Move Your Body

shazam!

I CAN COUNT!

23 months and counting....

Dear Zoe B,

Last week you turned the big ole 23 months - I hope you enjoy the last weeks of your 2nd year and prepare yourself for your third. I think it's going to blow your mind. Or at least it will blow mine.

I mentioned in my last post that I thought September would be known as the month you learned to accessorize. If in September you LEARNED to accessorize, in October you took that knowledge and RAN. You don't mess around. You even accessorized the hell out of your Halloween costume.




Speaking of Halloween....I was optimistic early in the month when you graciously agreed to try on several costumes and told me specifically that of the two you tried on (monkey and butterfly) that you preferred the monkey. I became less optimistic when, after purchasing the monkey costume, you refused to put it on and told everyone you were going to be a butterfly. You refused to put the costume on for the Kindermusik Halloween party and then flat out refused to go to Kindermusik at all. My hopes for Halloween began to plummet. But - somehow on the day before Halloween when it was time to go Trick-or-Treating at your Dad's office, it all came together for you. All along the costume just needed something...it wasn't complete and therefore you didn't want to wear it. It needed....flair.




With your pink boots and your mardi gras necklaces and your Hello Kitty sunglasses, the monkey costume was perfect. And you ROCKED IT. And my shy girl TRICK or TREATED! You didn't say anything, but you knew what you were doing and you collected that candy very diligently. I was so proud.

Earlier in the month we went and visited Grandma Patty, Uncle Colin and Sammy in Michigan. I was terrified of the flights because our experience flying with you to NYC in June all but made me take an oath that I'd never fly with anyone under 4 again. But you were like a different kid this time. What a difference 4 months makes in the life of a toddler. You had your own seat and you played with your Dora and Diego sticker books and drank your juice and were an all-around star traveler. Nice work, dude.

You had a great time with your Grandma and Sam and Uncle Colin even built some train tracks with you when he wasn't sleeping or....sleeping. We played outside and went to the pumpkin patch and you helped Grandma make blueberry muffins and took Sam for walks. Holy crap do you love Sam. Just don't get any ideas, we are NOT getting a dog. Never in a hundred million years. Just don't quote me on that because I never thought in a hundred million years your Grandma would get a dog and look at the current state of affairs at HER house. Hmmm.




And in our daily lives we are still enjoying hanging with Grandpa, GabbyYiz, and you are totally enamored with your brother and sister. Not long ago when we were driving to their school to pick them up, you started singing, "Jack and Jo Jo love me!"
I almost crashed into a field of goats it was so cute.

I am, as ever, completely and totally head over heels for you, kid. Don't ever question it.

Love,
Mama

P.S.
I just told you it's time for lunch and you said, "Nooooooo! I don't like food!"

MICHIGAN!

Zoe B,

We are in Northern Michigan for a whole month! That's a long time, baby girl. We arrived Thursday after two days of driving (you watched more Elmo and Signing Time than any child should EVER watch) and man, you are eating this place up.

You are absolutely infatuated with the animals here - Sam the (freaking giant) dog and Tansy the cat. You were very unsure about them when we first arrived and would scream and shake when they got close to you, but now you're warming to them. You're happy with them when it's all on your terms, but if they come to close to you when you're not ready you scream a little and say, "HONEY!" or "NOOOOOO!". The "honey" is disgustingly cute. I think you say honey in times of distress because I call you honey when you're out of sorts/hurt/sad/etc. I told my mom this morning that I think Sam is rocking your world. A few times since we've been here you've startled awake and immediately cried out, "SAM!"...and one of the first things you do is look for that huge dog (pony?) when you wake up in the morning.

Here's a video of you "throwing" (might be a bit of stretch to call it throwing) the ball to Sam.



You can't get enough of your Grandma and she obviously loves you to pieces. She feeds you cookies for breakfast and takes you out for walks under the stars at 11.30 at night.

A word about nursing: you're too busy to eat much these days so I'm so glad you're still nursing. When you want to nurse you say, "NURSH-AH!" and when you want to switch sides you say, "bitch, mama." instead of "switch, mama." Ah, you and your filthy mouth. I actually had written a whole post about how you began to use a few swear words but then had to hide it due to your older sister Josie wanting to show someone your site. I'll dig it up again later so we'll have that story here as well.

I love you, Michigan Bean!

Mama

Chick-Un

I think Chik-fil-a should take her on as a spokesperson.

17 months

Dear Zoe,

Bean! Yesterday you turned 17 months old. We didn't throw a party or anything because now that you're a KID you only get birthdays once a year, ok?



I really can't believe how much you are talking. A friend told me that her daughter had 70 words by the time she was 18 months...so I started to count how many words you say and then that got boring. You know A LOT of words. Some of your favorites are: please, chip (you like the salty over the sweet, baby!), duck, hi, car, outside (which just sounds like siiiide), shoes and water. It seems like you could say a few things one day, and then suddenly you could say 100 things. You don't waste time, Senorita.

Here's a video of some of your talking with a little bit of your sweet dancing action thrown in. Pretty amazing.


At least twice a week your Grandpa David (Buppa is what you call him) comes over to play with you or you go visit him at his place. You guys have a special relationship - you always have. I really love to see you doing your thing together. He follows your lead and you guys have the best of times. Just makes me want to melt into a puddle on the floor.

Here you are taking your duck for a walk together today.


Every single morning, you head for the door and say "siiide?" because you want to go outside. You LOVE to play outside. Once out there, it's only a matter of time before you say something that doesn't really sound like swing but I know it means swing because when I say "you want to swing?" you nod and head for the back yard. You swing for probably 90 minutes a day, no kidding. You can't get enough. I don't blame you, it's good stuff.




I can't wait to see what fun we have this next month. We are celebrating Jack's 7th birthday, going on a trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul and then Jack and Josie get out of school for the summer. You'll be glad to have them home more.

I am enjoying every minute of every day with you, my sweet bean. You are the light of my life...


xooxoxoxoxo
Mama

p.s.
please stop pooping in the tub. thanks.

Hi?

two new videos

Life is good, Zoe B.
Here are two videos to prove it.

dancing queen

New video! Expert cup drinking and saying "bye!"

Yes, she's "says" yes by doing a hand pump and yes, she is eating dinner alone, standing up in her learning tower and yes, she drinks from a shot glass. The only thing out of the ordinary about this for us is the eating alone in the learning tower bit, though she does have her snacks there because she loves it. She almost always eats when I/we eat and we sit together at the table, but Trav and I'd had a huge lunch and weren't hungry. Don't go running off to call CPS....:)

Little Monkey Walking

zoe b walker

sliding

sliding down the stairs from chelsea on Vimeo.

I eat my pizza with a spoon

Scooting

FIRST BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA!

Zoe B is 1 year old! Hooray!

Here she is demolishing her cake.

Grapes and Gramps

peek-a-boo

AHHHH! I LOVE TO READ!

Zoe B reads her book from chelsea on Vimeo.