Zoë Princess Badaboom Lollipop Hello Kitty Alex Lapin Valero is my name

Oh, hi - Yes, I know it's been ages (practically an 1/8th of Zoë's life) since I updated this blog. It's the Queen's Jubilee Weekend (aka a 4 day weekend). Zoë is now 3 years and 7 months old. Just to set the record straight, tantrums don't actually end with the terrible twos - they just take on a more precise, studied form now that the emotional terrorist (aka ET) can use her words and mimic others quite effective. Case in point - I often try to use proper language to reprimand Zoë - like saying "You aren't listening very well right now" or "You are not behaving very nicely" or "That kind of behaviour is not acceptable". The ET now inserts her own versions of these phrases into her tantrums. She will say shout, "Mummy, I DON'T LIKE THAT, THAT'S NOT CEPTABLE. I DON'T LIKE YOU. YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!". We're also trying to teach the ET not to interrupt conversations when others are speaking, which she now seems to understand to mean that if she says, with increasing volume, "EXCUUUUUUUSE Me", it's perfectly acceptable to interrupt because she is POLITELY interrupting.  


But really, the ET is a lovely child. She is very affectionate, full of curiosity and adventure and she likes to share. Like the other day when she stuck her finger down her pants and then shoved it towards my nose and giggled "Smell this Mummy!". 


She's really fixated on bellies right now as well and likes to find the gentleman at the grocery store with the largest belly and strategically shout out "Mummy, that man has a very big belly" as we pass him (and his very large belly) with the trolley. My only reply to this is, "Everyone has different sized bellies - some are big and some are small". (The big-bellied gentlemen haven't been particularly amused). 


Since my last post (6 months ago), the ET has started in a new classroom called Les Papillons (no, the nursery school is not French, they teach French for 10 minutes per week and like naming each of their classrooms a French animal. Sounds posh, n'est pas?) She's not actually all that crazy about her new digs. I made the mistake of telling her in February that she was moving to the big kids class in April. Every day for 2 months, she asked us "Am I going to Papillons today". I guess 2 months is a bit difficult for a 3 1/2 year old to comprehend (Duh!). Next time, I'll tell her the night before. Anyway, once she finally made it to Les Papillons, she decided the grass was greener on the other side of fence (or upstairs) where she was before and makes it known every night before going to bed and every morning. It generally goes like this "I don't waaaaaaaaaant to go to Paaaaaaaaaapillons". Mummy or Papa: "Why not? You have fun at Papillon". ET: "Because, I don't liiiiiiiike Tennis". Mummy/Papa: "But you don't have tennis today". ET: "But I still don't liiiiiiiiiiike it". And on it goes....


Here are some of Zoë's favourites:


Songs to sing: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Mamma Mia / Bazaboom
Foods: Smoothies, Melon, Ice Cream, Smoked Salmon, Pistachios
Reply to questions: "Nuffing, Nobody, WHAT?"
Drink: Apple Juice
Books: Zoë La Princesse Parfaite, It's not easy being a Bunny
TV: Charlie and Lola, Trot Trot
Sports Equipment: Marin's Bike
Role plays: Teacher reading a story / reprimanding & Waitress taking orders
Character: Hello Kitty
Colour: Pink
Talents: Puzzles


See you in, er, soon. 

Octobernovember - Blogging mother is behind!

October was so full of birthdays, work, travel and (did we mention?) birthdays that this mother is very late with the October news. She is sitting here in Park City, UT in LATE November, still recovering from a 16 hour journey from London to Salt Lake City. But more on that later. Back to October...Can she remember what happened in October...

Zoë got to be Special Helper twice and Flower Helper once in October. And she had a nearly month long celebration of her 3rd birthday. In mid-October, we took the Eurostar to Paris where we had a bunch of friends and family over to celebrate Zoë's birthday, including Mami and Papi from Montpellier, cousine Michele, Tati Lisa, Olivier, Emilien, Valerie, cousins Richard and Brigitte, and great-uncle and great-aunt Gilbert and Gisou. She also got to go on another pony ride, on a carousel and on the big-kid swings.

