It was another fun weekend for Zoe, who had plenty of family bonding time. On the agenda: playing in her tent, fooling around with Daddy, cuddling, posing for pictures (of course!) and even waking up Mommy from a Sun. afternoon nap (a rare treat for me). Zoe is going to be very sad when Grandma and Grandpa leave tomorrow!

-M

San Francisco isn’t your typical warm beach town, so I often forget that we live right on the ocean. I was reminded of this yesterday, though, when a quick drive landed us at Ocean Beach. Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Larry had never been there, and the five us of spent some time looking at the (gorgeous) waves and taking some pics. It was a little cool and a little windy, but it was worth the trip.

-M

Yesterday morning, Zoe walked in her room and saw a man and woman standing there. She gave them a puzzled look (“why are these people in my room?” she was probably wondering), until it dawned on her: it was Grandma and Grandpa! Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Larry arrived in town late Wed. night, when Zoe was sleeping, and they had to wait until the morning to greet their “little angel.” They had a lot of fun hanging out yesterday, and below are some pics from a snuggling and tickling session with Grandma. We’ll post other pics soon.

-M

Zoe wasn’t feeling well and wound up at the doctor’s the other day. (Poor thing had an ear and eye infection – though she’s much better now.) The best thing about the doctor’s office, of course, is the scale – and I was excited to learn that Zoe is up to 27.5 pounds. She’s in the 95 percentile for weight now, and my wish for a chunky baby seems to have been granted!

-M

You know those people on the plane – the ones with crying/screaming kids, and the ones you either, depending on your mood and your thoughts on babies, really feel sorry for or really hate? Well, we were those people last Friday. I didn’t mention it in my previous posts on Chicago, but the first part of our return trip was pretty rough. Zoe, who historically has had no problems on plane rides, spent a solid 45 minutes crying – and there was nothing we could do to stop her. Because our plane was on the runway being de-iced, we weren’t allowed to get up from our seats, and all we could do was sit there and try to calm her down with singing, talking and light rocking. Nothing worked – not even multiple offers of snacks – and I thought I was going to explode from stress when Zoe finally passed out in my arms. I’ve never been so happy to hear… nothing.

Q, of course, was a cool cucumber throughout the ordeal – and I was anything but. (Talk about ying and yang.) I’ve never felt so helpless and hopeless as a parent, and 45 minutes of crying pretty much felt like 45 hours to me. I told Q more than once on the plane, “I’m never flying again.”

Now that it’s been a few days, I have some perspective. As Q would point out, so Zoe cried for awhile – big deal! The crying-child-on-a-plane thing happens to most every parent, and it will probably happen to us again. (And yes, I DO plan on flying again.) But still… I’m glad to be on the ground. And I will never shoot a dirty look to the parent of a screaming child again.

-M

Zoe loves running around – at the playground, the mall, etc. – and it recently occurred to me that our own backyard (as small as it may be) would be a good place for her to hang out. On Sunday, we all took advantage of the warm weather (San Francisco obviously got the memo that it’s spring) and headed out back. Zoe did indeed run around – and also did some posing. We, of course, couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures.

-M

We are now up to 17,000 hits, and Zoe is only 487 days old. That is just about 35 hits a day and well over 1,000 hits per month! Who are all these people? Let’s just say that Zoe likes the attention!

Jon Q

So, Zoe had a treat this weekend and she got to go to Toys R Us with Uncle Dan and Go (not Ga) Jenny…

First, let’s have a seat and check out the sales:

Then, let’s drive around and look for my favorite toys:

Finally, I MUST have this:

Guess what they bought her? Let’s just say she is very stylin with her pink phone and case. Thanks guys!

Jon Q

I sound like a broken record, I know, but Zoe is at a super fun age. She’s always running around and smiling, playing make-believe games, imitating us, and saying and waving “hi” to people around her. (She’s particularly fond of little kids in strollers, but no one is really excluded from her greetings.) She talks all the time, and it’s common for her to spit out long sentences in “toddlerlese” and then nod her head up and down, as if to say, “I’m right,” or “I told you so.” (We always respond to her, and it really feels like we’re engaged in actual conversation.) She also says a lot of real words; in the past month alone, she’s said for the first time the words blue, book, ball, cheese, nose, night-night, please and Pop Pop.

