Zoe's Crib

Kiddo Art on Flickr

Mama — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:07:24 +0000

Between home and school, Zoe has been churning out art like no other. I’m not good about rotating the displayed art, nor am I good about writing down the dates for each creation, especially our personal favorites. By the time I get around to organizing the massive piles, I can only make a rough guess as to the general timeframe in which I think she made said art. In an effort to minimize the madness, I’m taking advantage of a couple of technology tools: Flickr + iPhone. Since I almost always have my phone in my hand (sad, but true), I’ll be documenting some of her masterpieces with a quick snapshot and then uploading to our Flickr photostream (which I haven’t used since 2006!). This way, I can quickly jot down the title and date of each artwork, as well as share with family and friends what our budding artist is up to! As my dad says, “It’s killing two birds with one stone.” So as to not keep you waiting in suspense, I’ve already uploaded a few. Realistically, we can’t keep all of her art, but before we recycle anything we first think if there is anyone who would appreciate her work. If you see something you like, speak up!

Facebook posts

Mama — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:43:36 +0000

I have such a backlog of posts that I keep meaning to write. In the meantime, I thought I’d compile a list of all the ZoZo-related Facebook snippets I posted in the last 7 months.

February 14
Zoe’s valentines for her classmates. Each uniquely handcrafted with love

March 1
Kiddo walked into the room saying, “makes you wonder…” Yeah, it does.

March 9
Nothing like starting you day off with a little bit of Thriller. (Zoe was trying to reach something in the bathroom so she stacked two step stools on top of each other and nearly took a spill. And Thriller was playing on the radio while this happened.)

April 17
Kiddo is supposed to be napping, but I hear her sining ABBA’s Super Tooper

April 22
Mike and kiddo are singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic…not sure what to make of it.

May 7
How is it possible to talk nonstop from the moment you wake up? Doesn’t your throat get dry? Is your tongue tired?

May 7
My first Mother’s Day gift from the kiddo

May 15
Ugh, have to hide the new shoes from the kiddo

May 22
So yesterday the kiddo watched part of Top Gun with me. Tonight, as I was reading books to her at bedtime, she told me to rename one of the characters “Iceman”

July 7
Kiddo told she was going to make a website today.

July 9
Photos from Sarah & Eddie’s Wedding

July 10
Photos from our camping trip in Newport

August 14
In a conversation I had with the kiddo about going somewhere, I thought she said she wanted to go alone.
Me: “You want to go by yourself?”
Kiddo: “No!?! I can’t drive myself!”
(Sigh) So glad our 3-yr old already views us as just a pair of chauffeurs.

August 18
So sad to hear the kiddo say she misses her baba. Just one more day as a single parent

August 19
Kiddo’s class drew pictures and then made a collage. Hers are the three people drawn in red: baba, mama, and Aunt Heather

August 31
Kiddo: What are we doing at the post office?
Me: I have to mail a letter.
Kiddo: I wan to mail the letter Z!

Ugly love

Mama — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:56:57 +0000

Zoe and I share a love for Uglydolls, and when I introduced them to my friend Tony, he generously added to her small collection. I took two videos of her discovering her new friend, but this one shows more of her personality.

P.S. I love these things so much the dog even has his own doll

Mommy and me

Mama — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:42:43 +0000

It seems that I rarely have my picture taken with Zoe and when I do, there is usually something wrong with my face, pose, whatever. Here are two I’m marginally satisfied with enough to post.

Are you just kidding?

Mama — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:47:31 +0000

Zoe is just starting to catch on to the concept of kidding around. Often, if we day something that doesn’t seem quite right, or if we punctuate a statement with a laugh or smile, Zoe looks up at us with a grin and asks, “Are you just kidding?”. Even if I say “no”, she declares, “You’re just kidding!”. She has yet to crack jokes, but I’m sure that’s just around the corner. As her brain develops more, it’s harder an harder to pull the wool over her eyes. Which reminds me, she’s been trying to understand sayings. I occasionally tell her I will be “right there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”. I always get a studious look, followed by a “what?”. Mike even tried to show her a video of a lamb’s tail shaking to illustrate the quickness of the idea. It was a valiant effort, but she was much too wrapped up in the lamb itself. Ah well…she’ll get it soon enough.

