Zoe at 3
Our Zo-bug is 3, and boy is she! She’s opinionated, vocal, silly, adorable, strong willed, sassy, and terrible, all bundled into one tiny, bow-resistant package.
Sleeping
Let’s see, she still sleeps in a crib, even though we know she can climb out 😬. As long as she doesn’t climb out often, the plan is to leave her in as long as possible. With Max, we moved him to a big kid bed the first time he climbed out, big mistake. Huge nightmare followed (wrote about that gem here).
If you’ve read any of Zoe’s previous updates, I’ve always gushed that she’s an amazing sleeper. Well, that ended soon after she turned 2. It seemingly happened overnight, where one day she just decided she didn’t want to sleep anymore. So instead of putting her in bed and saying good night, bedtime has turned into a 1-2 hour saga of Zoe asking, “are you there?”, “can you tuck me in”, “I’m thirsty”, “I have to poop”, “is it time to wake up?”, “are you there?”, “can you tuck this in?”. At one point I even sewed her blanket to her fitted sheet so she would stay “tucked in”. It worked great one night, but the next night she ripped both blankets. We halfheartedly tried sleep training, but she is our last baby, so one or both of us always caved (Aaron). Fast forward to now, we basically just take turns pouring a big glass of whiskey and sitting outside her room. It’s not ideal, but all kids fall asleep by the time they are 18, right?!
Saying
Aaron and I were so impressed with what Max could say when he was 3. Then Zoe came along and blew him away! Maybe it’s because she is the second child or a girl or just smarter, but holy smokes the girl can put together a sentence! A potty-word filled sentence. And no one cracks Zoe up with silly phrases more than herself.
Eating
Zoe is a picky eater. Combined with being a loud yeller means she consumes lots and lots of snacks. We finally put a lock on the pantry, which she hates. That being said, nothing brings her more joy than when it’s unlocked. When that happens, she doesn’t skip a beat before getting her stool so she can reach the “good” snacks. If we walk in mid-mission, she casually says, “can you go over there?” and points to the other room. It makes us laugh because Zoe carries that stool all over the house.
Zoe has a sweet tooth and it’s only gotten sweeter! It’s obvious every time her face lights up like an addict after eating a piece of cake. It’s also the reason Halloween was both the best and worst day of her life. The biggest struggle was the dramatic throw down when she couldn’t have another piece.
Playing
This year has been especially unique with the pandemic. It has meant fewer trips to the zoo, children’s museum, parks, and hardly any play dates. But on the other hand it has meant playing more creatively at home (aka buying a lot more crap on Amazon [wrote about that here]), playing outside almost everyday, lots of bike rides, and hours jumping on the trampoline. Corona is the reason Zoe isn’t potty trained and prob the reason she can’t tell a circle from a square, but it’s also the reason I can do a flip on the trampoline again (sorta)!
Zoe is so silly and loves to play. She pretty much plays with and watches everything Max does. Some of her favorite movie moments, all of which were repeated ad nauseam: Big Hero Six (“I jumped out the window”) and Abominable (“Wee… wait for me” while waving her arms and running into the wall). She also loves singing “rain rain go away, if you don’t, I don’t care, I’ll pull down your UNDERPANTS”, and saying “I tooted” every time she toots (which is a lot!). The great thing about Zoe is she could be in the middle of a tantrum, toot, then stop and yell “I TOOTED” (while giggling), before resuming the tantrum.
It is so hard having 2 kids, but one of the best things is watching Max and Zoe play together. It’s not perfect and there are times I want to throw them both out the window, but on days when they play together, my heart just melts. Watching Max teach Zoe is almost sweet enough to erase all the times he yells, “take Zoe back to the hospital and get another baby!”. The only thing that beats it is when they are playing, I come up, and they tell me to go away because they are playing by themselves. The other day I overheard Max whisper,
Zoe, when Mommy and Daddy die, I’ll take care of you and buy you all the toys you want.
Thankful that Max’s “whisper” is equivalent to full volume, because that comment warmed my heart.
We didn’t get to have a birthday party this year, but we celebrated at home with lots of sugar and lots of unicorns.
A few extra details
- Height: 36”
- Weight: 28 lbs
- Class (school): Bunnies (Goddard)
- Favorite food: Anything with 0 nutritional value
- Favorite toy: Magna tiles (thanks, Aunt Laurie!)
- Favorite lovey: Zoe has a rotating cast of favorites but a few of the frequent repeats are her giant care bear (thank you to one of our neighbors who we got to know during frequent quarantine walks!) and lambie (thanks Eileen, Dave, Selina, and Hannah!).
- Favorite game: Orchard game - Max had very little interest in this game, but Zoe loves it and wants to play it all the time.
- Favorite outdoor activity: Cruising on her balance bike.
There are so many more details I would love to capture, but when you live with 2 little humans you don’t have time to blog! So I’ll end with this note: Zoe girl, stay spunky. We love you!
All amazing photos are by Jacqueline.