This post is being written a bit late, but it certainly is a big milestone in Zoe’s life, so I’m writing it now.

We had our yearly vacation in Carlsbad, CA from June 21st through July 5th of this year. It was great, two weeks on the beach, a welcome resbite from the daily grind every year. This year, however, something loomed over my head for the last week or so; Zoe giving up the binkies.

Mommy had been prepping her for several months because she had a plan to ditch the little plastic and silicone comfort plugs at the end of vacation. Mommy had been telling her that she was going to be burying the binkies on the beach for the baby sand crabs. Every couple of days or so during the time leading up to our trip, Mommy would remind Zoe that we were leaving the binks on the beach.

So the day finally came. It was Saturday morning and we were checking out of the room. Mommy had saved a clear plastic container that we had all the binks (save the 3 emergency binks i stowed away in my pocket) in the jug ready for thier demise.

We all three headed down to the beach. I used a little green shovel to dig up a suitable hole near the sea wall as mommy and Zoe stood by watching. We put the jug in the hole and had a little going a way ceremony. We told Zoe to say good bye to the binks and she got down on her knees, bent forward, kissed the plastic jug and said “bye bye binkies.” I was fighting back the tears. She was being such a strong little girl.

We walked back up the stairs, checked out and were gone. The trip back was not too bad (6 hours) until after we stopped in Yuma for food. After we ate and hit the road again, Zoe started to get cranky and wanted to sleep. She asked repeatedly for the binkies but we denied them to her. She fussed but finally fell asleep with about 45 minutes to go in the trip home. This proved to be HORRIBLE timing.

When we arrived home, Zoe woke up. She usually sleeps for about 2 hours so the 45 minutes was not good for her. It weas also almost 5:00, so it was kinda late for her to be napping. Of course, the first thing she asked for when she awoke was her binkie. The whiny tone soon turned into a detoxing crackhead’s fit of agony and discomfort. She was pissed!

I can’t event describe how brutal her screams of agony were. She screamed and cried for about an hour before finally calming down. Mommy and I tired to take turns laying with her but I was having a tough go at it. Here she is screaming for a bink and her one source of unrelenting comfort, me, not being able to comfort her. I told Kris that I was going to give her one, and she replied “Go ahead, but the next time we have to take the binks away, you will do it without any help from me!” That quickly stopped my irrational thought.

Anyway, she made it through that first night in detox and got better in a matter of days. Luckily, I was out of town the first week. She hasn’t asked for them since and has been doing great!

We kept reminding her that she is a big girl and big girls don’t have binks! Its funny because when we tell her that she is going to do something and say “big girls do such and such”, and she doesnt want to do it, she’ll whine and say, “I’m not a big girl”

Yes, she is.

Categories: Milestones
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This month went fast. So will this post. Zoe only discovered only 2 things this month (and they both suck):

• Pneumonia
• Teletubbies

The funny thing is, I’m not which one is worse! I’m gonna go with the teletubbies ’cause after a steroid shot and some antibiotics, the pneumonia is gone!

Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La-La, Po ..just repeat that 7,000 times in your head – welcome to our world…

Categories: Milestones
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Zoe is now 19 months old. Some things she loves are as follows:

• Drinking HUGE amounts of orange juice (not fond of milk)- seriously, a gallon a week.
• Watching the opening scenes of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Ace Ventura.”
• Putting on her own clothes.
• Telling us “Eeewwww!” after she poops her diaper.
• Kissing the dogs, me and Momma, and her stuffed toys and literally everyone and everything (except Uncle Fred and Uncle Matt, sorry guys).
• Telling us (signs, mostly) to sit down and play with her.
• Going to bed with NO fuss, often times she initiates bed time.

This is just a re-cap. She is doing great otherwise. Thanks for caring and reading if you do!

