We love FALL!

*** NOTE: while we are keeping up Zoë's blog still, we have expanded the Zych blog with the impending expanding family. Please bookmark our main blog and check here often. You can see the latest (ha ha... that means, whenever I manage to write anything) about Zoë and Bugaboo #2 (check soon for info about our ultrasound this week... Boy??? Girl???). The top tabs separate their separate blogs. ***

There are few times that we really enjoy living in Maryland and Fall is such a time. Almost every weekend there's something wonderful to experience-- apple picking, pumpkin patch complete with hayrides, lots of baking... and the sounds of music.

Many months ago, when we were in California, I introduced Zoë to one of my favorite movies of all time: The Sound of Music. Happily, Zoë also loved it and many of the songs stuck in her head... on repeat and only about five given words. It was first adorable, then made me cringe slightly, then... well, it was downright painful. But, I know that someday we will miss hearing this particular rendition. Enjoy the video!



Here's our album of Fall pictures, including Matt's birthday dinner where Zoë was the beautiful Indian waitress (and I was the Chef). Check back here soon, we will add the Halloween photos from this week, at least!

In honor of Nana

Blogs are not books and they don't usually have dedications, but permit me this once to dedicate our blog to Grandma Florence (Nana): To the classiest lady with her twinkling eyes and big heart full of love and life, we love you and miss you. Hope that your eternity is filled with joy and peace.

Here are some of our stories, of recent...
(Sorry: Because of the large number of videos & photos, the page is a bit slow...)

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"Energy"

I underestimated Zoë's sudden abilities on her bike and made the mistake of taking her out for a leisurely ride (not even wearing my sneakers or work out clothes!) I ended up sweaty and chasing her down the trail yelling "STAY TO THE RIGHT!" and "Red light. RED Light. RED LIGHT!!!!" (our code for stop NOW!)

Somewhere on the trail, she got very upset with my constant "advising". Um, that's my job, kid! To keep you safe. But there was pouting and some scolding: "I'm never going to talk to you again, Mom. Never, never, never. Then you can't tell me anything. Until my birthday. Don't talk to me till then." 

There wasn't much of a chance, anyway, since she rode off in a huff, me in chase once again... until we got to a bridge:  "Mommy, can we go that way?" So, back on track and on a road with fewer speeding, triathlon-types and then we suddenly were friends again. We both could relax on this smaller, friendlier trail. Suddenly, she stops and waits for me and then holds my hand and covers it with kisses all over and says: "You know how I yelled at you before? But I still love you and now I want to give you lots of kisses. Because I know you were being a good mommy. We are buddies, right?" True. The rest of our ride was peaceful.

Then we hit a big hill, she tells me: "Oh Wow! I just got some energy! I think it's because my food just broke down and got digested. You know, when it breaks down it gives you energy!"

 

Here's a 10 second video of her, before I worried that I will get too far behind (sorry for the shaking-- it's hard to run and video!)
For comparison, here she was a few months ago!    

 

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"Dance with abandon"

Sometimes it is the small stuff... today I caught Zoë dancing like she usually does, with utter abandon (and a lot of turns). Time for Kathak? 

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"Sheep and Wool Festival"

Who knew? Every May, all things sheep and lamb congregate about 20 miles from us in a "Sheep and Wool Festival". It's a rather strange hodge-podge of people and events, including the wrangling, showing, and sheering of sheep, ... eating, drinking and being entertained in with farm-fresh fare, ... but for knitters and yarn lovers, the best part is the showcasing of new yarns, wool, and fiber. We went with little expectations, and had some fun! 

Zoë got a sample bag of raw, shorn wool. This wool would get cleaned, washed and dried, before being made into yarn. We saw some people taking their cleaned wool and spinning it into the thin threads with would be mutliplied into thicker wool and then dyed, and then... made into something awesome, no doubt!

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"Ms. Nelson is Missing"

This is a favorite story that I remember from my childhood. One day, I heard Zoë telling "her students" this story. (Even funnier is that they learned the story from a tape-recording at school, so she says "beep, page X", since the recording has those markers). 

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 "Whooosh"

We went to a carnival fair with a set-up "moonbounce" (if you aren't in the know: these are all the rage in the toddler scene: giant inflatable jungle gyms). While Zoë has had lots of exposure now to them, there are times when she charges in and then requires a bit of help to climb to the top, still. In this particular one, the lady warned us that it's for 5+ and we might have to go in and bail her out. But ... tickle me pink -- Look at her go! 

