11 Months Old

I think that Zoe has changed a lot in the past month. It's not any one particular thing that she does differently, but in general her personality is stronger and I'm beginning to see glimpses of what kind of toddler she is going to be. From head to toe, here are her current stats: Her hair is long enough for barrettes, her eyes are darker, she has 6 teeth and she points to everything and says "bah", then waits for you to supply her with the correct word. She likes to color and open cabinets and drawers, which results in lots of pinched fingers and tears. She still crawls funny - with one foot and one knee, and she frequently walks on her hands and feet together. She can easily pull herself up and occasionally will stand on her own. She also likes to be walked holding hands, and I have yet to put shoes on her for more than a minute or two. She seems to dislike shoes because as soon as I put them on her, she immediately tries to take them off and kick her feet on the floor. One of Zoe's favorite things to do is say "bye bye." She waves at strangers in the mall and says "bye bye", and every time I end a phone call, she likes to chime in with her own "bye bye." Zoe still loves to eat, and cheese is definitely her favorite food. She also is liking grapes a lot these days, and she continues to dislike any kind of sweets or juice. When I took Zoe's picture with Pooh, Sophie was extremely disappointed that she wasn't going to get her picture taken. I explained that in another couple of weeks it would finally be her turn again (she hasn't had her picture with Pooh bear since she was 18 months) but that wasn't good enough for her. So there you have it. Two cute girls, one shrinking Pooh Bear!

Messy Girls

Tonight we had spaghetti for dinner, and since both girls are in the "do it myself" stage, more dinner got on them than in their mouths. I usually use paper towels to wipe the girls' hands and faces after dinner, but tonight they required a complete washing in the tub. The picture of the girls' tushies is a frequent scene, but tonight I actually had the camera handy and was able to capture it for future purpose (think prom night)!

It's Video Time!

It's been awhile since we posted a video so I thought I would add a couple that were taken this week. The first is me singing Open Shut Them with Zoe. I love that her hand motions are a little bit ahead of the song, and that she starts "dancing" in the middle of it! The second video is Sophie checking out Lauren's blog. Please excuse her numerous references to butts. It's a 2-year-old thing.

Highlights from the week

We have gotten back into our routine since being on vacation, and the girls have had a pretty fun week. Both girls have been enjoying the markers and crayons. Sophie used the brown marker to draw a beard on her face "just like daddy." Zoe has been having lots of fun coloring on the easel with the crayons. I haven't offered her the markers yet (I do learn from her sister!) On Saturday Sophie woke up from her nap to find a new (and very big) toy in the playroom: a Thomas the Tank Engine train set and table. I found this on Craig's List, but being new to the whole Thomas obsession I wasn't sure if it was a good deal. I called my sister since she knows all about the Thomas series from her son Chase, and I told her to peek at the pics of it online to let me know if it's a good deal. Her response was to drive over to the person's house and buy it immediately! We bought the set later that night while the girls were at Grandma Laura's for a sleepover. I had a lot of fun setting it up and couldn't wait for Sophie to see it! Both girls have been having fun with the trains, and I have to admit that I love playing with them too! Tonight we went back to Grandma Laura's house for Sunday dinner. It was a special dinner because Laura's Aunt Rita and Uncle Jerry were visiting from Florida, and Uncle Matt came too. I finally remembered to bring my camera and caught a great shot of the girls with Grandma.

Road Trip to Grammy's

Last week the girls and I made a trip to visit Grammy and Gump in Pennsylvania. We had a really wonderful time. Over the weekend Grammy made a Passover Seder for family and friends. Some people got to see the girls for the first time, and some hadn't seen Sophie since she was just 3 months old! Both girls adjusted quickly to staying at Grammy's. To keep up with tradition, Zoe cut her top two teeth while we were there. Sophie had a lot of fun going up and down the stairs. Both girls enjoyed playing with the toys that Grammy has, and Sophie was very excited to see her cousins. There were so many pictures that I had a hard time choosing, so I've decided to copy off Liz and put the pics into a slide show. Some of the highlights are: playing in the house, going to the playground and park, visiting with family, and going to a farm.

A New Toy

The girls got an early birthday present: a new play kitchen! The other day we were at a friend's house. She had just bought this kitchen for her boys, and Sophie absolutely loved it. She was more interested in the kitchen than she was in playing with the other boys and girls! I had been thinking about getting one for her eventually, but after seeing how much fun she had I couldn't wait. Plus, my friend had a 15% off coupon that was expiring that day. This was the first (and probably not the last) toy that required major assembly, which I (Mara) did all by myself. I even had to use the power drill, which I had never used before! It was worth it though. Both girls have already had lots of fun playing with it. It has lots of room in the cupboards so we were able to put Sophie's tea set away in a permanent and logical place! Another great thing about it is that while Zoe sits and plays with the oven and baskets, Sophie can stand and play with the microwave and cabinets, and mommy can fold baskets and baskets of laundry!

Play Group Zoo Trip

This past Wednesday our play group made a trip to the zoo, which those of you who read this regularly know is one of our favorite places in Tucson. It was a cool and cloudy day, which was a relief from all of the recent sunscreen required days we've had. The girls had a great time as usual. Zoe just smiled and pointed at everything. Sophie showed off her amazing vocabulary by naming just about everything she saw. One of the new features at the zoo is a little grassy area with a giant tortoise sculpture that kids can climb on. About halfway through the zoo our group stopped and let the kids run and play. In the picture are some of Sophie's buddies from group: clockwise from left - Rylin, Sophie, Austin and Tyler. Our day ended abruptly during lunch when the clouds burst and the rain rain rain came down down down:)

Busy Week

This past week was unusually busy for us, and for some reason I kept forgetting to bring the camera with us on our outings. The girls had a play date on Tuesday, play group on Wednesday, another play date on Thursday, and then on Friday we went up to Phoenix with a friend from our play group. We managed to fit four car seats, two adults and two double strollers in the car! And of course we made room for our purchases from the big outlet mall. I actually only bought two pairs of shoes for Sophie from the Stride Rite outlet. She wears a 7 1/2 now! I also spent $2 so that Sophie could ride the carousel. It was her first time on one and she absolutely loved it! Saturday we decided to take it easy at home because I knew that today (Sunday) was going to be another busy day. Andy and I took the girls to their first Sunday School class, which is called the Torah Tots. The temple had an open house today for new students. Sophie had fun, although she wasn't always interested in doing what the teacher was asking her to do! She got to play pictionary, and she even guessed several of the pictures correctly. Then she made a craft: a seder plate decorated with tissue paper. This was her first experience with glue, and I don't think she liked it too much. After art the kids went outside for snack (challah) and play time. Sophie said that she wants to go to school again, which is a good thing because she is currently on a waiting list for preschool in the fall!

Since we didn't have the camera with us very much this week, I've included some pictures of things that girls have been doing at home. Sophie is getting really good at puzzles, and she can now do the wooden puzzles that don't have pictures on the board for matching. Zoe mostly likes to stand and play the piano, or stand and look at books, or just stand and smile. Check out her teeth! Also you can see how much her hair is growing and how her eyes are getting darker. One new thing that Zoe is doing is dropping things on purpose and then saying, "Uh Oh!" It's really hard not to laugh, and I'm sure I'll regret my smiles and encouragement of her doing this when she's a little bit older!