Progress

Since I started this already, I figured I'd better continue--though I may regret it later. This is a 26 week photo, which is actually two weeks old now. We had a second ultrasound last week to verify some things the first one didn't show clearly. Everything looked great, and there is absolutely no doubt that this one is a boy. Even an untrained eye could see the boyhood evidence glaring like a neon sign.

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Zoe's vocabulary and conversational speech continues to grow rapidly, and I am certain she is growing sweeter by the day. The other night I was reading to her and rocking with her before bed. I had to sit up straighter in the chair because I was having trouble breathing with both Zachary and Zoe pressing against my lungs. Zoe appeared a bit concerned and said, "Mommy, are you okay? Do you need a kiss?" After planting a big juicy kiss on my lips she said, "Does that feel better?"

She is also doing great with the "please" and "thank you"'s and has come up with "no, thank you" as well. I did not intentionally teach her that one. One day I asked her if she wanted cottage cheese or applesauce with her lunch. Her reply was "No, thank you." I was really expecting an either/or decision and was caught off guard by her reply.

She also seems to have grown past the fits she was having a couple months ago whenever she got frustrated. Now she calmly asks, "Mommy, would you help with that (fill in the blank)."

The next stage will be transitioning her to a toddler bed. We haven't decided quite when to go ahead with that, but I figured we start by converting the crib and then introduce her to a regular twin bed. I want the bed introduced before Zachary is born so that Zoe doesn't feel pushed out of her territory. I'm also in no hurry to mess with something that is working. She sleeps through the night so well that I hate to throw in something new. Have I mentioned that she is growing up way too fast?

My Little Philosopher

I seem to have a very philosophical 25 month old daughter. On the way to Grandma's house yesterday morning we did the usual routine of pointing out all the cows and horses along the way. I pointed out some cows and then a couple minutes later Zoe pointed out some horses. Here was her full narrative:
"Look! There's some cows!" (pause) "Actually, those are horses, I think." (pause) "Horses are kinda like cows, I guess."

First Haircut

Zoe got her first haircut on Friday. Here is a picture before.... I was beginning to adore those little curls that would fan out from behind her ears....

Here's a picture of Zoe getting her haircut. She had fun getting sprayed by the water bottle and blown dry with the hair dryer.



Here's a picture after. Unfortunately, in order to even out the scraggly stuff, we had to part with the precious little curls...for now.


And this is Zoe's "rockstar" pose that I just had to throw in!

Charming

That's the only single word I can think of to describe the wee one these days. I guess it's a combination of her growing vocabulary and blossoming personality.

Zoe's new Cooshie Booster chair came in the mail finally, and she loves it. She likes to sit at the table sometimes and on the stools at the counter bar sometimes. The other day she was sitting at the table in her new booster chair eating dinner and decided she was done and ready to get down long before her Daddy and I had had enough time to finish our own dinners. So I said something like, "You're ready to get down already? I guess that means you don't want any ice cream then, huh?" Her little face lit up, her eyes got big, a grin spread across her entire face, and she exclaimed, "Oh yes!" Then she settled herself squarely back in her seat and agreed to eat two more bites of pears and wait patiently a few more minutes before it was time for ice cream. As soon as she realized I was ready to get out the ice cream, she began handing me her plate and silverware to clear room for the "good stuff." Then she sat perfectly still and patient (except for the dangling feet that were swinging in anticipation) and clasped her little hands together in front of her as she waited. It was beyond endearing.

She has also begun to repeat little phrases that her Daddy and I have said to her for months. Remember how I said she absorbs everything and then when you least expect it she pulls something out and throws it on you? She was sitting at the counter bar the other day and had finished her lunch and was waiting patiently while I fininshed a phone call. There she sat drumming her little fingers on the counter and then she looked up at me and grinned and said, "What do ya think, Puddle Muff, Momma?" Puddle Muff is one of the silly little pet names we've called her for months, and "What do ya think, Puddle Muff?" is a phrase I'm sure I've said to her countless times. This is the first time I've heard her say it back, and I was amused that she turned it around on me.

Last night was Daddy's night to watch her alone while I was at work. He was charmed by her mannerisms and vocabulary when she approached him two different times, once to ask, "Have you seen my keys, Daddy?" and once to ask, "Do you know where my mail is, Daddy?"

Several months ago I wrote a long dialogue about how great it is to be a Mommy and the seemingly endless string of moments of thinking, "It just can't get any better than this!" Every day I hug and kiss my daughter hundrends of times and recognize that my list of those moments continues to grow longer. It's bittersweet at times, as I also realize how fast she is growing up. I often linger with my hugs, holding her close as long as she will allow, trying desperately to burn the moments deeply into my soul where I pray they will live long beyond the days when all the little girl "lasts" have gone, so that I can somehow hang onto her forever and in some sense of the term...never have to let her go.

More "Zoe-isms"

Yes, this is my charming daughter insisting on wearing a stocking cap in spite of the fact that it was August and 95 degrees outside.

In other Zoe news, she continues to charm, amuse, and amaze those around her with her vocabulary and conversational skills. Grandma H was thoroughly tickled the other day when she gave in to Zoe's pleading to play outside in spite of the weather still being hot, though not as hot as it has been in the past weeks. Once they had made it outside, she said to Grandma, "It feels cooler out here today, don't you think?" These kinds of statements tend to catch everyone around her off guard and unsure of whether to simply respond in equally "mature" conversational style, or laugh out loud then give her a big squeeze and lots of kisses in an impulsive response to being thoroughly charmed. I tend to do the latter first, and then respond in equally "mature"conversation. Or sometimes I just exclaim, "Where in the world did you get THAT?" Which is exactly how I responded a couple days ago when Zoe put her little hand to her chest and said, "This is me," and then gestured toward me and said, "and this is my sister, Mommy." HUH? I really do not know where she gets most of the stuff she comes up with.

A couple mornings ago, Zoe was busy drawing a picture and I asked her if she was being a little artist. She did not respond or even acknowledge what I said. Nevertheless, this comment of mine made its way into her little mind and went dormant until several hours later when she was coloring another picture following her afternoon nap. As she busily colored she nonchalantly remarked, "I'm being an artist."

She's a sponge of latent learning that registers everything around her and discreetly files it for later usage. Then, when you least expect it, she pops out with something, expressing it in full sentence format, and entirely grammatically correct. I swear that her vocabulary and grammar easily exceed that of a great deal of the adult population.