Zoe seems to learn new things, and new ways to communicate, every day. She recently grabbed a diaper and plunked herself on the floor to let us know it was time to be changed. (And now she routinely gets a diaper or wipes when we ask her, “Should we change your diaper?”) As another example, she now knows how to identify several body parts – nose, mouth, eyes, hair and her favorite, the bellybutton – and happily points to whichever one we say.

As for playtime, some of Zoe’s favorite things are dancing (she usually sways or bounces up and down while squatting), clapping her hands, and pretending she’s feeding Q or me from one of her little dishes. Her stuffed dog and cell phones (play or real) are still her favorite play-things, and she’s grown increasingly fond of her set of seven stacking dishes. She’ll sit for long stretches of time and put – on her own – one dish into another.

At any given moment, Zoe would prefer to run around and play than to cuddle and give “kissies” – but she does have her affectionate side. She often comes up to us and hugs our legs, as toddlers like to do. And recently she started wrapping her arms around her dad’s neck (giving him a neck hug) when he’s holding her. (Needless to say, this practically makes us melt.)

In terms of physical things, Zoe’s hair is getting curlier, her eyes remain a blue-ish grey, and she has a total of eight teeth. (Two bottom ones recently popped through.) She looks more like a little girl each day.

-M

Like most kids her age, Zoe is a big fan of the mirror. The other morning, as I got ready, Zoe spent a good chunk of time staring at, talking to, flirting with, and kissing the image in the hotel mirror. I couldn’t help but snap a few pics. (I only wish I had taken video!)

-M

So, our trip to Chicago was short but fun. We lucked out on the weather on two of our days there (mid-40s on Wed. and Thurs). and on getting back home when the weather turned sour yesterday. (More than 250 flights out of O’Hare were cancelled because of snow; our plane only left an hour late.) We also had some good food and a fun time strolling around the city.

As mentioned below, Zoe had never been to Chicago (outside of O’Hare) – but she had several other firsts, as well. She rode in a taxi for the first time, met our good friend Dan for the first time, and bundled up in her warm, marshmellow-like coat for the first (and – thanks to her growing stomach – probably last) time. She didn’t have time to eat deep-dish pizza or visit the Art Institute or Navy Pier (nor did she get to drive up to Madison to visit family), but we’ll save that for next time!

-M

“Are my thumbs in here?”

Meeting new friends

Partying on the hotel bed

Striking a pose with Daddy

Pouting, instead of posing

“I like this chair!”

When Zoe and I learned that Q had some business in Chicago, we jumped at the chance to join him and make a little family get-away out of it. This was Zoe’s first trip to the Windy City, and she packed in a lot (read: shopped a lot) during her few days there. We have lots of pictures to post; for now, here’s one of her watching over a cold and wet Michigan Ave. this morning.

-M

Almost everyone loves spring, and Zoe is no exception. In honor of the first day of the season, I thought I’d post a picture of Zoe sporting some new shades. She’s clearly very ready for some sunny, spring-y days!

-M

PS- The three of us are in very NONspring-like Chicago right now. We’ll post some pics soon.

We spent a good portion of Saturday visiting local nurseries (we’re hunting for some trees and flowers for our backyard), and I happened to trip over a stick and stumble forward while carrying Zoe through one of them. I quickly caught myself and kept walking, and I would have thought nothing of it had Zoe not had such a strong reaction. I must have made a funny face when I lurched forward, because she started giggling… and wouldn’t stop. She seemed to think it was the funniest thing in the world – and I, of course, had to do several reenactments, which only made me her laugh harder.

Later that day, I couldn’t help but reflect upon Zoe’s reaction to my stumble. Instead of getting scared or flustered (which she easily could have – since she was in my arms), she found the humor in the situation and just laughed. She really wasn’t fazed or upset at all, and it occured to me how much happier we would all be if we reacted to life’s little (or big!) stumbles in the same way. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I felt like Zoe gave me a little life-lesson (the first of many, probably) – and I’m hoping I can remember her giggles the next time I encounter one of life’s unpleasantries.

-M

This time of year is always fun in San Francisco with the nice weather rolling in and, of course, Purim time. (For those of you who don’t know, Purim is a Jewish holiday where we dress up, eat, and celebrate the story of Queen Esther.) Today we headed to Zoe’s first Purim carnival, and she went dressed up as a fairy princess. Check her out down below.

Jon Q

Getting ready to go:

Dressing up is fun:

Nothing like a moon bounce:

Carnival games are easy: