High Tech Communication

Zoe's not much of a telephone talker yet.  Oh, she'll play with the phone, press buttons, pretend to be talking to people...but when an actual human being is on the other end, she totally clams up!  It goes something like this..."Zoe, say hi to Daddy."

  "Noooo!" and either hides her face or runs away.

So the alternative, interactive way for Daddy to communicate with Zoe while he is on the road is the webcam (or ichat.)  She livens right up when she sees Daddy on the computer!  Of course, she doesn't quite get that he can't see everything...she typically runs out of camera view or she wants him to follow her around so he can play with her.  I try not to walk the laptop around following her because I feel like I'm carrying a floating head! It's just weird.

Sorry for the grainy pics...I was trying not to use the flash so you could see Brian too!

Here they are - happy to see each other!

Here she is showing Daddy some stylin' dance moves!

A hug and a kiss goodnight...

Remembering: New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve 2008, Brian was away in Washington doing a New Year's Eve show and I had taken the day off from work, so Zoe and I spent the day together. It was kind of a girly-girl day.

We went to have her 3-year-old pictures taken, spent most of the day shopping, and we ate out. I let her play a lot at the mall's play areas, let her ride the mall's train several times, let her watch movies on my iphone while I shopped.

It was a long day and she sure was tired when I put her to bed. Apparently, she had a hard time winding down and called out for me about an hour later. I went to see what was wrong and she told me that she needed to sit in the rocking chair, which is Zoe-speak for I want to be cuddled.

So I picked her up and sat her on my lap in the rocking chair. She cuddled up with me and laid her head on my chest as I touched my cheek to her forehead. We sat there in the darkness while we rocked. I gently stroked her hair and rubbed her back.

I whispered to her and asked if she had fun today. She nodded her head. I asked her if she had fun taking pictures and she nodded yes. I asked her if she had fun riding the train, she nodded yes. I asked her if she had fun shopping, she nodded yes.

She then looked up at me and whispered in her sweet little voice, "Did you have fun with me today?"

Yes, baby, I did!

So there I sat holding on to my sweet, sweet baby wishing we could stay like this forever.

I still get teary-eyed thinking of that moment.

I wanna go with you!

Brian is getting ready for a week in Canada...he's leaving the house at 3:30am! Ouch!

Zoe's in a phase right now, she wants to go wherever we go...to the mailbox, to get the newspaper, into the garage, into the backyard, into into the bathroom!  Wherever we go, we hear this little voice saying, "I wanna go too!" 

So Brian's leaving for work...do ya think Zoe wants to go too?

A perfect princess palace.

Zoe got a fantastic birthday present...a princess adventure hut! It was such a great gift that she actually got two!! Thanks Cary & Tami!
This little video makes me giggle!

3 years + 1 month

Happy 3rd Birthday Zoe!

Having a December birthday is hard...it's always a busy time, it's too close to Christmas, Zoe's Daddy is usually away on tour, it's too close to mommy's birthday and so on.  So to make Zoe's birthday special, we celebrated her birthday with a party in January. 

Here's a few highlights from the party...

Zoe still has a lot to learn about sharing...no one could play with the one and only pot in her play kitchen.  Of course, that's what the babies wanted most.  Here's the little brat swiping the pot away from baby Isaac.  (Baby Vincent lost the fight earlier - poor thing!)

Zoe is as long as the slide...I guess it's time to get a new one!

There was one toy casualty from the party...the bubble maker got sand stuck in the on/off button.  So the maker got stuck in the "on" position until it died.  I guess we'll have to get a new one of those too!!

Here's where the sand came from...

We don't have the room/space for a traditional "hit with a stick" pinata, so I got a "pull the strings" pinata.  The kids pull one string at a time until the one magical string is pulled that releases all the goodies that sends kids into a tizzy!  Zoe pulled the first string.  Then Kyle came up and pulled all the rest...oops!  Oh well, that didn't go so well.  Kyle did leave the magical last string hanging and Zoe got the honors to open up the pinata!

I don't think the kids minded too much about the pinata problem once all the candy and toys came flying out!  Grace H. kindly helps Zoe get some candy!

Zoe has been wanting a "Cars" birthday for several months now-she saw a picture of one at Baskin-Robbins back in September and never forgot about it.  Well it's not an ice cream cake, but Zoe was excited just the same.  Of course, I could have given her a vat of butter cream frosting and she would have been in high heaven!

Zoe got a little shy when "Happy Birthday" was being sung!

Zoe got her hands on one of "Cars" decorations (Guido) hanging from the chandelier and decided to use it to shovel frosting into her mouth (notice the yellow frosting on the car.)  Also notice that one of the "arms" is missing.  Not quite sure what happened to it.  It could have fallen off when it got pulled down, it could have fallen off in the cake, could have fallen to the floor.  Most likely, Zoe ate it.  

Note to self:  do NOT give in to the doe eyes of a little girl begging to open a present when other kids are still at the party...because just one turns into all of them.  And all the other kids want to "help" her open them.  They got so excited that Zoe even got pushed out of opening her own presents!!  Ah, the exuberance of kids!

Jack got a time-out...and he was no where near the presents!

Here's the 3-year olds...Nicholas, Kyle, Zoe & Grace R.

Can you believe that Grace is only about a month older than Zoe??

A sweet birthday kiss from Kyle.

New year...a new frontier

With the new year, I'm resolving to try something new...a blog!  So I'm starting this blog in the hopes to remember and share all the funny, smart or heart-warming things that Zoe says or does.  I'm just learning how all this stuff works, so be patient please...before you (or I) know it, I'll be a whiz at it, I hope.