Considering the art at the museum.

Explaining the art.

Enjoying some In n’ Out.

With her new tiger Schroby.

And now, some pictures Z took herself with her new camera (thanks Grandma!)

“Momma! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a little girl down on the sidewalk, and she looked up at the window and I was holding this and it would look like a rainbow, and she would smile? That would be happiness. I think that silver is the color of happiness for me.”

and

“Momma, when I have children, we will have three days when we don’t do anything. And then on Mondays we will have preschool. And on three days we will go places. Like adventures. But Momma! Who will be my children???”

…write! Along with reading, we’re working on writing, and she’s doing really well. She really enjoys practicing writing her letters.

… do yoga! I got a kids yoga DVD for her, and this is what she surprised us with yesterday:

…swim! She’s started swimming lessons again, and is working on the elementary backstroke and the regular forward stroke. (She’s used to swimming without using her arms.) She’s working hard and getting better and better!

A dog barks outside.
Z: “That sounds like a fire dog!”
Me: “A dalmatian?”
Z: “No, I’m talking about a dog.”
Me: “Dalmatians are the kinds of dogs that fire fighters have.”
Z: “No, dalmatians are things we drive in.”
Me: “What?”
Z: “Like cars and buses and scooters and things.”
Me: “Ah, you’re thinking of transportation.”

And…
explaining this keychain to Audrey:

“Tiny, this is the story of this book. George Washington was a boy who lived in Washington DC. He LOVED to play Jazz.”

Today was Z’s last day of preschool for the year. She’s looking forward to swimming lessons and reading lessons this summer.

And here she is, pretty little thing:

She tore into her presents- although her technique was more like that of Bert on A Sesame Street Christmas(go to 6:56, you’ll see what I mean) – and was enraptured with her “shorts and a Wall-E shirt to go with them!!” (pajamas) from Tiny:

She insisted on wearing the shirt on our adventures for the day, and then had to wear it to bed too. Hopefully she’ll let me take it off of her this morning.

She also got an Einsteins music set, full of percussion-y goodness, and a Word World Barn playset.

Then she got to open her presents from her grandma and grandaddy and Aunt Hayden, which she was very excited about.

After playing for a while we headed out on our adventure of the day, Marine World!

Zoe really wasn’t sure about the whole prospect as we entered the park underneath all of the huge roller coasters and people screaming, but once we got into the African animal area, she hit her stride, going on rides with her daddy and looking at animals.

We went to the Shouka the Orca show (which also featured dolphins), and even though Z wanted to leave part way through to go on more rides, she later referenced it as her favorite part of the day. (These pictures are kind of wonky, but it was hard getting a good angle while holding Tiny.)

The park has a Thomas the Train area, and luckily we went on a “Zoe loves Thomas the Train day” (she goes back and forth on the issue) and she had a fantastic time riding on Thomas the train and Harold (?) the helicopter and Bertie the bus. The whole time she kept saying how much her friends Grant and Kellen would love to be there, because “they LOVE Thomas momma”.

A few rides later and it was time for us to go, much to her chagrin. But before we left she played a game of strength (one of those where you hit the thing with a mallet and try to hit the bell) and she won a kitty on a leash who has been named Oobadoop.

She crashed on the way home, and really, you can’t ask for a better end of an adventure than that.

And then there was cake:


Some quick Zoe’s 3 stats:
She’s 39 (ish) inches tall
She’s 29 (ish) pounds
She can pretty reliably pee on the potty
She loves to swim, run, jump, dance, sing
She has an insane vocabulary and a pretty funny repertoire of idioms
She has, on any given day, 6-7 imaginary friends (little buddies)
She’s got a green thumb- her 4 plants are growing like weeds! (And no, they’re not weeds.)
She adores her little sister, as long as she’s not trying to play with her toys.

Now, some answers from her:
Favorite shows: Word World, Wow Wow Wubbzy, Little Einsteins, Micky Mouse Clubhouse
Favorite movie: Wall-E
Favorite book: Cars (no, she has never seen the movie)
Best friend: Ben
Favorite song to listen to: Go Speed Racer by Ali Dee and the Dekompressors
Favorite song to sing: Bathtub (which is a song she wrote, the lyrics are: “bathtub, bathtub, bathtub, bathtub, bathtub, bathtub, truck!)
Favorite thing to do: Go for a hike. “Where?” In the woods, I’m not scared of monsters. (Just for the record, she has never been on a hike.)
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite food: strawberries
Favorite toy: dolls. actuoo (actually) princesses.

So Bruce and I went into her room (Audrey was asleep already) and we all knelt down and I asked her who should say the family prayer. She proclaimed that she would say it, and I fully expected to hear her nightly prayer, which I expected she would then say again for her “own” prayer.

Instead, this is what we heard, as B and I listened in partial shock, partial dying of adorableness:

“Heavenly Fathen, thank you for this day, blessing I can be too-geger (together) with my family, blessing we can sleep well, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

And no, that’s not a typo, she pronounces it “Fathen”.

Too awesome? Too awesome.

And just for the record, this is her nightly prayer:
“Heavenly Fathen, thank you for this day, blessing I can sleep well and Tiny too, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Cross posted on Z’s blog.

Today in the car, Z and I had the following conversation, with Bruce getting in the car and joining part way through. Imagine me trying really hard not to crack up the whole time.

Z: Momma, there’s something in my nose!
M: What is it?
Z: I think it’s a nose nut.
M: A nose nut?
Z: Yeah.
M: How did it get in there?
Z: It got on a nut airplane and flew to my nose.
M: Really? I had no idea they could do that.
Z: Yeah. They go in every kind of girl’s noses. And then fingers come and get them out.
M: And how do they feel about that?
Z: Well….. they’re angry.
M:What do you do with a nose nut after you take it out of your nose?
Z: Put it in my pocket. I keep it in my pocket. Then it is happy.
B: Wasn’t it happy in your nose?
Z: Yes.
B: Then why did you take it out?
Z: So I have more air in my nose.

And there you have it.

She’s turning 3 in 75 days. Doesn’t she look grown up?

Her hair is crazy long and goes really funny curly when it’s been up in puff balls:

She loves going to Starbucks. Her regular order is a vanilla scone and chocolate milk, but she’ll go with a croissant too.

She still enjoys playing in the baby pool, but is wary of the big pool. Swimming lessons ahead. (editor’s note: she knows how to swim, she just forgot about it over the winter -the daddy)

She loves the play ground:

More to come later.

So today at lunch, I sang Zoe a song along the same lines about eating her lunch.

She said: ” No mama, this is the pizza song. ‘If you have some pizza, you say I eat it!’. She followed that up with, “If you don’t have no pizza, you say, Waaaaaah! I want pizza!’ ”

Wherein she clearly and succinctly captures the pathos of her generation. I’m impressed.