Actually she climbed faster than I could react and video-- so I only have the part where she enjoys the slide back down, the prize for her efforts.

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"Living in the Moments"

In between school and the "have-to's", we manage some "want-to's". Know this quote?  

Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. 

-- Dr. Seuss

Three Little Pigs and Lunchboxes

This video needs no introduction. Okay... maybe a tiny introduction. In this video, Ms. Zoë relates the famous "Three Little Pigs" fairy tale with a slight variation. While lunchboxes are also rectangles, they may not be quite the same as bricks, structurally speaking. Even so... she's a natural story-teller and oh! so cute :) Enjoy!

Also, here are some photos from recent days, including visits from the fabulous Aria, her parents, and her grandparents (though I was not a very good photographer for their visit -- too busy enjoying, of course! So perhaps I will leave it to them to donate their photos please *hint, hint*!), ... cherry blossoms (barely caught those in our crazy Spring weather), ... and my trip to Monterey, CA for the HEAD meeting.

Zoe Town

Come visit Zoë Town, a magical world created by Miss Zoë Zych. In this exclusive video, she shares her vision for her special town. Come ride the trains! Shop at the one and only J-store! Meet the mayor-police-officer-chef! We welcome all visitors.

Fine print: Must bring your imagination. Food is available, but often takes days to arrive via Peapod--  a Giant Food Store food distribution vehicle. Town is liable to vanish at the end of play time, when we ALWAYS clean up our toys...

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!

March madness

The weather is weird as we transition into Spring. The poor flowers and cherry blossoms, I fear, bear the brunt of this. We had snow! followed by sunny, warm temperatures, and now... back to icy temperatures with lots of sun. The daffodils have begun to show their bright faces and the dark cherry blossoms (or plum, maybe?) are blooming, as well as magnolias. I think the cherry blossoms are correctly more hesitant... but can they wait until late March/April (when family and tourists will flock to the scene)? It remains to be seen.

In our home, Zoë continues to entertain us with her antics. Mainly she's testing that the boundaries haven't shifted much since she was two... are clothes still necessary? Can I say no and then yes twenty times without incurring parental wrath? Is bedtime still in effect? When we are getting ready for school, can I run and hide 6 times without sending Mommy into exasperated sighs? etc. etc. etc. We are still fighting to maintain sanity, rules, and our previous hair condition (i.e. by not pulling out each strand in frustration, not going gray and white over an evening filled with gazillions of mini tantrums, etc.) The past week has been better. Although, this picture is what resulted when Mommy tried to get herself dressed while simultaneously trying to get Zoë to wear her sweater... you can see the (often funny, yet challenging) end product.





Last weekend we headed to the Natural History Museum (it's embarrassing that we waited three years to visit this gem! When it is so close!) We spent only a few hours and there was a lot to see -- we figure we will visit again soon. This time we went to see the dinosaurs (on left Zoë is making the RAAAAAAWWWWWR face), the gems (pretty pretty things!) and we went to visit the Butterfly Pavilion but they were resting (already closed).


Also, Zoë's ballet class read and danced the Frog Princess. The costumes were too adorable and I (nor any other mother's as far as I could tell!) could resist peeking and taking photos through the glass. Studious Zoë was awesomely focused on the task at hand, which means that all I have in my pictures are the backs of her head. It took great restraint to not break into the classroom with the camera. Luckily observation week is coming up and I can promise a video and flurry of apt photos from that. Stay tuned...

In honor of new weather and new age, we took an interview with recently turned three Zoë -- we hope you will enjoy and find amusement. Till our next post...

Happy 2012 ... so far!

We have had a hectic but fun beginning to 2012. The pictures on left are from our visit to "Choochoo Mall", our treat after spending the weekend car-shopping.... more about that later.



This last week, I went (and returned from) Austin for the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference. It was ... fun/depressing/overwhelming/busy/useful/stimulating/... anyway. Zoë and Matt stayed here and kept themselves busy. Even in that week I was gone, I was surprised to hear Zoë's language getting more and more complex and was shocked with what she has "recorded" in her brain. For example, we bought a new car (long story... ) at the VOB car dealer and Matt has had to go to get something fixed. Later today she asked "Do you need to go to VOB again?" It seems ordinary except that neither Matt nor I realized that we ever referred to the car dealership by name during this discussion. Perhaps at some point we joked that we had a VOB license plate or something, but it was surprising to us that she put these random pieces together to realize that when Daddy goes to get the car fixed it is at VOB.



