toy box

I had just collected all of Zoe's little toys from the drawers & cabinets and the floor and put them all in this pink box. I left the room and a few minutes later heard the sound of a hundred toys being dumped out of a pink box. In their place... Zoe and cheesey poofs.

found a new hiding place today...

snacktime

Her hair is long enough now that I can pull it all back into a ponytail. Crazy! My stylist friend, Tiffany, is going to give Zoe a haircut sometime next month so it doesn't hang in her face all of the time. Zoe's eyes are still many colors.

carousel!

The zoo has a new [antique] carousel that Pete & Zoe went around on. She did not want to leave.

zoolights

We went to Zoolights at the Pt Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma. I used to go to this zoo all the time when I lived in Tacoma and always loved zoolights at Christmas. The animals were all inside somewhere, but the aquarium was open so Zoe got to see lots of fish.

rocking horse

I got this rocking horse for Zoe's xmas gift and Pete opened the closet door not knowing I was hiding it from her in there. Once she saw that it was in the house [and not just at Costco] I had to let her play with it. I think I'll still wrap it up and let her open it again. After she rode one of these in the store for 20 minutes I looked for them online and found out that they retail for about $150 and were on sale for $90 at different stores, but Costco had them for $40 so we scooped it up. It's pretty awesome. One of the Backyardigans episodes that she watches has horses that the Backyardigans pretend to ride and they feed apples to them the whole time. Zoe has fed this horsey lots of apples already.

friends!

We visited Jen, Mike & Rowan last weekend. Rowan has a little stroller that he loves to push around. Zoe has a pink stroller at home that she sits in and waits for someone [like me] to push her around the house in. So you can imagine how perfect this playdate was! This stroller is meant for a doll, luckily it was sturdy enough for our little doll.

College Fund

I meant to put this on the list of gift ideas for Zoe. Mom set up a 529 college investment fund for Zoe and anyone can add funds to it at any time. I'm going to set up an automatic withdrawal from Pete's paycheck so that a little goes into it every month. Here is the website if you would like to read more about it:
www.learningquest.com

The basic info is that the minimum contribution is $ 50. You can send a check to the fund with Zoe's account number & name. It is managed as a highly-aggressive mutual fund. Zoe can use the money for any college expense at any college she chooses to attend. There may be tax credits available to contributors.

529 plans can be opened by anyone, for anyone, in any state. If you would like to start an additional college savings plan that you administer yourself, that's cool. All you really need is a social security number, etc.

I can email you Zoe's account number if you are interested in contributing to this college fund.

travel plans

We've been trying to find a good time to travel to MO and it just hasn't happened yet. Even though Pete can't take off work to come with us, his schedule still determines when it would be best for us to be away and/or home so we can all spend time together. With his birthday [Dec 3rd], Zoe's birthday [20th], and Christmas in December, we're kind of booked. He has some very long days & nights coming up in January so I'm going to shop for a ticket today during that time. I'll let you know what we decide.

Christmas & Birthday

If you are thinking about getting Zoe something for her birthday or Christmas, here are a few ideas:
* We are getting an awesome play kitchen - so accessories [fake food, play toaster] would be fun
* Disney DVDs. We have the Pixar movies, Mary Poppins, and Sleeping Beauty already. We do not have any of the "classics" and Disney isn't going to make dvd's soon, so it would be great to get them.
* Books. I will update her book list soon.
* Clothes. 24 month or 2T warm clothes. [long-sleeved shirts, jacket, pants, socks], pajamas. I bought some shirts/pants from The Children's Place, but haven't shopped anywhere else.
* Right now she likes The Backyardigans, Wubbzy [wow wow], and Wonder Pets
* I have plenty of art supplies for her to use.
* She doesn't know/like to play "dress-up" yet.
* She likes small/little objects & animals instead of giant, overstuffed things.
* She likes puzzles [wooden shapes, not the 100-piece cardboard], and anything that can be sorted, stacked, rearranged.

She's still too little for a dollhouse. We don't have the space right now for a playhouse, etc. Please no talking/tickling/joke-telling Elmo dolls. Cute to Zoe? yes! Irritating to mommy? yes!
We just got her a tricycle. She has: blocks, Mr Potato Head, shopping cart, LeapFrog fridge alphabet magnets, a wagon.

