Note to self:

Send nice clothes to school with your child as her "spare clothes". She may come home wearing them one day. Yikes, those pants are scary.


Thank goodness my Zoe is beautiful enough to pull it off. On a happy note, they had face painting at school and Zoe let them paint her face! That is a big accomplishment for her!

Halloween....Zoe style

My plan was to wait until the last minute and then hit up the Disney store for a seriously cheap, but absolutely adorable costume for Zoe. That is how we landed the Mulan costume last year. Our only choices then were Mulan and Minnie Mouse, but they were both precious. This year, our only choice was a Jasmine that would have been 2 sizes too big. I would have bought it for a future year but I'm not so crazy about Zoe having an exposed belly anywhere other than a pool.

In a last ditch effort, I broke out Zoe's China box of all the stuff we bought in Guangzhou...the dresses I was sure she would where when we go to all those China events we swore we would take her to. He, he...pretty funny now actually. But it did save me this Halloween and Zoe looked GORGEOUS!!!

I was hoping she would be able to say, "trick or treat" by this year, but we're not quite there yet. We did manage one "boo" and several "pleases", so I"m pretty happy!

And of course....pictures!

She let me play with her hair!

Zoe has some serious sensory issues (sometimes I think she's just a control freak) Either way, if you come at her with a comb or brush, you'd better come ready for battle (or with candy for distraction).

Fortunately, you can get most of her tangles out with your fingers, but the idea of doing something fun with her hair is out of the question....normally,

Here are some pictures of my recent successes.
Pig tails!


Clippies!

My newest favorite thing.

Oh my...a post not a about Zoe. Crazy, I know!

So I recently discovered this service in town that everyone seems to already know about, but if you don't yet, here goes... It's called Farmer's Market Baskets. Once a week they make these baskets from produce they get at the state farmer's market. Later that day, you pick yours up at their warehouse. It costs $15 for the regular basket and you never know exactly what will be in there. I love it because it is really cheap, really fresh, and you get the sort of surprise element. I think it's fun to bring it home, lay it all out and then meal plan based on what you get....which is A LOT!!

The top picuture is all the stuff from last week: cantaloupe, mango, eggplant, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, bananas, apples, onions, plums, and zucchini (I tried to spell that three times before resorting to spell check)

Below is all the stuff from this week's basket: lettuce, plum tomatoes, red onions, green onions, apples, pears, bananas, broccoli, cucumbers, red potatoes, an acorn squash, and an avacado. There were bell peppers in there, but I used the trade-out table and took more cucumbers instead.

And when they have unusual things in there (like the eggplant and acorn squach) they e-mail recipes to go along with them. If you live in the area, and are interested, please give them a try!

Zoe and the Bus

I put Zoe on the bus for the first time this morning. She has been riding the bus from school to day care in the afternoon, but this was her first morning "from-the-house" bus ride. She was a bit confused, but did just fine. Most mornings I enjoyed walking in with her. It was a sweet time for us, but there was the occasional morning when Zoe would pitch a fit that 3 year olds anywhere could be proud of. That was not such a sweet time. So her teacher and I agreed saying good-bye to me at the house and riding in with the other kids might be better for her. Its not like its a normal bus and she has to walk to the bus stop. She rides the special needs bus that picks her up at our house and has an attendant riding along. The bus driver even called to introduce herself before she came for the first time. I'm sure it will all be great!

And evenually I'll get used to getting Zoe up and ready and out at the street by 6:50am, right?

Summer Summary

Zoe has been back at school for a few weeks now, so I guess I should get around to posting about how we spent our first summer vacation!

We had a super time. Zoe had a nanny in the mornings, which was really like a vacation for me during the whole morning routine. I really, really miss the nanny! And then Zoe still went to day care in the afternoons for socialization, so it was really a best-of-both-worlds situation.

We tried to make the most of the weekends. We spent lots of time at the pool.


