Our little acrobat!

Zoe had a housefull of playdate friends this morning, and she was a bit of a rough hostess.... she managed to claw two of her little guy friends (sorry, Tai & Jesse!!!) and she was a bit of a grump aside from when she was eating... We had fun painting (on paper, our clothes, or hands and feet, you-name-it) and chatting all morning from about 9:30 'til noon. Then once everyone was gone, Zoe begged to go read books... she chose the "Action Alphabet" that we're borrowing from the library (MAN I love that place...). Anyway, we got to the letter A which is "Arching" and she looked at the photograph of the little girl doing a backbend, and decided that she could do that too. So she said "Awkeen" and then bent over forwards into a lovely "downward facing dog" for you yoga fans out there. After that she did something totally amazing. She got the idea in her head to go up on her toes and push herself off the floor. Indeed this produced a fascinating result- ZOE DID HER 1st SOMERSAULT!!!! I have helped her roll over a few times in the past, but this was her own idea and it was incredible to watch. So as I cheered her on, I ran into the kitchen to grab the camera, ran back to her room, and caught her in action. She just kept somersaulting over and over and over! Just a few nights ago, we cleared our living room floor and all 3 of us rolled around (like you'd roll down a hill or something) and she got a kick out of that, so maybe that helped inspire her to expand upon her acrobatic vocabulary :) Here she is in action... enjoy!!! Oh and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


UPDATE**: Apparently the video isn't working- I'll have to ask Leif later. I'm sorry :(

A Family of Clowns

I just realized I totally missed out on sharing our Halloween festivities with you, so here goes....

Leif had to teach all day, as usual for a Wednesday, but fortunately his grad classes were cancelled, so we got a lot of great family time together :)

For Zoe and I, our day started with getting all dressed up in our clown outfits and doing our hair and make up so we could get to our playgroup Halloween Party (so wonderfully and graciously hosted by Kelley!). Zoe had no problem getting into her clown suit- she's been BEGGING to wear it ever since she discovered it hanging in her closet a couple months ago (we got it for 75 cents at a garage sale! Woo Hoo!). I coerced her into allowing me to put her hair in pigtails as I had done to mine... And although she really hates the process of getting her hair done, she usually has a great time checking out the cutiepie looking back at her in the mirror afterwards. Such was the case this time, when she figured out that if she bounces while wearing pigtails, the pigtails bounce as well :) What a crack-up!






Anyway- we finally made it over to the party. Here are some pictures of Zoe and her friends.... Oh and there was another clown there who was about 1 year older than Zoe and their two outfits were nearly identical, except they were inverse left-to-right. What a coincidence :) I made some balloon animals, which was fun, and eventually we all headed over to a local nursing home to visit with the residents and spread some holiday cheer! They loved having us, and we have a standing invitation to bring our playgroup back there anytime.

Well after playgroup, Zoe and I spent 2.5 hours at Hessel Park. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Then she napped in the car while I helped the guard get ready for their NY trip (which is now over, btw and it went great and Zoe had a FANTASTIC time hanging out with Grandma Gracie and Aunt Meghan for the weekend!!!). After band, daddy had to get dressed, so we came home, touched up our makeup, and went to the Savoy Rec Center's "Trick or Treat" street. It was cool for a toddler- it was indoors so it was not dark like being outside, and there wasn't a ton of candy involved- just enough to practice our "please" and "thank you"s. We ran to the grocery store in our clown outfits, too because we needed a couple things, and finally we made it back home and Zoe hit the sack.





The final "Spook" of our Halloween was in the middle of the night... about an hour and a half after she went to bed, Zoe very matter-of-fact-ly yelled out "Yah" in her sleep! It was so bizarre! Leif was in the computer room, and I was studying in bed. We looked at each other with puzzlement and concurrent hope that we were either just hearing things or that she was actually just sleeptalking. Well apparently she actually did say something... and luckily for us, she stayed asleep 'til the morning :) Every once in a blue moon Leif or myself will talk in our sleep, so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised, but it still makes you wonder what it was that she was dreaming/thinking at that moment! It sounded cheery, so let's assume she was having pleasant dreams of her day as a clown.

The persistence of squirrels

Zoe spent 2.5 hours at the park one day last week, and a majority of that time was spent chasing squirrels! They just kept coming back for more... I guess they must have been having as much fun as Zoe was.



"Oh, if only I could climb a tree!"



Zoe has also discovered mommy's iPod. It's a hit! We also use it in the car (with a radio signal adapter doo-hickey thing-a-ma-jigger) and it makes car rides a wee bit more tolerable when we can sing along with Raffi, Jack Johnson, and her other favorite singer (whose name is currently escaping me... OH! I think it's Joanie Bartells or something like that, but don't take my word for it...)

BTW Potty Training has just about stopped ever since we installed the triple-lid toilet seat (it's like a normal seat only with the addition of a "kids seat" layer in the middle). I don't know why she stopped, but I hope it wasn't because of the seat, because it took Leif quite some time to change it out (I had tried, too but had no success).

Well Zoe's having nightmares tonight :( She keeps screaming out :(

That doesn't make me feel any better about leaving her behind while I join Leif in NYC this weekend for the band's performances, but I suppose she'll be alright. She'll be in great hands, at least... and if she gets really angry at us for not being her, I guess she'll forgive us eventually, right?