Updates! (finally...)

 

testing the pics

 



 


 

Fun New Things

 

I LIKE CHEESE!!!!!!!!! Thursday night mom & dad had mexican food, so Zoe wanted some too. Her favorite parts of the meal were flour tortilla and shredded cheese, as you can see here!

 

This morning we all went to UIUC's Stay'n'Play group again, and we got to try some fun new things. Here's Zoe's 1st time fingerpainting... it was neat! They had bubble wrap taped to the table so that made for an interesting texture that all the babies seemed to enjoy, regardless of whether they liked the paints :) Zoe seemed to be intrigued by the paints- they didn't make her smile or laugh, they didn't make her cry, instead she just had quite an inqusitive look on her face as she swirled through the red, green, and purple gloop. Of course she also tried eating some, and even though she didn't seem to like it, she ended up putting her fingers back in her mouth a few minutes later- I guess she forgot it was yucky :) We got some of the paints on her and daddy's clothes, so we'll see how "Washable" these "Washable Paints" really are! :) I hope it all comes clean, because daddy was wearing a nice new sweater and Zoe was wearing a favorite outfit as well!


 

Zoe thought it was neat to peek through this collapsible block thing... partially because daddy was on the other side and partially because she could look through the 'windows' on the side and see all the other babies playing with different things :)

Zoe's favorite part of stay'n'play today was DEFINITELY snack time. She didn't eat much for breakfast, so she was happy to feast on puffs, banana pieces, and pieces of green grapes (another 1st). The grapes were a little sour, so I don't blame her for not eating many of them, but she did manage to eat the squishy part of the grape and leave the skin behind (how she managed that, I dunno!).

LEGOS

Now that she can walk, Zoe frequently chooses to go to her closet, open the LEGO bucket, and proceed with emptying LEGOs all over the floor. Amazingly enough, though... if I ask her to put them away, she actually does.... that is until she grabs them right back out and throws them again :) It's a fun thing watching her discover new processes.


 

So instead of letting her throw the LEGOs all over her room last time, I put her in her crib and she went to town!

 

She seemed very selective about which pieces she picked up and explored as opposed to those which were immediate discards, thrown a good distance behind her in the bed :)


 

As always, she had plenty to say about it all. Here she is telling me all about it!!!

Outside Girl Returns!!!!

SATURDAY, MARCH 10th

Here's Zoe last Saturday (March 10th) after our new playgroup. We were originally put onto a waiting list for a "Stay n Play" group that meets at the UIUC Child Development Labratory, but then last Friday we got a call telling us a family had dropped out of the program, so we could come starting the next day if we wanted... so that's what we did!!

It turned out being a lot of fun- new babies and parents all around and lots of new toys and activities to try :)... Zoe had a great time with a rocking horse, some contact paper (YES socks stick to contact paper when it's laid out sticky-side-up on the floor), a slide, and some big blocks to name a few. After playing awhile, a snack was provided, then we sang some songs and went on our way. For us that meant heading OUTSIDE into the spring-like weather!

Zoe was thrilled to be able to walk through the grass once again- this time mostly under her own power (as opposed to last fall). Discovery mode is in full swing here in this picture!


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14th

Today we met at Meadowbrook Park for our play date!!! It was windy, but it was really warm, so we took a walk. Little baby Lindsay slept the entire time (funny how you forget all about teeny baby days once your little one is only a few months older), and her doggie Sadie (the golden retriever whom you can sort-of see in the background of the right side of this picture) enjoyed some exercise, too. Cathy and I were donning capri pants (YAY!) and Rachel even wore shorts! SO you know it was really beautiful weather :) I had to take Zoe's long sleeve shirt off halfway through our walk because she was getting too warm!

3/4 of the way through our walk, Zoe was making a HUGE fuss in her stroller, so I picked her up to carry her for a bit (May did the same thing :)). When I picked her up, she was all wet in the pants, so I figured she was dirty. I found that REALLY odd, since I had changed her just prior to going to the park... well as it turned out, her diaper was almost completely dry and what had made her all wet was her bottle of apple juice that had leaked all over her and her stroller seat. She has successfully stained a good portion of the seat now, and I really hope I can get the stains out!!! They're rather unattractive and they look suspiciously like "pee" even though they're not. Blah.

After all 4 mommies, babies, & Sadie finished the loop through the sculpture garden, Mia cotinued to walk to Lindsay and Sadie so Sadie could get out some more energy :) She's still a puppy, so she's got a lot of energy to spend!!! At that point, May and Zoe and Natalie took an opportunity to discover wood chips. We tried keeping them from eating them (and the dirt), but that didn't always work... Zoe didn't taste any until May pulled out Zoe's binky- which I suppose Zoe took as a hint that she was supposed to try eating the chips, because that was what she did almost immediately :) She hated it. In fact, it made her scream & cry (to the point where her tongue was quivering)! After her short-lived tantrum, she was back to 'discovery mode' and was no worse for the wear :-P


After finishing Sadie's walk, Mia decided to head home while Lindsay was still asleep, so it was back to just the 3 mommies & babies. While Natalie got a snack, May and Zoe hit the swings and MAN, oh MAN did Zoe love it! She was laughing out loud, which you can imagine by looking at this picture :) She was even leaning back and forth as the swing moved, as if she were already learning how to "pump"! I'm sure this was just her natural reaction to the sensation of swinging, but it was really neat to see :). Her legs were just kickin' and she was having a great time. After awhile, Natalie joined us at the swings, and we had all 3 girls blowin' in the wind :)

Before long, May and Natalie were ready to go, so they packed up their things and headed home. Zoe, however, was FAR from being finished playing outside. She roamed around and walked a bit longer, then another friend from the library showed up so we went back to the swings with her! After letting Zoe & Audrey swing a bit, us mommies decided to have some fun too, so we went to the 'big kid' swings and held our little ones as we did some swinging ourselves. It was quite refreshing :)

After about 3 hours Zoe was finally ready to head home. Daddy called and we decided to meet up at Taco Bell before heading to the free concert that was at the library tonight. Well.... Zoe fell asleep in the car. SO daddy picked up a couple of burritos and brought them home where I had successfully transferred Zoe from sleeping in the car to sleeping in her bed (PHEW!).

