one napkin, two napkins, red napkin, blue napkin

So you leave your 21-month old for 2.5 days and come back to find she's been doing some serious growing up in your absence.

I was in AZ the first part of this week, (Ick. Yuck. I don't get the attraction - it's all big and dry and flat and spread out and surfacy (ie, franchise-driven). I am such a northern girl!) leaving bug in her daddy's capable hands for Sunday evening through Tuesday.

Wednesday, while taking a little reading break from working from home, I learned that Zoe now understands the concept of numbers! How did she demonstrate this new understanding, you ask? Well, I pointed out a birdie on the page and she pointed at the other birdie on the page and said "Two birdies". Very cool.

Then, at dinner last night, she was pointing at our cloth napkins Grandma Lani made, saying "blue napkin"...we asked her which one was red and she obliged by pointing, then said "two napkins". So cool.

So now, whenever we're reading to her, she seems to be paying much closer attention to our counting items on the page, using her tap-tap-tapping little finger to help us make the tally.

1-2-3 has NEVER been so exciting!




Other cuteness I should mention are some of my favorities from her recent vocab bloom:

*'pa-cack' (backpack)

*ma-morrow (tomorrow) (as in "Buh-bye ______ (ie, something she's leaving behind as we leave a room)! See you ma-morrow!"

*minnow (window)

* cohn (corned beef - Daddy's treat while mom was away)

Dress-up girl

Sporting the new hat mommy made

So I've been saying for quite some time (though I don't think here) that Zoe is an "Accessories Girl". She rarely goes anywhere without a hat (lest we hear hat! hat! hat!), nor without a "buh-bye" (aka, sweatshirt, sweater or coat) and she pretty much always has on her "chews" (shoes) or "pitters" (slippers). I think it has lots to do with how we dressed her as an infant:



But lately, she's started to show an affinity for the process of getting dressed.

It started with the hat:


And then the shoes. Recently, she's been acing the removal of zipped-up jackets. And today, it was looking like it was going to be the pants:



What's even more cute is her interest in dressing her baby doll. Usually baby just gets a hat or her little blankie, but after giving up on taking off her own pull-off pants, Zoe shared her very own buh-bye :)

Big Day

Yesterday, historically, was pretty big, all around.

I mean, the stock markets closed after a record-breaking single day yo-yo, er rise. I had a great check-in with my midwives (more on that below) and Zoe! Zoe had a banner day!

SHE POOPED AND PEED IN THE POTTY!!

Awesome.

It was at the tail end (heeh) of her dinner, just after Dave headed out for poker. She started making the tell-tale grunts and I asked her if she had to poop. Of course her instant reply was "No.", but after the next grunt I asked if she needed to go potty. She concurred.

So off we went. I didn't figure we'd meet with success, but after a few minutes on the potty with a few favorite books in hand (the flap books, Auntie Amy!), lo and behold, there was poop and pee in that potty!!

I was more excited than she was and did my best to show it too much. I wanted her to know that it was a big deal, but didn't want to freak her out. Really, I think I'm fairly honest in saying that she handled it with aplomb. She had a pleased look on her face and was TOTALLY interested in what appeared in her potty and was very happy to do the flushing after I dumped it in the toilet. Seems that the borrr-ing 'Poop' books and my dumping her diaper poops in the potty had her prepared for how it all should go.

Now, I'm not saying that she is now officially potty trained. This really is only a very good lead in the right direction. And I know to anticipate some regression when baby #2 arrives, but I'd just been thinking to myself that we'd kind of dropped the ball on this front with recent busy-ness and had decided to try again in earnest to clue in to her cues. If we can get a bit farther down the path with this, come February perhaps any regression with this won't be so hard-hitting or long-lasting. We shall see.

In other kidlet news, as mentioned earlier, I had my 22-week check-in yesterday. My growth (weight and fundal) are right on the curve, my blood pressure was fantastically low (105/54!) and the baby's heart rate was right on target (145 bpm). So no sign of any dreaded pre-eclamptic issues and I'm happy for that. Next visit is at 26 weeks when I get to meet my OB. Hopefully I'll still be pre-eclampsia-issue free and they will continue to leave me in the care of my midwives. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Zoe's souveneirs

We've always known how Zoe's development can take leaps and bounds. And in the days with her cousins, Nick and Tim, she made another jump particularly with her language skills.

She started answering questions more readily with words and with new ones, likely adopted from her observations of Nick, like 'Yeah' and 'OK'. She also started speaking in understandable strings, like "mummy read please?" HECK YEAH I'LL READ TO YOU! Awesome.

So while she's had lots of access to older kids at daycare, there's something about the fact that Nick was also her cousin that made her pay a little closer attention. And her interactions with Tim (aka 'Baby') also showed us that she's tuned in to the kiddos playing - and eating! - around her. It was SO cute to watch her grab food off of Tim's tray at dinner time. I think she was in awe, as Dave and I were, with his appetite! That didn't entirely rub off, but putting her empty cup in the sink did! ;)

I'm so grateful to those boys for revealing some new sides of Zoe that we hadn't quite had the opportunity to observe first-hand before. You're welcome back any time, guys!

Taking Nana & Pepere by storm

On the last weekend of their visit, Greg, Amy, Zoe and I went down to Nana and Pepere's house. The boys had been down there since Wednesday and it was about time Zoe joined the party.

Chris and Erin came, as well, fulfilling the rare opportunity for Nana and Pepere to have all the kids (and the kids' kids) at their house.



