Vacation with Zoe

I've taken a little time off of the blog. Zoe went with me to my yearly work event in Kansas City and had a great time. She had a fun babysitter while I was over at the convention center working and I got to see her periodically throughout the day. We were there from Saturday the 21st through Wednesday the 24th and then had the rest of the week and holiday weekend off. 10 whole days with Zoe - so much fun! She was such a good girl, I am so proud of her.

There are new pictures in her photo album of the trip and days home with her as well as new videos of her in Kansas City and later at home.

She's still just taking a few unassisted steps once in a while, but mostly she cruises along furniture in the living room. She crawls when needed, but prefers to hold on to things and walk. She likes playing with her Little Peoples and large Lego's. She also enjoys putting toys inside of other toys and containers. She'll take her lego's apart and place them in specific spaces around where she's sitting and then organize them (we haven't figured out her organization method yet).

On Tuesdays, Zoe and her daddy watch motorcycle races. Yesterday, she stood at the tv and watched the laps and made noises like the bikes as they were going around the track. Hopefully next week, we'll get video of her doing this.

She shakes her head "no" everytime she hears the word "no" or "don't" - even if it's on TV. She'll also do it while she's playing and sorting out blocks. She carries on conversations with herself and shakes her head in response. I'd really like to know what she's saying and thinking.

She loves going into her bedroom and cruising along the dresser to the chair, around to the corner shelf. She laughs and thinks she's doing something really big. If either of us goes in there to do something, she's hot on our tail, laughing all the way down the hall, following us in. Typically, her play area is the living room since all of her toys are there.

She got a stroller for Expo and loved going for rides in it. She also loves going outside. She points toward the door and leans and groans while you hold her, trying to get to the door. It's very evident that she wants to go outside. She usually gets her way and we go out to either the front porch or back deck. When we go out to the back deck, we have to go through the "kitty room" - which she also LOVES. She says her own little word for "Kitty" - which sounds a lot like "Kitty" and gets all excited when she sees them (and gets all kinds of mad when you say bye bye to them and shut the door). I foresee us needing a special lock on that door when she can reach the door handle on her own.

Of course, she loves her dog, too - she says a word that sounds like "dog" - it's more like "gaw". She likes to pick at her nails while she's trying to rest on the couch - of course, Lannie doesn't like this and whines when she does it. We usually have to step in and either tell Lannie to move or tell Zoe to stop... and then Zoe's head starts shaking "no". Lannie is a very good dog and does not bite at Zoe - she snarls and tries to intimidate Zoe when she's getting picked on - but is ultimately afraid of her. Don't worry, Pa - we're always right there to intervene if necessary - your little girl wont' get hurt, we promise.

Now, go see her new pictures in the May photo album and her new videos at Dropshot.com/ZoeMarlene - use the links over on the right.