A Letter from Grandma Patty

Dear Zoe,

I loved my visit with you and all your family. Of course, you and I get to sleep together and so many other things. It is very special.

What a treat it is to be your Grandma! I mean it. I get so excited to be with you. Making a pumpkin pie from scratch - that was great - we did a great job! You are such an awesome pie crust roller, and pie crust is not that easy. It turned out so well and it tasted so good! Let's make another one at Christmas, ok? Perhaps we'll even cook the pumpkin. How about that cow cake? I liked making that with you. You weren't so sure about how good I was at doing that, but I wasn't so sure, either. I had never made one before. It just looked like fun and don't we just have to try new things? It turned out pretty darn good, I'd say.

Everything about spending time with you is fabulous: the park, building Kiwi Crate craft activities, stories, games, pretend, swings, and just hanging out with you and Juniper!

I am very excited to spend Christmas with you this year. We will get a real Christmas tree - we can cut it down if you want to, or I'll get it ahead of time and we can decorate it when you get here. We can make cookies, gingerbread people and do all the fun Christmas stuff that your Aunt Jess and I like to do. Santa will find my house and bring you gifts!

You are such a big girl now. I was so glad to be there when you received your first report card and to see that you are doing so well. Congratulations. My sweet baby. I am proud of you and your achievements. Of course, I knew that you would do well, my bright shining star of a child!

Grandma Patty loves you so...just like a red ribbon bow.

Magic

Zoe: I learned that trees are part of the earth.

Mom: Yep.

Zoe: Also, houses are part of the earth.

Mom: Houses? How are houses part of the earth?

Zoe: Um....magic.

Zoe's Twitter

A friend of mine emailed me the other day and told me that Zoe was spamming her on Twitter (or is it twamming?). I had completely forgotten that Zoe had a twitter account that I set up to record the funny things she said when she was around 2.

Here's a little snapshot (click to enlarge):

Zoe B Kindergartener

Dear Zoe B,

Guess who goes to school now? REAL school? YOU. Kindergarten. What the what (this is something you say now and I think it's hilarious)?

You are in Mrs. Garey's afternoon kindergarten class at Forest View. You seem to really like it and you're making lots of new friends. We miss you in the afternoons, but you were so ready to get this school thing going. I don't blame you.

We had an amazing Michigan summer. We were gone for 6 weeks this year and it FLEW by. Too bad that as I write this (IN SEPTEMBER) it's approaching 100 degrees. Ugh. This place!

We did all of the things we love to do in Michigan. Sailboating, SUPing, tubing, lots of beach time, rides at the Cherry Festival, hanging with cousins, dog-walking with Grandma, making new summer friends, eating tons of ice cream, and swinging on the swing in Grandma's front yard. I'm so happy we're making all of these great summer memories (if you don't mind me getting all sentimental on yo ass).

Then of course you were glad to get back to KC and see your BFF Gabby and sleep in your own bed and stuff. 

You're hilariously high-intensity, kidlet. Whenever we have any kind of conflict lately and you're mad at me, you say things like, "Is this how you treat your DAUGHTER? Your CHILD?" I love it because I'm usually mad and it makes me laugh and reminds me that whatever was making me mad is probably not that big of a deal. 

I'm very proud of what a good big sister you are. You are really able appreciate Junie for who she is and you are (mostly) very patient with her. I know how hard it can be to have a little sister gettin' all up in yo biz and you're so good with her. Go you! 

I love you, my sweet growing-up-girl. A few weeks ago you got your first wiggly tooth. I almost cried. But I don't cry about that kind of stuff because I'm awesome that way. I can reign it in (or maybe I'm trying to convince myself I can). 

xoxoxoxo

Mama

Zoe says...

Mom: Why don't you go get the blue iPad out of the car?

Zoe:  Well, because I'm not .... I'm not much of a walker. Especially not in the morning.


Sheesh.

A Letter From Aunt Jess

Dear Zo, 

Well, another awesome visit with you is in the books. And let me tell you, that girls week-end in Palm Springs was one of the best ideas yet. 

You picked me up from the airport without going to starbucks first - because - you thought what if I wanted something too? How thoughtful are you my sweet?! 

You are growing like a weed - so tall and so grown-up - I can't believe how fast time flies. It's a good thing we are best friends because there is no awkwardness in not seeing each other for a while. We fall right back into our awesome routine - which is me basically doing everything you want. 

We watched Barbie princess movies and danced and sang to it in spectacular outfits on. We swam in the pool and we ordered fancy drinks while poolside - 'I will have 8 cherries please!' So. Awesome. 

You pretty much act like a teenager already, which is so funny because I thought you were only five. You were schooling me left and right - 'are you really going to wear that Aunt Jess?' Sass. Pot. The B-G force is strong with you little one. 

We slept in one bed while your mom and Junie slept in another. You were so cute snuggling up when it was time for bed. I loved it. You also ate about 600 mini-muffins from Trader Joe's that you hid under the bed from Junie. Nice one - sharing is for suckers. 

You are a great big sister though - even though you give her crap sometimes. She just adores you. Always remember that ok?

You're a really amazing observer - you pay such close attention to detail and are very perceptive of everything around you. I often wonder what you're thinking. 

