Crawling

About a wek ago Zoe finally got how to crawl. She practiced chasing pieces of fluff on the floor (her favorite thing to eat), and then graduated to chasing Gramma and Papa John around downstairs. Today she chased one of her favorite boys - Ian. He had her cracking up again all night and she spent the rest of the time trying to grab him and kiss him (yeah, I know - bad sign!). She's getting really good at the crawling thing and I read somewhere that that is a big precurser to language. Coincidentally she has begun imitating sounds we make - and loves yelling so we will imitate her! We're so close to hearing those words!

Uncle Mom?

Uncle Dave is learning what it takes to take care of Zoe these days. He has even babysat a few times! Zoe is completely fascinated with him - they stare into each others eyes and always seem to have an inside joke. Whenever we all go anywhere, she always looks to him to see if whatever we are doing is OK. It's a very sweet connection and I hope it lasts forever! Zoe is lucky to have her Uncle around.

You just have to play!

No more are the days where Zoe will just sit quietly on your lap and look around. If you do get her to sit down - she wants to PLAY! You will need to be fun, entertaining, and silly or she will quickly move on to the next fun person! Gramma and Papa John do a very good job of remembering how to play and seem to have lots of fun doing it!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Gramma is teaching Zoe the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Zoe is catching on quickly! She already knows to raise her hands to "up comes the sun". They have such fun singing together (as you can clearly see)!

Santa Came!

Keith and I started a family tradition of getting us all new PJs to wear for Christmas Eve. I love that we have our own special thing that we can do every year! Christmas morning we all got up with Zoe and opened our stockings. Hers was as big as she was and was filled with bubbles, toy cars, balls and other fun baby things! Yay for Santa!

Merry Christmas!

Zoe's Admirers

Zoe has some Big Love from some Big Boys who just can't get enough of her!

Santa's Helper

Zoe's first Christmas started on Christmas Eve ( one of my family's traditions) with a big dinner and opening presents. Zoe mostly loved chewing on the unwrapped packages and playing with a hanger that came with a christmas outfit. She got some great gifts, though, and we will all have fun teaching her how to play with the toys! Santa comes tonight and brings stocking gifts...

Nothing like the Present

Look what Santa brought us! Zoe loves it when Daddy drags her around the house in this gift bag... she would do it all day if he would let her.

Rules of the House

Ducky Bath

When Zoe was born Nana and Gramps gave her this Ducky Bath and I couldn't fathom the day that she could sit up in it all by herself. Well, the other day was the day! She loves to play in her new big girl tub and laughs when we squeeze the bill and make it quack.

Marathon

Zoe's new favorite activity is running laps in her crib. She holds onto the railing all the way around and just goes like the Energizer Bunny! She will stop halfway around and turn on and off her musical toy (she has learned to do this and takes great care to push the button with her index finger very deliberatley - so funny!). If you are lucky, she wll stop and give you a kiss on her way by. We had to lower her matteress because she was getting dangerously close to jumping ship! Now the railing comes up to her chest and , so far, we are pretty sure she can't climb out yet!

Playground Fun

How many germs can you catch at the playground? Zoe tried her best to lick everything she could to find out! Other than that she had a great time playing with Mommy and Daddy and watching all the other kids play. We had a great time !

The Brodogg Duo

Zoe loves it when Daddy plays the guitar for her. As many of you know, he has been doing that since before she was born. Now she likes to strum herself and sing along as well...I hope she gets his musical talent!

Christmas Tree

Yay! We finally got our Xmas Tree!!!! (It was even on sale - can't beat that:) We put up our family ornament too (the one that has a snow family labeled Mommy, Daddy, Zoe 2008). Zoe loves the lights on the tree and likes to feel the prickly needles (she seemed very surprised after her first touch of the tree - she had never felt anything like that before!). It was so exciting buying her first Christmas presents! Buying for kids is way more fun than buying for adults. I'm sure she'll like playing with the wrapping paper and empty boxes more than her presents, but it's still fun getting everything ready for Xmas morning. We even got her a huge red fuzzy stocking that will hopefully be hers until she goes off to college (and yes, we are putting that expectation out there, so hopefully that's what she'll want to do!).

Playdate

Zoe hung out with her friend Crosby the other day and had a great time! She was actually there because Mommy was taking Croby's Christmas pictures (see second pic). Zoe was a doll, just hanging out in his very cool walker while the photo shoot was going on (luckily she couldn't roll over grass in the thing, so she stayed on the sidewalk and didn't roll down the street!). Afterwards, the babies played nicely while the mommies chit-chatted and had lunch. It was like an honest to goodness playdate! Crosby's mom even makes her own organic baby food (yeah, I felt very sub par!) and Zoe chowed down. We talked Mom talk and the kids just hung out together very nicely. Zoe was a little "let me kiss you boy!" and Crosby was a little "get the heck off me girl!", but other than that they seemed to have a good time. Crosby has lots of very cool toys and Zoe was in awe...I guess I'm finally going to have to invest in those electronic noisy toys that I've been avoiding becasue she loves them!