10 months on the outside!

We have one -chatty- little girl. Zoe loves to tell stories..sometimes complete with hand gestures...about who KNOWS what. The other day I opened the door after her nap and she practically screamed out, "blah! bla blah blah blah!!!!" As if, she had been waiting and waiting to tell me something and couldn't even wait for me to turn on the light. I love it!

She can really only say 2-3 words though. She says "Hi" and now "uh-oh" in the correct context every time. She has stopped calling everything "dada" and has once correctly held out her arms and identified Matt as daddy. She does not call me mama and I'm working hard to even reintroduce it into her vocabulary. She stopped saying it!

I don't think I can add pictures on this computer so that will come later.

She can stand pretty well by herself now - probably as long as a minute, but she doesn't seem that interested in it. Nothing more than one step at a time, but I can feel it coming!

She also knows words. If you say "no" to her, or say her name the way I say her name when I mean no, she stops what she is doing and shakes her head no at you.
She knows what to do if you say "give so-and-so a kiss." Two nights ago before bed we said, "give daddy a kiss" and I said "can I have a kiss" and then she kept going back and forth between matt and I giving us kisses...unprompted after the first one. heart. melt.

also, she is getting to be very, very sensitive. I can really see the tender/sweet spirit coming out in her. She is sooo cuddly, and is still pretty aware if people are laughing at her and she didn't think it was funny. She'll start crying! A couple nights ago while I was listenning to her stories before bed (routine..she has a lot to say before she goes to bed) - she kept pulling my hair and she would be all smiles, laughing to herself, blabbling on and then she would pull my hair and I would say, "zoe...no,no." she would immediately crumble her face into a small frown and begin a slow "wwwaaahhh.." then bury her face in my shoulder. Then, after a little bit of rocking would pop back up, with a smile and another story. Then, she would pull my hair again and I would said, "zoooe, no, no." exact same routine. She was genuinely upset that I interrupted her story to tell her not to pull my hair. It was so pathetic it was hysterical and I had a hard time not laughing so that I wouldn't upset her more.

oh my goodness. I'm in love with her.


AND today is Matt's birthday. Happy birthday darling. You are a wonderful father and husband! The best I could ever imagine!!!