Sunshine again

As I am typing this, Zoe is in her crib. She is not napping however. Instead, she is sitting up and playing phone with her rabbit. By that I mean the bunny (Peter Rabbit to be exact) is put up to her ears and she is going "Hello? Oh? OH! Bye Bye." It is extraordinarily cute and reminds me of how much Zoe has come along in her development and how nice it is that the nasty week we just had is over (or probably over... not to jinx it). We are not quite sure what it is, but it is probably teething cum heat rash (for we had a heat wave that brought the temperatures to 102 F). Zoe was cranky, fragile, demanding. Who could blame her? She was in obvious discomfort and had great difficulty sleeping because of the ailment. I was quite flustered because I didn't have nerves of steel and did not know what to do. Is it eczema or is it heat rash? They look alike but the treatment plan is completely different (Aloe Vera Gel versus Aquaphore). In the end, I figured out that it is heat rash and slathered on the aloe vera. What a week!

Still, in spite of it all - lack of appetite, sore gums, angry rashes everywhere, a nasty fall - Zoe managed to string three words together two days ago. She said "Ernie and Bert." I'm glad the sun came back out again.

Customer in Training

A new Henry's grocery store opened up recently, and they have these cute toddler-sized shopping carts. In this video, Zoe was a little groggy from having napped in the car, but she did pretty well pushing our cart around for us. This baby thing is already starting to pay dividends!

What Noise Does The Horse Make?

A bit of silliness.

Tea time

One of Zoe's favorite games is tea time. It's a highly ritualized endeavor, and her rules of engagement are strict: Elmo, teddy bear, and at least one parent must be present.

Shapes

As we've already mentioned here, Zoe seems to be accelerating in her development these days. Here's an example: as recently as a few weeks ago, Zoe still hadn't figured out how to sort shapes. Now she can.

Thrill of the Hunt

After Easter service this morning, Zoe participated in the egg hunt. She had been expertly coached by me the day before, when we staged a "practice egg hunt" during her playgroup at our house. As you can see in this video, she did pretty well.



Some photos from the morning:

Jackie, Zoe, and our friends' daughter Caroline, waiting for the egg hunt to begin.



Zoe and Caroline after the egg hunt.



Zoe and Mommy at the coast in La Jolla. It was a picture-perfect day!



Zoe, completely spent. It was a busy morning.

PB

On Sunday we drove to Pacific Beach to spend the afternoon with the Scholz family, in celebration of Karen's birthday. Zoe had a lot of fun digging in the sand, but she was initially a bit reluctant to dip her toes in the surf.

Barbecue

We had a lovely time at a barbecue at Marcus and Karen's house this afternoon. Zoe wore a pretty new pink dress, and did all sorts of fun things.

For starters, she got a new teddy bear, thanks to Lily.



Zoe had tea time. In the background of this video, you can see poor Lily, who isn't sure that she likes the brazen interloper who is playing with her tea set.



After tea, Zoe "cooked" an elaborate meal in Lily's play kitchen. I don't know what she made, but I do know that many spices were used. (Sidebar: for actual food, Zoe ate an entire hotdog -- a first!)



Zoe watched cartoons and played with (and subsequently lost) a balloon.



Lastly, Zoe discovered Lily's kiddie pool, and had a chance to play with the water. Next time, Daddy will remember to bring her swimming panties.

Development

Zoe is growing in leaps and bounds. Not so much physically, but developmentally she's learning so much - acquiring new words, mastering new skills. She's a very inquisitive child. Of course, I'm not even remotely unbiased.

Here are a few recent photos. I love this view of Zoe in profile; I call it "The Beak."



Zoe is becoming quite the artist. She loves to draw in crayon and marker on her easel. This is one of her recent masterpieces. It's got a modern vibe to it; I think it's called "Study in Crayola Marker, No. 2."



(UPDATE: This morning we showed this photo to Zoe and asked her what it was. Zoe answered with the Mandarin word for "flower.")
(UPDATE 2: Jackie has informed me that what Zoe actually said was the word for "drawing," which in Mandarin has a similar sound but different inflection from "flower." Maybe she was trying to explain that it was a drawing of a flower...)

I'm not quite sure what this expression signifies; it looks to me like a combination of sheepishness and amusement. Jackie thinks Zoe looks like me in this photo.

Saturday at the Park

Zoe has a close encounter with Olin's dog Fuzz. She seems to be amazed by Fuzz's tail.





At the park, we met a playgroup that kindly allowed Zoe to join in their fun.

Spring

In the days of our lives, some days are great, some days are perfectly ordinary with nothing to mark it, and some days are better forgotten. Luckily, today fell under the first category.

It started wonderfully. This morning, after breakfast, I took Zoe to a nearby playground. She loved the playground the last time we were there, but today, today she LOVED it. Zoe has arrived at the climbing stage and how she climbed. Up and down the steps, up and around rails, bars... anything. Luckily, she still has the good sense to fear heights and so was not overly reckless. If all that was not enough, a couple of children arrived just when we were beginning to tire of climbing and sliding; Zoe was engrossed with watching the siblings play and they ended up "playing" together.

It being a lovely summery day, we went outside to play again in the afternoon after Dennis came home. It gives me great joy to see Dennis and Zoe play, to hear them laugh. And there was much laughter.

With all that activity, Zoe was exhausted by six - she missed her nap this afternoon - and went to sleep early, leaving Dennis and I to enjoy an early start to a quiet evening. Did I not say today is a good day?

Playtime