The celebration continued in London with Zoë being serenaded by her whole class and being presented a birthday book. In the evening, she had her best friend over for more singing and cake. In December, she'll be having a joint birthday party with her friends Tessa, Maya, Ben and Marin.

Favourite phrases: "I don't like [fill in the blank]", "I love [fill in the blank]", "It's night time" (it's dark a lot in London at the moment), "I don't waaaant it", "What's that?", "On ne peut pas toucher la lune", "N'abondonnes jamais!"

Favourite songs: Pirouette Cacahouette, Whoopsy Daisy Angel

Current wardrobe preferences: Doesn't want to wear trousers or anything that's not pink. Leggings are preferred. Doesn't want to wear anything in her hair.

Favourite colour: PINK, PINK and PINK

Favourite foods: Saucisson sec, strawberry and mango ice cream, smoothies, clementines, muesli

Favourite activities: Playing with her dolls, stickers, singing, brushing her own and her parents' hair, picking her nose, blowing her nose, fluffing, seeing and feeding the horses on match days, watching football (aka soccer) and rugby with her papa

Favourite books: Zoë la capricieuse, The Odd Egg

Routines: Choosing her clothes for the next day, having her mum sing "I love my Zoe (Marin, Claire, Cyril, Djembe, Roger, Mims, Papa, Mimi, Bibi, Miss Smyth, Miss Camille, Miss Sari, Miss Monique, Miss Alessia..) my Zoë (Marin, Claire, Cyril, Djembe, Roger, Mims, Papa, Mimi, Bibi, Miss Smyth, Miss Camille, Miss Sari, Miss Monique, Miss Alessia..) loves me, I cherish my Zoë (Marin, Claire, Cyril, Djembe, Roger, Mims, Papa, Mimi, Bibi, Miss Smyth, Miss Camille, Miss Sari, Miss Monique, Miss Alessia..) 'neath the old oak tree."

Milestones: Can now jump with 2 feet, prefers showers to baths, birthmark on thigh is fading

September (Late)! Nanny to Nursery - Into the big bad world

After a relaxing August it was back to business for everyone in September. Zoë started nursery 5 days per week in mid-September at the Gower School after 2 1/2 years with Nanny Jan-Jan and Marin 3 days per week and nursery 2 days per week. Wow! Attending nursery 5 days per week can be exhausting! But Zoë is finding her stride and engaging well in the more rigorous, structured Montessori program in her new room, Les Petites Souris. Luckily, her best friend Marin has joined her at Gower and Jan-Jan did pick ups and drop offs for the first 2 weeks so the transition hasn't been too brutal. In the new room, all of the children get the chance to be Special Helper and Flower Helper once per month. Zoë particularly likes being Special Helper because she gets to wear a special necklace, bring the snacks for the day and most of all, order everyone around. This new room also offers the opportunity to take Yoga and French classes once per week and continue the crush, I mean, football class with Coach Danny. The nursery is vegetarian so on the weekend, Zoë makes up for meatless weeks with ham sandwiches for breakfasts followed by meat for lunch and meat for dinner.

It sounds like life for Zoë is all work and no play, but au contraire mon frere - life is still lots of fun. We are trying to take advantage of Zoë's free entry to the zoo until she turns 3 so we recently visited with her friend Tessa. She wasn't all that impressed with the penguins but loved playing in the fountain and seeing the tigers being fed. She also continues to love having her face painted - this time as a monkey. She also re-started Circus School on Saturday mornings where she's perfecting her somersaults as well as (low) high wire, trapeze and rope climbing. She and her father have started a new tradition of heading to Hampstead Heath on Sunday mornings for a walk with Djembe to see the kites on Parliament Hill.

Favourites at the moment -

Foods: Prawns, ham, proscuitto, ice cream (mango, strawberry, vanilla)

Sayings: Alors...

