We arrived in Washington on Fri. night, and we’re all having a good time. Zoe has been having fun hanging out with Pop Pop and “Sasta,” and she’s been doing lots of eating and sleeping. (I’m not sure what time zone Zoe thinks she’s in, but since she’s been napping and sleeping so well at night, I don’t really care!) We head back in a couple of days, and I can’t wait to share our photos.

-M

Zoe learned to say “airplane” last weekend, and it was certainly good timing: we’re hopping on another one today. This time, we’re heading to Washington, DC, where we’ll visit Safta, PopPop and other relatives and friends. I have a feeling Zoe will be kept very, very busy, and we’ll post an update and some photos soon. (For now, here’s another pic from our trip last weekend. I’m sure the shades will make a reappearance in toasty Washington.)

-M

This fall, several kids at Zoe’s daycare are heading off to preschool – which means Zoe will soon be one of the “big kids.” It’s pretty hard for me to believe: not that long ago Zoe was just a big, soft lump that I carefully handed off to Elena, and now she’s an energetic, bubbly toddler running around everywhere. (And she’s been replaced in Elena’s arms with other, much smaller, lumps.) While I’m sure Zoe will relish her role as one of the older, wiser kids (she’s already shown a fondness for 1-year-old Brianna, whom she calls “Yaya,”), I think she’ll also miss her older friends. Luckily she has a few more weeks with them…

-M

Q commented recently that he’s heard Zoe say “aqua” (or something pretty close to it) on several occasions. Sure enough, yesterday afternoon Elena confirmed that Zoe has started to say several Spanish words, including aqua, manzana (apple) and pan (bread). (And we already knew she could say nina and nino for little girl and little boy.) I love that she’s picking up some of Elena’s native language, and I think it would be fabulous if she wound up being bilingual or trilingual. Perhaps it’s time to purchase some libros en Espanol!

-M

So, my birthday trip to Phoenix was a blast. We spent the majority of our time (as was the plan) splashing in the pool and cooling off in the cabana – and we also managed to do a bit of shopping (Arizona Mills is one of my favorite places) and a lot of eating (love the Mexican there!). Zoe enjoyed herself, too, and she was the subject of about a hundred pictures. Here are some of our favorites:

-M

“I’m so excited about the pool, I can’t stand it!”

“Swimming with Daddy is fun”

Snacking in the cabana:

“I’m done napping – let’s swim some more!”

Ready for Day 2:

“Can we get in the water now, or what?”

“This floating thing is a breeze”

Nothing like Dippin Dots in 100-degree weather:

A good-morning grin on our last day:

What three days in the sun does to a person:

We are back from our trip to Phoenix and had a great time. Zoe is getting to be really good at swimming on her own. She still needs an inner-tube, but doesn’t need Mommy or Daddy to lug her around anymore. Also, if you listen closely to the video you can hear her singing her ABCs!

More pictures to follow…

Jon Q

Q and I are pretty big on traditions, and for several years our 4th of July one was to visit Phoenix. (We love it there: it’s hot and sunny, and we can lounge around the pool or spa.) Last year, we moved the trip to around my birthday – and we’re continuing that tradition by heading out later today. Zoe had tons of fun in the lazy river last summer (see below), and I can’t wait to get her out there again!

-M

My mom just sent a picture from my first birthday (thirtysomething years ago), and I thought it would be fun to post. I don’t think Zoe looks terribly much like me… but it’s still fun to compare!

-M

Me turning one:

Zoe turning one:

A little birdie told Elena yesterday that it was Mommy’s birthday today and Elena helped Zoe make Mommy a card. Needless to say Michelle was quite surprised to receive her “hand”-made card when she picked up Zoe yesterday. It was, of course, an early start to Michelle’s birthday weekend celebration. Check out Zoe’s art work below…

Jon Q

A friend recently told me that the 18-22 month stage was her favorite part (so far) of her children’s lives. I can see what she’s talking about, as Zoe is a blast to be around these days!

Zoe is as active as ever – always running around the house (often making me chase her when it’s time to eat or get dressed), and climbing and bouncing around. She still loves to dance and sing, and these days it’s common for us to wake up to her crib-rendition of the ABCs. She has a mischievous side and, like other kids her age, she definitely knows when she’s doing something she shouldn’t be doing. (She usually gives us a little look before running away and laughing.)

She talks a lot, and her vocabulary continues to grow. The word she says most often (after Mommy and Daddy) is probably “please,” which she uses for pretty much everything. (We taught her to say that instead of saying “mine” or grunting, and it has worked well so far.) Most of the words she uses are pronounced correctly, with a few (cute) exceptions: the aforementioned please is “pleesh,” butterfly is “fwutterfly,” fish is “sishie,” yellow is “yew-woah” and elbow is “elboo.” She has also a few special names for objects: a blanket is “night-night,” and, rather strangely, a shoe sounds sort of like “frees.” (For the longest time we couldn’t figure out what she meant when she said this.) She has also started using multiple-word phrases, such as “thank you, Daddy” and “here you go, Mommy.” And just a few days ago, when Zoe heard the garage door open, she looked up at me and said “Daddy home.”

One of our favorite (relatively) new words is “yeh.” For the past month or so, Zoe has been able to give us yes or no answers, which makes caring for her (usually) a lot easier. She has strong opinions on things, and her “yeh” helps determine what we’ll feed her, what books we’ll read to her, etc. Along the same lines, she doesn’t say “no” (something I complained about as recently as last month) nearly as much.

In terms of milestones, Zoe recently identified herself for the first time. (During a round of “where’s Mommy?/where’s Daddy?/where’s Zoe?” she pointed to herself – and she now seems to understand that she is, indeed, Zoe.) And for several weeks now, she’s been able to identify (by pointing to) several dozen objects in books. Some are fairly common things that she’s recognized for awhile (e.g. baby, dog, shoes), but she has surprised us by being able to point out more unusual things (e.g. zebra, blueberry, pumpkin). I think things sink in faster with kids than we realize!

Other fun stuff: When asked if it’s time for a diaper change, she’ll often get a diaper from her little bin, plunk herself down on the floor and look up with a proud smile. It’s clear she wants us to be impressed with her willingness to help. And, on a similar note, for days after our 600-day “photo shoot” with Lou Seal, she would grab Lou and lie on the floor every time we took out the camera. She obviously thought this was what we wanted her to do – which was quite cute!

And speaking of cute, I’ve said here many times before that Zoe hasn’t always been the most affectionate girl. That seems to have changed lately, as she often comes up to me or Q with a hug and a kiss (and without even being asked). She’s especially fond of kissing – which she does by making “fishie” lips and then smacking her lips together afterwards. I’m not sure if this is just a phase – and she’ll eventually return to her old ways – but I’ll take what I can get!

-M