Monday, June 24, 2013

Zoe Aurora is One!


Zoe turned one on Saturday.  Oh my big girl.  This morning my weekly e-mail was titled "Your Toddler" rather than "Your Baby" and it made me tear up a little.  Of course I still think she's a baby - heck, I still think Leo is a baby - but speaking of toddling - the kid is walking.  It's not her main mode of travel - but she will take steps without assistance if she is inspired to do so.  Leo wasn't walking at his first birthday.  On the other hand Leo had a good repertoire of words at one year (even complicated ones like "Talula") and Zoe only has two or three might-be-words.  Most notably "haaaaa" which is "hi."


She is quick crawler and while she still cries if she feels that I am walking away from her or leaving the room, she is quite brave about creating her own distance from me.  I cannot keep her in a room without the assistance of a door or a gate and when I took her to the wading pool at Sister Cities park she just cruised away until she was on the other side of the pool.  She didn't even look around to make sure I was still there.  




















Zoe is still nursing several times a day, but isn't quite as nurse-centric as Leo was.  Leo would never pass up an opportunity to nurse - which was great because it was an easy way to comfort or quiet him anytime.  Zoe sometimes will accept it as a comfort measure, but she's quite in tune with when I'm just hoping it will keep her quiet.  She naturally responds by being as loud as possible.  She rarely nurses in public because she doesn't want to miss anything.  She's also taken to squirming and arching her back to force me to put her down when I'm trying to keep her in my lap.

[Warning: if you scare easily, you may want to sit down before watching this.]



She loves music and she loves dancing.  She loves it when Leo makes her laugh.  She likes remote controls.  Her favorite song is "Good Night" by Laurie Berkner and wants me to make every stuffed animal sing it.  She will shake the toy at me to let me know she wants it to sing and when I sing she is so happy and then kisses it good night (usually with a lot of tongue).



She loves swinging at the park and I can see her dying to run around and climb along with Leo.  She can go astounding stretches without a nap, but still easily falls asleep in the stroller/carseat/carrier when we are on the go.  She hates having anything on her head - so sun hats are not much help.



She mimics everything.  Sounds, movements, faces.  When we ask her to make "ojitos" it slays me - she squints her eyes and makes the funniest face.  She loves being outside.



So what did we do for her birthday?  We attended a summer concert.  But not just any concert: Dar Williams, which is a summer tradition for our family.  She loves a picnic and she loves music, so she felt right at home.  She even converted our cooler into a lounge chair.


We sang her happy birthday with her very own cake pop.


This was the best picture I got of her with it - but I suppose it's appropriate because she was surprisingly underwhelmed by the cake pop.  


Dar, on the other hand, she found very impressive.  Both kids stayed up dancing until ten o'clock and fell asleep on the way home in the car, but not before Dar led us in a family rendition of "If I Had A Hammer" - which is a family favorite, so it felt especially perfect to end the night.


Here is the post with a video of Leo dancing at a Dar concert a Zoe's age.  Here is Leo at a Dar concert last year:



And here are Leo and Zoe dancing at this year's Dar concert:



And just for kicks, here is a post from 2009 - back when jb and I went to a Dar concert with a pitcher of Sangria.  Oh man, how times have changed!

3 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Zoe! I love her little toddle walk!

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  2. Stacey6/25/2013

    That video of Leo and Zoe terrifying people is hilarious. I mean...SCARY! ACK! BOO!

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  3. Stacey6/25/2013

    Also: Jonah doesn't have many words yet either as we approach 13 months. "Mamamamamama" usually means he wants something. "Daaaaaaa-DEE!" is usually Daddy. And "Nay nay nay nay" is a definite no. Hilarious.


    I think we may also be working on "OK!" -- so it's coming. As is walking, but I'm not too worried about that considering he just started crawling in mid-May. :)

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