Activities: Smelling tea, singing in French, asking for Roger when she sees Mims, asking for Mimi when she sees Bibi

Favourite Book - La Reign Bisou Bisou

Holy Moggy, Que ca? I don't waaant it and other favourite phrases

Finally, 2 whole weeks of vacation! August has been a great month. Zoë is a dancing, singing, talking pixie. There was no shortage of fun - with Jan Jan, Marin, Lenka and Leo, she went on boat rides on the Thames and went to museums and parks. She will be starting nursery full time at the Gower School and moving into the first full Montessori room in September so Jan Jan was making the most of their last month together. We also met up with friends Tessa, Ben, Lizanne and Emily for the 2nd annual Lollibop in Regents Park where we saw giant Kangaroos, danced to reggae music and ate ice cream.

On 15 August, we left for France where we spent the first week on the Ile d'Oleron - an island off the coast of France, near La Rochelle. It was a great way to start the holiday. We hung out on the beach, went to the market, rode bikes and Zoë had 2 pony rides. At the end of the week, we headed towards St. Jean de Luz and had an unexpected but lovely stop over in Pyla sur Mer with Flory, the grandmother of Serra, Cecilia and Barbara and mother of Ghetta. Kirsten hadn't seen her in 20 years and it was a great opportunity for her to meet Zoë and Jean-Jacques. On our way out of town, we climbed the dune, quickly took in the view and then ran all the way down. We arrived in St. Jean de Luz where we spent the week with Zoë's best friend Marin and his parents Claire and Cyril. It was a great week which included in depth market research of all of the artisanal ice creams we could find, swimming every day in the sea, walks, great meals and long naps.

Zoë's language skills are progressing - the 2 weeks in France really bumped up her French and she's able to switch between French and English pretty well. Some of Zoë's favourite things to say are: Que ca? (for What's that?) instead of Qu'est ce que c'est? I don't waaaant it is also another phrase used frequently. She also will correct you when you say Holy Moly and tell you it's Holy Moggy.

Her favourite foods this month have been strawberry ice cream, mango sorbet, avocado, peach skin, saucisson, and prawns.

Favourite activities are bouncing on trampolines, swimming with her tube, being chased and chasing others, going down big slides, being held upside down, singing, dancing, serving meals to her baby dolls, playing in the sand and riding on ponies.

Every night, Zoë says when she goes to bed and we leave her room, "no door no light" as in, don't close the door and don't turn off the light. Tonight, when JJ left the room, she said "Pas de porte, pas de lumiere" - Made us smile big time!

Onto September...

4th of July in England

Hard to believe that another month has flown by in the life and times of Zoë. We stayed close to home this month and started by doing something positively anti-England by celebrating the 4th of July in Portman Square at a celebration held by the Democrats Abroad club. Zoë happily had her face patriotically painted and then chowed down on some ribs and 'slaw.

On Sundays. Zoë has been attending circus school. She has mastered somersaults, standing with no-hands on maman's and papa's shoulders and hanging upside down. In fact, she constantly wants to be upside down and to be tickled. She has also discovered that she loves slides - the bigger the better. Her mother is hoping that she has inherited her love for roller coasters.

- Biggest milestone - Fully potty trained!!

- Favourite book - Guess how much I love you

- Favourite foods - Prawns, cherries, watermelon, strawberry ice cream

- Favourite activities - Going to the swimming pool, big slides, putting away groceries, gardening with Papa, riding on her scooter and tricycle

That's all for July - Stay tuned for an action packed August.

June 2011 - #1s and #2s

Ok, I know, it's 2-July and I am doing my June posting. Such is life these days - late late late for everything. Anyway, it's been a very productive 32nd month in the life and times of Zoë...We stuck a bit closer to home in June - no international travel. The weekend of the 11-June, we headed (Kirsten dragged JJ and Zoë) to Windsor for Kirsten's first triathlon in, er, 4 years, the last one being with Gevry in 2007 in London. Kirsten's triathlon kicked off at 6:15 am (JJ and Zoë were still in bed) just down the road from Queen Liz's house (aka Windsor Castle) and K finished in 2h 03mins. JJ and Zoë were waiting at the finish line with big smiles and cheers (actually, JJ was cheering and smiling, Zoë was just looking very puzzled as to why her mother was sweatily running past her).

