After a bumpy start to our travels (i.e. a 3-hour delay out of SFO), we made it to DC on Fri. night. We’ve been pretty busy – spending time with family, celebrating Passover, shopping, etc. – since then, and we’ll post some pictures when we’re back (and caught up on rest). We take off tomorrow, and Q and Zoe have another little jetway walk to look forward to…

-M

Well, Zoe is getting ready this morning for another plane ride! This time she is going all the way to Washington, DC. We’re crossing our fingers that she is feeling better for the plane ride, and so far so good. She seems very excited this morning. We’ll be sure to take and post LOTS of pictures…

Jon Q

As mentioned here before, Zoe is a big fan – both of touching and saying the name of – certain body parts. As it turns out, she isn’t alone. Her little friend Zander is also intrigued by one such part – the nose – and he couldn’t resist exploring Zoe’s the other day. This picture was taken just before Zoe got sick, and I thought it would be fun to share here.

-M

Zoe wasn’t feeling 100% this weekend, and we found out exactly why yesterday: she has a double ear-infection. She was sick (also with an ear thing) just a few weeks ago, and I feel so bad that she has to deal with another one so soon. I also feel a bit exhausted from all the scrambling this week; it was a busy work-week for both me and Q, and we were forced to play the who-can-stay-home-and-take-care-of-her? game. Luckily it all worked out (I stayed home yesterday, Q’s with her today), and Zoe’s medicine (hopefully) is kicking in. Now, I’m just crossing my fingers that we can stay away from Dr. Fernandez’ office for awhile!

-M

As Michelle has pointed out in previous posts, Zoe has become quite a talker. Since she already loved playing with her phones, it is only logical that her new favorite pastime is talking on our phones! I managed to catch Zoe walking around the house while talking to Pop Pop and Safta and thought you’d enjoy…

Jon Q

When I first moved to San Francisco (ten years ago this month!) I felt like I was on a vacation every weekend. The weather was usually sunny and (relatively) warm, and there was always something to do – an outdoors festival, concert, etc – or somewhere to go. Luckily, things here haven’t changed *that* much: our weekends typically include an activity (now of the family variety) or two, and the weather (at least this time of year) tends to be cooperative. This weekend was no exception, as the therometer showed 80 and our itinerary included an outside kids concert at Dolores Park and a picnic and gardening in our backyard. Zoe wasn’t feeling the best, but she still managed to have fun – see the pictures below. (And note that Zoe has developed quite the green thumb!)

Ever since Q began pointing out birds to her – and she learned to sign the word – Zoe has been practically obsessed with looking out the window and bird-watching. A gorgeous sunny day meant open doors and windows today, and Zoe took full advantage. (I don’t think she actually spotted any birds, but that didn’t stop her from looking.)

-M

Zoe has always liked her “horsie” (a gift from Great Aunt Yola and Great Uncle Jake), but she’s shown an especially big interest in it in the past few weeks. Almost every day these days, she hops on the saddle and starts rocking back and forth – usually while laughing and humming (along with me) the theme song to Lone Ranger. We’ve shown pictures of her riding before, but I thought this was an appropriate time to post another!

-M

I recently read an article on toddlers’ verbal skills, and it included a poll on how many words readers’ children are able to say. According to the (admittedly unscientific) poll, 53% of 16-month-old girls can clearly say 1-10 words, 20% can say 11-20 words and 27% can say more than 20. One mom in the article said she sat down one day and wrote up a list of her daughters’ words – and was amazed at the results. This sounded like a good idea, so I did just that tonight – and I’ve pasted it below, for your reading pleasure.

It’s a good list, I think – though I wish I could somehow rid it of “mine!”

baby
ball
bath
beep beep
book
bye
cheese
daddy
dog
ee-i-ee-i-o (more a phrase than a word, but…)
good
hello
hi
mine
mommy (and mama)
night night
no
nose
peek-a-boo
phone
please
Pop Pop
thank you
uh-oh
yum

-M

Zoe turned 500 days old today. It’s a pretty cool milestone, and we thought we’d enlist the help of Lou Seal to mark the occasion and show how much she’s grown. Below is a picture from this afternoon, followed by another from March 7, 2007 – when she was about 100 days old. (Is it just me, or is Lou shrinking?)

-M

I recently came across results of a study showing that moms argue with their toddlers about 20 times a day. Though the toddlers in the study were older than Zoe (30 months), I could certainly relate to the findings. Zoe recently (and unfortunately) learned the word “mine,” and we spend a lot of time, er, discussing what’s really hers – and what’s okay for her to play with. (Sadly, the majority of the items she shouts “mine” about are not hers – and are not things she should have in the first place. She’s not a happy camper when I take said objects away from her.) She also recently started to rebel against diaper changes, and she sometimes hears stern words from me as I try to negotiate the squirming legs and arms. (And don’t even get me started on our conversations when she spits out her food at dinner.)

There are some great things about this age for sure, but having to occasionally fight with your child isn’t one of them!

-M

Zoe is a big shoe fan, and yesterday morning she stole one of her dad’s and plunked her little foot inside. She was having so much fun in there that we just had to take a video…

-M

Per our Friday tradition, Zoe and I met up with Polly and Miles at the playground today. (Zander was sick and couldn’t join us.) Polly and I sipped our coffees and chatted while the kids ran around, played in the sand, went down the slide, etc. for most of the morning. (They even held hands when they thought we weren’t looking; unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera out.) We knew Zoe and Miles were having fun – we just didn’t realize how *exhausted* they were getting! The photo below was taken about five minutes after we left the park…

-M

My mom likes to call pigtails “piggies,” and she’s always saying how much she liked putting them in my hair and my sister’s hair when we were little. I still have trouble getting Zoe’s hair in pigtails (she’s too quick for me), but Elena seems to have no problem. Here’s how Zoe looked frolicking around in her piggies after daycare yesterday.

-M

Zoe’s friend Nicolas (son of Q’s boss and my friend Chanda) turned one last week, and the three of us went to his birthday party on Sat. (There was a red-wagon theme to the party, and Zoe enjoyed taking Nicolas’ wagon for a little spin.) While there, I struck up a conversation with some of the other moms, whose babies were right around Nicolas’ age. All the babies were “cruising” and a few were walking, but none were as active (or, obviously, as big) as Zoe, and one of the moms, after meeting Zoe and learning her age, said, “It’s so fun to see what we have to look forward to!” I was completely jolted by her comment, and I couldn’t help but internally rewind to past events in which *I* was the one to make that comment to other moms. For so many months, Zoe was the little baby – the one who wasn’t crawling, walking, running, etc. – and I would look to other babies/tots (just a few months older than her) with a sense of anticipation and awe. Suddenly Zoe is the “big kid” who other moms look to for a taste of what their future holds – and I’m still amazed that this is the case.

Time really flies.

-M