update

I realized a couple of weeks ago that Zoe really understands most of what I'm saying even though she isn't really talking herself. I can ask her where things are, like "where's your blankie?" and she will go find it and bring it to me. She knows that her jacket & shoes are needed to go outside. Pete put a pink hoody on her and she brought him a different jacket [the one we had been using lately]. She opened the veg drawer in the fridge and handed me a banana saying "bana" that she wanted to eat. When her milk is gone she loves to say "more" and watch me get some more for her. At night we say Bath Time! over and over. She recognizes that pictures of things in her books, like bunnies, monkeys, bananas, ducks, balls are also in the house and frequently climbs out of my lap to get those things and then happily show them to me. She is very good at getting dressed. We are learning to roll a pink kickball back and forth and I am trying to teach her how to kick it, too. She loves, loves, loves to open things, take lids on & off, and put things away. She opened a kitchen drawer, took out a box of ziploc bags and carried it into the living room where she removed all of the bags from the box [thankfully it was almost empty] and then put the empty box back into the drawer and closed the drawer. Where was I? I think I was washing some dishes and this all happened in about a minute. She is quiet and speedy when she's working.
Tonight she was whining and pushing Pete around [well, trying to push him] while he was washing his hands. She has started pushing her little hands against me when she wants me to get something or pick her up so that she can see something. I was sitting on the floor and she walked around and pushed against my back until I stood up to help her see something. Anyway, she was doing this to Pete and getting loud and I told her she should not be so bossy. She put her little hands down and looked up at him so sweetly and said "ite" which is her word for "up". She also says "hi!" and a sort of "byebye" with a wave.

She loves animals, cats and dogs in particular. Dogs are everywhere and are on tv a lot and there's a barking dog that lives at the house behind ours. She jumps up and down and squeals and wants to pet them all. They're just hilarious.

We are finally having some lasting spring weather so we have spent some time outside in the yard. At first the grass really freaked her out but she got over the ticklish feeling and had a good time just walking around the yard. She really likes the ants that crawl around. I really hate the ants. Zoe says "what's that?" nine thousand times and then it just takes one little press of her finger to smash one. I have some pictures of her outside that I will post soon.

I am looking at plane tickets for the end of May. I am considering flying out with Zoe, staying for a week and then Pete would come out on the 29th maybe? I'm trying to use my United miles for a free flight but it limits my options quite a bit of course. And I really want to get a seat for Zoe because I can't imagine holding her by myself. So I don't know. I need to do some more thinking. At the very least, Pete & Zoe & I will be there Thursday night to Tuesday afternoon that last weekend. I don't know if we will travel to Kendra's wedding on the 30th. We will definitely see Trisha & Maisy, probably in St Louis. And I want to take Pete to Worlds of Fun and/or Six Flags. We might just stick with our original plan to fly in, leave Zoe with whoever wants to watch her, and drive to St Louis for the weekend. Tickets on United are about $250 right now. If anyone wants to visit us this this summer this is a good time to shop for airfare.
love from Seattle!