Here Comes A New Shelmet

Last year for Zoe's first birthday I took some pictures of her with the letters O, N and E to make a photo collage for her invitation. While she was out shopping this weekend, Cheryl picked up letters to do the same thing for her second birthday. I set the camera up on a tripod and backed Zoe in to a corner to try and capture some pictures. Here's what I got. There were a number of other pictures from the session in Zoe's set , and I used some of them to create a collage for this year's birthday. We didn't send out any invitations, so this is just for fun. Along with that, I put together a short video of the pictures set to music. No real purpose here other than to have some other media of our little miss. It does a good job of capturing how the photo shoot went. With her party and birthday rapidly approaching, I still can't believe that it has been 2 years already. We were looking through some (relatively) old pictures of her and the change is am...

We rarely take pictures while we're engaged in the activities that we spend most of our time doing. So just like there are very few, if any, pictures of me while I'm at work, there are very few pictures of Zoe while she's at day care. Now I know that there are other considerations, like some other child photobombing the pictures, but apart from that, Cheryl and I never get to see her day to day routine. Well Issac's mom shared some pictures with Cheryl where Issac and Zoe are playing with play dough. Take a look. There are a few more of them in Zoe's Mobile set on Flickr, so be sure to check them out. Hopefully we'll be able to take more pictures like this. Of course, by we I mean other parents because if Cheryl or I show up at day care, the only thing Zoe wants it to be picked up.

Zoe is really good at keeping herself occupied in the tub. She typically entertains herself, but may ask me to grab her a pirate or bowl so she can accomplish some specific task. Last night she dunking her head, and when she go a hold of her washcloth she started to do some sort of strange self-water boarding. She seemed to like it. She was really enjoying it, which is funny because she hates it if I get any water in her face. After her bath, while Cheryl was putting her down for bed, I went downstairs to make pizza. Usually Cheryl comes down after she's out, but instead she brought Zoe to the kitchen to show me that she can now sing Twinkle Twinkle. This was quite amazing, since she doesn't really sing all of any other song. Just now I was able to capture her singing this. I can't believe we're just two weeks away from her second birthday. Where has the time gone?

This Wednesday, Cheryl and I took both Zoe and Charis home for a little dinner date. It is always interesting to compare and contrast kids. For example, on the crowded trolley ride home, Cheryl was holding Zoe and she was planking and thrashing and wanted to get down, even though there was no room to be put down. On the other hand, I was holding Charis and she just relaxed in my arms, occasionally sucking her thumb. The two had fun sitting in the kitchen, reading books and jumping around. Here are a few pictures. They both seemed to have a really good time. These pictures were all taken with my phone, so you can find more in Zoe's Mobile set on Flickr.

With the bad weather this winter, Cheryl asked if I would pick Zoe up from daycare so she doesn't have to take her both ways. I now take her home after work. Every day, after we walk out the door and I'm carrying her to the sidewalk, I ask her, "How was your day?" Every time she answers, "Issac, June." I'm not sure what that means, but I like to think she's saying she had a great day. Zoe has been singing more and more songs recently. She does Itsy Bitsy Spider, Happy Birthday and Wheels on the Bus really well, but one of her newer numbers is the Sesame Street theme song. She doesn't know all the words, and sometimes you have to use a little imagination to hear it, but it's there. So when we got home today I started her off with a little "Sunny day." Take a look. She has such a lovely singing voice, it's just a shame she doesn't always want to use it. Don't believe me? Take a look at another time when I just could...

The weather had improved throughout the week and by Saturday it was really nice out. After Zoe woke up from her nap, we decided to hop on the trolley and take her to the Academy of Natural Sciences. The first thing we did when we got there was to check out the new dinosaurs. She was equal parts excited and terrified of the monsters. After the dinosaurs we went up to the third floor where they have an exhibit called Out Side In. Here they have a lot of different hands on areas where kids can play with stuffed animals, touch live animals, there's a little beach area and another area with hands on toys like doctor's equipment. The stethoscope is probably Zoe's favorite and it is quite entertaining to watch her shrug up her shoulders to try and keep it in her ears. Needless to say she had a great time. Of course, when we ask her to pose for a nice picture of just her and mommy at the end of the visit, we get this. But I feel like we've come to expect this....

Tonight Cheryl brought out some paint, ink pads and paper to see if Zoe would be willing to cooperate with possibly making some cards. She was surprisingly good, but did make a bit of a mess. Take a look. This is, most likely, something we'll be doing on a regular basis. Now we just need to find an area that is easy to wipe down.