I recently taught the girls the lyrics to Big Poppa (“Love it when you call me Big Poppa,” they now run around the house and sing), and I played Temptations and another favorite 2Pac song of mine (the clean versions, of course) on our way to school the other morning. As we drove along, Avery threw her hands up in the air and wiggled in her carseat, and Zoe seemed interested as I started to explain about the late artist and his influence on the hip-hop world. And just I was feeling so happy and proud to be raising two budding hip-hop fans, Avery piped up. “Itsy Bitsy Spider now, Mommy,” she said, bringing me down to earth (and prompting me to turn on her beloved Baby Mozart CD).

Okay, so I guess we’ve got a ways to go before they can be considered rap devotees!

-M

Since Q recently took some close-ups of a tired Zoe, I couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures of Avery at naptime yesterday. She just looked so peaceful…

-M

Zoe and I had a “girls morning” together on Friday, and the first thing on our itinerary was a trip to the California Academy of Sciences. I couldn’t help but notice how much Zoe has grown since the last time I took her photo in the aquarium’s walk-through tunnel, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when a worker at the kids’ play area skeptically eyed Zoe and “reminded” me that the room is for those five and under. Yes, I assured the woman, Zoe makes the cut. (She’s just tall!)

-M

With a 2.5-year-old, it’s the little things that remind you of how special they are and make your heart feel like melting. Like yesterday morning, when Avery ran off after hearing Q and I talk about wearing a suit to work – and then reappeared carrying a little green swimming suit that she had plucked from her drawer. (“Suit!” she cried out, holding it up happily.) Or last night at bedtime when she asked if she could have more ice-cream after her “nap.” Or a few nights prior when I went to tuck her in (again), and her quiet voice called from the dark, “‘Happy you’re here, Mama.”

I know this phase doesn’t last long, so I’ve got to soak it all in while I can.

-M

Q has been playing around with his new camera (and lens) quite a bit, and I’m quite fond of two recent photos he took of Zoe at bedtime. This tired/serious look is one we see a lot – and I’m sure it will make me smile years from now.

-M

“Move a little faster, Honeypots,” I said in irritation to the car ahead of me on the way to school this morning. “That’s a better thing to say than a bad word, Mommy,” Zoe (who has heard me say much worse) piped up from the back seat. “Now you just need to keep saying nice words.”

Gotta love it when your five-year-old puts you in your place!

-M

Just gotta share this link: I blogged about Zoe’s beloved Hippo on my other blog today. It’s always fun when my personal and professional lives intersect, and I can’t wait to show Zoe the picture tonight.

-M

I had just been saying to Q that we don’t take full enough advantage of the amazing places to see/do in the city (we visit a lot of places, yes – but not always in San Francisco) when we stumbled upon the Randall Museum and adjacent Corona Heights Park. Inside the museum, the girls pet small animals, visited a huge model train exhibit, and built earthquake-safe buildings out of Legos; then we all hiked up a hill and felt like tourists as we admired and took photos of the sweeping city views. It was a wonderful way to spend a sunny morning!

-M

Because Zoe looks – and often acts – older than she is, it’s especially jarring (and sweet) when she mixes up words or says age-appropriate things. And so, these recent comments really made me smile.

-I told Zoe on the way to school yesterday that I was staying home that morning to get some things done. “Oh, so you can do a loaf of laundry or two,” she told me.

-Whenever I tell Zoe how pretty she is, I explain that I mean both outside and in. After I said it the other day, she laughed and told me I was silly. “You can’t see the stuff inside – my bones, my heart, my luggage,” she said, referring to her lungs.

-Some of Zoe’s favorite things to play with are objects around the house. Looking for one such thing the other day, she asked, “Mommy, where’s the case for your eye-tacts?”

-Avery bit her sister in anger earlier today. While I was comforting Zoe, she heard Q discipline Avery in the other room. “If she does it again, she’s going to lose play-bridges,” Zoe said, meaning privileges.

-My birthday present to Q this year was a close-up lens for his camera; when Zoe saw it for the first time she said, “Oh, it’s a new nose for the camera!”

-M

It was Uncle Dan’s birthday yesterday, and the girls took a break from playing in the closet to leave him a voice-mail greeting…

-M

As I mentioned in our most recent update, if you tease Avery by calling her a different name, she’ll usually respond with, “No! I Avery.” For posterity I wanted to capture her saying it on video; it took a few times, but I finally got it the other day.

-M

We’re getting ready to re-start Zoe in kung-fu, and at work yesterday I called the martial arts school to discuss which class she should be in. Just as I was inquiring (loudly, I guess) about the the differences between the Pandas and the Tigers, an IM popped up my screen. “Congratulations. You are officially having today’s cutest conversation,” one of my colleagues (a guy!) wrote. “Go for the panda!!”

-M