After months of failed attempts to get Zoe to go on the potty we resorted to sheer bribery…we had tried jelly beans, stickers, BIG potties, little potties, dancing and songs…We even had YaYa take a crack at. We knew Zoe was ready when she would come up to us and say “I’m wet you need to change me.” But, she resisted. We attempted to go cold turkey and told Zoe we had no more diapers… that went well she refused to go in the last remaining diaper and became hysterical to the point we had to take her to the store and show her they had plenty of diapers at Costco.

So, we (Mommy) bought a big pink box that was decorated with butterflies all over it and called it a “Treasure Box”. We filled it with all kinds of stuff (from the dollar store).

We explained to Zoe she could pick ONE “treasure” every time she went pee pee on the potty! This project began on Wednesday and by Saturday Zoe was good to go in the pee pee department. No poo poo success yet, but so far a big relief.

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Eric and I have decided to try to adopt a child and hopefully a Korean girl…We know this will be a long process and we are excited to share the journey with our entire family and friends. Wish us luck!! We will keep you posted…

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Yesterday I found Zoe lying underneath her art table scribbling in a notepad. When I asked her what she was doing Zoe replied “I am writing in my journal.” When asked what she was writing she replied “Everything!”

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This Halloween Zoe was old enough to have some input on what she wanted to dress up as. The problem was she could not decide whether she wanted to be a butterfly or a pirate. But, in Zoe fashion she told us “I will be both, yeah that’s a good idea!” Zoe wearing pink butterfly wings, a black skull cap, and eye patch, charmed the neighborhood and proudly told EVERYONE she was a “pirate butterfly.”

Zoe insisted Daddy and Mommy dress up and she insisted Daddy be a blue ghost. Of course Daddy could not disappoint…But Zoe did NOT like Daddy’s scary make up and stated “You make me nervous with that make-up Daddy.” This was after she stated several times “Its just you Daddy!” It’s just Daddy in make-up!”

Ya Ya even got in to the spirit of things and dressed up a a PURPLE something!!

Halloween 2008

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Daddy took Zoe to feed the giraffes at the zoo. Mommy really wanted to go but she was home sick Zoe got lucky because instead of two giraffes they had five to pick from. Zoe fed the giraffes apples, she had fun but wasn’t’ sure about eh giraffes “long gray tongues.”

Zoe’s cousin Alec went with her to the zoo and he even came over to the house afterward and played with her. Zoe loves her big cousin Alec and doesn’t realize he was grounded from TV that day (so he had Zoe TV instead).

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The other night we went to Peter Piper Pizza with Zoe. A friend told us that the preschool that his 2 daughters attend was having a fund raising event there so we decided to fore-go cooking and grab a pizza there. Zoe had seen the Peter Piper Pizza closer to our house but I don’t think she every actually had been in one.

As soon as we got there, Zoe and Mommy headed over to the play area where Zoe started playing games and winning tickets that can be later redeemed for a prize.  I stayed behind and ordered a pepperoni pizza. Zoe had a great time turning $15.00 into micro carnival rides and paper tickets.

SIDE NOTE: I am in awe of the person that started this pizza shop concept, however, I believe that it is almost sick to pray on parents at our two weakest points: 1. Being unable to say NO to our kids and , 2. Having something that will keep our kids busy – giving us 10-15 minutes of peace.

Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Prayed-On Parents!

Anyway, I sat at the table waiting for our food pager (those things still creep me out) to buzz and let us know that our food was ready. Mommy had just coaxed Zoe back to the table just prior to me putting our newly purchased pizza down to eat. As soon as I arrived with the calorie laden goodness, Zoe exclaimed “the pizza has Guacamole on it!” to which Mommy and I both responded “No it doesn’t!” Zoe just sat there looking at us like we were to dumb asses because she was looking right at it and it clearly had guacamole on it. Mommy told our friends that Zoe just loves guacamole and that was probably why she was saying that. She grabbed a piece for Zoe and asked her if she wanted to have the pepperoni taken off of it, and then it hit me: Zoe got the word guacamole confused with the word pepperoni. We had quite the chuckle over that one but I think its pretty funny, they both have four syllables and phonically sound quite similar, so if you were to get pepperoni mixed up with another word, guacamole was probably the bast match!

All in all it was a good dinner, 45 bucks for a pizza, salad, two drinks and a plastic slinky.

Damn you Peter Piper Proprietor!

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Zoe Test Video

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Mommy signed Zoe up about a month ago to go to the Phoenix Zoo as part of a special event, “Breakfast the Tortoises”. When she told me, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. I have never eaten a tortoise before and wasn’t looking forward to eating one. After she explained it to me i felt much better. Apparently, you feed the tortoises, not eat them. Wheeew!

Anyway, I had been telling Zoe about it for the last week or so and she has been very excited to go. She woke up extra early today and exclaimed “I’m ready to go feed the turtles! I’m going to feed them carrots!” and she was right.

Momma, Zoe and I headed over to the zoo and Grandpa met us there. We had to wait for all the kids to show up and the instructors let us feed the turtles from the entrance bridge. We learned that lettuce and dog food is better for them than bread. I heard a large splash in the water and thought it was louder than the dog food we have been dropping in the water. I came to find out it was a woman’s cell phone. I felt bad for her unitl later, when Zoe was waiting patiently to feed the biggest tortoise and she and her daughter just cut right in front of her.

Anyway, Zoe had a great time throwing dog food and lettuce from the bridge. We saw a really big soft shelled turtle in the water. When the group filled, we rolled up to the breakfast and activity area. They told us it was parent led and they had some small activity stations set up. Zoe’s favorite was the inflatable turtle pool filled with sand and turtle eggs (ping pong balls).

We were in the second group to go in and, after some short ground rules, was handed her carrot in a set of salad tongs. She and Momma headed into the exhibit. They had to wait a bit but were eventually able to get over to a nice tortoise who chomped away at Zoe’s carrot while I snapped some photos from Grandpa’s camera. I forgot mine. Zoe said that she was going to take a bite of her carrot and we had to tell her “No!”

Afterward, we did the usual round at the zoo. We saw the wallabies, petted the goats and went into see the spider monkeys. Zoe then splashed in the splash pad and we topped it all off with a carousel ride.

At 11:30, Zoe went down for her nap and didn’t wake up until 4:00! One of the first things she told me was how much fun she had feeding the turtles and petting their shells.

Thanks Momma, we’ll definitely hafta do the next group activity.

P.S. On the way out, I saw a turtle on a cell phone. Hopefully he was calling international long distance…People can be so rude.

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Zoe did her first poop in the potty today (08/01/2008)

This is a very important, albeit gross, milestone.

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On 07/29/08 at 07:12 hours, Zoe woke up as Mommy and I stood over her bed and exclaimed, “I want to go to school!’ And she did. That same morning at 08:11 hours, Zoe stepped foot in the classroom at Care Bear Preschool to start her first class.

Although we expected a little bit of fuss, or a call from her teacher (Miss Melissa), she was great and made it all the way to the end of class at 10:45 without a hitch. Well, til about 10:43, when Mommy was standing there as Miss Melissa told her how well Zoe did. Just as they were chatting, Zoe saw her mother and got so excited trying to run around a table over to see her, that she fell and bumped her head and yelled “I want to go home!”

And she did.

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