17 months

Zooey's 17 months old! Time flies at an incredible rate sometimes, doesn't it? Zooey is so much fun to be around! She's really a social butterfly, and she loves to be around the whole family; she totally hams it up for everyone. I just can't get enough of her, and I try to soak up each moment with her since they are so fleeting. Tonight she fell asleep on my chest before I had even done praying with her (she was exhausted, poor girl!). It was such a sweet moment and one of the ones I know I won't get forever. Another of my favorite times of day is when we get to play after her nap and before dinner. She's so cheerful when she wakes up, and she tells me lots of stories while she has her snack. Right now she's really into bringing me things to show them to me, and when she does, she likes to crawl onto my lap and have a snuggle before she hops off to bring me something else. She continues to love books and being read to, and often times books are what she spends her free play with. She will sit and flip through them or bring them to me and Ryan to read to her. Zooey is very attentive and loves to check everything out with the cutest look of concentration I've ever seen. We introduced Zooey to roomtime for her independent play, instead of having her do it in her playpen. the first few days were quite the adventure for her: diapers everywhere, wipes pulled out, the diaper genie knocked over...I don't even know how she thought about all that stuff! But, since we've picked up those items, she enjoys it and plays happily with a few toys. She's so precious, and being her momma is a huge joy.

Zooey likes:

~to walk out the front door and to the car like a big girl

~the park! She is Miss Independent and loves to try to climb the steps all by her self.

~her pink kitty cat she got from Grandma for Valentine's Day

~shoes (do I foresee a future problem?) :)

~to help clean up. She likes to clap to our "clean up song" and she puts everything on the shelf where her shoes go. She loves her shoes!

~dancing

~trying to find Mommy when I play hide and seek

~playing "monster Daddy!"

~to point out objects in books

~to wake Daddy up in the morning

Zooey dislikes:

~There's not much Zooey doesn't like at this stage, except being told no, but what kid does like that?

Zooey now:

~Says words that only Mommy and Daddy (and sometimes Grandma) can understand. She says "TaTa" for Tiny (our dog), "badada" for banana, "kikat" for kitty cat. She also says "gate," "cat," and "dog" pretty clearly.

~Something cute that Zooey does is laugh when we say something's silly. :)