Thorny Tales

Sophie

2010-05-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Our little Sophie is such a treat. She has a fairly sunny disposition and is generally quick with a smile (especially for Zoe). Super-inquisitive, she is into EVERYTHING. She is our little explorer. Currently, she is mastering crawling - she can go four or five "steps" on her hands and knees now. We are so thankful to have this little one in our family.

Easter

2010-05-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

This year, we had beautiful weather for Easter. Zoe chose this beautiful dress while we were in Texas and she and Daddy got all dressed up for church. Sophie and I stayed home so she could have a nap before we headed out to our friends' home in Maine for lunch and an Easter Egg hunt. You can see Zoe with her egg bucket and ubiquitous "Ugg" boots (I did convince her to wear dress shoes to church). Sophie was less cooperative this day, but at least you can see a bit of her dress. Note the bare legs - I was not kidding about the nice day.

Summer time in Boston

2009-08-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the train on a rainy day - which was typical of our early summer. We didn't think the nice weather would ever arrive!
Picking strawberries. As you can see, Zoe was fascinated with our haul. Those were some yummy berries!
Playing on the playground near our house.

Riding on Daddy's shoulders on the way home from the Museum of Fine Arts (literally two blocks from our house!).
This is after Zoe and Daddy decided to play in the dirt by the river. Can you believe how dirty she is?! She looked like Bert the Chimney Sweep in Mary Poppins!

Funny little things

2009-05-24T07:15:00.001-07:00

Zoe is full of funny little sayings these days. A few examples:

On our local train, there are standard announcements they play at certain stops. The other day, we reached our stop and "Northeastern University" was announced. Zoe looks at me and says, just before the next announcement came on, "No smoking please. Doors open on the right."

Last week, Jonathan and Zoe were coming home from the playground. As usual, she was required to hold Daddy's hand when crossing the street. This led to the following pronouncement: "When I get bigger, I am going to cross the street by myself. Then I will go to the library all by myself and take the train home." I think it's pretty funny that, of all the places she could go in her big girl freedom, the library is the place she would choose.

On Friday, Zoe was playing very exuberantly at the end of her nap time. While I was putting her undies back on I asked her if she was full of beans. She said, "No, you are full of beans. I am full of cheese and Daddy is full of..... cake." Then after a moment's thought, she said, "No, I am full of cake, Daddy is full of cheese." Good call.

2009-04-10T17:45:00.001-07:00

OK, so I need to get better about blogging! Zoe is growing so much and becoming such an interesting little person. I know that her grandmas, at least, are very interested in this process. Here are a few "tales" and photos for the interested.

Lately, Zoe has been showing an interest in money. She doesn't really understand what it's for, but she likes to give us pretend money all the time. In the car the other day, Zoe made some comment which I agreed with. She said "Thank you, Mommy. Here's some money." What a benevolent dictator :).

Here we are at the Boston Children's Museum. She really enjoyed these hands-on water activities. I got pretty into it myself! We went to the museum at a time that was discounted, so it was pretty crowded. There were lots of rowdy little boys running around, throwing things, pushing and shoving... I tend to get freaked out by these guys and think "Where are their parents?!" but Zoe is not phased by them a bit. She'll just watch them patiently and then get back to doing her own thing. I love that.

This picture is of Zoe and her favorite socks. She and Daddy like to pull them all the way up. Silly girl.

Zoe's new phrase

2008-09-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Zoe's newest phrase is "No thanks. I good." It has become her standard response when offered vegetables. I guess I should be thankful for the "thanks."

Brooklyn Botanical Garden

2008-07-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

This summer, we lived just a few blocks from the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. These are some pictures from the Japanese garden section.

She is probably being asked to smile here :).

Fun in the Park

2008-06-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

One day last week, Zoe and Daddy went to a park just down the street from where we're staying and took these fun pictures. In case you can't tell, she's a mermaid, a gorilla, a cat, a duck, a tiger and snake. They obviously had a great time.

Mama's Helper

2007-12-10T17:59:00.001-08:00

As you can see, Zoe loves to help. She especially enjoys putting the clothes in the dryer. It goes much slower this way, but it's kind of fun.

Counting steps

2007-10-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

This is Zoe (and Jonathan, of course) on the stairs leading up to our apartment. Zoe loves to go up and down the stairs herself. To pass the time- the price of self-sufficiency is a VERY slow pace - I started counting the steps whenever we go up or down. Now Zoe likes to count. As we approach the stairs, she begins, "Two....nine" and often repeats these numbers the whole way up. She also tends to be pretty chatty in her bed before she falls asleep at naptime, sometimes I will hear through the monitor "Two....nine." It's so funny! Perhaps she is teaching her baby how to count.

Travelin' Girl

2007-10-07T14:44:00.002-07:00

Zoe and I just returned home from a 10 day trip to visit family in Texas - without Daddy... I was so nervous about flying with her by myself, but she couldn't have done better. She also adjusted well to being in the car for long stretches, since we literally drove ALL over Texas :). Since Zoe came along, I generally schedule our flights for the morning - to get it over with and because she is usually at her best in the morning. This time I experimented with an evening flight, hoping Zoe would sleep. Not a chance. She did fine but not only was she a little more cranky, but I was SO tired. I think we'll stick with mornings.

On a different note, Zoe is learning how to remove her clothing. I walked in to get her this morning and she had her pajama top on her head and the biggest smile on her face. Silly monkey!

Cartwheels

2007-09-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

This morning, Zoe and I went to our first class at this place in town called Cartwheels for Kids. She is classified as a "wobbler" and was one of 4 in the class. We sang songs, played with balls and puppets, and my personal favorite, a parachute! Zoe was a little tentative and preferred to watch most of the time (in her normal "little observer" role), but I think she'll warm up before long.

The funny thing is that they have a pretty big indoor play area (which will be great when winter arrives) and Zoe spent most of the class at the door wanting to go back out there and play.... sigh. At least she enjoyed something!

On the homefront, it looks as though we have eliminated Zoe's first nap. (moment of silence, please) I had been holding on to it out of selfishness as this is when I get ready, eat breakfast, etc. - but I think that her afternoon nap and her nighttime sleep will be better in the long run. So far, so good.

A Day at the Fair

2007-09-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

An interesting thing about Upstate New York is that every county has a fair around this time of year. This year we attended the Washington County Fair in Greenwich, which is about 30 miles north of us.

We had a great time! There were lots of 4-H animals, which Zoe loved. They even had these "knee-high" horse competitions which were little kids (like 3 and 4 year olds) showing full size horses! Their feet didn't even reach half-way to the stirrups.

As you can see, we also sampled some delicious fair fare. Zoe is eating the scrumptious (and highly nutritious, I'm sure) fried dough. Yum!

It's all about Zoe!

2007-08-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

I have finally taken a cue from many of my friends and decided to create a blog that charts some of Zoe's adventures. I figure it will be a good way to keep our far away loved ones up-to-date. I'll try to make regular posts, so check back on occasion! Here goes...

Zoe is starting to be interested in feeding herself with the spoon. Thank goodness oatmeal sticks to the spoon and messes caused by said interest are minimal!