A guick anecdote:
Yesterday after work I was in the back yard playing with Zoe. It was daytime still, but we could see the moon. Zoe has long since enjoyed seeing the moon. So I told her to try to jump up and grab the moon. So rather than go through all that trouble, she opted to stretch her arms up towards the moon and scream "Com'ere moon!!!"

I told her that maybe one day she would reach the moon.

A few updates:

• Zoe can now go up and down stairs by herself. Of course we are still there just in case, but for the most part, she can do it. In fact, she prefers it. If we try to help her she'll say "Do it myself". Often times, she'll get mad even if we are in the general vicinity because she knows we are trying to help her.
  
• Yesterday was Zoes 1st day of Summerschool. According to the teachers, she went down the biggest slide in the playground all by herself. Also, we sent her to school with her "sippycup" like we've done for the past 6 months... when we got home that day we saw a note from her school saying "Please don't pack sippycups, we are big kids now". Our little girl is growing up.
  
• She loves to sing songs. She'll make songs up, insert new words into existing songs, etc... At night, she and Kia sing songs to eachother before bed. She likes Farachjaka (you know what I'm trying to spell!).
  
• On my last post, I mentioned that Zoe can lay down on her tummy in the toddler pool. Well, she realized that this skill translates to the bath tub, so now she likes to get on her tummy in the tub.
  

Zoe is 2 Years Old!

Yesterday was Zoes 2nd birthday.

We started the day by opening some birthday presents.

She got waaaay to much stuff (Thanks Grandma!)

Here are some of the gifts she got:
Dishwasher
Wooden Kitchen Set
8 Little Monkeys book
A train set

She went to school and her class had a Birthday lunch! They had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday. Kia and I attended, yes, we are those parents.


Zoe has started getting “Timeouts”.
For the most part, she does well with them.
Some things we’ve given her timeouts for:

• Kicking, laughing and being generally uncooperative while we attempt to brush her teeth
  

Today was Zoes last day of PreSchool. They had a graduation ceremony for the older kids, but the younger kids participated too by singing songs and things.






It was kind of ironic, I've always subscribed to the view that all these graduations are silly (kids "graduating" from kindergarden, 6th grade, etc...). But there I was, watching my baby "graduate" from... not even real pre-school! Surprisingly, it was kind of an emotional event. Not emotional in that she was graduating, but more in that while I was watching the "older" kids get their "diplomas", I couldn't help but think about Zoe being up there in a few years, and then graduating from high school, college, etc... I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a lump in my throat.

Moving on.... Zoe has been going around the house practicing the songs she is learning at school. Because she is attending a Jewish school, they teach her songs in Hebrew, so she is singing songs in Hebrew and Kia and I have no idea what she is saying. It’s very funny.

She also likes to sing her ABCs, 5 little monkeys and twinkle twinkle little star.

Right now, Zoe keeps interrupting me to have me read books to her. She’s very demanding. She won’t let me blog…. She finally settled in with an Elmo book.

She and Lucky have become good buddies. She feeds Lucky from her high chair. She loves to chase him around the house and basically torment him. Every now and then she gets a little excited and whacks him or pushes him. He just takes it like a man, cuz he knows better.

She loves to go to the park and play. Her favorite thing at the park is the swing. She could swing for hours. Unfortunately, these days, the swings get really hot so she can’t get on them.

Zoe just brought a toy into the office and started playing with it. She keeps forcing me to look by saying “Look daddy, look!”.
A few days ago, we all went to the swimming pool. They installed a new toddler pool and it is fantastic. She was able to walk around on her own, except for one slight misstep. She got into “deep” water and lost her balance. I wasn’t close enough to her to catch her fall, so she fell face first into the water, she was completely submerged! Needless to say, I immediately snapped into action and saved her. She was pretty shook up about it as you might imagine, but she got over it pretty quickly and went back in the water.
We took her back a few days later and she waded around on her hands and knees, which we thought was a pretty big deal.

Finally, since Zoe is no longer X number of months old this will be my last posting of Zoes "monthly pictures". *With a bonus picture.

Zoe is 24 months old!


Here is a comparison of Zoes 1st "monthly" picture (9 months old) vs her last:


Current Events:

• Obama has all but sewn up the nomination as Hillary Clinton inserted her foot into her mouth commenting on the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.
  
• Average Price of gas: $3.55 and rising.

