Several months ago, I struggled a bit with Zoe’s foray into toddlerhood. She was no longer the mellow, quiet baby who took lots of naps, and I found myself both emotionally and physically exhausted from trying to keep up with this active little girl. By this point, I’m used to Zoe the Toddler – which is a good thing, considering how much more active she gets each month!
These days, Zoe’s always running – never walking – around. She loves to sprint from room to room, often yelling “Daddy!” or “Mommy!” (or “Shell,” which we’ll get to in a bit) or pushing one of her baby dolls in their stroller. She also likes grabbing someone’s hand (usually her dad’s) and walking with that person through the house or demanding that they dance to “Ring Around the Rosie” with her.
She sings a lot and recently started doing (or trying to do) the ABCs on her own. (So far, she’s perfected only the “EFG” part.) She’s also starting to understand her numbers; one day when I was counting out loud and said “one,” she said back to me, “two” – and she has said “two” and “three” several times since. She says other new words and phrases (like “I love you!”) on a fairly regular basis; at last count, she could say five dozen words or so. As has been the case for several months now, she repeats a lot of what she hears me and Q; after hearing Q refer to me as “Shell,” she recently started saying “Shell!” (pronounced like “She-yell”) when calling for me. I prefer “Mommy,” of course, but Q thinks it’s hilarious when she says it.
Other firsts this past month: she learned to get up and down chairs and couches on her own. She started scribbling on her own – though she prefers pens to crayons. And she can now build towers and stack her little stacking dishes in the right order, without assistance.
In terms of playtime, she loves making (and knocking down) her towers of blocks and stacking dishes, cuddling with and kissing her baby dolls and stuffed dogs, and also playing make-believe. She often pretends to mix food in her little dishes and then feed me or Q or one of her “babies.” And she loves watching her little goldfish swim around and eat. One of the cutest things she does these days is walk up to their tank in her room and say “hi, fishies” (sometimes with a wave).
Though she’s often doing terribly sweet things like this, life with Zoe isn’t all rosey. She can be surly, and her answer to a lot of questions these days is “no” – pronounced like “nyo.” (Very typical exchanges: “Zoe, can you give Mommy a kissie?” “No!” “Zoe, do you want Mommy to read a book to you?” “No!”) She is especially quick to reject assistance; when I ask if she needs help (getting up or down for a chair, for example) she says “no” right away. I get it, I get it – she likes to do things herself!
As mentioned the other day, Zoe is still not exactly Ms. Cuddles. But she does find the occasion (usually in the morning) to snuggle up beside me or Q and give us a kiss or two. And though she might not always show her affection in a physical way, she almost always wants us near her. If either Q or I leave the room in which she’s in, she’s sure to yell after us and sometimes cry if we don’t return right away. And just this morning, when I got up with her and Q was still sleeping, she looked at me with a quivering lip and said, “where’s Daddy?” (He’s “night-night,” I told her, before assuring her that she’d see him soon.)
As for physical stuff, Zoe weighs close to 30 pounds and wears a lot of 3T (!) clothing. I think she’s getting taller, as well; both Q and I have commented lately that she looks like she’s thinning out. Her stomach isn’t quite as round as it was even a few weeks ago – but she is still, of course, a bit of a chunk.
-M
