One is a DTT and one is a Mr. Mackey impersonator!

Well, we have a DTT in this house.  That's right, a Dish Towel Thief.  She steals dish towels from the kitchen compulsively and uses them for hats, scarves, whips, etc etc.  It is one of her favorite activities lately.  I managed to catch some of her shenanigans on video tonight after dinner.

In the past week or so, Aidan has been saying, "Okaaaay" just like Mr. Mackey from South Park.  He has never seen South Park (thank goodness), but the way he says okay is spookily Mr. Mackeyish.  Sam and I die laughing whenever he says it.  Listen closely towards the end of the movie.

After she tired of the dish towel, Zoe got into the part of her closet where I keep the clothes that are too big for her.  She swiped some socks that Aidan recently outgrew.  So far I've found about six pairs throughout our home.

And now I will just plunk some random stuff in this post since I am too tired to think of some good transitions:

Zoe has started calling me "Mommy" instead of "Mama."  Occasionally she calls me a nickname Aidan gave me a while ago, "Mommimina."

Zoe says "aaah daaaah" (all done) when she's done or wants something to stop (like me putting on her jacket).  She also says "ears," "eyes," "nose," "mouth," "hair," and "leg" (llll-guh) and knows where they are. 

Zoe making a crazy "cheese" face!

Zoe really likes playing with (and getting some of it in her mouth) her yogurt, just like her brother!

Aidan has figured out how to use the mouse!  He went through a bunch of letters on Starfall all by himself.  He wouldn't even let me sit in the chair with him!  

You might have had a growth spurt if...

... you go from taking one 2-ish hour nap a day to napping twice a day, for over two hours each time.  After a full night's sleep.

or

... you eat an entire chicken strip, some string cheese, a bunch of crackers, and a fourth of your mom's dinner.

or

... all of the sudden there are carpet snakes and hardwoodfloor snakes underfoot that make you wipe out all the time.

or

... your mom measures you and you have grown a quarter of an inch in the last two weeks!

I think Zoe has fallen about 48 times today.  All but one of the falls (when she was pushed by a certain someone whose name may or may not start with A) were completely random.  Like she would be standing still, decide to walk, and then just wipe out.

She's been in a pretty good mood in spite of all the falling though.  This morning she said "Beee-tull" when Aidan asked to listen to The Beatles.  And later she called me "Mommymina" (which is a nickname her brother gave me).  And she brought me all the shoes in our home that were not in closets and demanded that I put them on.  

Bath time was two hours early tonight

We were having a nice family dinner.  Sam and I were enjoying some tortilla soup, Aidan was eating his peanut butter sandwich and apple slices, and Zoe was inhaling her chicken, sunflower seed bread, and fruit pieces.  She ate everything I put on her tray (except the pieces of rice granola bar she donated to the Feed the Franklins cause) and then screamed for more.  I gave her some yogurt and granola leftover from breakfast.  And then the nice dinner continued.

All of the sudden, Sam said, "Oh my, look at Zoe!"

And this is what we saw.

Aidan belted out, "Oh my God!"  (and I almost had a heart attack from laughing).

The picture does not do the mess justice, so I had to take a video.


Needless to say, we went straight to the bath. All the yogurt and granola came off easily, and as an added bonus, I got to do my weekend bathroom cleaning early since all the yogurt and granola that came off Zoe stuck to the tub!

A few things Zoe has said recently

1.  The other night when Aidan swiped a toy from Zoe (or maybe pushed her down... I can't remember), I swear Zoe said, "I don't like that!"  The teachers at daycare/preschool teach the kids to say, "I don't like that!" that to express their feelings, and we really think Zoe said it to Aidan.  Ha ha!

2.  Looking at a toy (or Franklin), she will point out its anatomy.  For example, one of her baby dolls: "Esh bee-bee aaaah.  (Baby eyes).  Esh bee-bee naaaah (baby nose).  Esh bee-bee mouf."

3.  Last night to distract the kids from realizing they are both rocking some pretty crummy colds (and a big huge molar along with a first ever ear infection for Zoe), we turned on Blue's Clues.  Zoe shrieked, "Guuu guu!!!  Esh guu guu!!!" during the entire show.  Also, she calls Sesame Street "Elmo!"

4.  Normally, when I put Aidan to bed, Sam and Zoe play together until I leave Aidan's bedroom.  Last night they had barricaded themselves in a pile of pillows on our bed and were talking about some toys that were also on the bed.  One was a stuffed Nemo and Zoe told Sam he was named "Nemo!"

And my favorite:

5.  Zoe screamed, "COOKIE!" in Sam's face as he was eating the last of the cookies we bought this weekend (Righteous Rounds from Trader Joe's... so good that Aidan even gagged down (literally) ate some pasta so he could have a handful).

Nothing a little ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid can't fix!