MLK Day in Washington Park

Mama — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:42:14 +0000

Mike had MLK Day off from work, so in the afternoon, we headed to Washington Park for a short hike. We ended up going on a very short hike; Zoe was much too distracted to actually move beyond the Forestry Center and the Vietnam Vets Memorial.

Catch-up part 4: December

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:51:37 +0000

This is the last of a 4-post series:

December was an incredibly busy month for us, and yet, I feel as though we should have more pictures to show for it. I was particularly busy in scrambling to get two of Zoe’s Christmas presents made in time: a dollhouse and a knitted giraffe. I’m not sure I’d do that again; it didn’t leave a whole lot of time to do any actual work! Speaking of Christmas, she made out like a bandit. She was the lucky recipient of so many gifts, that she actually stopped opening presents (she had about 5 left unopened) and ran from room to room trying to figure out what to play with first. Now fast forward to the end of January, when I picked her up from school one day. She said to me, “Mom, can we go to the toy store? I don’t have enough toys.” Before I could respond, she pointed her index finger at me, furrowed her eyebrows and said, “And books are not toys.” Ugh!

She patiently awaits for Aunt Heather and Grandma Stout to arrive before she can open her presents. She amazingly did so with little complaint.

One of the best presents I found for her was this tree house tent. Every day she asked someone if they wanted to come to her tree house for a tea party. Aunt Heather was a willing participant, but it is amazingly spacious inside.

This was taken after I ran a half marathon up at Adidas North America HQ on an incredibly windy day. Now whenever I get ready to go for a run, Zoe asks me, “Are you going to run in a race?”

Zoe loves art. Stick anything, whether it’s a writing utensil, scrap pieces of paper, string, ribbon, whatever, and she’ll create something for you. At school she’s constantly asking her teachers if she can paint or draw. We were out eating breakfast one morning, when we realized that her drawing had evolved from scribbles and circles to actually adjoining shapes and lines to create a more complex image. It blew us away, and luckily she let us snap a photo.

Catch up part 3: November

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:50:27 +0000

This is the third of a 4-post series:

On Wednesdays we usually head down to the waterfront for a 3-mile jog with my running group, and then we head into the science museum for some play. The beginning of November was unusually sunny, so we decided to eat our snacks out on the waterfront, where we snapped this photo:

I bought this silly hat at the dollar store, and now Zoe calls herself the turkey queen whenever she wears it. I had almost forgotten about it on actual Turkey Day

We were checking out the new H&M store when Zoe spotted Santa. She insisted we go down to see him. I wasn’t sure what she had in mind, but she patiently waited in line. Then she dashed up to him and willingly sat in his lap. This photo is the complete opposite of my experience with my first visit to Santa.

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to a tree farm on Sauvie Island to pick out our first Christmas tree. While not so helpful in picking out the tree (she wanted to get the small 2-3 footers), she insisted on helping us out with cutting it down then carting it back to the car.

We also took a couple of funny videos from this month, but I’m having a little trouble uploading them. I’ll try again later.

Catch-up part 2: October

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:49:13 +0000

This is the second of a 4-post series:

Zoe’s personality is becoming more and more apparent to us. She can definitely be a nutball, and October was no exception. She’s always making silly faces, and we never know what we’re going to find when we walk into her room.

In keeping with tradition, we headed to the pumpkin patch with our friends Billy and Becky. Zoe and their son Riley not only had fun running through the pumpkins, but also with each other. To this day, they get excited to see one another and then immediately ask when they’ll get to play together again.

More pumpkin patch photos are posted online with photos of Zoe’s first year trick-or-treating.

Catch-up part 1: September

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:48:29 +0000

I knew it had been awhile since I last posted, but I hadn’t realized that more than 5 months since have gone by. It really is true: kids grow up in the blink of an eye. Zoe is only 2 years old, but it seems not that long ago that she was 2 days old.

It probably goes without saying, but a lot has happened since I last posted. I’ll just recap month by month:

We headed to Silver Falls for some hiking over Labor Day weekend, and for the first time, Zoe sat in the backpack frame, kindly given to us from Uncle Aaron.

She also painted quite a bit, including some with the help of her good friend Iris.

I think this was also about the time she started to get into dress-up clothes and pretending to be fairies, princesses, and ballerinas.

And she helped me pull up a random carrot growing in the front yard next to our driveway.

But most importantly, September was the month she discovered her love for BACON!

This is the first of a 4-post series: