The Big Zoe Update

Okay...let's face it...I'm not the best blogger anymore. It is what it it is. No more apologies. Its the best I can do right now.

So to catch you up on Zoe stuff, I present..."The Big Zoe Update" ...what I hope will be a lengthy, thorough, reporting on everything Zoe.

Ready?....Let's go!

THE STATS
Age: 19 months
Time with us: 7 months
Height: 32 inches
Weight: 26 lbs
Teeth: 12 and one more poking through

PERSONALITY
Of course, its hard to capture her personality in a paragraph, but if I had to pick one word, I would go with" laid back" Okay, fine, that's 2 words. For the most part, she is a good baby who is content to play somewhere near Mommy. She loves to interact with people. She is not shy around strangers, in fact she crawls up to people in waiting rooms and asks to be picked up. I am the obnoxious Mom who lets her do it because I think everyone must appreciate her cuteness. For the most part, she picks older ladies who seem thrilled.

She is curious. She is focused. She is loving. She loves to cuddle and hug. She can be whiney, and she has a bit of a temper. I was surprised when she started to seem strong willed. When we first came home from China, she was extremely mild. She would just hang out and watch the world go on around her. Since then, she has come into her own. Even though she doesn't have any words, she has no trouble expressing her likes and dislikes.

LIKES
Bouncing! She loves to bounce. We have a little trampoline and a bouncy ball, and she laughs out loud every time you bounce her. At night, in bed, she will bounce herself on her knees.

Playing with my hands. She sits on my belly and turns my hands this way and that. She likes to make me clap.

The Wiggles. Man, she can't get enough. At night, she regularly wakes up into this half-awake, half-asleep state. She'll cry forever until you actually wake her up, before putting her back down. We tried everything to snap her out of it, but nothing works better than turning on the Wiggles really loud. When a familiar song comes on, it finally seems to grab her attention, so you can settle her down.

Crinkly paper. From the very beginning, this has been a favorite. This is where the "focused" part comes in. We keep a stack of magazines that she likes to "read". In the car on the way home from day care, I let her play with her daily report. It's made on a nice noisy paper.

Food. My girl loves to eat. Especially fruit. Bananas, grapes, and mandarin oranges are particular favorites. She loves yogurt, green beans, and bread. The only thing I know she doesn't like is spinach. She is getting to where she prefers to feed herself, so we're steering towards finger foods. She wants to take spoons from me and poke them around on her tray, but when she does that (aside from the mess) the eating usually stops.

DISLIKES
Cribs...not just her own
Getting her face/nose wiped. I know every baby hates this, but Zoe is something special.
Getting her hair washed
Can't think of anything else. She's pretty agreeable.

Day Care
We are very lucky that she took to day care very well. I think the fact that she always arrives during breakfast helps. She is always glad to see me pick her up, too, though. Because she has been delayed walking, she is still officially in the baby room. After talking to the director, they are now transitioning her to the toddler room a little early. She is now going over to hang out with the toddlers for a few hours a day. I think it was a great decision and has really helped with her development. Speaking of...

Mobility
She can walk!!! She has been taking steps for over 2 months and I was starting to get really worried because she never took to it. Over the last two weeks she is turning into a full time walker! It's so cute. She's still unsteady, and she looks like she's doing the "cabbage patch" to keep her balance. She crawls if she had to get anywhere fast, but is choosing to walk more and more. She just learned how to get up from the middle of the room the other day. I was sooooo excited!! My little girl is growing up. I suspect the toddler room has a good deal to do with this, but also, she had tube surgery recently which may have helped her balance.

Other developments
Zoe is becoming more manually dexterous. Is that how you say it? She is getting that fine motor stuff down. Her index finger is her latest discovery. She pokes everything now. And all small holes must be explored with her index finger. She still picks cheerios up by the handful, but she can pick them up one by one.

Language
Like I said, we still have no words. No Mama. No Dada. And that is hard. The audiologist suspects her hearing was spotty or muffled before the tube surgery. If she has only had good consistent hearing for the past month, I can hardly expect much word-wise from her, but she is obviously understanding us more and more. She can sign a few words, but we have been really inconsistent in this department, so the fact that she can do anything is amazing.

And now for the thing you really care about.....PICTURES








AND VIDEO OF MY WALKER