What is ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid you ask? It is EDTA, a huge spidery-like molecule that chelates (or bites) metal ions. And that is about all I remember from my undergrad chem labs!

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I saw something in Franklin's eye.  It was a whitish spot on his left eye.  At the time, I didn't think much of it, thinkin it was a piece of lint or maybe some eye boogers.  But then I saw it again earlier this week, and since Franklin was scheduled to go to the vet for some vaccines, I had the vet look at his eyes.  The vet called to tell me that poor little Frankie the Bean had corneal ulcerations in both eyes!!  Corneal ulcerations are no joke -- they are painful and if they cause scarring require surgery (to remove the scars and allow the cornea to heal) and then one of those Elizabethan cones, which I'm sure Franklin would love.  Franklin did not have symptoms or signs of an infection, which can cause ulcerations, and since the pattern of spots was the same in both eyes, the vet did not think it was injury related (I breathed a huge sigh of relief when he said this because up until this point, I was really worried that Zoe might have poked him in the eye since she likes to point out eyes).  He suggested that we see a specialist, so we had an appointment at a veterinary opthamologist this afternoon.

The doggy eye doctor repeated many of the tests our vet ran, but unlike our vet, she found that Franklin did not have corneal ulcerations!  I was so happy since I had been pretty upset by the idea that The Bean had been in pain for weeks while I was an idiot.  She said the spots on his eyes are calcifications and that they are painless and right now are not affecting his vision.  They will affect his vision if they are untreated, so they sent us home with some special eye drops and fancy EDTA gel.  Long term, Franklin needs to reduce the fat in his diet (which will be awesomely difficult to maintain since about 50% of his food intake comes from being fed by Aidan and Zoe during mealtimes), so I see buying lots of special dog food in my future.

It's all worth it though, for this little guy!  I mean, who else can I count on to sunbathe all the time in the garden?  Or to rid my home of uninvited birds?  Or go nuts at things that fly?  Or shed all over my floors?  I'm so glad Franklin is okay!

Self defense

Thursdays I spend my lunch hour working in Zoe's classroom.  Today when I arrived, one of her teachers told me a hilarious story about Zoe's morning.  While Zoe was playing with a toy, one of the cute little boys in her class started walking towards her with his arms outstretched.  He was on the other side of the room (at least 20 feet away), but Zoe said, "No!" followed by a string of Zoe-babble and hid the toy behind her back.  The teachers died laughing at how protective and serious Zoe was about the toy.  She let the boy have it!

If you are wondering where her defensiveness might come from, I have an idea...  Check out the video below.  Some quick background:  I took this video a few days ago.  Earlier that afternoon Aidan had been playing "golf" with a spatula and a plastic ball.  He had abandoned the game and gone to the kids' bedroom to play and sing.  When he was gone, Zoe jumped on the spatula and ball to try her hand...  

For the record, Aidan flattened Zoe about 0.56 seconds after the video ended!  I think, perhaps, Zoe might get her defensiveness from living with an older brother who cuts her no slack in sharing toys?  Sam and I just love this video since as soon as Zoe hears Aidan coming, she runs for the hills and tries to hide the spatula!!  She knows exactly what is going to happen -- Aidan has it coming when she catches up to him in size!!

Some random Zoe tidbits from today:

I realized today that Zoe says "open" (ahh - wahh).  She said it to me last night when asking me to open the bucket of soldiers (that is oddly half empty) and said it again this afternoon when asking me to open her granola bar snack.

Zoe decided to eat dinner like this:

So she ended up like this:

All by herself

Zoe knocks my socks off daily with how grown up and fiercely independent she is!

She says new words all the time (just today she said "die-purrr" when I told her it was time to change her diaper).

She drinks from a cup without a lid!  (Yes, it only has a little bit of liquid in it, but still!!)

She walks up the stairs holding one hand, and she looks nothing like this while doing it.

She tries to climb into the car like her brother does.  Today I put her on the floor in front of the backseat while I loaded groceries.  I usually leave Aidan out of his seat while I load the trunk because he likes to play in the car.  Then when I'm done loading, I buckle him in.  Anyway, today I thought he and Zoe could play together on the floor while I put the groceries in the car.  But when I opened the door to lift Zoe into her seat, she was already there!!

She climbed in all by herself!  And as you can see, she was very proud of herself!

She even leaned over and snatched Aidan's Field Guide to Trucklife on El Camino Real without falling out of the seat!

At home, she expertly climbed on the Pooh car and went for a drive.  (She did try to climb onto Charlie Horse like her brother does so well, but she's still too much of a little Peanut to make it up!)

At dinner she really enjoys self-feeding.

And she enjoys making an enormous mess.  I'm not quite sure because her pronouciation has a ways to go, but I think she called this masterpiece "Yogurt is Art."