jailbird

Yesterday Zuzu figured out how to pull herself from sitting into a standing position in her crib. Not only does this mean we can walk into her room now and find her standing there looking like a jailbird, holding onto the railing and occasionally sticking out her hand -- which cracks us up, predictably she does not know how to get herself back down onto her bottom. Sunday afternoon by 4:45 p.m. after having her boomerang into a tearful standing position each time we put her in her crib, we gave up on trying to get her to sleep and figured we'd all be happier if she was a sleepyhead, free to crawl around the house, rather than being a crying kiddo trapped in her crib. Thankfully by her evening bedtime she was either so tired that she didn't care anymore about standing in her crib or just plain forgot, because as soon as she hit the mattress she snuggled onto her belly and fell asleep.

sweets for the sweetie

Saturday was a BIG day for Zuzu. At least it was in my book. Her life will now be forever changed.

Our little, sweet, innocent Zuzu had sugar for the first time. No, not the wonderful "nature's own" sugars found in fruit, but the real kind (yes, gasp, I know!). And not ONLY did she have sugar for the first time, but she had chocolate too (yes, feel free to gasp again). And she liked it.

Okay, so truthfully it was Ama's super healthy fat free yogurt chocolate mousse, but it still counts on our list of (previously) forbidden foods. We threw caution to the wind and let her indulge after being chided that I'd likely give my child a bran muffin on her first birthday instead of a piece of cake (hmm, Christy, the bran muffin isn't a bad idea, you know). ;)

be my valentine

Happy Valentine's Day, my sweet Zuzu!

Today, Zuzu wore a big heart on the front of her shirt; all week she's been wearing red or hearts in honor of her first Valentine's Day. Her first homemade Valentine was given to Tata this morning (okay, we confess -- we made it, not Zuzu); however, while at Tata's she made us a Valentine gift that she actually painted.

Today Ty came to my work bearing lunch and a heart-shaped dessert, and then filled in for me so I could participate in the school secret Valentine partner reveal. Needless to say, both the lunch and filling in for me was really thoughtful.
"How many people got flowers at school today?" he asked me when I came home tonight.
"Three."
"Yeah," he joked, "but how many people's spouses actually showed up in person and gave them the best gift of all -- their time?"

So tonight we're all spending time together as a family -- our favorite thing to do!

dinner theatre

when zuzu hits the highchair these days, we know we're in for a real show.

answered prayer...

as i drive zuzu to tata's each morning, i've tried to keep a habit of praying with her for the day ahead of us (eyes open, of course!). usually the prayers from day to day sound pretty similar - praying for health and safety for us and for her friends at tata's daycare, thanking god for our friends and family and many other blessings we've been given, asking for a stress-reduced day (for mommy & daddy), etc. well, today i got creative and asked that "love would be evident" - mainly for zuzu's day at tata's. i guess if i start feeling like the prayer is a repeat of the previous day's, sometimes i'll just let things come out and see where they go.

now, there is typically no lack of love and care at tata's - in fact, it is abundant! but today, i prayed for it to be evident. as we pulled in to her driveway, we could see a large red heart taped to the front door, as big as could be.
upon reaching the door, on the heart we could read, in glittery gold writing, "Love is in the air..."

getting into everything

Lately it's as if Zuzu hit the fast forward button. She has taken off with her crawling speed and is getting into everything (which keeps us laughing and occasionally panicked). Yesterday she crawled over to a box of canned food for the Crisis Center which we "cleverly" (i.e. not recommended) used as a temporary barricade to prevent her from reaching the railing that's not kid-friendly. She managed to lift the cans of food out of the box by herself, not only amazing me with the strength of those little hands but undoing our meager attempt to block access to the railing. I guess we need to hurry up our plan to replace it.

Yesterday our washer broke. Zuzu just happens to be on her last clean pair of jammies so I think we may get creative with her bedtime attire later this week depending on how long we are without a washing machine. The washer gets added to our "Now Guess What Broke!" list, to which the temperature control on our oven was added a couple of days ago. The only thing we can do is laugh because everything keeps breaking and our list of things to be repaired or replaced keeps growing.

recent pics

can we really EVER get enough of this girl?!

i love my cat

Zuzu has a special relationship with ten year old Emma (our "first born"). She delights in petting her, is filled with glee when she brushes up against her, and will stop eating out of sheer happy distraction if she walks in the kitchen. Today when Zuzu started saying, "Eh-ma...Emma. EMMA!" during church we had to leave the room.

This afternoon I sat Zuzu on the floor and watched her scramble after her four-legged friend, who was on her way to eat. I knew what was coming, but decided not to stop it: the shiny food bowls are very, very intriguing and the feel of cat food on little fingers a new texture to explore. Thankfully Emma was a very good sport.

ten months

Zuzu is ten months old today. Only two months until her first birthday -- it's hard to believe! Last night we saw Zuzu side by side with a little six week old baby, and in comparison Zuzu looked so big. When she was a newborn we'd look at other people's kids and think they were mammoth -- but now we're on the flip side.

This week Tata started hinting around that Zuzu's hair is getting long in the front. Ty and I are both on the same page that we're not ready for that first haircut (she really doesn't need a trim yet) but things like haircuts still seem pretty big girl-ish. More like the kind of thing she'll do after age one, along with her first dental exam or getting her first tattoo.

Zuzu surprised us last night by opening one of the entertainment center cabinet doors. Tonight she did it again, and then made a beeline for the extension cord under the secretary in the dining room, furniture which I discovered has the perfect-sized opening to wedge a child's head. Hmm, how to childproof that thing...? Today she attempted to pull herself up in her pack-n-play at Tata's, a maneuver she also tried recently at home a few times using either the laundry basket or the excersaucer as leverage. We are just waiting to discover her standing in her crib holding on to the sides and unable to get back down, which we predict will happen in the middle of the night sometime, making it so much more of an adventure. We'll see!

In addition to clearly saying Emma and Momma, Zuzu has been saying Dadda a little more. She has perfect timing and says it when least expected, usually causing us ask each other what she just said. Zuzu now says Emma's name in the car when we're heading home from Tata's (does she know she'll see her?), when we walk in the door and Emma's waiting, and when Zuzu looks at a clay cat that's sitting in our living room. The clay cat now evokes lots of panting and hand-waving out of Zuzu since she gets so excited to get close to it.

Here's a picture of Ty and Zuzu dancing to Barry White last week. Who doesn't dance when they hear Barry White? Zuzu loved being dipped and whirled, and especially enjoyed watching Daddy's dance solo. Mommy enjoyed it too. ;)