I’m way behind on blogging. There. I said it.

Good news? I keep everything. Like this photo of a very pensive Zoe at the pumpkin patch from mid-October (how many round objects can you count? don’t forget the cheeks and tummy…):

And this video of Zoe eating her very first cookie, a gift from Grandma Ruth, which happened at Halloween. Actually, in that video she was mostly just licking off the icing. In this video, she’s got it in both hands nibbling like a squirrel with a nut and laughing like a crazy person. But what’s a month or two here and there?

Well, in the world of a 15-month old, what a difference a month makes! Funny, a friend at work asked me recently how many words Zoe knows now. I’ve lost count… Let’s just say she’s quite “verbal”. So let’s focus on some words she uses very often that I really like:

• she says “Thank You” A LOT and appropriately (along with the sign for it)
• she says “Hi” to every human being, doggie and image of Mickey she sees, anywhere (and with a smile) and “Buh-Bye” to people and things when they go out of sight; here’s a video of that.
• she says “Please” all the time, also appropriately – it still sounds like “peas”, but it gets her what she wants
• she likes to say “Octopus” (not a ton of opportunity for that, but it’s a big word for a little mouth)
• lately, she says “Santa” often, when she sees well, Santa, or red/white stockings or a picture of his hat
• she says “Up Up Up” and “Go Go Go”, which mostly means “show me something or take me somewhere” and they’re pretty much interchangeable

She can SAY pretty much anything she hears at this point. In fact, knowing this (and that she’s a parrot), we often use this to our advantage. A carefully placed “YES” from us can yield an “ES” right back, an answer which we act on immediately.

I’m less than thrilled with the words “Mickey” or “Minnie” (though they sound cute) because that means she wants to stare at a TV. Yes, we let her watch TV but not a ton, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a favorite – especially the Hot Dog song at the end, though she doesn’t like it to end. She also likes Elmo, but oddly, not the stuffed version. She likes to point him out on her diaper, on books, on anything – but when her dad tried to buy her an actual Elmo, she was like “who’s that?” Hmm. We’re introducing her to Sesame Street, so we’ll see what impact that has. Oh, and she’s now addicted to this Elmo video (I’ve literally seen it 10 times tonight – Zoe and the almost 34 million people who have seen it can’t be wrong, right?).

She can also paint, sort of. No, she didn’t write her name on this. Yes, she’s both-handed, and I don’t mean ambidextrous – neither hand is that great yet, but she hasn’t shown a preference for either one so far.

I’m sure there’s lots more I’m behind on sharing… But I feel a little more caught up – I hope you do, too ;) Oh, wait, she can move FAST at this point (watch out for that, in case we talk you into babysitting) – and she just started singing. She’s got the “Row, Row, Row” part down pat. OH, and she says some odd stuff we hope to remember. For example, she calls bread “baca” (we have no idea why, but her dad encourages it), she says “bub-bubsh” for bubbles (which I encourage and hope to get on video) and similarly “puz-zuhs” for puzzles which is equally cute. In fact, pretty much any word in Zoe-tone sounds cute to us, so maybe I’m just biased…

Anyway, I’ll do my best to do a little more blogging for the Holidays. We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, one more smiley picture for my mother (she’s a big fan of Zoe smiling):