The Seattle Story: 15 months old

Grandmas Lani and Leona came to town today with our niece and nephew, so Zoe marked her 15 month milestone by going to the zoo and catching up with the Alonzo side of her family.

I think she knew it was going to be an exciting day because although she was acting awfully sleepy, she wouldn't give it up for a morning nap before we headed out. We thought we were in for a rough time of it when we got there....

but thankfully sleepy Zoe gave way to zonky Zoe.

After about an or so of strolling and snoozing, she woke in time to see the tamarinds (the adorably cute miniature primates with lion-mane-like hair). It took a bit of coaxing, but we finally convinced her that the sights and sounds were worth staying awake for.

She loved the toucans and the turtles but what she loved most of all were the sight and sounds of her big cousins, Hannah and Cameron.

Such a good baby. She never really fussed at all, even though we knew she was exhausted and on high all day long.

We've been thanking her a lot for that lately. Life's been a bit less than routine since we found our new house and put this old one on the market. Bug's been really quite resilient in the face of interrupted routines, streams of new strangers and stressed-out folks. The coming weeks promise to hold more of the same since she'll have more visitors (uncle Greg's in town this week and Grandmas Lani & Leona return towards the end of the month) and more moving-related activities and people coming through. I guess it's good to keep her flexible?

Thankfully, my folks will be taking Zoe on 5/2 so that we can make the most of the moving hours and leave Zoe out of the thick of the fray.

I should catch you up on few things I feel shouldn't be forgotten in these hectic weeks. Our girl has *really* been experimenting more and more on the walking front (sorry, again no pix as the moments are just too exciting to miss for running to grab the camera). She's no longer just thinking about crossing open spaces, she's trying it. SO CUTE. Man, it's so cute.

Zoe's also been working on some of her fine motor skills: attempting to 'put on her socks' and place puzzle pieces where they belong, and channeling her mom's childhood climbing skills.

And she's been lots more creative in her sound-making, mimicking more and more of the words she hears us say. The other day she was saying "cheese" and today it was "Oscar". I love to hear her voice saying more word-like noises! And I know it will still be some time until she really starts using her words, really, but I can already sense some of the communication-fueled frustration falling away (for her and us both!). She *loves* it when we understand her and I know that means she'll only try to be understood with 'words' more and more.

Apologies for the recent posting drought...and I have to warn you that more may follow in the next few weeks...but I promise we'll always be back sooner or later. And thanks to everyone for all the well-wishing for the speedy sale of our house - it obviously worked the right magic ;)

Some recent cuteness: