btw

don't say I didn't remind anyone...

Pete will be 35 on Saturday Dec. 3rd.

Zoe will be 4 on Dec. 20th.

christmas tree!

I put up our tree and our lights outside! It is very exciting. Zoe helped with everything. There are a lot of ornaments on this particular section of the tree.

learning to read

Zoe is ready to learn to read. A frequent question is "what does that say? what does that say? what does that say?" She knows some words, like her name. She has some things memorized, like the titles of books, so I don't know if she is actually reading the words, or if she just knows what they are supposed to be... or is that the same thing? I don't know.

She can also write numbers [mostly] from one to ten. We did this last night and I had no idea she knew how to write them so well. Her LeapPad is helping a lot with this. There is a game where you teach your pet new tricks by writing all of the letters of the alphabet. And she has a cooking game with lots of math & number games. At her preschool conference her teacher, Ms Margie, said that she thought Zoe was ready to start learning how to write some letters and I know that she is not only ready but has already mastered a lot of them.

magnet tiles

Yesterday Zoe kept asking to play the "magnet game" and I couldn't figure out what she was talking about until she was carrying around the very heavy box of magnet tiles. She was staring intently at the outside of the box and seeing that there were pictures of things that you can build so she set about putting together each one. Here she is building the rocket ship.

snowman pillow

This is a quiet video, but I like watching her work. I cut out some shapes to make some winter pillows and Zoe went and got my pins out of a drawer and started pinning them down for me. This isn't something I showed her, but she has seen me pin things a couple of times before sewing, and she has always been able to learn new things just by watching someone do it once. Of course, pins standing up aren't very useful...

A day at home

Zoe built a dinosaur town. See the column with a half-circle on it? She said it was a palm tree.

And then we did some coloring. 

We read some books.

  

Time for Legos!

We played a matching game.

Lunch.

Dad made this awesome box for Zoe. She calls it Locks and Keys. She likes to put things in the different boxes and then she'll come ask me where something is... like, "mom - I can't find my pink ring" and I'll ask her where she thinks it is and she'll say "I think you should look in number five" and I'll have to go unlock box 5 and get it and she congratulates me on being so smart.

Nap time.

nevermind

the dynamic view was bothering me.

new blog view

I switched the blog style to "dynamic view." You can choose any of the different options along the top to see the posts, pictures & videos in different ways, just for fun. I kind of like the "snapshot" view because it looks like a bunch of polaroids laying on the table.

Is this irritating? Does it take a long time for it to load based on your internet speed?

I can switch it back to a simple blog scroll if you prefer. let me know.

done.

The ZAH Things lists are updated.

gift ideas

I am going to put a list of things on the ZAH Things blog as suggestions for Zoe birthday/holiday gifts. And I'll update anything else that needs updating also.

that's a pattern

Amazon Fresh not only delivers groceries, but also early math skills!

slippery fish

Slippery fish, slippery fish, swimming in the water.
Slippery fish, ,slippery fish... gulp! gulp!
Oh, no! He's been eaten by...
Octopus, octopus, swimming in the water...
Great white shark, great white shark, swimming in the water...

I know what she is singing because I have been working in a preschool classroom the past few weeks and we sing this song a lot! There are lots of verses.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BTW: Thanks for the orange tights Nana Jo! Zoe loves them!
I found this little sweater dress at Target.

song & dance show

The List

So I think that this is AWESOME.
Zoe was sitting at the computer desk and coloring [I thought]. Later when I looked at her paper I saw this and asked her if it was a list. She said "yes, and it's all checkered off." > Do you mean that you checked off everything on your list? "yes, it's all checkered off. see?" and she pointed to the little marks in the margin.
Why do I love this? Because I am a constant list-maker. And I love to "checker" things off my lists. Whenever we are shopping Zoe asks me for my list and she holds the pen and draws lines through everything until we're done.
She is obviously a very busy, little girl. But somehow she manages to get it all done.