Last month I mentioned that Zoe was about to begin Animal Adventures classes at the zoo. Her first was yesterday (the theme was porcupine and the letter P), and this time around I went with her. Check her out as she crawls like a pig, moves around like a pufferfish, and shows off the baby porcupine she made.
-M
Today is Tu B’Shvat, and Zoe’s school celebrated yesterday with a “birthday for the trees.” They talked about what trees give us (air, wood, shade, etc.), munched on snacks that come from trees (oranges, dates, olives, etc.) and sang “Happy Birthday” and other holiday songs. I helped set up for the festivities and was able to join the kids – so of course I had to take a few pictures. (In the first photo, Zoe’s sitting right next to Director Jan, the woman in black.)
-M
Late last month, in between illnesses, we scheduled a little photo shoot with Zoe and Avery. Decked out in coordinating dresses and (later) matching sweaters, the girls tried their best to look at the camera and strike a pose. They weren’t always successful (we were reminded yet again of how challenging it can be to get a good picture of more than one child), but we got a few nice shots – and it occurred to me that I should post them here!
-M
As promised, here’s another video from Avery’s first night of crawling. Interestingly, this milestone occured when she was 7 months, 1 week; Zoe crawled for the first time at 8 months, 1 week.
-M
…Avery is crawling! When we got home from Elena’s yesterday afternoon, I plunked her down on the floor in her room and watched in awe as she made her way to one of her toys. We were expecting this, of course, but she wasn’t crawling as recently as that morning. It’s amazing to me how babies just suddenly do something – and then there’s no turning back! (And I should mention that it’s a bit of a milestone week for Avery, because she has two new teeth now, also!)
I have another video to post later; for now, here’s 21 seconds of Avery moving about.
-M
Avery’s a big fan of “tummy time” (if you put her on her back, she’ll likely flip over within seconds), and we have tons of pictures of her in her signature pose. The pictures below are among my favorites – and, as an added bonus, they also show that her hair is growing! The first picture was taken in early Jan., and the other three, where she has a few more locks, are from the last week or so.
-M
It was five weeks ago this weekend that things started going downhill, health-wise, for us: Avery got sick first, followed by Zoe, me and Zoe again. I’ve talked about it before, but having a sick kid, or being sick yourself, really throws things off – and this last month-plus was pretty rough. Towards the end of the bad stretch, I admit to feeling pretty depressed – like I was never going to feel better and things would never get back to normal. Slowly but surely, though, things have returned to the pre-sick state – and now that we’re all healthy and back to work and school, we’re back to our daily routine. I’m not the biggest fan of the sense of sameness that occasionally accompanies our life-with-kids routine, but I’ll take it over illness-induced upheaval any day! Now, if only we can get the rain to stop…
-M
Today the four of us headed to AT&T Park in celebration of our friend Jack’s third birthday; there we took a tour of the park and got the chance to visit the dugout, clubhouse and playing field. Zoe had a blast (thanks, Jack!), and little Avery got to sport the same Giants outfit that Zoe wore during her first trip to the ballpark back in summer 2007. I’m sure the girls have many more trips to AT&T in their future!
-M
Ever since Zoe’s early days, she’s had lots of boy friends. One of her best friends in school is, in fact, a little boy – and they’ve been especially close lately. When I picked up Zoe this afternoon, Leo ran across the playground and cried out, “I want to give Zoe Browdy a hug!” He held out his arms, and Zoe ran back to give him a squeeze. It was pretty sweet, and even their teacher said she wished she had her camera.
-M
I mentioned the other day that Avery is in pre-crawl mode – constantly rocking back and forth on all fours. Since she’s likely to take off and crawl for real any day now, I thought I’d better capture her rocking while I have the chance. So, here she is.
-M
It’s just a phase, I keep reminding myself, but Zoe has been super tantrum-y lately. She’s prone to throwing fits over the smallest of things, and putting her to bed lately has involved a lot of crying and yelling (on her part, not ours). This morning, on the way to school, I thought I’d talk with her about things; here is our exchange:
M: “Zoe, why have you been crying so much lately? You’re too big to cry and scream like that.”
Z: “Oh, because I just turned three?”
M: “Yes, you’re three now. You’re a big girl.”
Z: “Oh. Well, I can cry on the airplane.”
M: “No, Zoe, you definitely can’t cry on an airplane.”
Z: “Can I cry in the airport?”
M: “No, Zoe, you can’t cry there either.”
Z, after a brief silence. “Okay…”
Traveling is obviously on Zoe’s mind; I just hope by the time our next trip comes around, she’ll have moved on to another, non-crying phase!
-M
Avery is seven months today, and I forgot how much I like this age. She’s still as cuddly and sweet as a newborn, but she’s not nearly as needy. A cute baby with less work – what could be better?
The big news with Avery this month is her mobility. She’s not officially crawling, but she’s constantly on all fours, rocking or inching her way forward or backward. She can easily scoot herself across the room, and the other day she made her way to her toys and grabbed one off the pile for the first time.
Speaking of toys, Avery is more interested in objects more than ever – and 99% of the things she picks up wind up in her mouth. She’s a really good grabber (better than Zoe was at this age), and also very strong – she’s been known to pick up a toy and fling it right across the room.
Avery doesn’t talk as much as we remember Zoe talking, but she does bust out with her consonants when she’s in a good mood. As mentioned last month, she can say her b’s and d’s, and this past week she started saying her m’s. (“Mama” can’t be far behind, can it?) In terms of personality, she’s overall a mellow, happy baby, and certain things – like her dad kissing her under the chin and me saying “Ah-choo!” – almost always guarantee a laugh. She loves hugging, as mentioned above, and she also likes touching faces, grabbing hair and pulling people close to her face for a kiss.
Avery isn’t yet the consistent sleeper that her sister was as a baby (some days she’ll nap for hours; others hardly at all), but she has gotten really easy to put down. She’ll usually go to sleep on her own once placed in the crib – she doesn’t even need a song or book – which is really nice, especially on those nights when Zoe needs more of our attention. She rarely gets up in the middle of the night to eat (hooray!) – instead she wakes up anywhere between 4:45 and 6:15 AM. When I was sick, she even stretched a few of her nights to 7 AM – needless to say, we were quite grateful!
As for looks, she still doesn’t have much hair (“My little baldie,” I like to call her), her eyes are still a nice grey-blue (like Zoe’s were at this age) and, as recently mentioned, her two bottom teeth are about to pop out. Since we included a picture of Zoe with her ring-set at her seven-month update, I thought we’d do the same here.
-M
Safta and PopPop came through San Francisco for a quick visit yesterday, and Zoe spent a good amount of time reading stories to them. The video below is on the long side, but it’s pretty entertaining. And if you have a chance, compare Zoe’s storytelling skills to those from one year ago. It’s amazing how much she’s changed!
-M
When Zoe was about Avery’s age, she was a big fan of the Johnny Jumper. We finally dug the toy out from the garage, and Avery has been jumping up a storm for the past few weeks. Here are some pics.
