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

Out & About

This afternoon we enjoyed a little excursion to the city, a place we don't visit so often nowadays. We stopped for gelato at Pappalecco, a charming little place in Little Italy. In addition to yummy gelato (which Zoe ate with gusto), they have fantastic espresso and a piano where we promptly parked Zoe. In this video you can see her composing her magnum opus.



After gelato, we went to the Zoo. Zoe seemed a little indifferent to the animals this time, but at least she appeared to enjoy riding the kiddie train - she even said "choo-choo!" several times.

Joshua Tree

We just returned from a wonderful overnight trip to Joshua Tree National Park. We spent the night at the Jumbo Rocks campsite.



As with our Anza Borrego trip, Zoe enjoyed running around in the open spaces and digging in the sand.



We climbed to the top of Ryan Mountain (elevation 5457 feet). Zoe rode on our backs, of course, yet she still received praise from other hikers for her hiking "ability."

Self-Help

I promise, this is not a staged photo.

First Phrase

Zoe uttered her first phrase last Friday. Pointing to the largest pig in a picture of what looked like a family of pigs, she said "Papa ZhuZhu!" Zhu Zhu is pig in Chinese. Pretty cool!

Busy Day

Despite being tired and a little overstimulated, Zoe had a nice time at Sophia's birthday party today. There were other children to gawk at, a sandbox to play in, and an easel to draw on. Zoe also enjoyed test driving the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. According to Zoe, it handles like a dream and has great gas mileage.

Eventually the bubble machine was fired up. As it turns out, "bubble" is one of the words Zoe knows, as you can hear at the end of the following video.

Little Lamb

Zoe is finally big enough to enjoy a present that her Auntie Grace gave her for her first birthday.



Unfortunately, the lamb appears to be stuck in "reverse."

Random Act of Zoe

Your moment of zen.