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.

Thursday, May 31, 2001

When Andrew or I drop something or spill something, we both tend to say, "Uhhmmmm....". I don't know why. It's just what we say.

The other day Zoë managed to pull down a whole stack of books, which came crashing to the floor around her (she wasn't hurt). She stood in the middle of them and looked at them all and said, "Uhmmmmmm."

Last night I placed her high chair a bit too close to a cabinet that had a stack of videos on top. She managed to knock them all down with a big crash. She sat there with the videos all around her and looked at them and said, "Uhmmmmmm."

Most little kids will say "uh oh" or "oops" or whatever their parents say in such situations. We didn't even think about what Zoë was learning by us saying, "Uhmmm..." when something fell or spilled, but she seems to have picked up that when you spill something, say "Uhmmmm" and look at the mess for a bit.

:: posted 31.5.01 :: link

Busy, busy girl. She walks everywhere now. She only resorts to crawling when climbing up stairs. The rest of the time, she's on her feet, and fairly steadily. She's busy, busy, busy. She wakes up and is on the go until she falls asleep (usually with protest), and as soon as she wakes up, she gets busy again. She's like a wind-up toy, sometimes.

:: posted 31.5.01 :: link

She's been very out of sorts lately, waking up in the middle of the night crying, that sort of thing. I finally figured out what it is. She's got big lumps in her gums on both sides on the bottom, where teeth are trying to come through. These are not nice, sharp little incisors, mind you, but bicuspids (or maybe canines, it's hard to tell from a lump in the gum). So lately we've been giving her a dose of baby ibuprofen before bed and lo and behold, she's back to sleeping through the night.

:: posted 27.5.01 :: link

Andrew downloaded a program for babies and toddlers. It's a very simple program that makes the screen black, and then, when the keys are pressed, the letters or numbers appear on the screen in very large, colorful forms. The screen clears every so often.

Zoë was fascinated with it. At first, she just had fun typing on Daddy's computer keyboard (this is normally a forbidden activity), but pretty soon she caught on to the idea that it was actually her typing that was causing the screen to change.

On a somewhat related note, I think she's also figured out that the remote control has something to do with the television, as well.

Eventually, I'll put all the recent digital photos online, but for now, here's a picture of our baby geek at the computer.

:: posted 19.5.01 :: link

Zoë's not feeling well. She's got some mild diarrhea, and it's really bothering her. Every time she has a bowel movement, she squats, turns very red, grunts, cries, and just basically shows a great deal of distress. I suspect that she's getting intestinal cramps and that's why she's crying. Poor kid. At least her appetite seems fine. She's just a little clingy and irritable. If it keeps up, we'll start with the special electrolyte restorative drink (I think it's icky tasting, but she seems to like it well enough).

:: posted 18.5.01 :: link

It seems that she can talk and understands perfectly well that words have meanings. Yesterday, she was playing on the floor near my desk and she started to cry (I don't know why, I think maybe she bumped herself in some way), and I picked her up for a cuddle. She said very clearly, still sobbing, "Dowwwwwnnnn!"

She also still says "tickletickle" now and then when she wants a tickle. It's very clear that she understands many words. She just doesn't seem to feel the need to say them most of the time.

Andrew was the same way. He was a late speaker and when he did speak, it was in complete sentences. His first word was "microphone". I'm not at all worried about Zoë.

It does remind me of an old joke, though.

A couple had a son who never said a word. By the time he was five and still hadn't spoken, they were very concerned and consulted specialist after specialist and no one could find anything actually wrong with the child. One night, they all sat down to dinner, as usual. The child picked up his spoon and tasted the soup that was put in front of him and then said, clearly and perfectly, "This soup is terrible." His parents were astounded and amazed. "You're talking!" shouted the father. The mother said, in an awed voice, "You can speak? You really can?" The child replied, "Yes, of course." The father, after a moment's reflection finally asked the son, "Why haven't you spoken before, then?" The kid shrugged. "Well, up until now, the soup's been okay."

I think Zoë just doesn't feel the need to speak so long as the soup's okay...

:: posted 15.5.01 :: link

Zoë spent the night with her grandparents last night. She ended up staying away until quarter to midnight, and this without an afternoon nap! I think she just got past the point of tired and then stayed awake out of sheer stubborn will. In any event, she had a bath and breakfast and went to church, where she played with some other kids and apparently sang for some of the hymns!

She had cereal and toast for breakfast, same as the last time she stayed with them, but this time I heard the full story about the toast. It had Vegemite on it. I hate the stuff, but Australians grow up eating it, and they're starting Zoë out on it early (I'm convinced that's the only way you develop a taste for it). It's very salty, so I suppose that's why she likes it, and I never give her the stuff here at home, but I don't really have any objections to her eating it. She is Australian, after all, and there's a saying about Aussie kids being "happy little Vegemites", so there you go.

When we saw her again at lunch, she was very happy to see me. I don't think she missed us, especially, but when she saw us again, she realized she hadn't seen us for a while and was very pleased. She gave me cuddles and kisses and grinned and grinned at me, which was a very nice experience for Mother's Day.