In this video, she's leading a yoga/ballet/aerobics class... and I catch certain descriptions that are unlikely from her ballet class, but probably more likely from a yoga or walking DVD (those are my go-to's in these cold winter days when outdoor exercise seems uh less than tempting, shall we say...) and possibly also in her daddy's football games? We are considering just video-taping Zoë's impromptu exercise classes and selling to top fitness producers as a side business. After all, she's cute, very energetic (considering it's bedtime), amusing and uses very creative instructive terms like "march and intercept". Too bad we started rolling the tape midway past the best stretches and instructions -- there was so much more! Ah... but for that, you will need to buy the full DVD -- it will make you sweat! It will tone your core muscles (as you laugh away your stress)... oh the possibilities!

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...)

What to do in a hurricane

Now that Irene is here, I'm making my list of what to do in a hurricane:
1. get water, flashlights, and emergency supplies ready,
2. backup all important documents (photos, etc),
3. Until the power goes out, run the A/C, dryer, oven, and all the lights ... that isn't a strict rule but we gotta do laundry and store up some edibles, after all!
4. and most importantly, update the blog!

So things are definitely interesting here in Maryland. We were struck by a historic earthquake earlier this week, and nary the damages have been noted that we now have a hurricane bearing down on us. At least now it looks like Irene will be much meeker in D.C. than in other places (New York, Philadelphia, etc) and also as she moves up the coast there's not much fury left in poor Irene. Still, there's only so much shaking of the windows that ones nerves can take from the 9th floor of a building not accustomed to the full brunt of nature's forces.

So, Zoë is doing fine, although definitely at her wits end being holed up with no way to release her energy. With a toddler's many moods, it is not the hurricane that I fear most. As you see here in this picture, Zoë, herself, is a force with which to be reckoned. But she's doing pretty well under the circumstances. She and her father have made the daring journey downstairs (did I mention that we live on the 9th floor of a building with an electric elevator, which is slated to shut down immediately upon power outages?) to kick around a ball and hopefully run all the sillies out.

She says the most awesome things these days ... like: "First of all, we need to get cupcakes, then we go to the choo choo mall, then we get my ears pierced." Not all her wishes were granted (despite being impressed by her articulation), but she wants her ears pierced to be more like Mommy and Didun, who was visiting past few weeks along with Dadu. You can see that Didun sort of rubbed off on Zoë ... and so did Dadu! But then again... "Dadu's a boy! Zoë's a girl", so the ear-piercing desire still remains. Stay tuned...

Also, it turns out that Zoë is a super hero -- did you know that? So no need to worry about Hurricane Irene! Perhaps this video will convince you that we will be fine. (Ninamashi, this one's for you, especially!)

From july-august2011

In case you find yourselves worrying about us, may we offer some pictures and videos to watch instead? Look at how much fun we have been having -- peach picking, train riding, ... and generally (witnessing Zoë) growing up! Here's a slideshow of our recent fun (those documented by a photo -- there are some videos too -- you might have to click on the link to access those).

Enjoy!

Class is in session

We had a wonderful day today. After school, we went to cupcakes and then used my long-awaiting Living Social coupon for sushi at Sushiko. Zoë was covered in rice attempting to use her special kid-friendly chopsticks. It was really fun to watch her manipulating the chopsticks and stabbing at the rice (Boo hoo-- I forgot my camera today and can only describe in words this scenario! It was picture/video worthy). Then, we went grocery shopping at Whole Foods, which was nicely empty and gave Zoë the chance to run around as she and Daddy ran around finding things on the list. The best part was checking out -- Zoë was too excited when the checkout lights would blink to signal an open register. She was almost uncontainable as she got super-excited and yelled "Mommy Mommy -- blinking! Get ready, Everyone! Get READY!"

But this entry is really about this: Zoë loves school. So much that she doesn't get enough at school. When she comes home, she plays "teacher". I remember doing this too and since I tired of being bossed around by my favorite toddler teacher, I borrowed from my childhood ideas-- setting up her stuffed animals to be her class. She really like that. And is it any wonder that she's a natural teacher? After all, teaching is in her blood (both grandmothers, and aunt!) The funniest part is that she mimics her teacher's mannerisms. She regularly puts us on "time-out" these days. And poor Lamb! She was scolded for falling asleep during class!

Here are some videos of her class (don't you just dig the necklace??? She MADE it. :) ):




Also, another video of "cooking"-- apparently, Zoë's imagination is really exploding these days.



