Zoe and Maia have been friends their whole lives, but only recently have we seen them grow into playing together, rather than just playing near each other. They love to jump and run around together, and it’s really fun to see them dance. Here is a video of the two of them goofing around in the living room.
I was taking photos of Zoe in the backyard, and when she noticed, she ran over to the chair and struck this little pose. She held it long enough for me to snap a single shot, and then ran over, demanding to see the photo. Her reaction was “I so pretty!”
This is old news by now, because I’m a lazy parent-blogger, but Zoe has (long-since) given up her crib and moved into a toddler bed. We bought her a very nice bed for her second birthday, and she loves sleeping in it.
Most nights, bedtime involves one parent (usually Annie) handling bath, teeth, and reading books, and then the other (usually myself) handling lights-out. I offer her an option every night to curl up in bed or have me hold her while she falls asleep, and it’s pretty much 50/50 which one she chooses. She’s happy to lie in her bed, listening to theGarden State soundtrack, but if I try to sneak out before she’s all the way asleep, she’ll call me back, saying “No, Papa NOT leave.”
She’s usually asleep within a half-hour, and then sleeps in her bed for anywhere from 2-6 hours, at which point she wakes up, and Annie brings her to bed with us. More and more, she tending to sleep through the night, but she’s only ever spent the entire night in her room once so far.
These are the details that she’ll kill me for sharing when she grows up, but I don’t want to forget them, so apologies to future Zoe (and future me!)
Zoe is totally potty-trained now, and it was suspiciously easy. To the point where I’m half convinced that we’ll wake up one morning to discover it was all a dream, or a cruel trick someone played on us. Basically, we just made sure the potty was available, and chatted it up, but didn’t pressure her. Before we knew it, she was all about going potty BY HERSELF. Toddlers love any taste of independence, and once she figured out that she could sit on the potty instead of being put on a table and changed, she was all over it.
Of course, with that came the fascination with everything potty-related. She loves Everybody Poops, of course, but more than that, she wants to be involved when we go potty. It makes sense, right? We’re there when she goes potty, why wouldn’t she be there when we do?
So with that comes many discussions about gender, body parts, and bodily functions. And, like most toddlers, the way she absorbs new information is to talk about it — endlessly. Which means that things sometimes pop up in unrelated conversations. Which is why the other day, I was informed that I was a “pretty nice guy” and that I had made a “fancy poop.”
Lucky for Zoe, her cousin Milo is almost the same age as her. During a recent visit, they were both going potty (Potty Party!) and talking with each other about it, and I heard the following exchange from the next room:
Milo: Zoe, Do you have a penis?
Zoe: No, I have a NOT-Penis! I have ‘GINA!
Since Zoe was very little, it’s been my job to clip her nails. The funny thing is, you would expect a small child to resist this, but Zoe has always been fascinated with the whole process. She sits calmly in my lap, and holds out her hands and feet. Once she got big enough, we had to strike a deal where she gets to carry around the clippers for a few minutes once I’m done. I’m not sure what the appeal is for her, other than OOH SHINY, but I’m glad she lets me do it.