Categories: Milestones
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Zoe hit the great 18 month milestone while we were in Carlsbad, CA for our annual vacation. Wow. It is really a kick in the butt. She has started talking quite a bit. Using more words everyday, and learning new ones is the cool part. We are splitting the penthouse suite of an ocean front beach house with Momma’s mom and grandma. Ya-Ya and Little Ya-Ya, respectively. We all sat around the table with her the other night. telling her “Say Momma” and she’d reply “Ma-Ma”. Say “Daddy” and she’d pop out “Da-Da” in her usual tone of voice. But then we’d ask her to say Ya-Ya and shed say it back to us, pitching her voice about 3 octives higher in a soothing sweet tone, as if to say, “I love you Ya-Ya.” Apparently the family’s manipulation skills are hard-coded in her DNA!

We are all having a good time on the beach. The first day we went down to the ocean, Zoe ran straight for the water without hesitation. She was having just a great time. Then, on day two, Momma decided to put her on a boogie board and let her catch a small wave. Wrong! The small wave caught her and tossed her under the salty brine filling her tiny mouth and lungs with bad ocean memories. It took us 5 days just to get her to go back in the water. Momma felt so bad, thinking she had ruined all hope of her every enjoying the ocean or event just drinking water again.

We took her to Sea World yesterday and she had a ball! She watched all the shows, all the way through. Each show was about 20 minutes long and every one kept her interest. We were amazed, especially considering that she never got a nap and was in a great mood the whole time.

Momma got to do the “Interact with the dolphins” with Ya-Ya and looked like a little girl again, smiling from ear to ear, as she stroked the dolphins head like a new found puppy. Afterwards, she told me it was the most fun shes had her entire life. Judging from the smile she had in her face, she wasn’t joking. Zoe had a tough time watching her have so much fun and not being able to be with her, but a quick handful of fish crackers wooed her into a pleasant state of gluttony, forgetting her woes, if only for a short while. When Momma came out dressed and ready to leave, it was as if Zoe hadn’t seen her in a week!

Zoe conked� out as we headed for the car to leave with dreams of dancing sea mammals in her head, and a plushy Shamu in her lap…

Categories: Milestones
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Zoe hit her 17th month 6 days ago. It still amazes me how fast this is going. Geez. It was like she was born yesterday. She has changed so much. No that you would know since i haven’t posted a pic in 7 months! I was looking at her just yesterday and i told Kris that she is no longer a bay, shes a little girl. She is getting quite advanced with her use of sign language, signing multiple words in a single expression, like “more fish” when she wants me to kick on the screen saver on my computer or “Daddy help” when she wants me to help her do something. It’s really neat. She isn’t talking much but I’m sure that will come along soon. She still has a few words like dog, cat, duck and my personal favorite ” eeeeeuuuwww!” when she smells something bad. She now even says that when she has a poopy diaper. Not that we need her to, she stinks enough that we say it too!

She loves the water, loves the splash parks and shows no fear of it whatsoever. We take her over to a nearby waterpark and she just can’t get enough. We have a little white trash style 4″ diameter play pool out back that she splashes around in and loves. On Monday, I took her out back for a swim.
When she was done, which she lets us know by getting out and grabbing our legs, I took her inside. She seemed to be done rather quickly this time. I dried her off and got her dressed in her shorts and a nice tee shirt. About half an hour later, I went out back to check something out (we just sodded the yard) and she followed me out. I went left and took ten steps, turned around and she was sitting in the pool fully dressed. I couldn’t believe it. She was having a ball in her clothes. I undressed her and took off her 1000 lb. diaper and she played for an hour in the pool.

This is really fun!

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Hey everyone, sorry about the long absence. I’ve been hearing many complaints, mostly from my brother. I have no excuse. Anyway, enough about me, lets talk about Zoe!

She turned 13 months old yesterday and has been changing so fast I can hardly keep up with it. The only thing that concerns me (and its not so much a concern as a desire) is that she doesn’t verbalize things much. According to the book she should be using mama and papa indiscriminately but she does not. She has one work for dog and cat and just about everything else. It is not because she doesn’t know, its just that she doesn’t say. She can identify all kinds of body parts, toys, places and people; more than we ever imagined by now. According to the instruction manual(�??What to Expect the Toddler Years�?� book) , she is advanced in every category except speech.

Go ahead, say it, like everyone else – �??Once she start talking you’ll wish she stopped�?� and �??Talking means talking back!�?� OK, fine.

On to updates. Zoe and what she can do. She now does a lot of really neat little funny things that I enjoy.

1. Throw a ball.

2. Kick a ball, repeatedly, like a soccer player running down a field with the ball in front of her.

3. Rub herself with lotion �?? after her bath we put lotion on her and she just started rubbing it on her chest as we apply it to the rest of her.

4. Dance with about 5 or 6 unique �??dance moves�?�

5. Take of her socks. If you tell her �??time to take your clothes off�?� before her bath, she’ll start to remove her shirt. Same with the diaper.

6. Stack all 6 rings on a wooden ring toy given to her by her grandma.

7. A bunch of other stuff I cant think of right now…

One thing I think is funny is that she pinches her mama in the upper chest when Kris picks her up. Kris says �??don’t pinch mama�?� and all Zoe hears is �??pinch�?� and �??mama�?� and commences to pinch her again. Just kidding, Kris, I don’t think its funny at all, its serious, very serious…

Anyway, thats a quick update. I hope to be back on more regularly now. More pics coming real soon as well.

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I am very excited to tell everyone about Zoe’s first birthday. I will start by telling everyone how quickly it came upon us. I can hardly believe that she is already a year old. This year has been the best and fastest moving of my life! I thank God for my little bumper! I started telling everyone I know that Christmas Eve no longer exists, its now officially “Zoe’s Birthday.” Kris feaed, as did I, that Zoe wouod be cheated out of gifts for her birthday by the old, “this is for her birthday and X-mas” combination gift trick. Which someone in our family wasted no time in doing already. Oh well.
Anyway, on to the story…

When Zoe woke up on her first birthday, she was happy to see both her Mommy and Daddy standing over her crib. We took her out and into the family room where she was able to gaze upon a room filled with birthday balloons, presents, and a beautiful red velvet cake with pink frosting touting the phrase ” Happy 1st Birthday Zoe” that Kris made herself and even did the lettering, too. Unfortunately, that cake still sits, untouched, in its glass cake holder, awaiting its certain demise via Zoe’s hands. Why, you ask? Ill tell you in a bit. I want to still revel in the fun part of her day.

Zoe got a little push car from her mother that she can ride on or push from behind. Zoe loved being pushed on it and loved pushing it up and down the hallway. After playing with her new cart, and other fun kids toys she received, she was whisked away to her high chair for fresh made pancakes and bananas from Mom. She gobbled the sweet cakes down in short order (no pun intended, but definitely funny!) and was off for more play time. Momma put her in a very cute pant/dress outfit that her grandma, Ya-Ya, got for her. a few hours and a full bowie (bottle) later, she was ready for a nap. She had a great nao and woke up to her smiling dad.

Kris had some errands to run so we (Kris, Uncle Fred and I) headed out for a quick lunch and a stop at Target. I couldn’t contain the joy i felt playing with my little girl, spinning, swinging and flipping her over while waiting in the checkout line. No, I didn’t drop her, but thanks for the nice thought (heavy sarcasm). She was in a great mood as we strapped her in to the car seat. no, we didn’t wreck either. Halfway home, is when it happened. I will use the words of my favorite comedian, Brian Regan. Everything on Zoe’s inside, wanted to be on her outside. She started vomiting in the car something awful. I was driving the car and looked back in the rear view to see what was happening. My poor girl emptied the contents of her stomach all over herself. I later, in jest, described it as looking like “snakes in a can,” those joke party favors. When we got home, diarrhea soon followed.

I must say that seeing my daughter vomit is a very sad feeling. She has a look in her eyes like she doesn’t understand what is happening, and I can’t explain it to her. It hurts.

Zoe is still sick even today. She tried so hard to have fun that night when our entire family came over for our annual X-mas Eve, excuse me, Zoe’s Birthday party. She tried so hard to have a good time on Christmas Day as well, but she was just so listless and dehydrated that she could barely stand up.

Today, she is showing slow signs of improvement. Hopefully, she will get to smash that nice cake her mom made for her before it spoils.

Ill post the pics we have shortly…

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Holy Crap! I can’t even believe its already 11 months that Zoe has been in our lives. It has really zipped by. She is so awesome.

We call her the “little human” now because she has all but shed the baby look and now seems to be much more like a toddler. She walks at apace now that is just short of a run. She can identify all kinds of things including food, toys and family members. She plays peek-a-boo with us by walking around the corner of a room, standing there for a few seconds and then walking back to show herself as we all say “PEEK-A-BOO!”

The only thing I wish she was doing more is talking. She doesn’t verbalize too much of anything right now. I know she is progressing intelligence wise, so I’m not too worried but it would be nice. She says “awgie” for Dog, “ock” for Rock, and sometimes rolls out a sound like “khitty” for Cat, but thats about it. Everyone tells me that once she starts talking I’m gonna wish she hadn’t started because her favorite word will be “NO!” I’ll take what I can get.

Zoe’s 11 month b-day arrived the day after her first Thanksgiving, which demonstrated to us her love for turkey stuffing and mashed potatoes! Just one short month and she’ll be a year old, I don’t believe it.

P.S. at the request of Zoe’s grandma Eleana, new pics are up HERE

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Zoe’s first Halloween was awesome. Kris and I love this holiday and try to do it up whenever we can. This year started off like most years past, with a visit to Mike and Suzy’s for the annual pumpkin carving party. This year was of particular importance to me, not because of Zoe, but because I came in second place in the carving contest last year. This contest is judged by Mike’s 11 year old son. He snubbed me last year and gave the top spot to Mike’s long time (and now my) friend Will. I declared war this year and was very pleased when I arrived to find that there was a pumpkin shortage in town and Kris and I had the only pumpkins at the party! We brought three, two big ones for Kris and I and a little one for Zoe.

The best way to win the contest is to have the only pupmkins there, right? Wrong… Another friend of Mike’s called on the way and declared that he had 4 at home and drove back to get them before arrival at the party. I was devistated to say the least.I had my work cut out for me this year (no pun intended) so I decided to go for the top spot by picking a design that would appeal to the judge, not me. Will went at it without a template and I thought he was done for but was really suprised when he came out with a really cool design. Cool, but not to an eleven year old. Anyway, long story short, I SMOKED HIM and took the top spot with my mummy design. I rubbed it in, like any poor sport would. Check out the winners HERE.

On Halloween night, Zoe dressed up as a little bumble bee , a cute number that her mom got for her. I took her around the neighborhood for some Trick or Treating. We hit about 10 houses before calling it quits. She is funny because she loves being scared, you can see the fear and excitement in her eyes at the same time. We got to one house where a strange man lives. We see him walking all over the neighborhood all the time. He does not seem to have a car. When we got to his house he was sitting out in his driveway. I was not sure if he was passing out candy or not. As we got closer, I saw that he was reaching into a bag of candy by his side. The bag contained full sized candy bars, not the little bite size ones. He is weird no mre, just cool. Full size candy on Halloween makes him OK in my book any day! He handed Zoe the candy and I said “Say thank you.” to which he replied, “She’s too young for that.” I was initially stunned but then quickly overcome by reality that he was right. She is too young for that.

Anyway, we cleaned up and the candy we got now sits at home waiting for her older brother Kyle to come home and eat it. After our trek around the neighborhood, Zoe took a bath and Igot a really cool pic of her and her mom below…

Categories: Milestones, Rantings
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I can hardly believe that Zoe is already 10 months old. It has come up on us so fast! I know I say that every month but this one feels especially fast due to the fact that she now can walk. She actually turned 10 months while I was away on a trip to Vegas for a quasi-family reunion. I was gone for three days and missed her terribly the entire time. She is growing up so fast and every day it gets better and better.

I have a bunch of pictures to upload and will do so next post. I just got a new computer and am trying to get it all organized first. Next post to appear soon…

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