Amazingly, Zoe is already politically inclined. Watch the below clip to see who she decides to endorse:



And here she is singing a song she learned in school:

Here is Zoe and me at our town festival. This is at the petting Zoo:



Here she is with her friend Hailey











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We took a family trip to the Tucson Air and Space Museum. Zoe had a blast.... Get it?









What's Zoe's problem?









My Girls....



Note to self... get a haircut.
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See Zoe? She's not tiny... that's just a really big airplane.
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"All systems cleared for takeo... uhhh, what are you lookin at kid?"








Future Astronaut????










Future Army soldier??? Uhhh... No.





Zoe cuddling up to mommy after a long day at the museum... Awwww












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One kiss deserves another:




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Happy Valentines day!

Last night, we decided to get serious about getting Zoe to stay in bed. Up til now, when she wakes up in the middle of the night (usually between 2 and 3am), we've been going into her room and cuddling with her until she falls back asleep. Then, when she wakes again (usually at 5am), one of us will go into her room, put her back in bed and then sleep on her floor until she wakes up for good (we shoot for 6am or later).

Well, now that everyone is over their colds and sicknesses, we decided it's time to get tough! So, last night, we implemented "tough love". As it turns out, it wasn't necessary. For the past few nights, I've been putting her to bed and then hanging out outside her door (as opposed to in her room in her rocking chair) until she falls asleep. So, last night, I put her to bed and waited for her to fall asleep (it took about 1.5 hours). She then woke up at her customary 2am timeslot, I went to check on her and she was hanging out at her gate. I just told her "Back to bed, it's not time to wake up yet" then braced myself for her rebellion. It didn't happen though! She immediately turned and climbed back into bed and went back to sleep. I closed her door and went back to sleep too! Again, she woke up at her customary 5am time. Again, I went to her and told her "Back to sleep, it's not time to wake up yet". She went back to bed and didn't wake up until 6:30am!

I hope i'm not jinxing it by writing about it but this is very good news.

Current events:
*Since last post, Barack Obama has won 10 primaries in a row! gO-Bama!!!
*The Writers strike ended! The Daily Show will be funny again! Yay!

Zoe is 21 Months old!
*Yea, she's a big fan of Elmo

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Zoe is still acclimating to her big girl bed. She still gets out of bed once a night (usually around 2 or 3am). She is pretty good about going back to sleep after that.

At night, before she goes to sleep, if I leave the room, she'll get up and come open her door and hang out in the door entry way (we put up a gate to keep her in her room). When I come back to check on her, she'll see me and turn and run back to her bed.

She loves to sing. She can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Row row row Your boat".

She can recite the alphabet and count to ten.

She loves to chase Lucky around the house... She yells out" "Luuuucky!" and "Lucky, c'mere!". Lucky does his best to stear clear.

We have a few new milestones....

After Zoe fell out of her crib (see last blog entry), we decided to convert her crib into a toddler bed. So Zoe is now sleeping in a bed. We bought rails for it so she can't roll out.

So, the 1st night, she just wanted to play in her new bed. She loved the idea that she could just crawl out if she wanted to. So she'd get in and out... in and out...

That night, she slept fairly well. She woke up at around 4:30am and Kia went in and slept on the floor.

Last night... she slept through the night and woke up on her own. She crawled out of her crib and came into the bedroom and said" "Momma!"

Current Events:
*Housing market... bad.
*Recession... looming
*The South Carolina Primaries end tonight.. Barrack is favored.
*The Clintons are playing dirty politics by injecting race into the campaign.

Zoe is 20 Months Old!


This is an outfit that Grandma got her for Christmas.

Some new developments...
On Jan. 10th, Zoe said "Octagon" to describe an octagon.

She is beginning to form 3 word sentences: "Mama read it". Telling Kia to read her a book.

This morning, Zoe achieved a dubious accomplishment, she managed to crawl out of and over her crib (about 4 feet). Fortunately, she landed on her butt and suffered no injuries. She was more startled more than anything else. I guess it's time to convert her crib to a bed. We'll see how that goes...

And Here is Zoe's 19 Month Picture (on the exact day):


Zoe's milestones:

• When we put Zoe in the car, she now climbs into her own car seat. Although when she gets there, she just stands in it backwards, she won't actually sit down.
  
• Just last week, she started pointing to herself and saying "I'm Zoe".
  
• She knows and can say colors (Red, , Purple, Yellow,Blue, Green, and Orange.)
  
• She will say "Thank You" on her own. She says "Thank you momma, thank you dadda" when we give her things.
  
• She can count to TEN! Repeating after us of course. But she will say some numbers on her own.
  
