Per tradition, we met up at the playground with friends this morning. Here are some pics with Zoe and her buddy Zander.

-M

Is it set in stone that “no,” at some point, has to become a toddler’s favorite word? I think it must be, and Zoe must have heard it was time to start adopting the word as her own. A typical exchange over the past several days:

“Hey Zoe, do you want to read a book?” “No.” “Do you want me to sing you a song?” “No.” “Do you want to draw?” “No.” “Do you want to look at your fishies?” “No.” “Do you want a snack?” “No.” “Can I have a kissie?” “No!!”

And at mealtime: “Do you want some yogurt?” “No.” “How about some applesauce?” “No.” “Pasta?” “No.” “An egg?” “No.” “Fishies?” “No.” (Now that’s the amazing one, considering her love for goldfish.) “How about some milk?” “N – yeh.”

Elena even commented yesterday that Zoe has been a bit more, er, negative than normal. I really hope it’s a phase (or a grumpy mood brought on by teething or her sniffles) because I miss my happy girl. And I’m very tired of hearing the word, well, you know.

-M

Time to post a few recent pictures that haven’t yet made it on the blog. They all make me smile, but I’m especially fond of the one in the backyard. (Such a serious face!)

-M

Q’s dad recently commented that it would be challenging to continue listing all the words Zoe can say – just because she talks so much these days. (He’s right: it’s difficult to keep up with her!) Still, I wanted to at least try to document a few of her most recent utterances, and a short list is below. (The previous list can be found here.) I think it’s safe to say she has about 100 words in her vocabulary right now; she’s definitely a chatter!

-M

airplane
apple
Ashlee
aqua (Spanish)
besito (Spanish)
blue
bus
button
chicken
choo-choo
Coco
cookie
Dan
Dash
elbow
elephant
eye
Gil
go
Grandma (sounds like “baba”)
Grandpa (sounds like “baba”)
hair
hand
hat
home
horsie
hot
I do!
Jenny
kiss
manzana (Spanish)
monkey
more
outside
pan (Spanish)
pocket
Polly
potty
purple
San Francisco
Sandy
Sarah
Safta (sounds like “Sasta”)
sock
spoon
tickle
twinkle (as part of Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star)
turkey
where (as in “Where’s Daddy?”)
yea
yeh
yuck

Update:
oh gosh
oh shoot

Q is away for the weekend, so it was girl-time for me and Zoe. (We’re both fighting little bugs, but that didn’t stop us from getting out-and-about.) We went to storytime at the West Portal bookstore, met friends (including little Nicolas) at the playground two days in a row, and even hung out on a fire-truck. (Amazingly, we didn’t even go shopping – except for a quick Target run yesterday.) Zoe has a lot to tell her dad when he gets home!

-M

Just a day after we posted the pictures below, Zoe grabbed her dad’s shoes (two different ones) and began clunking around. With her obvious fascination with shoes, I’m wondering if we have a little Imelda Marcos on our hands…

-M

I mentioned below that Zoe is well out of size-5 shoes. What I learned today is that she’s actually a fan of size-9.5 women’s shoes – especially if they happen to be peep-toe slingback wedges. Zoe walked around in these things all afternoon; check her out below.

-M

Zoe is a huge fan of the bath; if we even mention the word to her, she runs to her room, grabs a towel and diaper, and then makes a dash for the bathroom door. When it comes to towels, her white bunny one is her hands-down favorite – and I just had to share a few recent pictures.

-M

Last year, I wrote about a toy of Zoe’s that went missing for several months. (Just as I had given up hope, the little blue ring turned up.) Well, this past spring we lost something else: a pair of Zoe’s (beloved) pink-and-white butterfly shoes – which you can somewhat see in the March picture below. We took them on a trip to Pop Pop and Safta’s, and they disappeared on our last morning there. We did an extensive search of our room before giving up and deciding that Zoe (who had just developed a habit of taking things and hiding them) probably tossed them in the garbage can or diaper pail.

Fast forward to yesterday morning, when I get a call from Q’s mom. “Guess what I found!” she said – and, sure enough, Zoe’s shoes had popped up (or more accurately, fallen out) when she was going through her closet. (Zoe had hidden them in one of her purses on the floor.) Zoe is long past size-5 shoes, but we’ll definitely hold on to these – if only for a laugh.

-M

I’ve mentioned before that Zoe has never been a big cuddler (she used to emphatically say “no” when asked for a kiss – and, unless tired, she would squirm away from a hug) – but that’s all changed over the past few months. Zoe is now in a very affectionate phase: she’ll often give hugs to me and Q, and if you ask for a little kiss, or “besito,” she usually delivers. (She’s in pre-kiss mode with her dad below.) She’s also prone to sitting and cuddling with us; the past few afternoons, she even dozed off as we snuggled and watched the Olympics together. It goes without saying that we love this side of her!

-M

It’s been such a busy few weeks that we decided to take it easy (or easier than normal, anyway) this weekend. Our time was all about sticking close to home and hanging out with friends: on Sat., Zoe and I went to the local playground and played and shared some snacks with Zander, Miles and their moms. Yesterday, Zoe strolled over to Stern Grove with Q, Dan, Jenny, some out-of-town relatives (Adam, Ellen and Zavi) and their friends to listen to some music. And before doing that, Zoe hosted a little reading circle in her bedroom. She’s still talking about how much fun she had…

-M

The other morning, when I flicked on the television, Zoe pointed to the screen and excitedly said, “Daddy!” Baseball highlights were on, and I wasn’t sure why she was saying Q’s name until she pointed a second time to a player on the field. I realized then that she saw the guy’s baseball cap and assumed – because he so often wears hats – that it was her dad on TV. I couldn’t help but give her a big squeeze (and run to tell Q what had just happened).

-M

Five hours is a long time for a toddler to sit still on a plane, so we have to do a lot to keep Zoe entertained during our trips. (Long gone are my days of leisurely leafing through magazines and watching movies during flights. Sigh.) During our most recent trip, Zoe got to play several rounds of the in-your-ear game with her dad. As you’ll see from the video below, she’s played the game before. And you can also get a feel for her other favorite in-flight activity: eating!

-M

We’re back in California – after a long, fairly uneventful plane trip last evening. Zoe was, again, a real trouper during our travels, and she was in good spirits this morning. (She was pretty excited about seeing Elena and her daycare friends: she kept repeating their names – “Ash-lee,” “Da-ash” – as she got dressed.) Now that we’re home, we have to work on adjusting to the Pacific time zone and finding a home for all the new clothes and toys that (thanks to Safta) filled our suitcases.

We had a great time in Washington, and I’ve posted a few fun pics from our last few days there.

-M

As mentioned below, we’ve been keeping pretty busy since arriving in DC. Here is our first batch of pics.

-M

“Is that a plane I see?”

“I like this seat on the plane.”

“We made it!”

“Mmmm, corn…”

Pop Pop’s birthday card:

“Like my Nationals hat?”

“The baseball game was fun, but the subway is even cooler!”

Playing around with Uncle Gil:

“This lawyer thing is a piece of cake.”

“Choo-choo!”