We made the most of being southwest of London and headed for the 2nd most famous landmark in Windsor, Legoland where we met Zoë's best friend Marin and his mom Claire. The kids had a great time going from ride to ride - the 3 parents present had a little less fun as it was pouring down rain the whole time. The only upside was that there were no queues (aka lines). Monday, 13-June marked the start of Project Potty - when Zoë and Marin (not of their own volition) started potty training. There were a few accidents here and there but we are proud to report that we are 100% nappy (diaper) free during the day and are working towards the nighttime too. Zoë took to the whole program very well (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the reward stickers that were doled out after every #1 and #2).

Zoë has been working on her cooking skills and cooked up some mean scrambled eggs for father's day breakfast. Circus school is going well too - she loves the trampoline, chasing games, rope swing and tight wire. Last week she learned how to stand on my shoulders. This week was "the Big Toddle" - a walk around a park for charity with Zoë's nursery. JJ accompanied her and she got her face painted for the first time, and loved it.

That's all for June (that I can remember) for now.

May 2011 - Part time terrorist AND Pickpocket

Zoë is expanding her repertoire - she's moved into pickpocketing...mostly her father in preparation for teenage years.

May has come and gone in a flash with visits from Mims, celebration(s) of maman's birthday and a trip to Tuscany to visit Bibi and Mimi. Life as Zoë is never boring!

May started with a visit to Tati Valerie's new home and a walk along the canal for a sneak peek at the Olympic stadium. Zoë decided she wanted to have her toe nails painted so Tati Valerie got her some orange nail polish. For maman's birthday, Marin and Zoë whipped up a chocolate cake with raspberries on top. They of course had to pre-wash the bowls before they went to the dishwasher. Mims came to London for a 10 day visit - What a treat! Zoë got to see her every day and they went to the Whipsnade Zoo where she saw lots of giant animals.

We ended the month with a trip to Tuscany to meet up with Bibi and Mimi. It was beautiful and Zoë ate pasta and pizza and more pasta and more pizza. It's no myth that Italians love kids - she had her cheeks pinched and was cooed over numerous times. She had a great time chasing pigeons, riding the carrousel and going to the playground with Bibi. She made her father very proud by eating lots of roasted rabbit. The slight downside of the trip was the air travel (yes, all 3 hours of it) - More experienced parents out there - when does traveling in a metal tube with a child become tolerable again??

Some other random highlights...

- She is now speaking to K in English and JJ in French which is pretty cool. She was also caught initiating a conversation with Marin in French.

- Favourite sing-along song: Pirouette Cacahuete - Zoë sings along with JJ by singing Cacahuete after JJ sings Pirouette - She'll even do it if she's in the middle of a tantrum or sucking her thumb. Second favourite song: New York (Alicia Keys version).

- When JJ suggests that she sings a particular song, she will often say "Pas celle la" (Not that one) until he has come up with an acceptable choice.

- Instead of saying "Qu'est-ce que c'est" (What is that)? She says "Que-ca?"

- She has been working on her counting - In English, she tends to forget the number 9 and in French she forgets number 5. For number 3, in French, she says 'ha' instead of 'trois'

- Favourite book - Dr. Suess's The Foot Book.

- Favourite foods - Pasta

- Favourite activities - Chasing pigeons, gardening, cleaning, and carrying shopping bags (hmm, no predictions on future professions please)

- Nursery Milestone - Zoë moved into the bigger kids room at nursery - Les Petits Poussins. She has had a really smooth transition and loves her new key worker, Marinela who she knew in the baby room. She has 2 friends from her old room, Marni and Bella which has made the move easier. She's still loving Football (aka Soccer) with coach Danny on Fridays and porridge on Fridays for breakfast.

See you in June again...