• She took her 1st picture with Santa. I need to scan it and I'll add it later on. But she did great and didn't cry (probably because we were in the picture too).
  
• And here's the biggie, she pooped in her potty for the first time!!! She had recently been giving us a warning before she went. She'd get a strained look on her face and say "Poo Poo". But we failed to pick up on her sign (I know, I know, "How'd you miss that sign? We're busy and stressed!). Then one day while I was at work, Kia realized that Zoe was actually saying "I gotta poop!" So Kia ran her upstairs to her potty and sat her down and she went!
  She has done it a few times since then. Very exciting. One day, Zoe will want to kill us when she reads and sees this.

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What's going on in the world right now:

• The Presidential caucuses are about to begin. Democrats: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Republicans: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and McCain.
  
• Housing market is down 6%. Ughhhh...

OK, here is Zoes 18 month picture... This is an estimate, probably not the exact day, but close enough. Sorry Zoe, it was a busy month.

Here are a few new milestones for Zoe:

She is doing really well in school. Whereas before, she would say "Bye Bye Zoe" when leaving class to say Good Bye to her teachers and classmates, she is now beginning to say their names... i.e. "Bye bye Sarah"

When we are driving in the car and approaching home, she will say "ha ha home?"

She is beginning to put together 3 word phrases.

She can say "Corey" and "Kia". Ver cute.

Kia found her ticklish spot and when she tickles Zoe, she goes bonkers and starts trying to distract Kia by saying "High five???" to get Kia to stop tickling.

She loves to pet Lucky and give him kisses.

She is in the middle of some serious "sleep training". Kia is training her to sleep throught the night according to a book that a friend told us about. She says it worked wonders for her, so we (Kia) are giving it a try. Prior to last night, she slept through the night for 3 nights in a row. Last night, she woke up at 4:30am. But we feel we (Kia) are making progress.

Since Zoe is already a Princess, her Halloween costume was easy...






We trick or treated at a few houses and then Zoe ran out of steam. It was fun though... It was a minor miracle that she kept her costume on the whole time.

Remember Lucky????

Zoe is 17 months old!!!
***Yes, that's a G-Unit jacket



Zoe has started pre-school. She goes 3 days a week and has adjusted really well. She still cries a little when we drop her off, but she recovers really quickly.

As you can see from her picture, she is growing up really fast.

***Bonus Picture:

Zoe's 16 month picture

Zoe is beginning to form 2 word phrases. Her first was "Buh bye Shoes". She'll also say "Buy bye Zoe". Oh yea, she can say her own name.

Yesterday we went to Jacks 2nd Birthday party. They had a mini moon bounce. Zoe got in and did some bouncing. She had a blast and kept wanting to go back in.


Zoe is also making a lot of new friends. Her best friends are:
Peyton
,







Hailey









Dylan.










And Jack (picture not available yet)

She loves to play w/ bubbles. We take her outside and blow bubbles and she'll chase the bubbles around saying... "bubble.."

She gets a kick out of seeing airplanes flying across the sky. If she as much as hears an airplane, she'll stop what she's doing and say "Airplane" and look up into the sky to find it. When she finds it, she gets a huge smile on her face.


She likes to "pounce" on things like pillows and Mommy and Daddy and as she lands she'll laugh and say "boom!"

She loves belly buttons. For no reason, she'll pull her shirt up and point out her belly button. Then she has to pull Mommys shirt up to see her bellow button, and if I'm around, she'll pull my shirt up to see mine.

She gave her 1st hug. Kia was babysitting Hailey and Hailey hugged her. Kia caught the magic moment on film:




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Zoe's 15 month picture!

Zoe is now 15+ months old. I have her 15 month picture, I just haven't transferred it from the camera yet. In the meantime, here are a few cute pics.




She is really coordinated. She loves to throw tennis balls for Lucky.
She loves to kick balls around the house and is very good with her feet.

Zoe is 14 months old!!!


We went and saw Grandma in Arlington, VA for the 4th of July.





Zoe had her 1st trip to the Smithsonian and The Museum of Natural History. She wasn't impressed.


We saw a Chinese dragon show. Zoe loved it!
In fact, she loved it so much, she cried when we had to leave. :(











She is an expert walker now... She can even do a bit of running. She has now moved on to mastering walking backwards.

She loves to stand and turn in circles.

One of her favorite things is to get up on the couch and play. She will just walk back and forth on the couch, falling down, laughing and getting back up.

Zoe's 13 Month Picture!!!!