When Zoe turned one, I considered scaling back on these updates. I thought an every-other-month format might make sense, as there would probably be fewer month-to-month changes in Zoe. I’m glad I pushed away these thoughts, though, because I would have missed out on recording some very fun stuff! The truth is that we still see incredible changes in Zoe from month to month, and she feels like a different girl each time I write one of these.

With that said, there is plenty to report from this past month. Zoe said lots of new words, including “shhh” (complete with the finger gesture), “peek-a-boo,” and most recently, “fish” and “chicken; made for the first time the sign for bird (something Q has been working with her on for awhile), started lying on the floor and/or grabbing her little pillow after hearing the words “night night” from us, and followed other simple commands. (My favorite is when we ask her to put dirty laundry in her hamper – and she does it!) She has also become a huge talker – she’s almost always jabbering away about something – and she recently took up singing. She’s especially fond of the ABC song – though she tends to just sing the letter “b” over and over again.

Another big change is her dropping of the morning nap. Zoe hadn’t taken an early nap at daycare for months, but she still held on to one at home – until recently. Except when she’s sick or traveling and off-schedule, she now sleeps around 1.5 hours in the afternoon. She is just fine with this new schedule; but *I’m* still missing that morning nap!

Zoe has a love for typical toddler-activities: running around and jumping, reaching for and exploring anything she can get her hands on, and throwing the occasional tantrum. She likes doing quieter things, too – like read (while pointing out every dog and baby in the book, of course), bird-watch, play with her cherished pair of REI wool socks (I’ve never seen someone get so excited by socks!), brush her teeth, and try on one of her many purses. (One of her favorite things to do is swing a purse over her arm and then wave “bye-bye” to us – probably because she’s seen me do that so many times.)

I’ve always known Zoe was head-strong, but we’ve seen even more flashes of independence recently. It’s not uncommon for her, at times, to resist sleeping, eating and being changed – and to let us know that she’s not happy with us. The other day, as example, I started singing her our naptime song – a song she’s heard for more than year and something that normally sooths her – when she looked up at me, shook her head and said “no, no, no, no!” I couldn’t help but laugh (she was terribly cute about it, and it was just so unexpected), and needless to say she didn’t go down for a nap at that moment.

I can’t wait to see what *next* month brings!

-M