It was exciting, to say the least ;)



The kids had a fantastic time tearing it up - literally. Cars and pianos and balls and lots and books made it a scene to remember. It actually felt like an early Christmas.


Yes, it looked this way pretty much the whole time :)


Fun (?) at the crack of dawn

Zoe, for her part, finally showed a bit of some sibling-type rivalry. It may have been the pro-longed visit with the boys, or the close proximity at the house, but Zoe was getting a little jealous of her cousins when it came down to sharing her Nana and Pepere with them.

Me? She could care less if *I* was carrying Tim or talking with Nick, but as soon as her Nana focused any real attention on one of the boys, Zoe was quick to put herself in the picture.



Her territoriality extended to toys, too and while on the whole, she was good about handing off or laying off toys the boys had interest in, she got a bunch of instruction on just how that sharing idea works. Overall, I'd say she pretty well got the point.



It was a great time had by all, I think. In my youth, I was never one to be able to envision the future, ie, my husband, my job, etc. and I really never pictured our family dynamics shaping up this way so it's nice to see that it all came together so nicely.

All by myself

Lately, we've come to see a bit more exertion from Zoe on the maturity and independence front. While at times it can be heartbreaking, really it's pretty exciting.

For instance, today, while unloading groceries into the fridge, Zoe started to assist me. Without any prompting from me, she started grabbing things out of the bags and putting them up into the fridge for me to put away. SWEET. Once the bags were empty, she promptly put them outside of the kitchen where they go to be brought down to the car, just as she's seen me do it a thousand times before.

She's also starting to pay attention to questions like "can you please hand mommy the box for your books?" - she's doing a great job of executing! I'm constantly amazed at what she knows, like being able to locate the various foods in her food play set when I name them for her. And if she's feeling particularly cooperative, she'll name them back for me :)

Along those same lines, she's also becoming a whiz at puzzles. For ages she'd just dump the pieces on the floor (still a favorite past time) but now, she'll actually sit with you and put the pieces 'where they live'. I love watching her little eyes look at the piece and then dart to find where it goes. Sometimes it takes a suggestion from us as to where it belongs, but many times she just gets it on her own.



And while she can't yet quite seem to manage getting all of her toes in, she's working really hard to put on shoes and socks. Some day soon, I bet she'll put one leg in each pant leg at a time ;)

Zoo! the place where little ones go to see animals and Nicks

Last Monday, Zoe and I played hooky to join Amy and the boys at the zoo.

I love the zoo. I think I'm going to re-join so we can hang out there on my maternity leave next spring.

Anyhoo, Zoe and the boys did a fantastic job keeping cool and mellow through nearly the entire trek through the grounds. Nick, on foot, generally led the pack while I strolled Zoe and Amy wore Timothy in the Ergo, behind.




Zoe feeling her French oats - snack of bread and cheese


Amy keeping the pack together

Zoe loved the tiger, the monkeys, the gorillas...and the Nick. As Nick would run along in front from exhibit to exhibit, Zoe would cry out "Nick!" whenever he'd be out of her sight. So cute. She was obviously smitten with the boy ;)

Half-way mark (now w/ tummy shot)

5 months down, 5 to go!

And I'm feeling pretty good :)

We had our third ultrasound yesterday (the first two were less happily anticipated, so this was fun the whole way through) and all looks good. Bebe is a doing great and the doc overseeing the ultrasound said that everything's shaping up beautifully and right on track: size, shape, and parts all check out fine.

Make sure you get my good side


And the technician offered another possible bit of clarity on my first trimester issues. She experienced almost identically what I experienced in one of her pregnancies, so while I'd already pretty much entirely moved on from the worry about it, it was good to get another perspective on all of it.

Can't I get a little sleep?


I've been happily groping my tummy lately, feeling the flutters of beginning movement for quite a while now - since Labor Day weekend (@ about 15 weeks). 'They' say that non-new moms tend to feel the movement earlier because we know what to feel for, but it's only been in the past week or so that I've been actually able to feel the kicks by touch. I love this part :)

Hold your horses... I'm still cookin'


I love, too, my cravings this go-around: red meat and cheese. I'm actually ordering *steaks* when I'm out for dinner (NEVER did I EVER do THAT before!) and I'm giving in to the quesadilla calling at least once a week. Dave certainly likes these a whole lot better than the cravings I had last time (red sauce, fruit, ice cream and more red sauce!) since it means I'm shopping at the butcher counter a bit more ;) Hmmm....I think it's time for my cheese and crackers snack right now. ;)

Otherwise, things are good. I'm on a healthy growth curve (heeh) and although none of my pants will zip up all the way, let alone button, I'm not quite into maternity wear yet. But, the belly band has come in handy in these awkward weeks (I'm not a fan of the mid-drift look, especially at work!) and I do spend most of my non-public hours in cumfy stretchy pants and skirts. Gotta love the cotton/lycra mix! I'm not as active as I'd like but I'm giving up the care. Life's too short, as is this pregnancy, for me to fixate on how I feel about my thighs!

Ok, I am going to count to ten. One....


So far, too, the pre-eclamptic issues seem to be held at bay. My blood pressure has been good and I don't have any liver pains (although I've had a side ache for a while since my waist started changing shape). Over the next few months, I'll be under the watchful eyes of both my midwife and OB teams, so I think we'll be OK.

This month will be a test, though, of my relatively great energy levels though as we've already got a full calendar ahead of us, including a jaunt for me to Phoenix (joy). I'm hoping I don't swell up on that flight like I did on my flight to Houston during Zoe's pregnancy. That's when I lost the ability to wear all but like two pairs of my shoes!!

5 month tummy shot: