Here Comes A New Shelmet

Yesterday I took a half day and Zoe, Cheryl and I went down to 69th Street to the Tower Theater to see Muno, Toodee and the rest of the Gabba gang live, on stage. Having seen Zoe's reaction to the stage show at Sesame Place, I was fairly certain that she would enjoy the show, which she did. It was difficult to get any good pictures inside the theater, but here are a few. That last picture is Zoe getting the wiggles out with the rest of the folks on stage. Sadly, I know that I enjoyed seeing Biz Markie much more than she did, but she did seem to beat box a little bit. You can see more pictures, even though they are pretty low quality, in the Gabba set on Flickr. Before I go, there was a video of Zoe dancing at Sesame Place that I just now posted. Take a look at this and tell me if she's not destined to bust a move. Okay, so maybe she's not really a dancer, since I am pretty sure she stole every one of my moves, but that is pretty awesome.

A few days before going to gymnastics (pronounced ti-NAK-is), Cheryl found a playground/park that is near the gym, which seemed like a really nice place. After all of the tumbling, bouncing and running around, we eventually made our way there, taking the scenic route. It had some really nice equipment. Zoe really liked the horse drawn cart and the sand box area. There weren't too many pictures taken there, but you can find some more in the Freedom Park set on Flickr. The next day, all three of us took a trip up to Sesame Place to do one more round of trick or treating on the street. It was actually a really nice day. Also, watching Zoe and how excited she got for the stage show was pretty awesome. She was bouncing out of her seat and waving to every character. Here's a few pictures from the day. She really does enjoy seeing the characters and posing with them. Pictures from this trip and mixed in to the previous trip in the Halloween at Sesame Place set on F

The other night Zoe stayed with my parents while Cheryl and I celebrated 6 years since we first met. When my mom dropped her off last night, we were both really glad to see her again. For those of you who aren't aware, Zoe highly favors her mommy over her daddy, but ever so slowly she has been opening the door and getting closer to me. Last night was a perfect example. After Mimi left, and Cheryl was in the kitchen getting a bottle, Zoe and I were sitting on the couch (at opposite ends) and she turns to me and says, "Daddy, I sit next to you." After her bottle came, she was even find with me picking her up and laying her on me while we watched her sing-a-long songs video. I have a tendency to kiss Zoe, a lot. My reasons for doing this are varied, but it is mainly so that she knows I love her. As we were getting ready for bed, I did my usual routine, which involves me kissing her in the cheek/neck region. She seemed to be enjoying this, so I would kiss her arms and belly

Zoe has given up on napping at what is generally considered a regular nap time. She has decided that it is much better to stay up all day long, wait until 5:30pm or 6:00pm, sleep for about an hour, and then party hard (and well rested) until bedtime. Well, the other day before the nap, but after a long day, she decided that she wanted to play with her tunnel. To try and be funny, I told her I was going to use it and I jammed myself in, like a sausage in a casing, and proceeded to tell her I was stuck. This didn't phase her as she proclaimed that she would still be able to use the tunnel, even with me wedged in there. Thankfully Cheryl had the camera nearby. As you can see, she couldn't just crawl through by herself, she needed to have a paci in her mouth and a wubby in her hand. Thankfully she got tired of it after the 13th time through the tunnel. This past weekend I took Zoe up to Sesame Place to do some trick or treating. She had been talking about it all week and

I don't know where it falls in the scale of what kids are supposed to do at a particular age, but during one of her last days at St. Mary's, Zoe was beading a necklace. This takes some pretty good fine motor skills and we had been meaning to invest in some beading supplies. During a recent trip to Joanne, we picked up a mega-bead set and some string. Zoe went right to work on a new necklace (pronounced NECK-ah-lis) for mommy. The final product was pretty amazing. Be sure to keep your eyes on Etsy for Zoe's new store which will be opened up. We're still working out the name. It is either going to be I Notta Undastan or Quishy Face on the Paquekey .

This past weekend Cheryl and I drove to pick up Zoe and decided we would go to Shady Brook Farm to do some pumpkin picking. We never managed to get any pumpkins because there were so many other things going on. There were slides and rides and glitter tattoos all over the place. There were a few pictures taken to capture some of the goings on. She also did some pretty cute pumpkin sitting. While she is still not the best at posing for a picture, she is definitely getting much better. We just need to work on getting the hands/fingers out of the mouth and looking at the camera. As far as I'm concerned, the scowly face she makes when she's saying cheese (as noted in the picture on the right just above) is perfect and needs no correction. It would only be better if she was looking at the camera. Check out the Shady Brook set on Flickr to see even more pictures.

The other night we were in the playroom while we were eating dinner. Zoe and Cheryl were sitting at the table, as they normally do, and I was on the couch. There was something on TV, most likely the Nightmare Before Christmas, and Cheryl and I were talking about our day. We must have been talking a little too loud for Zoe's taste because she stopped eating, turned to Cheryl and said, "You're too loud." We both laughed when she said this, to which she repeated, "You're too loud." Cheryl made sure to apologize and we waited until later in the evening to finish our conversation. This was the same night that Zoe actually fell asleep on the couch, which is not something that she has ever done before. I was able to snap a couple of pictures. She woke up after a half hour or so very upset that she wasn't still sleeping. It was never more clear to me that Zoe is just a miniature version of her mother. Last night I finally had some of the new pieces

On Sunday morning, Cheryl slept in a little and when she came in to the playroom, Zoe was thrilled to see her. She got even more excited when she saw that mommy had presents for her, including some nice dresses and a Sit N Spin. This Sunday we also took Gigi out to Parx to watch the ponies run. I'm not entirely sure how the betting works other than I pick a horse based solely on its name and it then comes in last. Zoe made good use of her camera, taking lots of pictures. She also played a lot, running around, fishing, riding her own pony and wearing mommy's sunglasses. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to go back when the weather is nicer. There are a few more pictures in the Horse Racing set on Flickr.

This weekend Cheryl went to the Strout's on Friday night to head up early for Uncle George's wedding (Congratulations Uncle George!). While she was gone, Zoe and I got to do a lot of hanging out. Friday night, we just laid around for a while. Then Zoe decided to do a little light reading. On Saturday morning we went to gymnastics, which was great because it was raining, but more importantly because the Millers met us there. I wasn't able to get many pictures, but there was lots of fun had by all. After getting home and taking a brief nap, we made our way to Gold Star Park to see the Golden Rollers and the new additions to the team. Even though it was cold, both Karim and Luke seemed happy to be there, and by that I mean they were both sleeping. Zoe was her usual self swinging from the playground and eating her bribe. Both Zoe and I were very happy to have Cheryl return Saturday night. While we have lots of fun, it's just not the same when she's gon