Our little ham

Zoe’s proving herself to be quite the imaginative three year old. Playtime is full of lots of pretend and role-playing. She is a mindful mama with her baby, an attentive Dr. when mommy or daddy are “feeling sick” and a very instructive patient.

New this week: some names for a few of her buddies. Mango the puppy dog is a great buddy when she wants to sit on the chaise with her blankie, a pillow and her broom. (? Yes. Her broom.)

And Pepito the penguin has made all the rounds, accompanying her to the bathroom, sitting at (on) the dinner table and snuggling under her blankie. In fact, we received a call over the monitor this evening to witness the good news that Pepito is feeling better. (Didn’t know he was ill, but I’m about to kill him! kidding.) I worry sometimes that my less than playful nature will thwart my girls’ creativity, but so far, pretty good on the Zoe front. Phew!

(for lack of more demonstrative pictures :()

Thanks for the penguin, Grandma Lani!

Maggie, of late

Some favorites from a sunny turn through the living room a couple of weeks ago:

Knit pix

Zoe appeasing her mom and modeling her new hat for the camera:

Sweet subject

Enough already, you!

Practicing for QVC?

Milestones

Since turning the big 0-1, Maggie has been revealing some pretty impressive big-girl moves.

First, the girl I thought would never use her legs (though we knew she could) has now started to use them well and often! She’s apparently noticed that all the cool kids pull themselves up to a stand in order to get to things kept out of reach. And she’s begun to CRUISE! not quite doing laps around the room yet, but she makes pretty impressive runs along the playroom couch, along the table and along the toys. Even more recently, she’s made the daring leap of letting go of a prop to fall into my arms. We are mere…steps!…away from steps! Wow.

Along with the toes, her knees have been working hard, too. She’s started crawling? Who knew that she’d ever give it a go, but she has! I think it has to do a bit with her falling when reaching to grab hold of things as she pulls up or cruises along. When you’ve landed on all fours, you might as well use ‘em, eh? Now, she hasn’t retired her cute little scoot-hop, but it’s fun to see her agility blossom.

Less fun is her desire to climb. She’s now all about climbing up into (and over) her rocking chair and up into the playroom couch. And while she’s yet to successfully hike up her feet high enough to climb the big couch (the trying is too cute), I’m sure that’s just around the corner. So, we’ve gotten a bit busier following her around the house and have had the need to expand our sign language vocabulary: “No” and “sit” have come fast into the playroom lexicon.

Even lesser fun are the tumbles (check out the doozer of a boo-boo between the nose and upper lip! poor kiddo!)

The new signs have also come in handy with her work in the highchair. She’s had Os, more, banana and milk mastered for ages and now she’s mastered the sign for CHEESE which she takes any way we hand it to her: in sticks, on mac, on pizza, grilled, or in dillas (“dee-yas”). Eggs are also pretty reliable favorites, as well as apple sauce and yogurt…but only if she gets to work the spoon. She’s all but retired me from my feeding post. I get in a few bites if she’s especially hungry or distracted, but once she notices what’s going down (or rather, how it’s going in), she gives her head a big shake of “No, ma’am” and won’t take another bite unless I hand her the spoon and bowl. I also get lots of frustrated whines from her corner if I don’t at least offer her a bit of what’s on my plate. I think we have an eater. Yay for that.

Finally, I should throw into this little time capsule that she’s also got a bit of a drama streak in her. If she’s especially frustrated or repeatedly thwarted in an effort, she lets out a cute (for now) little yell. Kind of a cross between a “hey” and an “argh”. If you dare separate her from an enjoyed thing (exhibit A) or activity (exhibit B), the tears start streaming and the head is thrown back in full protest.

Exhibit A:

Zoe playing keep-away

Exhibit B:

She starts with a mad yell…winds up the head…back to the knees! Testing 1…2…3!

And, better!

This girl’s got spirit, that’s for sure. Watch out!

Miss M

A few recent cute shots of the not-so-wee one on the move.




She's not quite pulling herself up to a stand yet (though she can), but we're doing lots to encourage the upward exploration, anyways.

Sisters

Floppin'







Which leads me to mention that our little Maggie is becoming a serious little mimic. In our house, it's Maggie-see, Maggie do! Say it and she'll repeat it, do it and she'll give it a go. She's game for nearly anything her big sis does and has a keen ear for new, fun words. We've known she's always had a watchful eye (boy howdy), but now it's all going into practice. I think we're in for quite the ride!

Oh girl

Two milestones for us this evening, all in the space of a half hour:

Zoe is a very good girl. Even if she's being a bit 'naughty' and messing around in her room at bedtime instead of sleeping, she never gets out of bed. But with potty training, we've actually been trying to get her to get up and out of bed on her own. Up to now, to no avail; she's opted to call to me over the monitor until I come up and get her out of bed. But tonight, while at the sink finishing up the dinner dishes, I heard a scritch-scratch, pitter-patter. I thought it was a cat doing an unpleasant thing, but was happily surprised to hear Zoe's sweet and sleepy voice behind me: "mommy, I have to go potty." Awesome. This is significant headway!

Bittersweet the next: Just as I settled in with a beer, some chocolate and my knitting, I heard "mommy!" again over the monitor. With a sigh and a slump in my shoulders, I went up. Asking what was the matter, she answered "I've got a scary in my bedroom..." AWWWWWWW. Now, while the offender was our nemesis, "Goose" (he rears his ugly head whenever Zoe's feeling "nervous", rather, reluctant or even obstinate), this was the first time he'd caused trouble in the bedroom, at bedtime. Our first scary monster!!

Happy to see you though both these bits, bug. Sweet girl.

Sisters

Cute campers, sweet snugglers

Sisters

Baby lovers. :)