She's now got a little table that her great-grandfather made for her (at my request). She can put things on it and take them off and put them on and take them off, endlessly. Yes, this is apparently fun for toddlers, or at least for my toddler.

Zoë's Nanna commented again that Zoë is a very, very busy little girl. She's just always going, always into something, always playing with something, always exploring (which she did with great gusto; this weekend was the first time she'd gone out of the loungeroom by herself, and she went and snooped in all sorts of other rooms). The child is absolutely voracious in her need to learn things and explore things. This is a challenge in more ways than one!

So, Happy Mother's Day!

:: posted 13.5.01 :: link

Once again Zoë demonstrated that sleeping with parents is not her thing. I went to bed before Andrew last night (a rare thing, to be sure), and Zoë woke up around that time (mostly because Andrew talks too loudly sometimes). Anyway, she wasn't inclined or able to go back to sleep, so she had a bit of a snack and a drink of water and then a clean nappy, and I brought her to bed with me for a cuddle. I figured she'd fall asleep with me and Andrew could just put her in her own bed when he came to bed, but no, Zoë didn't want to sleep withy me. She certainly seemed like she wanted to sleep, but she couldn't seem to get properly comfortable in the bed with me. As soon as I put her in her own bed, she went right to sleep.

The first few months of her life, she slept with us more often than not, usually because it was the only way we could all sleep. She was a very, very needy little girl, and she just seemed to need parental contact almost constantly. Now, she's Little Miss Independent and you can't get her to sleep with us even on an occasional basis. I believe in my heart that giving her what she needed in those early months (i.e., almost continual contact, carrying her in the sling, having her sleep with us, etc.) built the foundation for the independent, bright, contented little girl she is now.

:: posted 10.5.01 :: link

The girl seems to have put "learning to talk" on hold. Andrew thinks it's because she's devoting all her energy to physical things like walking and learning physics (with blocks, toys, etc.). I think perhaps it's that she communicates fairly effectively without using words, so she isn't yet motivated to talk. She used to say a lot of words fairly regularly, but now she mostly just babbles a bit now and then and can't be bothered to talk.

We're not worried about it, by the way. Andrew was quite a late speaker, as well.

:: posted 9.5.01 :: link

Had a visit Saturday with Auntie Lori and her two boys, and we had pizza for lunch, Zoë included. She loves anything spicy, and especially loves onions and garlic, so we got her a garlic and cheese pizza, which she devoured.

I also managed to get more pictures online. Yay! Pictures from age twelve months, mostly from her first birthday party. I'll have more to go online soon, too (lots of digital piccies to process).

I think after this batch, I'll be switching to a different picture format, and putting them up in bits and pieces by the date rather than in big batches. Reason for this is the digital camera, which makes taking and processing pictures a lot easier, so I have lots in small batches instead of big batches of many.

:: posted 6.5.01 :: link

Took this tonight: What makes you think I'm tired?. She fights sleep for so long that she's been known to fall asleep in the high chair. This is the first time I've gotten a good picture of it though.

:: posted 5.5.01 :: link

I'm currently working on the redesign of these pages. The actual design (with the crayoned trees and house, etc.) will stay the same, but I'm making a few changes to the coding and also setting up the pictures so they open in a JavaScript pop-up window for ease of viewing (just close the window or click another thumbnail to have the picture load in the same pop-up window!).

There are a whole new batch of pictures online now on the third picture page, and as I write this, I'm preparing a batch for the next page. I will get these pages caught up, and now that we've got our own digital camera, pictures should be a lot easier to take, process, and publish.

:: posted 4.5.01 :: link

From the "Look How Cute I Am" Department: Zoë Sees the Camera.

On a related note, we have a digital camera of our own now, so I'll be able to take more regular pictures of the busy toddler. I also managed to get all the ones from the nine month batch and her first birthday party (finally!), but I haven't put them online yet. Setting up the online album with the little thumnails is exceedingly tedious and fairly time-consuming; I'm looking at a better way to handle it than doing it manually.

But anyway, there she is in all her Seventeen Month Old Cute Baby Smiling for the Camera glory.

:: posted 3.5.01 :: link

Zoë did a weird thing today. After she woke up, she was in our bed, having a bit of a snuggle, and I was only partly dressed (bra, but no shirt). Suddenly, she saw my bare upper arm and launched herself on me, with her mouth on my flesh. She was sort of sucking, but I couldn't work out what, exactly, she was doing (she gives kisses that way, too) or trying to do. Eventually, Andrew and I worked out that she seemed to be trying to breastfeed based on vague and half-remembered experiences.

I think it went something like this....

"I'm hungry. Mama's got her shirt off. There was something nice and comfy that I use to do... in the mornings when I was hungry.... hmmm.... had to do with Mama having her shirt off and me having my mouth somewhere around.... here...."

The funniest thing is she kept laughing at me when I said, "What are you doing?" After she had some breakfast she forgot all about it, which just goes to show... well.... something, anyway.

:: posted 1.5.01 :: link

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