wanting to disappoint her), "well, we can do those, too." And Zoe then correctly labeled her eyes, ears, and nose (and hair, head, eyebrows, teeth, tongue.......).

The PAT lady next questioned whether Zoe was beginning to imitate any animal sounds. "Oh, yes!" I said. And Zoe then was able to correctly name the following animal and make the corresponding animal sounds: "Cow: moo; Pig: oink; Horse, naaay; Duck: quack; Rooster: ooh ah ooh ah ooh; Cat: neow; Dog: woof woof; Sheep: baaaa; and Lion: roar!" I forgot to remind Zoe of the frog and the bird, to which she can attribute "croak" and "tweet tweet" respectively. Nevertheless, the PAT lady was more than satisfied, and even quite impressed. She left commenting that, although only 18 months old, Zoe appears to have met and exceeded the typical 24 month milestones.

We agreed to meet again in about 5 weeks so Zoe could impress the pants off her some more!

To Pee or Not to Pee...

...that IS the question!

For those interested in the potty training progress, here is an update (Warning: more talk of bodily functions, elimination, and the like is about to follow).

Zoe did very well for a couple days, producing a "pee pee" or a "poo poo" practically every time she was offered the chance to sit on her mini "throne." She loved the sticker incentive, and each time she earned one she couldn't wait to go find Daddy and show him her new award for good "achievment." Then, for whatever reason, she began to lose interest, refusing to use the potty or saying "no" to my suggestion of using it only to grunt out a "poo poo" or wet her diaper minutes later. Just as I was at the decision to wait awhile longer before continuing the training process, Zoe marched up to me, grinned widely, and innocently said "Pee pee!?" as if both announcing and asking the question at the same time. Of course, I was excited, as this was the first time she actually let me know ahead of time that she needed to go. I immediately dropped everything I was involved in (preparing dinner), snatched her up, and raced up the stairs to her potty chair, tearing off her clothing as we went. Upon sitting her on the throne, she quickly relieved her little bladder, and I thought she must be ready for this after all.

Then another regression into non-interest. I would sit her on the chair where she would perch and grin at me for a couple minutes. Then she would shake her head and say "No" and get up and wander about, naked buns and all. I would diaper her back up only to have her fill her pants a couple minutes later. So I again decided she just isn't ready for this step yet. Later, she would excitedly say "Chair! Chair!" (which is one way she has begun to let me know she needs to use her potty chair) and I would race her there only to find it was too late. Even still, I thought her ability to make this connection suggested she could be ready.

Currently, however, I have decided she is just not quite ready. We've had an entire day or two of not wanting to use the potty, with one episode in which I suggested she could earn a sticker if she pottied in her chair--at which she appeared to intentionally produce a stream into her chair as if no big deal and well worth the impending sticker. (...well...perhaps ready after all?)

Nevertheless, the majority of the time the past couple of days she sits on the chair long enough to insist that I remove every stitch of clothing from her waist down, including her socks. Try to reason with an 18 month old that it is not necessary for one to remove one's socks in order to take a whiz. Though I actually have managed to distract her enough to avoid having to remove her socks every time, she definitely does not like having her little ankles encumbered by wadded up clothing. So, for the sake of not losing the true focus of producing a tinkle, off the britches come. I think lately she wants to use the potty only because she has learned that if she bolts fast enough after getting re-diapered she can run around without pants for awhile, which she seems to greatly enjoy. Recently she has taken to running around in her diaper and pulling all the clothes out of her dresser drawers while dancing around with them, doing a funny little wiggle two-step sort of dance, while the clothing she is grasping brushes against her naked legs. I guess she likes how that feels. She has even requested that I remove her pants when not in the midst of a potty chair episode so she can enjoy engaging in this semi-naked sort of jig.

I could push her more towards becoming potty trained...try using training pants, those "wet sensation" pull ups, or some other such thing, but what's the big hurry? She's only 18 months old. I really didn't intend for it to happen this soon anyway. I just thought I would put her on the chair and see what happened, and well, it didn't take much for her to figure out the mechanisms of the whole deal. It was reminiscent of the first time I put her to bed in her crib instead of her bassinet while secretly hoping she wouldn't allow it. I confess, I want to keep her tied tightly to my apron strings, yet I never want to hold her back from any adventure she is ready for. I want to let her take the lead in letting me know what she is ready for next, yet I also want to gently push her to reach her full potential. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know we're only talking about potty training here, and she IS only 18 months old, but this must be some of that "bittersweet" feeling that parents rxperience as they watch their kids grow up too fast. I've a feeling that potty training is only the start and there will be much more of this as the years fly by.

The Ceremonial First Poop!

Forgive me for the graphic nature of this post. I never understood all the proud parent talk about bowel movements and other bodily functions of their children until I became a Mommy myself. Now when I pick Zoe up from my Mom's after she's spent the day there, it is natural for me utter such questions as "Did she take a good nap?" "Did she eat good?" "Did she have some poopy diapers?" "Is she constipated?" Yes, much as I hate to admit, there has been much analyzing of poop since Zoe's birth.

Today was yet another milestone within the framework of the poop topic around our house. I've been wondering if Zoe might be ready to start potty training. The experts say that when your child uses "bathroom words" that he/she may be ready. Zoe has begun to say "stinky" when we acknowledge the likelihood that our sniffers are detecting a poopy diaper. Then she will sometimes follow up by exclaiming "Poopy!" and heading for the stairs so we can take her up to change her. She also says "Potty." So, I figured it was worth a try. After all, Mom claims I was potty trained at 18 months. Today, after Zoe's nap, I tried to put her on the chair every couple hours. The typical order of events included putting her on the chair while she wiggled and squirmed and stood up several times, her bare buns hanging out, then giving up after several minutes and putting her britches back on. Somewhere between the hour and half after putting the britches back on and trying again to sit her on the potty chair, she would manage to empty the contents of bladder or bowels in her diaper. On the third try, however, she was quite content to sit and play while perched upon her "throne." We sat about eight minutes before the gleeful event occured. There was much excitement from proud parents and child alike as we peered into the pan of the potty chair and admired the ceremonial turd.

Oh, the interesting direction our lives have gone since Zoe joined the family. We used to get excited over a relaxing weekend that included time in front of the tube, a trip to the movies, or a tasty dinner in a public restaurant. Now we get excited over our toddler's first "event" in her potty chair. How does the old song go..."To everything, there is a season...." Ah well...there's just nothing else in the world like being a parent of a toddler.

New Wagon

Zoe can't get enough of her new wagon. She can't decide if she likes to ride in the wagon or walk best, so we do a bit of both each time we go out. We often walk two miles at a time when it is warm enough. Zoe has actually walked nearly a mile of the distance on her own two little legs before accepting a ride in the wagon.

"Oink!"

Sometimes I'm amazed at the quantity of food one little 18 month old girl can pack away. A couple days ago she decided that for lunch she would eat healthy portions of hamburger, cottage cheese, applesauce, and peas. And that was just for warm up. Then she spied a loaf of bread and made it known she wanted some of that next. As she finishing off an entire slice I teased her about being a "little piggy." Her little jaws were chomping away, but after my remark she paused and appeared to contemplate what I had said. Then, with a mouthful of bread, she stated back to me "Piggy!" as if to say "You bet I am!" I grinned at her, amused. She flashed back one of her notorious grins that is practically too big for her face before adding a very matter of fact, "Oink!"

No self-esteem problems here!