Zoe Sayings

Zoe's vocabulary and linguistic ability has grown to the point where we have a hard time recording down all the surprising things she says. But here, I'll try to remember the more memorable ones:

Scene 1: At the Playground. Zoe wants to attempt coming down a very large, spiral slide, one that is intended for much older children. Mommy watches her make her way towards the slide, and decides to dissuade Zoe.

Mama: Zoe, don't you think this slide is too big for you?
Zoe: No.
Mama (not sure if she should just let Zoe try it, wavers): Hmm, it looks too big. It is a big person slide.
Zoe (quoting Seuss, the line we use when we want her to eat say a fruit): "Try it, try it, you may like it you will see!"

Mama decides to let Zoe try the slide. Luckily for both, Zoe decides last minute, after a close examination of the ride she is about to embark on, that it is "too big!" and backs off.

Other phrases Zoe has picked up and uses with great pleasure:
1. That's good enough (used when say I am pouring out milk for her)
2. Perfect (used when say I correctly interpreted her wish for cookies)
3. Go on (used when say she wants more)

Currently, Zoe is fascinated by armpits. Just the other day, we were in Barnes and Noble and she spotted one of her other interest: Octopus. Peering into a picture of a giant octopus, she pointed to the squiggly arms and correctly identified them as "tentacles!" Then, because I said "yes, tentacles are the arms of the octopus," she looked at it again and then pointed to where the tentacles linked up and said jubilantly "arm pit!" Then... the punchline.... "this armpit no hair!"

Gardening

Jackie and I are taking a gardening class with Victory Gardens. So far Jackie has been to two classes, and I attended my first one this morning. We're enjoying it, and we're especially happy that we're allowed to bring Zoe along. Zoe for her part seems very game -- she has her own little rake that we brought from home, and she's not afraid to use it.


This morning, she found a little empty snail shell in the soil bed.


This morning's lesson was on irrigation. Zoe had fun playing with the different pipe and tubing pieces that were distributed to the class.

Cruising

Yeah, we know these things are filthy. But Zoe wanted to ride in one so badly that we finally relented.

Lily Margaret

Zoe is intrigued by babies. In this video, Zoe hovers around our friends' newborn, Lily, and gives her a couple pecks on the cheek.

Dancing Queen

I'm so pleased that Zoe loves music and dancing; I think that love of music and dance speaks well of the soul. And Zoe takes after her papa in terms of eclectic tastes -- so far she seems to enjoy classical, jazz, and pop! Dave Brubeck is a current favorite.

In this video, Zoe is dancing to Bruce Springsteen's album "We Shall Overcome." Her dancing partner is a new puppy (stuffed animal, of course) that Zoe's daycare nanny gave to her. Sadly, Zoe has proven to be quite fickle with her affections for her stuffed animals. She's already dropped teddy bear and Henrietta the monkey like a bad habit.

"...research shows that the interactions between genes and rearing, between parents and children, are far more complex that either of those views suggest. Children shape their parents as much as parents shape their children — nature and nurture interact in unpredictable non-linear ways." - Alison Gopnik in discussing the controversy over the book "The Lost Child," where the author chronicled her son's drug addiction. (See http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/the-memoir-and-childrens-privacy/)

Not getting into the discussion of the controversy, Gopnik's statement struck a cord with me. Zoe has shaped us in so many ways. Instincts we did not know existed has taken root and bloomed, as if we were the seeds and Zoe the soil and water that brought out our parental essence. The love we have for her.... we had no concept. Did we know that we would be so vigilant about her security? Could we have predicted the visceral way we would react to news like Jaycee Lee Dugard? Now, any story about a hurt child brings tears to my eyes. She has changed us in more mundane ways too: we are less prodigal in the way we use our resources because we are concerned about the world we are leaving behind for her and her friends.

We shape Zoe too of course. I like to think that she has a ready laugh because of us.