Seeing Zoe for the first time was quite simply the most amazing moment in my life. (“All in all, the experience has been like nothing I could have imagined – and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” I wrote less than 24 hours after having her.) I’ll never forget Zoe’s squishy little face and crooked nose; I instantly fell in love.
So now, five years later, what is our “baby” like? Independent, energetic, imaginative and caring – and fun to be around. Like other kids her age, Zoe has a real love for life, and she’s always up for a new adventure or a good time. And though she has her less-tnan-pleasant moments, she never stays down for long.
In terms of her likes, drawing is one of her favorite things. She could (and sometimes does) spend hours sitting at Avery’s table drawing and making little booklets, and she brings home from school countless pieces of paper filled with brightly colored objects like rainbows, unicorns, butterflies and flowers. She’s also a big fan of playing pretend. She often plays “school,” taking on the role of teacher and assigning someone else in the family the role of student; she’ll read long stories, put students down for their nap, feed them lunch and then greet the parents at pick-up. She also likes putting on dance shows, singing made-up songs, and playing restaurant – jotting down our orders on a little notebook and making food in the kitchen.
She’s very interested in books – rotating through favorites from week to week (or sometimes day to day). These days she prefers what she calls “chapter books,†and she often sits and “reads†from them to Avery or one of her pretend students. She’s able to – really – read numerous words, but her strength seems to be in writing. She loves writing out sentences, with spelling assistance from others; the other day, she asked me how to spell and then wrote out – somewhat randomly – “We all live in a pink submarine.â€
One of her favorite books continues to be the yearbook from her first year of preschool. She likes to flip through the pages and go through all the teachers and students – she knows most of the names by heart by now – and, like with other objects of affection, she often sleeps with it under her pillow.
As mentioned before, Zoe loves numbers and math. She likes playing simple addition and subtraction games – answering what 8 and 4 equals, for example – and she recently started doing division, too. (I like using real-life objects with her – taking six little candy bars and telling her to divide them in three groups, for example.) While some kids excel at reading and absorbing words, Zoe just seems to get math – and she often solves problems without even being asked. Case in point: We were playing a card game in which we all needed 10 cards and I commented she already had eight. “Oh, so I need two more,†she said, impressing me.
Zoe has her grumpy moments and can be sassy, but she’s generally a pretty good kid. She’s a good listener, and her teachers and Q and I have all noticed that she really seems to care about other people’s feelings (a trait, I guess, that isn’t universal at this age). When a tadpole at school died, she was most sad for the friend he left behind, as example – and whenever I’m sad she’ll say something to cheer me up. (Just the other day, when I was feeling blue over her turning five, she hugged me and said it was going to be okay. “You should think about things that make you happy, like donuts,†she said – making me laugh.) She’ll also frequently do sweet, thoughtful things , like fetching me a blanket when she sees that I am cold and getting me a Band-aid when I cut myself.
She strikes me as pretty responsible for a five-year-old, and she has what I think of as a “little Mommy†side. If a bad word accidentally slips out of my mouth or Q’s, she’s the first to say in a stern voice, “You’re not supposed to say that word.†She’ll sometimes remind me to not get upset by traffic or other drivers when we’re in the car (“You shouldn’t honk, Mommyâ€) and there have been times when she calls me out on (unintentionally) snapping at her or her sister. “That’s not very nice,†she’ll say – showing her sensitive side.
She gets competitive with and gets irritated by her sister but is generally very good to Avery. She still lets us know if Avery needs something (“Mommy – Avery’s crying!â€), and we’ve been told that she looks out for Avery at school. (Apparently she cares and looks out for other children at school, also; she calls two of her favorites her “little cuties.”) She also sometimes pretends to be Avery’s mom; I found myself getting confused the other day when Avery kept saying my name – but she was really asking for Zoe. (“We’re playing a game,†Zoe explained to me.)
Aside from her sister and her best friend at school, Mira, her closest buddy remains Hippo (her beloved “stuffie”). She sleeps with him, plays with him and often takes him on trips (both pretend and real ones). Whenever I fret that Zoe, my Miss Responsible, is growing up too fast, I just look at her hugging Hippo and feel better. She is still very much a little girl…
-M
