18 Months April 12, 2008

A year and a half? Really? I guess the calendar doesn’t lie, but it still seems hard to believe that we’re fully into toddlerhood, tantrums, and total sweetness.

I made the first measurement on the growth chart - right about 29 1/2 inches, or about 2.3 Rock Hammers. I was originally confused, at Zoe’s 12 month appointment, they said her length was around 31 inches, but then I realized that they measure her while she’s laying down, with her toe pointed. At least I hope that’s it, and she hasn’t shrunk under the weight of her glasses in the last three months. Her 18 month appointment is on Friday, so we’ll have official measurements then.

It’s snowing out still, but it has stayed warm enough that there hasn’t been the 6 inches of accumulation that they were predicting.  Tomorrow it should warm up to 45° and keep getting warmer from there.  The forecast for the root beer float celebration on Friday is for 60°.  Whoo-hoo!  Though I’ll believe it when I feel it.

Rock hammer growth chart March 17, 2008

After seeing all of her rock hammer for scale pictures - particularly the recent ones where Zoe endangers herself and others by attempting to wield the hammer - my mom decided to make up a growth chart that lets you measure height in units of rock hammers. At risk of making a bad pun, it rocks!

Zoe is currently at about 2 RH 3″ (two rock hammers and three inches, or 74 cm for those who insist on the non-rock hammer standard units of measure). Of course, you wouldn’t know it by looking at any pictures of Zoe against the growth chart because she seems to have forgotten how to hold still.

so how is Zoe, anyway? March 13, 2008

Zoe’s doing well, she’s made the transition to the toddler room, and while she still has some hesitation in the mornings, it’s getting better and she’s always in a grand mood when we pick her up.

She still doesn’t say much, but she understands a ton. I’ve been experimenting with telling her to do things and seeing if she’ll do them without me pointing or demonstrating what I want. Things like “please pick up the chicken you threw off the table and throw it away.” (which she did).

She throws her food off the table when she’s bored. We haven’t figured out a good response yet.

She also likes throwing things away. She gets upset when we throw things away instead of having her do it.

She just started sleeping through the night.  I shudder at writing this because I fear jinxing it, but I think we’re finally there, and quite a bit better rested.

Her eyes are still a bit crossed even with the glasses. Her next eye appointment isn’t until June, but we may try to get her in earlier if they don’t change.

Somehow we forgot Zoe’s 17 month birthday and didn’t get a rock hammer for scale picture. We’ll get one tomorrow or this weekend. We’re such bad parents. Maybe this is a sign that after 18 months we should scale back to a little less frequent pictures.

things and stuff February 13, 2008

When I picked Zoe up from daycare yesterday, her teacher said that she seemed a bit under the weather. Given her flushed cheeks, watering eyes, runny nose, and cough, I had to agree. So we got her to bed early, before getting a rock hammer for scale picture for 16 months.

Today, we decided to keep her home so she could recover. It was a quiet day of wiping noses, lots of naps, plenty of cuddles and one really good fruit smoothie. Still, a long day, but she seems to be on the mend.

…

Things we did not do today, because they just didn’t seem to be worth the effort:

• Get dressed to meet the garage door repair man (when we made an appointment for him to come out, we weren’t planning on being home, so there was no real need).
• Run to the mailbox before the mail carrier left so that we could return our Net.flix DVD (Freaks and Geeks - so sad to be done with that one).
• Cook dinner.
• Fight with Zoe to get her to sit in her high chair, or any dining room chair (she ate lunch on the kitchen floor, and dinner in my lap).
• Try to hang the rock hammer growth chart at the appropriate height while also wrangling Zoe.

So no picture against the rock hammer growth chart yet, though we do have a traditional rock hammer for scale picture. We’ll get a picture of the growth chart as soon as it’s up, because it really is just that awesome.

Updates February 10, 2008

Zoe went to the ophthalmologist (I got it right on the first try, this time!) on Friday for another check up. She’s kind of a star at the office there. The receptionists all coo over her and greet her excitedly, and the other patients in the waiting room flirt along with her. The ophthalmologist thought her eyes looked a lot better with the new prescription, but she’s still not always focusing with both eyes. So we’re going to wait for a few months and see if things get better on their own. Apparently being sick with something like pinkeye can affect how you’re focusing on things.

Speaking of pinkeye, the ophthalmologist verified that Zoe’s pinkeye is totally gone now, which is pretty darn awesome.

Very good friends just had a baby girl on Thursday. I’m thrilled for them. Welcome little girl, I know you’ll be in very good hands. It’s making me want to go out and buy so many little things for a little baby. Which would be against the spirit of my trying not to acquire stuff, although, I wouldn’t keep it, so maybe it’s ok…

Speaking of my attempts to not acquire things. I’ve done well in the not buying things arena, but we still have managed to acquire a bit. We bought diapers and toilet paper and food, which I can’t see really going without. At the eye doctor’s, the receptionist gave Zoe a little stuffed penguin for being so well-behaved. Then we got a package from my parents with a couple of really cute outfits for Zoe, and the best acquisition I can think of: a growth chart with rock hammers for scale!

15 Months January 14, 2008

Saturday was Zoe’s 15 month birthday. I was looking forward to her first rock hammer picture with glasses, but as mentioned in the last post, she doesn’t have them right now.

Despite the fact that it is my rock hammer, Zoe has decided it’s hers, and it’s a great toy for lugging around, held precariously above her little toes. She objected pretty vociferously to me taking it away from her when I started fearing for her feet’s (wow that sounds wrong, but I think it’s right) safety. I keep meaning to make a growth chart with rock hammers on it to hang on the wall and measure her against. I may have to do that since the rock hammer pictures seem a little less safe these days.

Zoe has her 15 month appointment on Wednesday, so I’ll update with weight and height information then.

14 months! December 13, 2007

I’ve been negligent. I never call, I never write. I even have a couple of posts started but I haven’t had time recently to finish anything.

But I have pictures. That makes everything better, right?

14 Month photo

Zoe’s eye doctor appointment is tomorrow morning. She’s been great with the patch recently, she’ll stand very still and close her eyes when we get a patch out, and let us put the patch on with no complaint at all. I haven’t noticed any change in her right eye’s tendency to cross though, so we’ll see.

We’re definitely raising a Minnesota girl here. She loves lefse.

Mmmmm, lefse.

I rock teh Interwebs November 30, 2007

As I play around on the Internet while waiting for Zoe to wake up from her nap, I realized that pictures of Zoe are the first few results when you do a google image search for rock hammer for scale. This pleases me something fierce.

13 Months November 13, 2007

I like the rock hammer pictures too much to give them up yet.

Zoe’s first birthday (observed) October 13, 2007

We celebrated Zoe’s birthday today - and took her monthly photo.

Which brings me to my first question - now that Zoe is one year, how often should we take the rock hammer as scale pictures? Still monthly? Quarterly? Yearly?

~~~

No needles or doctors today, just people

and cake (from a local grocery store bakery that does free first birthday cakes - yay!)

Zoe liked the cake

and the wrapping paper