She woke up late for the concert, so we didn't get there at the beginning of it, but we also didn't end up staying 'til the end of it either because it wasn't all that entertaining. The kids playing the string instruments were OK, but their teacher had very little 'classroom control', and also didn't really know how to speak to an audience, so we decided to just spend some time playing in the children's section. Daddy & Zoe played with some puzzle pieces (along with another little 2-yr old boy) while I got a couple of picture books and CD's to enjoy.

All in all today was really busy, but it was also a lot of fun! I didn't even mention the fact that Zoe helped me run errands this morning!!! We dropped daddy's lunch off @ the high school and picked up a few groceries this morning, too. Zoe's such a great babe. I am truly blessed.

On that note, I should get to milkin' and to bed. She's had a few rough nights lately- I think she's workin' on some new teeth. Right now the only ones that have officially cut through are the bottom middle 2 and the top left middle one. You can see some others under her gums, though so I'm pretty confident that they'll be coming through before we know it :)

TTFN!!!

Last Swim Lesson

Today was Zoe's last "Shrimp" swim lesson!

She's done a great job- she loves to splash around and play with water toys (OK OK OK- you're right... she really just wants to chew them). She kicks pretty well (froggy-style.... it's ADORABLE) when she's on her back but when she's on her front she tends to fold herself in half and just let her legs 'dangle' in the water :)

The pool has been really cold - no big surprise since it's Frrrrreeeeezing outside, but at any rate Zoe's always just a tad purple once we've been in there for a little while. It doesn't really seem to bother her all that much, because she just keeps playing anyway.

At the end of each lesson (which is really more of a free-swim with guidance/suggestions) we have true free time during which we can go to the shallower water and let the babies splish splash around and go down a slide, etc. Zoe LOVES doing all of that- she sits in the water and probably thinks she's in the biggest, bestest bathtub around. She slides down the slide (with my help, of course), and at the bottom of the slide is a squishy pad underwater, which is also a neat place to plop & play. True to character, Zoe always wants to get up and out of the pool herSELF, so I have to FREEZE while I hold her hands as she walks [painfully slowly] out of the pool as we both shiver and suffer from severe lip-quivering. Again- apparently this doesn't bother her because she's just as happy as can be as long as she's on the go to where SHE wants to go :)

I don't have a picture, because Leif was once again at work... he works SO very hard for us!!! ....and I just can't safely juggle a wet baby and a camera :)

Leif had to go to solo/ensemble contest @ Millikin University this morning (he left home at 6ish). After a transportation snafu and after waiting an hour or so, he and just a small handful of students got on the bus to go over there (long story- not worth the time or webspace) and he was able to get home sometime around 1/1:30- just in time for Zoe to wake up from her [unexpectedly long] 2+ hour a.m. nap and to eat lunch.

After everyone had eaten, we went over to a free concert featuring the Central Illinois Children's Choir with a guest appearance by the UI "The Other Guys" a capella group. It was awesome! The Other Guys are quite amazing performers- they sing magically and they also really know how to entertain. Their spring concert is next Saturday and I would LOVE to go, but it's at 8pm and I don't know about having a babysitter try putting Zoe down for bed...

Which leads me to tonight's festivities.... it was "Swing Central" night. It's a fundraiser event that involves 5 hours on nonstop jazz music played by many different schools from Champaign, including one middle school, both high schools, and one of the UI jazz bands. We lucked out that concurrently it was "Mom & Dad's Night Out" at church, so the teen group at church hosted free babysitting for the night! So Leif & I both got to hang out at Swing Central for just a bit, which was really nice, and Zoe got to meet some new baby and mommy friends. They tell me she was quite fun & pleasant up until the last 20 minutes or so....

As I was headed back to the church to get Zoe, they called me to say that she was really missing us (a sure sign that she had been crying, indeed). When I got there she had stopped crying and was pretty chilled (although her eyes and face showed signs of some serious crying in the recent past).... then when she saw me she started BAWLING like I've never heard. It was as if she was saying "HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE ME LIKE THAT?!?!?!?!" It was pretty heartbreaking, but after a few minutes of her sobbing on my shoulder she seemed to have forgiven me and we were able to get home to play a little bit before I put her to bed.

Zoe is growing up and learning so much, so quickly. I am truly amazed. I swear there are times when I get her out of her bed in the morning or even just after a nap, and she looks like a different baby! She's starting to use sign language to communicate with us, which is FABULOUS. I cannot recommend that enough to other parents with babies!!!!

She is officially an independent walker now. She has just started to follow me around the house, so I'm sure she'll be chasing after me constantly before too long :)

Well I really need to pick up around here. It's been a hectic busy day and our house looks as though a tornado struck.

xoxo
Lisa