Mama's Girl

We are back from our trip to Minneapolis, which Zoa handled pretty well. Unfortunately, Brian had a little tougher time as he got really sick and pretty much spent almost all his time there in bed. Poor Brian missed all the wedding fun. That left me to care for Zoa for the majority of the weekend, which seemed fine with her as she has become a complete Mama's girl lately. She has been definitely expressing a preference for me above all others to the point of being pretty clingy at times. Not that I really mind. Most of the times I think it is very sweet as she reaches out for me when pretty much anyone else holds her and I am nearby. However, when my arms are tired or I am tired, she can get to be a little much. I am almost sure she is just going through a phase that will be short-lived; however, it could also be related to the fact that I have spent a lot of time with her lately now that summer school is over.

Besides her new found appreciation for me, Zoa has been really busy lately, and I mean really busy. When she is awake, she is literally moving non-stop. She walks/runs all over the house and it is getting hard to keep up with her. Also, immediately upon our return from Minneapolis she figured out how to open the child-safety locks on the cabinets. We are going to probably have to invest in some of the more expensive magnet locks as she has become obessed with the cat food bin and will not stop playing in it even after we work very hard to distract her from it.

She continues to figure out more words and it seems like she learns something new everyday now. She now says hot, which sounds more like "ha," and has signs for "more" and "telephone" (both of which my Mom taught her). She also worked a little on trying to say balloon this past weekend, but could only get out "ba." It seems like she will probably be expanding her vocabulary more rapidly now.

I should also note that Zoa has a new love in her life, Portroy. Portroy is a doll that our friends Ceri and Glenn gave to Zoa for her birthday. At first, Zoa gave Portroy a little attention. She was concerned with feeding him with the stuffed bottle he came with and occasionally carried him around. However, now her love for Portroy has grown and he is her favorite cuddle-buddy. She sleeps with him every night and for every nap and must cuddle him when she is groggy and still waking up (see photo). She also enjoys removing his diaper and trying to put it back on. She lays the diaper out nicely and places Portroy on top of it, but can't quite get the hang of the velcro tabs used to fasten it. However, unlike when she gets frustrated with her other toys, she never bites Portroy. Although, I am ashamed to admit that she has thrown him once or twice as a result of his refusal to get diapered.

I am sure there is more Zoa-related news, but I am recovering from whatever Brian had last weekend, so I am headed to bed early. One more thing before I go... Brian has big news to share with all of the blog fans. Today he got a big, fat, gooey blister while scraping paint off the side of our house! Not to worry, he popped it with a pin, put a Batman bandaid on it, and is recovering nicely. He wanted to make sure I alerted all of you.