Settling...back from vacation

We returned last night from our vacation: San Diego, Hawaii (Oahu) and San Francisco Bay Area. The house is a little quiet and we are jet-lagged, cranky, and struggling to reinstate routine. But it does help to look at our photos and remember the good times (and silly ones, too). You can see our whole album of August from here, ending with the photos from our vacation (Baby Aria -- you are here too!) :


In addition, we have three videos of Zoë being Zoë: singing, dancing, and being entertaining.




Today, Zoe made a nice big tower and castle. She built a very thoughtful structure of stairs "so that the Prince could go out... you know, to go to the market to buy food or something." Ah... precious. I find it endearing that in Zoë's imaginary world, the Prince still has to leave (via most fantastic staircases, I might add) to do his shopping. I suppose even the truly exceptional have to return to the mundane sometimes... off to unpacking!

Ballet (in Dec)

Last week was observation week at Zoë's ballet class. Of course, she was a bit more distracted (and so were the other girls) than usual, but it makes for good TV! I posted a few favorite video clips here and some photos, but visit the link for lots lots more (mainly videos).

From Ballet

We are getting ready for our visit to CA. Family: see you soon! Friends: hope to see you all soon too! Lots of love and happy holidays (since it's unlikely you'll get another post until 2012! Woohooo...)

Holidays (yes, that includes Halloween)

We have entered the Holiday season. While my yoga classes have helped keep me sane by reminding me to focus on what's important and meaningful... life is still hectic after all. Not enough time to write a blog, for instance. However, I did upload pictures of Halloween and Fall splendor (including a video of fun at the pumpkin farm with Grandma and Grandpa). Here they are:

From Fall fun -- 2011

From Fall fun -- 2011

Some non-pictoral updates:

• Zoë has been doing a nice job with potty training! She has a sticker chart and everyday there are more stickers and more successes on the potty. But one big thing is that she doesn't seem to have much of a problem with having accidents and hiding it from us... and then being very nonchalant and silly. I feel like we hit some boundary or potty training -- this is our current challenge. And then, with Holiday travels... I'm nervous about going backwards.
• Zoë's verbal abilities are simply amazing! The other day she sang "We wish you a merry Christmas" song all the way through. I think they are practicing for the holiday party (which we are sadly missing by heading to CA early) and she holds a paper in front of her and sings very seriously. It's really cute! (I hope to capture by camera one of these days).
  
• I am also really impressed with her observational skills. The other day she said "I see moon! But Sun's up too. That's interesting. " So we talked about how moon and sun can be in the sky together, but not when moon is full. She later explained that to her Dad.
• Zoë still loves her ballet class. She's got her piqué's and curtsey's down!
  

A Father's Day Story.

I know! It is a real rare occurrence that I post twice in a month! But... in honor of Father's Day and as a gift to our fathers near and far, here are some Zoë-isms.

First, Zoë loves our balcony (our oasis, we call it!), where she likes to run around, blow bubbles and look at the moon. Here are several videos:

Saying Sayonara to the moon with a special bedtime dance--


Encore!


Blowing Bubbles with Daddy (the long version!)


More blowing bubbles with Daddy (but shorter...)(the long version!)


And we end with a short story about Zoë and her daddy. After a long day of park, shopping, cupcakes, and running around, we still have grocery shopping to do but Zoë is cranky and in desperate need of a "serious" (i.e., not in the carseat or stroller and uninterrupted) nap. So Matt (aka Daddy) drops Zoë and me home and goes to the store (across the street and visible from our 9th floor windows). After entering the home, Zoë grows concerned: "Daddy?" I explain that Daddy is at to the store and when she awakes from nap, Daddy would be home. She goes to her favorite place, the window seat (that is only a few inches off the floor, and therefore only a "seat" to Zoë) where she likes to sit and look out the window. But she keeps repeating "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy!! DADDYYYY!" She begins to grow hysterical-- banging on the window with her little palms and yelling "DDDAAAAAADDDDYYYYYYYY!!!!!" so loud that I am convinced he can hear from the store. At first I let her scream, thinking it is her way of getting out that last ounce of energy before crashing to slumber. But not so... after around 5-10 minutes of intensifying concern for her father, I decide it was time to call Daddy on the phone and make sure he is ok (did Zoë have some premonition?!) and hope that his voice could calm Zoë down. Daddy talks to Zoë on the phone. After the niceties, Zoë reveals her cause of concern: "Nana! Nana!" (her favorite food, of course, is banana and we did tell her that we ran out and would get this from the store). So she needs to remind her father of this important grocery item! Zoë settles down and takes her nap, and when Daddy returns and she wakes up, she happily eats her banana.

Hours pass. We are making dinner and we hear "Daddy!!! DADDY!!!! DAAAADDDDYYY!!!" -- Zoë is back to slamming the window and yelling. "But I am here", says Daddy. Zoë smiles and shakes her head and returns to her new pastime-- "DAAAAAADDDDYYYYYYY!!!!"

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See? Daddies are indeed very important! For coming home, for getting bananas, for blowing bubbles and ... just because.

Happy Fathers Day.