Can you believe how much she's grown since last summer?!



And one of the best decisions we made was getting season passes to Six Flags. I think you'd be surprised how much there is to do for little kids. We'll keep enjoying this on the weekends until they close in October.

We took our summer vacation right before the 4th. We spent it in Jeff's hometown in Florida, so we got to visit family and play on the beach. I'm embarrassed about the tiny number of pictures I took on vacation, but here are a few. This is the view from our motel.

And one of the coolest things was all the turtle tracks. It was nesting season, so every morning we would go out to find dozens of new tracks.


More soon, promise.

Oh my Gosh, a referral!!

Its been ages since someone I knew personally received a referral from China, but it happened today!! If you want to see a cutie, please wander on over to their blog and congratulate the proud parents.

http://peacefulpanda.blogspot.com/

Zoe and the Garden

Earlier this spring, we planted our garden, which has since become overrun with weeds. I think the only survivors will be the corn and the pumpkin. We have time to plant again, but with the heat.....well, shopping at publix is more enticing than weeding my garden. We should have plenty of pumpkin, though.

Here's Zoe "helping" on planting day.

Zoe and Pre-K

Shortly after Zoe's 3rd birthday she was allowed to start Special Needs Pre-K at the local elementary school. Age 3 is when the kids who need some extra help switch from the state's early intervention program to the school system.

She only had about 6 weeks before the end of the year, but I think it was GREAT! She'll have the same teachers for the next 2 years. And because it is a special needs class, the class size is very small. Next year, they will start with 8 students, 2 teachers, and a para-pro. Also, the speech therapist comes in regularly. When she turns 4 she'll be able to go full days. Until then, she takes the bus to the day care at noon. We still see private therapists, but I think the school made a big difference in just that short time.
The picture at the top is the morning of her first day with her big-girl back pack. The pictures below are of her getting off the bus the first day. The day care ladies were nice enough to take them for me. It still kills me that my baby rides a school bus. She has to have a booster seat, for crying out loud!

The Birthday Photo

This is from the only set of photos taken on Zoe's actual birthday. My big girl is now 3 years old! You can also see her present from Mommy and Daddy. We got the wagon for our walks because she's tired of the stroller, but doesn't want to walk with us at night. The wagon, for some reason, is a whole lot of fun. More room to spread out, maybe? Definitely more room for snacks!

Cheeeeeeeese!

This is the first photo in which Zoe intentionally smiled. Next we will work on smiling AND looking at the camera.

She loves her Daddy

Cousin Love

The same moment in time....

From my camera:


From my sister's camera:

The first real haircut!

We took Zoe to a salon for her first real haircut. Since she hates having her hair messed with, and I hate chasing her around the house with a brush in one hand detangling spray in the other, we decided she needed a shorter do. When its short, it only needs a quick fingering to go where it should. I was a little sad because her hair is so very gorgeous. Dark, glossy, thick, and lots of it. I had visions of bows, ribbons, braids, and such. Eh, well. She's happier and oh, so cute!

Before:


After:

More Snow!

February brought more snow, and I think this is the day my mail truck slid off the road. I had to have a tow truck pull me out of a ditch so I could keep delivering mail.

January 2010

The month of January can be condensed into one small post. I barely took any pictures, and I can't remember much after so long!


Obviously there was snow, which is always a big deal 'round these parts. The only other thing I remember about the month is that Zoe started seeing new therapists. I am very, very happy we made the switch from the state's early intervention to private care. I would have seen both, but the state dropped us when they found out we were seeing private therapists. Now we pay less (co-pays) and the quality of care is superior. Not to mention there has been a huge reduction in paperwork, interviews, etc.

The speech therapist actually gets her to TALK, which is AWESOME. I swear I think I'm doing the same things with her, but she responds so well to whatever the therapist is doing. And the occupational therapist has taken Zoe's sensory issues into account and explained how we can work with her to better facilitate learning. LOVE THEM!