You're also very into your outfits and it's just so awesome because your mom is sooooo not like that. It makes me happy you're a fashion lady, just like your Aunt Jess. 

You'll be starting kindergarten this fall, which is BANANAS, because I remember kindergarten. Clearly. Also, you were just a baby a second ago. 

I'm so excited to see you in Michigan this summer and to teach you all about mermaid dives...because on our trip you were getting better at putting your face under water. "Oh man - Mom is going to be SO proud of me." And she was. And so am I. 

Love you like ca-razy. 

Aunt Jess

And suddenly it's almost June

Dear Zoe B, 

You couldn't possibly get any cuter. Just look at this picture! Sheesh! 

Hey - 7 years ago your dad and I got married! That was a good day and I think I made an awesome decision when I decided to marry him. He's a great husband and great dad. Go me.

I have been trying to keep notes here and there of the funny things you say so that when I update this blog I'll have a long list. Here are some recent gems: 

You: "It's not easy being me."  
Me:  "Why?"
You: "Because of chores." 

(ps - you do almost NO chores ;) )

Me: "Let's brush your hair and pull it back." 
You: "No! It's not what you look like it's where you go."

"When I grow up and have my own kids I am going to name that Sam and Allie. If they are two girls I will name them Allie and Tori. And I live in your neighborhood. In Kansas City." 

Daddy: How do you spell your name? 
You: Z-O-E 
Daddy: You're pretty smart. 
You: That's because I've been me for a while now. 

We're about to take off for Michigan for 6 weeks. Well, we leave in another month. Until then you're doing swimming lessons, summer session at your preschool that you ditched and then we're in MI til school starts. CRAZY! You start kindergarten half way through August and you're doing afternoons. Originally we were going to do mornings but then we snapped out of it. Getting up at 7:30 every day? No thanks. We have one more year of sleeping in and then it's all over for us. 

You and Junie are getting along better than ever and also fighting more than ever. I guess that's just the way it is with sisters, huh?

You also now have a neighborhood friend, Matthew, and you're super excited about that but still a little shy about going to his house to ask him to play. I'm excited for you. Part of that is just me - I grew up in the country and just had Aunt Jess to play with most of the time. No neighborhood friends for me. I can tell you really like him because you act all coy and shy and half the time when he comes over you just hide from each other. I hope this isn't what's ahead for us when you're a teenager. It kind of makes me cringe. 

I love you, sweet girl. I am so lucky that you're my kid. 

xoxo
Mama

March 2013

Dear Zoe,

It's March and I love March. Spring! Birthdays! Spring! 

This is funny - we went up to Michigan for a few weeks to escape the brown Kansas winter. We wanted snow and snowpeople and sledding so we took off (right after I yanked you out of preschool, more on that later) in the van and drove to Traverse City. When we got back, the sky opened up and dumped like two feet of snow on Kansas City within a week. No joke. That's the way things work, my love. 

It's true that I yanked you out of preschool. In fact, it was Liz's idea originally. We had talked about what a racket preschool is in terms of cost and what you actually get out of it and she said she would just like to take the money and take a big road trip. A few months later we started getting into arguments about what your friends at school would think of ____ outfit, and I can't wear that kind of coat because _____ doesn't wear that kind, and so and so will laugh at me if I wear that. That was pretty much what you were taking away from preschool. Eh, no thanks. What I truly wanted you to gain from preschool was a sense that you are able to work as part of a group. I wanted you to separate from me and have your own thing that was different from our life at home. That all happened when you went to school when you were 3. So, now we're home. We're taking several trips and you're spending some good time with your little sister who is THRILLED to have you home. 

We have been going to kindergarten round-up activities - what? It's true you're starting kindergarten in 5.5 months. I'm hoping you'll go in the morning and then we'll have all afternoon to carry on with our shenanigans. We'll see. 

One totally craptastic thing that happened when we were in Michigan (craptastic is downplaying it, but I'm trying to repress it, thanks) is that you burned your precious little butt cheeks on Grandma Patty's gas fireplace glass. You got two huge (like 3 and 5 inches) 2nd degree burns on your butt. Thank God Grandma Patty was there and was able to call her pediatrician friend. Because of that, we were able to avoid the ER and spare you that trip when you were already absolutely beside yourself because of the pain. This parenting thing just tears me up sometimes. Your poor little butt - my poor little baby. That night I hardly slept - I was a balled up mess of anxiety and stress. Overall you were amazingly brave about all of it and amazingly you'll end up, I'm told, with an absolutely scar-free butt. 

You are learning how to read. You've totally got the sounding out the letters thing down. It's pretty amazing. You can read quite a few of your BOB books. Crazy. 

You're super funny, too. The other night you told me you wanted to wear your leotard all day the following day and I told you we had to run some errands. So you thought about it and then said, "I have an idea! I'll wear my leggings over my leotard and my leotard will be my shirt so I can still wear it when we go out!" So I said, "Great idea." You sighed and said, "Ah, you always love my ideas." 

I love you, my sweet girl. I am so blessed that you are my kid and always feel lucky when I go to bed at night knowing we're going to get to spend the next day together. 

Love, 

Mama