Firsts

One day, a long time from now, Zoe can boast that she had her first coffee even before she turned two. A couple of days ago, Aug 27 to be specific, Zoe stole a sip (or sips) from my "doppio over ice in a grande cup with two packs of raw sugar and a good splash of half and half." She has, heretofore, never shown any interest in drinking my coffee and so I never thought much about leaving my coffee on the coffee table. Imagine my surprise when I came back into the room to find Zoe leaning over the table and sipping coffee through the green straw. The little girl liked the drink. She threw a big fit when I said she can't drink that and took it away from her.

And talk about firsts, Zoe received her first flower (from a man) on her second birthday. It was a rose from Uncle Paul.

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!

Play

I took this video about a week ago (8 days ago, to be exact). Here you can see Zoe's increasing range of interaction with her toys. We are definitely buying her more toys, despite my previous conviction not to do so. I think she has gotten to the stage where she is developing rapidly or perhaps all the wiring were being laid but the switches are only now turning on. I've been trying to expose her to a more varied diet of stimulations too. For example, I discovered a really nice park with a lovely playground just down the road from us and have been taking Zoe there to experience the swing and the slide and to observe other babies and children play. I think she really enjoys the park. Incidentally, yesterday, she waved (really waved) for the first time at the park. She waved to a boy toddler on the swing as we were leaving. I said bye-bye and was really surprised when she brought her arms up and waved. She waved before, but very hesitantly. I would call this a first real and obvious wave.