Zoë's parents are finally getting on the ball and starting a blog, mostly a) so she won't hate us when she is 16 and we can't remember what her favourite things were because our old brains are sieves and b) because we have been shamed by the Fontaines who have religiously kept a blog of the life and times of Jackson for the last 21 months. On y va...let's see how long we can keep this going...
Zoë is playing her role as a 2 1/2 year old perfectly - She should get a Cesar/Oscar/BAFTA. She vacillates between being an adorable, cuddly, curious, silly toddler and a pint sized terrorist. Unfortunately, for her, we don't negotiate with terrorists (most of the time). Somewhat recently, Zoë and Kirsten could be spotted stepping off of a train at a random tube station in order to decrease the volume of howls (from Zoë) so that we could continue our journey. Fortunately, these episodes are sporadic and don't last too long.
Some highlights -
- Language: Zoë's French will soon surpass Kirsten's. She has been responding to questions from Jean-Jacques in French and Kirsten in English (that's English English, not American English). Favourite things to point out are diggers, trains, taxis and cats (we've moved on from airplanes).
- Songs: Favourite song at the moment is Frere Jacques. She tends to leave off the second 'Sonnez les matines' and go straight to 'Ding, Dang, Dong'
- Family: She knows the names of everyone in the family and regularly asks for her cousins Jackson, Julien, Pandora and Pierre-Louis (aka Pierre-Oui-Oui). Thank goodness for Skype.
- Friends: She is really starting to remember people - One of Kirsten's best friends, Tammy (Adle) Stone came to visit with her husband Steve and kids Lucy and Zack from Atlanta. Zoë was just emerging from her shy phase so didn't completely warm up during the visit, but she's been talking about Tammy and Lucy ever since and how they went home on an airplane. Two other friends, Brad and Florence (separately) had offspring recently so we got to meet babies Oliver and Finn, respectively. She's been asking to see them ever since.
- Routines: Zoë needs to know that everyone else is going to bed when she goes to bed at 7:30pm. We used to have a ritual of Bs - Bath, Book and Bed. Recently, 1 book has become 3. And she seems to be attempting to slip a few new things into the routine including sitting on the potty (we like this one), requesting a tissue, putting moisturizer on her face, deciding whether or not she wants to sleep with a pillow and duvet, and listening to several rounds of "I love you Zoë, oh yes I do..." Major delay tactics at work.
- Scatological information: The potty seems to be gaining popularity - we have had several successful #1s...still waiting for #2...To be continued...
- Favourite Foods: asparagus, olives, beets, madeleines, prawns, mushrooms and ice cream
- Physical Development: Starting to get the hang of the scooter and jumping. Had her checked out by a physio recently due to frequent falling down - diagnosed with flat feet and hyper-joint mobility. Nothing serious but something to keep an eye on. Kirsten and Zoë are starting a circus skills class in May to help with strength, coordination and confidence. In the meantime, Zoë loves Friday Football (aka Soccer) at her nursery with "Coach Danny".
- Other health stuff: 11 of the 17 kids in Zoë's nursery class have had chickenpox since the start of the year. They don't vaccinate kids here. Zoë's escaped it thus far, but the true test has come this week with her best friend (and nanny-share) Marin coming down with a mean case of them...Incubation period: 2 weeks...on verra...
- Hair: Out of control and we have no idea where it comes from. Thankfully she allows us to put her hair in ponytails (aka "bunches") and she loves hoodies
- Animals: Loves monkeys, giraffes, cats and gorillas
- Favourite book: Pete the Cat - Wish we could remember who gave this to us. We all love this book which finishes with "The moral of Pete's story is, no matter what you step in, keep walking along, singing your song, because it's all good". Something for all of us to live by. Until next month...
