Zoe has gotten to the age where she gets really excited about having friends over to play. When Zander and Miles (and others) came over for Thanksgiving, she ran around the house, practically panting with joy – and all we heard was “Zander and Miles” for days afterward. And a few days ago, she had a blast with her friend Jack; as you’ll see below, they did some playing, exploring and (probably the cutest activity) hugging.

-M

So, I bought Zoe a dress in size 4T yesterday… and it fit. Oh, boy.

-M

In an effort to work off our Thanksgiving dinner (and to take advantage of the warm weather), the three of us headed to the zoo on Sat. Zoe did a lot of running around, playing and exploring; here are some of our favorite pics.

-M

Our house was pretty lively on Thurs., when 10 adults and 6 kids (all under the age of 7) came together to celebrate Thanksgiving. The kids were incredibly well behaved (it helped that we fed them early and then put on a movie), and Zoe had a blast running around the house with her little friends. The evening was a bit chaotic, but in a good way, and we can’t wait to do it again next year.

-M

The kiddie table:

The rest of the gang:

Enjoying a movie:

Zoe’s turkey:

Two Thanksgivings ago, Q and I didn’t get any turkey – but we did get a baby (see below)! This year that “baby” will be celebrating the holiday with her little family and 13 of our close friends. And she’ll be thinking of the rest of her far-away loved ones…

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!

-M

Right on cue, as if she really understood what being two was all about, Zoe started having some pretty major tantrums this week. The other night, she cried and stomped her feet and fretted for quite some time over a video she wanted to watch. Yesterday morning, she threw her breakfast on the floor (not all that unusal), refused to help clean up (fairly unusual) and then cried/screamed for a good 20 minutes (quite unusual). And last night, she drew on the wall and, after I had scolded her, proceed to draw on one of our chairs.

Q was home to witness (manage) the morning incident, and when it happened the two of us just looked at each other and shook our heads/smiled. We’ve got a two-year-old now; I guess we have to learn to cope!

-M

No kid-birthday is complete without a video documenting the event. Our short video of Zoe’s celebration is below; check her out as she joins in on the Happy Birthday song.

-M

Zoe’s birthday party, as you know, was last weekend – but we couldn’t let the actual day go by without some celebration. Zoe opened cards and presents in the morning, then spent part of the afternoon playing with her new toys (thank you, everybody!) and enjoying a little birthday cake. She had so much fun that she actually refused to take a nap at the normal time; we finally scooped her out of bed and just let her play. (As her dad kept saying, it was her birthday after all!) I think it’s safe to say she had a fun day.

-M

As difficult as it is for me to believe, Zoe is two years told today. Two! It’s quite a milestone – and an even bigger one than turning one, when she still seemed like a baby. Now she’s a little girl.

At this stage, she isn’t so much doing new things as she is doing more of things: more running, jumping, climbing, singing, conversing, understanding. She is Ms. Chatterbox these days – constantly talking and using fuller (three or more words) sentences. She likes to point out the location of things, and if you ask her where something is (e.g. a dog in a book), she’ll point to it and say, “right there!” in an excited voice. She also likes to point out when something is hers – for example, “Zoe’s milk.” She spends a lot of time singing; as previously mentioned, Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star and the Alphabet Song are favorites – and she also now does Baa Baa Black Sheep and Happy Birthday. She still loves animals and making animal sounds, and she’s gotten most of them down. (She does occasionally mix up cows and pigs, though.) One day I said to her, “Doggies say quack quack, right?” and she shook her head and laughed. “No,” she corrected me. “Ruf, ruf.”

Zoe’s level of understanding is getting increasingly sophisticated, and she continues doing little tasks for us. Sometimes she even does things without being asked: one day, when she discovered her diaper bin was empty, she went to the closet, where we keep the extras, and brought out the package to me. Needless to say, I was impressed!

She has been very attached to her stroller lately, often coming up to us and asking to go on walks. She loves to color and also likes having us draw things for her; butterflies, elephants and dogs are her current faves. She likes talking with people on the phone and Skype (she’s had some very long conversations lately with Uncle Dan and our friend Karen) and looking at pictures of relatives and friends. She still loves watching her Go Baby video, and often comes up to us with the remote so we’ll turn it on. When I do, she always says, “Thank you, Mommy” in a very sweet way.

Zoe still has her little temper flare-ups, and she occasionally chooses not to listen to our directives. I recently started counting (as in, “Zoe, I’m going to count to three [and you better have done what I asked by the time I get to three]”) and she has had a very amusing reaction to this. “No one,” she says when I start counting. “No two.” (But by the time I get to three she more often than not does what she’s supposed to.) She is also getting more independent, often wanting things done her own way. The other day, for example, I was holding her container of yogurt so it wouldn’t spill as she ate, and she moved my hand. “No hold that,” she said. “Zoe hold that.” And other example: I went to grab a towel before her bath one night, and Zoe pointed to another towel and said, “I want this one.” (Guess which one we wound up using?)

It’s common for us to wake up in the morning – usually at 6:30 on the nose – to soft music playing (from a toy in her crib) or some form of amusing chattering. Sometimes we’ll hear, “I want milk!” or “Daddy/Mommy, where are you?” and occasionally an “ow!” The other morning, she greeted her dad by saying, “My hair hurts.” Once Q kissed her head, though, all was fine.

Zoe continues to be very affectionate, often coming up and hugging us or touching our face in a loving way. A few weeks ago, I was crying in front of her, and she ran up to me and said, “No cry, Mommy” and then gave me a kiss. It’s the sweetest thing she’s ever done, I think.

On a closing note, I’ve decided that this is going to be our last monthly update. I’ll still post periodic updates – perhaps every three months – but now that Zoe is well past the major milestones (walking, talking, etc.) it seems less important to have such frequent posts. It’s been a great joy recording her monthly developments, though, and I’ll always be glad to have them.

-M

Two years ago this morning, Q and I were watching football and counting contractions. After a few hours of that we headed to the hospital – and the rest, as they say, is history. I’ll post a Zoe update later today, but I wanted to quickly reminisce about Nov. 23, one of my favorite days of the year.

-M