Finally, it seems worth mentioning... today marks a historic day: Osama bin Laden was killed last night and there was much rejoicing. But... as much as I understand the sentiment and appreciate the momentousness and significance of this event, I can't help but wonder... How does this evil man's death bring any peace to us? Don't we become morally corrupt by rejoicing in his death? As much as I want to rejoice in solidarity and unity with the rest of the world, I can't help but feel that hate should not unify us or we are no better than the terrorists. Apparently, I am not alone in this quandary. Anyway, I leave you with these thoughts:

“Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills?” -- Khalil Gibran

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

an Acorn.

Rather than apologizing for the long gap, I will try to share a sampling of evidence that Zoë has grown in the meantime ... One big update is that she is now an Acorn. She has been promoted from "Dragonfly" to "Acorn" and managed to adjust to the new class, teachers, and buddies. She is a TWO-YEAR OLD! No longer a baby... and yet, always my baby :)

Here are some vignettes highlighting other gems of Zoë's "growth":

• "I want Buddha": This may be an old story, but worth documenting in her blog. At the young age of 20 months, she has shown an uncanny affinity to Buddha. I was away at the Swift proposal review, when Matt took her to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner and she pointed to the statue in the corner and clearly showed interest and said "Buddha". This was interesting, since her only other introduction was 4 months prior at an Indian restaurant where a huge, wall-sized gold Buddha apparently made quite an impression on her. But after coming home, Matt gave Zoë a tour of Buddhism (courtesy of Wikipedia). They also (re-)discovered our Buddha on a bookshelf. At this time, Zoë had only recently shown minimal interest in dolls and stuffed toys, but this Buddha became her security object. Especially during meals, she wanted Buddha close by. (Keep in mind, our Buddha statuette is made of heavy rock and almost acts like a paperweight... it isn't cuddly nor easy to manipulate.) One day, Zoë and Matt were on the way to the store, but Zoë adamantly refused to go because "I want Buddha. I WANT BUDDHA!!!" This sparked a long religious lesson about how Buddhism is about suffering and about detachment and if she were a real Buddhist she would carry Buddha in her heart and this statue is only an illusion, etc. etc. etc... Zoë listened respectfully. But... "I WANT BUDDHA!" (Update: in the following several months, she has made significant headway into embracing the purer Buddhism philosophy and has practiced detachment with the "Buddha" statue more and more.)
• "A Dose of Sympathy": In the mornings, while combing her hair and getting her ready, Zoë and I play the game of "Faces" -- "show me a happy face... now, Zoë's sad... " etc. Mainly this is to entertain her while I get her ready... but this day in January, Mommy bumped her head and I pretended that I really got very hurt and I pretended to cry and cry and cry. For a while Zoë seemed to think it was funny, but when I didn't stop she looked very shocked and horrified. Then all of a sudden, she began to cry. I think she was so forlorn to see Mommy in such a state that she felt helpless and maybe even empathetic. I told her that a hug and some gentle patting would make me feel better and we soothed each other -- me for my head "boo-boo" and her for her sympathetic nerve "boo-boo". Then we played.
  
• "Curiosity never potty-trained the cat (or the girl, for that matter)": In the last few weeks, Zoë has shown more and more curiosity in the potty. She seems to have a "love-hate" relationship with it (also the vacuum -- she runs away and hides when we vacuum, but always wants us to vacuum ... we will call this curiosity). She has coined several unique phrases, encapsulating her love for the potty, like "Giggle giggle POT-ttteeee" (you have to say it just right, or she will correct you!) or "Pretty pretty POOP!" She likes to walk around the toilet and investigate it, to see if it bites. It doesn't. We got her a "Zoë" potty and it was like Christmas, again! She was so excited to open it and set it up, but ... screamed bloody murder when we suggested that she sit on it. She does like to have Pinky Baby sit there all day. It's been a few weeks and we are getting used to it for now... reading Potty books and toilet training her doll (except more recently, Zoë put a diaper on Pinky Baby).
• "Happy to you!": We had a birthday party for Zoë the weekend before her birthday. There were 10 kids (!) and their parents(!!) and we all survived. There were balloons, balls, bubbles, bubble wrap (we only play with things starting with "B". Just kidding...), also stickers and pasta necklaces, and ... food! CUPCAKES, naturally. Payesh, very important. And snacks and pasta salad, and ... good times were had by all. Instead of presents, we asked people to donate to a Children's Homelessness organization (Project Night Night), and this idea was very appreciated and we got very nice cards! We bought Zoë a nice train tent (pictures forthcoming!) where she likes to play hide and seek, and especially climb around in with her friend Mary, who also lives in our building and is the same age. Here are some pictures and a video from the celebrations (that's right-- plural! We also had our small family party).
  
