Notes on the life, times, and development of Miss Zoë Bromage, as recorded by her mother. Also includes minor notes on updates to this website.

Wednesday, February 28, 2001

Tonight I was sitting on the couch with my feet up, and Zoë was playing on the floor. Suddenly, she decided she wanted to have a cuddle and she came over and literally climbed up my legs and into my lap. First time that's happened! This kid is just so cute...

:: posted 28.2.01 :: link

She's going to be an opera singer. Her latest game/attention getter is to open her mouth and let loose with one long, loud, surprisingly solid and on-pitch note along the lines of "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She's actually got quite good pitch control and the note is pretty well-supported (amazing for a toddler). She may just have some natural singing ability. That wouldn't surprise me at all, since I sing, my mother and maternal grandmother sang, and Andrew's mother and at least one grandmother also sings. (I have mentioned that this is a particularly musical family, haven't I?)

:: posted 26.2.01 :: link

Zoë has decided she doesn't like to sleep with us any more. She'll still lie down with one parent and have a snooze, but she does not like being in the bed with both of us. So much for the people who insisted that if we let her sleep with us she'd never want to sleep in her own bed.

:: posted 22.2.01 :: link

New "I'm so cute" trick: Put your head on the floor and straighten your legs, sticking your bottom in the air and balancing with your hands. Then look through your legs and grin. Wait for cries of "You're so cute!" and repeat until you get tired or they get tired of telling you you're cute, whichever comes first.

:: posted 20.2.01 :: link

Today at Nanna's house, Zoë took several steps. Unfortunately, we weren't there to see it, as we went to a movie this afternoon. Apparently she walked across the dining room floor haltingly, taking a step and then balancing, taking another and balancing, and so on until she reached her goal. I wish we'd been there to see it, but it is special that it was her grandparents who were on hand to witness the momentous event. I'm sure we'll see her walking soon enough!

:: posted 19.2.01 :: link

She's standing by herself. She stood on the bed for a good twenty seconds this morning, and she's been standing briefly unsupported off an on all day. Just now she actually to a step by herself. It won't be long at all until she's running all over the place...

:: posted 17.2.01 :: link

Today, a new word, "cracker". She saw me get the box of cheese crackers that she likes (low salt, low sugar, made for toddlers) and shouted the toddler equivalent of "give me crackers!" The only work we could make out for sure was "cracker" but her intent was very obvious.

She also gave me hugs for the first time that I could be sure she was really hugging. She got on my lap and put her head on my shoulder and then squeezed my neck with her arm in a way that was definitely a hug. We had a nice little cuddle and a couple of kisses before my very busy girl wanted down to go and do all the things that busy toddlers need to do.

:: posted 13.2.01 :: link

Thankfully, she seems to be feeling better. She's still a bit irritable, but the intestinal upset seems to have passed, and she's got some appetite again.

:: posted 9.2.01 :: link

We decided to take Zoë to the doctor. She had yet another massive, runny poo and we thought we'd better have her checked out. Basically, she's fine and not in danger of dehydration (yet, anyway). We need to keep offering her drinks and keep her as hydrated as possible, and if it keeps up and she shows clear signs of dehydration, take her to the Royal Children's Hospital to be put on a drip for a while (yuck).

The good news is that her fever seems to have broken (yay!) and she seems in better spirits, even if she does still look really tired. She's also quite irritable, but I can't say I blame her.

:: posted 8.2.01 :: link

Sick toddlers are not much fun. Zoë seems to have some sort of tummy bug, and she's exceptionally cranky.

She's been cranky for a couple of days, but I couldn't figure out what was bothering her. Yesterday she seemed to have practically no appetite, and when we went out to dinner she was totally disinterested in her french fries (definitely a sign that something is wrong!). She did drink a fair amount of milk and she had a nibble of her dinner, but then, without warning, she threw up all over the place. Yuck.

We got the mess cleaned up and amazingly she managed to avoid getting any significant amount of vomit on herself (just everywhere else). I held her and she went to sleep on my shoulder; I'm just glad my meal was something I could eat one handed!

Some time later in the evening ,she had what her father terms a "monster poo". It was pretty horrific, as it leaked and we made a very big mess in the changing room (we did our best to wipe up, of course). She slept poorly and woke up in the middle of the night wanting breastmilk, which, despite our efforts toward weaning, I gave her because I know she'll keep it down and it was the middle of the night and it's pretty hard to deny a sick toddler what she wants in the middle of the night.

Today she had another monster poo and while her appetite is somewhat improved, she's still got the fever she had last night.

My tummy hasn't been feeling too great lately either, so I'm assuming she's just picked up a virus of some sort. Poor kid. She's watching educational pre-school television right now and seems content after having had a bit of lunch, so I think I'll just let her rest and watch and hopefully she'll feel better soon.

:: posted 8.2.01 :: link

She fell down today and scraped her arm a bit. I didn't actually see her fall, but turned as she was falling. She sat on the floor and cried loudly and grabbed her elbow and looked pitiful. When I saw her arm, I saw the injury and cuddled her until she felt better, but I was quite surprised to see that she actually grabbed the hurt place on her arm. I don't know when I thought people started doing that, but I guess I didn't think it was when they were fourteen months old....

:: posted 6.2.01 :: link

Zoë is the most persistant toddler I've ever seen. I'm sure many people would consider it "stubborn", and I suppose it is, but I prefer to think of it as "persistant". Puts a more positive spin on it, and I like to be as positive as I can where parenting is concerned.

Case in point: We've rearranged our home office, because Andrew is now working from home and so do I. We needed a second desk for my computer, and since it's not a big office, we got a small, compact computer desk system. The computer tower is now tucked under the desk. This, of course, puts it right at toddler eye level.

Zoë was fascinated with it. She kept coming over to investigate. I told her "no" firmly and moved her away. I did this at least three times and the fourth time, she started to cry. I told her that I was sorry she was upset, but computers are strictly out of bounds for toddlers and she'd just have to play with her own toys. The fifth time she came over, I went through the same routine.

Eventually, she did figure out that I was not going to allow her to touch my computer, and that every time she came over to it I'd move her away. She complained about it quite a lot, though. I think Andrew was somewhat surprised by her display; I don't think he often sees her extreme stubbornness in action.

The good news is that she seems to have decided that I really, really mean it about the computer being off limits, and she's not trying to touch it any more. She's stubborn, but she's certainly not stupid. It took a lot of frustration on her part and mine and a lot of firm voices and crying, but she figured out she wasn't going to get away with it and it seems to be a lesson learned.

As I've noted before, if we can turn her stubborn streak into persistance and teach her to use it in positive ways instead of the sort of "cut off my nose to spite my face" attitude a lot of people seem to have, there will be no stopping her when she makes up her mind to succeed at something, even if it's a difficult goal.

:: posted 4.2.01 :: link

The weaning is going slowly and well enough. We're down to normally one breastfeed a day (usually early in the morning), and have skipped that feeding a couple of days. I suppose I could just say "no more" and leave it at that, but it doesn't feel quite right to do it that way. I want to encourage her to move on to other things, not discourage her from things she's known and enjoyed. Also, I still get fairly uncomfortable and full if we go too long between nursings. So, as I said, it's going slowly and well enough.

:: posted 1.2.01 :: link

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