11 months (V)

This is picture is classic V.  She has SO MUCH personality.  She is so energetic, upbeat, flexible, rambunctious, smiley, and in every way reminds me of Mark.

Z has grown up so much in the last few weeks.  When I left for California, I still thought of her as a baby.  But, after being back for a few weeks, I think of her as a big girl now.  She is so funny.  Here are a few of the funny things she said this week:

"Cool glasses, Dad."
 About dad's driving, "That was fun."
Why she doesn't want to go to bed. "It's dark, and it's too scary."
She knows Sesame Street's characters, and wants to be called "Zoe" after the puppet, instead of her full given name and is constantly correcting everyone.
When sister is crying, "Stop crying.  It's okay.  I got you."
When she falls down, "I'm fine."
As she twirls with her hands in the air. "I'm a ballerina"
"Where's my remote?"
"Can I watch daddy's show?"
"No hitting, Why-oh-ya"
"I want my bwankie." to which mommy replied, "It's a b-L-ankie....  No it's not.  It's a blanket."

Other amusing things I don't know exactly when or where she picked up...
She covers her mouth in a very lady-like way when she coughs.
She is HYPER-POLITE.  Excuse me. (mostly when she wants you to move out of the way)  Thank You (for everything).  I'm sorry (often, but cutest when you accidentally trip over her).  That's okay (when you apologize for accidentally tripping over her).  Please. (with the Cat's eyes from Shrek.)

z;s favorite things are Barney, Elmo, books, trains, helping in the kitchen, brushing her teeth, doing laundry (we have coin op and she likes to put the quarters in), singing and dancing, and giving kisses and hugs.

v's favorite things are crawling and standing (especially if we leave the house... she loves to crawl into the hall of our condo, into the elevator, and into the lobby... no need to pick her up if you want to take her to get the mail) pushing and dragging toys around the house, eating paper/leaves/anything, the cats, her big sister, and she is obsessed with the infant swing that she is too big for now.  She is always trying to crawl into it (I can't wait until we have a place to store it where tempting for her to try to get to.)

Also funny... I have no idea how this will translate.  I was having some kind of weird waking dream the other night and I was leaning over Mark really close.  He started to roll over, and with my face about 2 inches from his, I grabbed his arm really tight and said, "NO~!" and woke both him and myself up.  We both were totally freaked out and went back to sleep.  The next day, he called me at work, and reminded me of this happening.  I had completely forgotten it, but we both ended up laughing so hysterically. I think maybe I was dreaming that we had a newborn baby he was about to rolling over onto or something.  It is so funny what kind of weird things your mind can do.

It's a very busy time.  I hope that things slow down soon, and I can fill you in on all the exciting things that have been going on.

:)