That's what I can think of right now.

xoxo

blocks! Thanks Uncle Dougie!

swim

monkeys

zoo

I'm pretty sure the animals were "staged" at the zoo today. It was kind of suspicious.

busy weekend

again with the steam cleaner

chasing ducks

We went to this country-style shopping village that had ducks & chickens wandering about. Zoe was thrilled.

hello

bathtime!

Zoe loves to play in the sink to either wash her hands or brush her teeth. Also, I don't put the washcloth on her head -- she does.





She actually knows a lot of the alphabet, but was more interested in putting the letters on her finger this time.

stomp stomp stomp

It looks like the edge of the porch is really high, but it's just a couple of feet off the ground where Zoe is. She ran around like this for a long time.

porch

The porch is almost done!

frustrated with button

Zoe hates it when she can't do something by herself. Luckily, this time she did not throw herself onto the ground and cry. We just quickly walked away and found something else to do.

We saw lots of crazy birds at the zoo today. I found a couple of other sections, like the Natural Habitat area and an indoor rainforest, that we had not visited yet.

postcard

Today Zoe got a postcard from Uncle Doug & Aunt Tammy.

good morning bouncy

balance beam

sliding at the park

box porch hat birds

swingin

This is from a few weeks ago when I got tired of being in the house and Pete was at work all night. I took Zoe to a park in the evening and ran around the playground with her. There were some other kids there that played with her quite a bit. Zoe figured out she could hang from the bar at the top of this slide. She's really strong!
We started a toddler gymnastics class last week. It meets for 30 minutes every Tuesday morning at the Lynnwood Rec Center. There are 10 little girls in the class, which means there are also 10 moms plus 1 fearless coach from the local gymnastics center. So there are 21 people moving around this tiny, tiny room. The coach shows what we are going to do at each "station" [walk on this, jump on that, roll over there] and then the moms try to make their kids do it. there is a lot of high-pitched, loud "put your legs up! put your hands down! good job! no! yes! high five!" Zoe seemed to enjoy it, and she was really good about watching the demonstrations and remembering what to do at each place. There's not a lot of "gymnastics" going on, which is what I wanted - some little uneven bars for her to swing from, a little balance beam to walk on. We'll see what happens this week.

the point of this video is the "hello?"

I read an article in a parenting magazine today about teaching your kids how to "be their own friend" and play by themselves [instead of with mom /dad all of the time]. It said that sometime around age 3 your kid should start using objects in an imaginative way and pretend to use them. The article also said that it was a good idea to let your child play by herself for a couple of minutes each day until she needed you to interact with her. Wow! We're way ahead of the game on this stuff. Zoe has always played with her stuffed animals, books, and toys by herself. Every morning she chats with her bunny & monkey when she wakes up.
"Pretending" to do stuff is now called "imaginative play". And "counting" is frequently called "mathematical interpretation and computation skills". Watching a puppet play an accordion is "musical diversity." It's tough to be a kid these days.

pete with toy

Constance gave Zoe this little toy. It's wooden and you blow into it and the ball levitates. I guess I hadn't really shown it to Zoe... but Pete found it and was playing with it...

at the zoo

we went to the zoo last wednesday and it was the best zoo trip yet. the weather was cold & overcast with a few sprinkles of rain so there were only a dozen people there. we were all by ourselves most of the time so I could let Zoe walk around without fearing that she would get lost in a crowd. the animals were loving the cool weather and we got to see the leopards and tigers and bears that usually hide back under the trees. we walked through some parts of the zoo that I didn't know where there, like the "rainforest loop", and it was really beautiful - especially without any other people around. We went into this enclosed area that had dozens of birds flying around, like a butterfly exhibit, and I bought a little stick with some bird seed stuck to it for $1. Zoe held it up and birds landed nearby and ate the seeds off of it. they flew around her and even though I was a little freaked out she thought it was hilarious and giggled like crazy. I couldn't get her to leave, which was fine, we just spent a lot of time with the birds that day. she's already one of those people who really loves animals. I wonder if she'll want to be a vegetarian.

The "Sauce"

This is the apple-carrot-sweet potato sauce that I make for Zoe.

walking & talking

Our First Pet: Bob the Fish

When Dad was here a couple of weeks ago we went to the pet store and came home with this little cutie. Zoe LOVES this fish. She talks to him all time. She points to him when he swims by and says "Bob!"

Seattle Aquarium