  
  
  Also noteworthy... on Zoë's birthday, a sneaky fox (we hear his name's "Swiper" and he makes mischief on Dora the Explorer) stole all of Zoë's bottles ("Oh No!") and so we can only do sippy cups and regular cups now. Swiper is a known bottle thief in our building, Mary also suffers from his acts.
• "A sense of immediacy": In case anyone was unsure about the cleverness of our girl, we have proof. For awhile, Zoë would ask for something and we would say "ok", hoping she would forget, and then when she became more insistent we would modify her request to satisfy our time constraints, like: "Yes, yes... Of course, you can eat chocolate. Tomorrow." So she adapted. She learned the word... "NOW". "I want chocolate NOW!" So now, we are working on understanding the meaning of "No" and "wait".
  
• "Is she at the stage where she throws tantrums in public places? Yet?": We have had one such incident and ... I'm too traumatized to write about it. But this was the question that someone asked me awhile ago. I thought it was funny then. Now I think it is mean. (The nice gentleman had two sons -- 12 and 10, so I guess his wounds have not healed. Yet.)
• "Mommy's Competent" and other verbal gems: We are in the stage where Zoë throws out what she hears. (BEWARE!) On this one occasion, we were reading her report card and we were telling her that we were proud that the school found that she was competent in her growth milestones. Then Daddy said "You will have lots of report cards. Why, even Daddy got a report card from work - Zoë's competent and Daddy's competent". Zoë counters with "No. Mommy's competent." Well, my job's done. Whew. :)
  
• More pictures: Fall in Shenandoah
  
  
  
  Christmas (Caveat Emptor: I did not take many pictures on our trip to CA, so please donate to this album!)
  
  
  
  Thunder Snow event
  
  
  
  Random Winter photos...
  
  
• Videos! :
  
  Food critic-in-training
  
  
  
  Video within a video
  
  

Proud day for Astronomy

Sorry Zoë fans, this is a digression about Mom and her friends this time! NO worries, we posted only yesterday, so you can read about Zoë below.


Check out my friend, Amber, here at Goddard, NASA in this video from the Jimmy Fallon show. She's the pretty redhead. Yay, James Webb Space Telescope... we look forward to your inception :)

Now back to work.

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.

chopin is her middle name (not really)

We are snowed in on a Monday... so what better thing to do than upload more pics and videos. It's pretty much the only way we have now to connect to the outside world. We tried going out yesterday in a car, and let me tell you... that's an adventure. See our pictures of the "Snowmegeddon". Seriously though, things are at a standstill here. We are lucky to have a plowed street, power, an uncovered car, food and cancelled work/school. There are others who really have to brave the snow!

So we've been home-- cooking lasagne, baking cookies, healing from our respective illnesses (ear infection, bronchitis, flu, etc.) ... staying busy and playing! Oh! and Zoë is learning to feed herself! The slimy bananas were a bit tricky. But makes for good viewing :) Enjoy!


Here is a video that illustrate Zoë's piano abilities (we apologize for the darkness... the piano is in a dark corner).

a performance

These days Zoë does much more than eat, sleep or poop. She eats solid food, plays, babbles, practically crawls, mostly sits up unaided, almost stands, ... and the list goes on! In this latest video you will find her displaying her oratory skills while she manages to stay standing, complete with a bow at the end. If you find yourself applauding for this performance, feel free to send a check addressed to "Zoë's mom and dad" :) We promise to spend the $ on Zoë's continued education in such matters.


In other news, have you seen how Zoë's list of gourmet pursuits has grown? She also does weird things with her tongue, and the sound "lalalalala" was born. It is possible that those readers with Linguistics education might disagree somewhat with this characterization, but it is so.¹


Zoë also enjoys the National Gallery of Art very much. She completely ignored her drooping eyelids and nap plans in order to absorb as much of the museum as she was subjected to. She was fully overstimulated... by art. Which is a good thing. Bravo! The day ended with Simona Auntie reading her Harold and the Purple Crayon. (This long blog entry is in large part credited to the >2 hour nap that Zoë has been taking in order to make up for the fun had by all and lack of napping, during Simona's visit to DC).

¹Those with statistics and science backgrounds should be less compelled by the small data sample from which this conclusion is drawn.