I always assumed we wouldn’t see Zoe’s sassy/bratty side until she was closer to two. (They call them the terrible twos for a reason, right?) I guess this was pretty foolish (or optimistic) thinking, because Zoe – fourteen months shy of her second birthday – has definitely had her share of temper tantrums/crying bouts lately. The tantrums usually occur when something (a toy, a shoe, a potentially dangerous item, etc.) is taken away from her; she’ll sometimes also throw fits when she doesn’t feel like having her diaper changed or a shirt pulled over her head. Though she’s still a happy baby overall, she has definitely given us a taste of the more, er, challenging side of parenting.

Even when Zoe’s throwing a fit, though, I can’t help but think she’s pretty cute. And I just had to snap a few before-and-after pictures from one of today’s in-the-crib tantrums.

-M

Zoe’s been saying “dada” and “mama” for awhile now, but I’ve been hesitant to declare these her first words. (Does she really know their meaning? It’s hard to say.) This weekend, we heard Zoe utter what sounded like another real word – but we weren’t sure whether she really knew what she was saying. After what happened this afternoon, though, I think she probably did. We were just playing a game and, when Zoe did something very smart, I commented, “Zoe, good girl!” She looked up at me, smiled and very clearly said, “good!”

And so, I am officially calling it. Zoe’s first, real word is “good.” (And thank goodness it’s that and not “bad” or “no.” We would have really felt awful!)

-M

When Zoe begged Mommy to get the same shirt as her, I totally didn’t think they would look this cute together!

Jon Q

The first time Zoe went to the zoo, back in late Jan., she slept almost the entire time. (See 1.28 post for pictures.) Today marked her third visit there, and she managed to stay awake most of the afternoon. She did sleep through the lions, tigers and bears (oh, my), but she saw many other animals and insects (the spiders and bees seemed to be favorites) and even got to pet a few. Another highlight: she and her dad hung out for a bit in a fire truck, thanks to some nice firemen waiting outside the zoo.

To quote from one of my favorite movies (“Old School”), it was a “pretty nice little Saturday.”

-M

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Zoe. Fresh from a bath, her hair is oh so curly. I think she gets that from her Dad…

Q

Zoe and her dad look pretty cozy, don’t they??

-M

Babies are much smarter than people give them credit for. I, for one, never knew how quickly Zoe’s mind would develop or how fast she would pick up certain words/phrases/concepts. A friend and I recently had a conversation about this; I was telling her about the words and phrases that Zoe seems to understand, and it occurred to me that I should share a few here. (Q could probably share others; these were just the first to come to mind.)

-“Milk.” This is the one word (aside from her name) that we’ve used constantly since she was just a few months old. Before almost every meal, we ask, “Zoe, do you want some milk?” or simply say, “milk.” She invariably stops what she’s doing, looks up with big, wide eyes and begins shaking her arms with excitement. She’ll sometimes crawl over and try to climb on me, but that’s a relatively new thing.

-“No, no.” We’ve just started using these words on a regular basis, as Zoe has become increasingly mobile and curious. She definitely gets the concept now; she always stops what she’s doing and looks up at us when she hears the words. She typically repeats her action a few more times, but after a few “no”s she’s on to the next thing.

-“Bless you.” This is another phrase Zoe has heard a lot of – after every sneeze, that is. Lately she’s been smiling and laughing whenever she hears it – and the few times we haven’t said it right away, she looks up at us, waiting for it.

-“It’s time for a nap now.” Before every nap, we sing the same song – which begins with these words. (We also have a nighttime version, during which we sing good-night to all of Zoe’s loved ones.) Zoe recognizes this as the sleep signal; whenever she hears the first few notes of the song, she pops her thumb in her mouth and plunks her head on my chest. It works so well that I used to feel guilty about it; it felt almost Svengali-like. (I got over those guilt feelings pretty fast!)

-M

It’s officially fall, and Zoe decided to dress up in honor of the new season. Here’s a picture of Mommy helping get her ready this morning.

Jon Q

In thinking of the best way to describe Zoe at this age, I keep coming back to the same set of words. Curious. Bubbly. And oh, so independent. Zoe likes to know what’s going on around her at all times, and she’s constantly spinning her head, craning her neck or crawling over to a desired person/item to check out things – many of which wind up in her mouth. (Because of her propensity to pick up and try to eat tiny objects on the floor, her babysitter, Elena, has dubbed her the “little vacuum cleaner.”) If you try to hold her when she’s not in a sleepy or (rare) mellow mood, she’ll likely try to squirm out of your arms to zip off somewhere. (Needless to say, she’s not much of a cuddler.)

Speaking of zipping, Zoe has gotten quite good at crawling – and she has also learned how to pick up the speed. I’ve had to move pretty fast to pick her up a few times, and I’ve also gotten quite good at pulling on her pants (and even changing a diaper!) as she’s scooting away. She’s also able to crawl up and down a stair – something she gets practice doing at daycare.

Crawling might soon be old-hat to Zoe, though, as she has taken some pretty big steps (no pun intended) towards walking. A few weeks ago, she started sitting up on her knees and pulling herself up on various objects; around the 9.5-month mark, she began pulling herself up to a full stand (see below). For the last week or so she’s been constantly standing and “cruising,” and it’s not uncommon to find her standing in her crib in the morning or after a nap.

Zoe’s personality continues to be a happy one – she’s often smiling, laughing and squealing – and she’s also more talkative than ever. She still says her “dada”s and “baba”s a lot, and she also likes to experiment with making different sounds. (On a note, she did finally say “mama” this month – but she doesn’t say it very often.) For awhile, she was making very deep, throaty, monster-type sounds; more recently, she has been blowing out to get the sound of her lips rubbing together. She can entertain herself for quite some time doing this.

Another big development is the appearance of her bottom two teeth; they popped out about two weeks ago (at the 41-week mark). Poor Zoe was miserable during the teething process (crying all the time, not sleeping well, etc.), and we’re glad we got through the first two. Her new teeth are awfully cute, but both Q and I will miss her gummy smiles.

I should also mention Zoe’s sleeping patterns, which have changed slightly. Her third, late-afternoon nap finally fell to the wayside (which I’ve learned is fairly common around the 9-month mark), but she continues taking a short (30-45 min.) nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. She still goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 PM and wakes up around 6:30 AM; we’re almost always greeted with a big smile in the morning. We love those smiles – and our happy baby!

-M