Comprehension
Zoë's comprehension has gone way, way up. She understands even fairly complex things now. The other night she was mucking around in the water in the kitchen sink (she likes to try to do the dishes, which is sweet, but she does a poor job on the dishes and makes a big mess in the process). I called to her to get out of the kitchen, which she did. She came over to me with obviously wet hands. I said, "Go in the bathroom and dry your hands on a towel," and she understood me perfectly and did what I asked.
She's been talking a lot lately about the "Chocolate Egg Rabbit", which is, it would seem, the Easter Bunny. Given Zoë's bad reaction to chocolate (she's probably allergic to it as both her uncles were as children; she gets extremely irritable and difficult to deal with when he has much chocolate, so we try to really limit that, but it's surprising how hard it is to avoid chocolate!), we probably won't be having chocolate eggs. I do plan on getting some jellybeans and other nice, non-chocolate treats, of course.
She's doing well at school. Very happy to go in the mornings, tired when she gets home (last night she conked out at a more reasonable hour than she's been going to bed, so she's getting back into the school routine now). Yesterday she was so happy to see the "white bus" that she ran down the front path before Andrew could stop her (he normally accompanies her down to the bus), stopped at the end of the driveway, waited for the doors to open, and then got on the bus, shouting "Bye! Seeya waiter!" over her shoulder as she bounded into her seat.
We're still having issues with getting her to eat and to sit at the table (she likes to get up and roam around a bit, and then come back and eat some more, which I find extremely annoying and not at all good manners), but she is eating her lunch at school now, which she wasn't doing for the first couple of weeks. She's never been a big eater (except of chocolate and her beloved potato chips), and she's still not. Hot weather makes it particularly noticible, as she loses all appetite and will to eat (well, except for chcocolate and chips, but we're not going to give her a diet of junk!).
Overall, she's doing extremely well, lots of improvement in many, many areas. Still several to go (her speech is still spotty, at best), but we're very pleased with her progress. I can't wait to see what she's doing by the end of the school year!
Moose and Rabbit
Zoë has two stuffed animals who have recently struck up some sort of relationship. She's had them both since she was quite small, but it's only recently that they seem to have become a team.
One is a moose (named, creatively, Moose) and the other is The Little Nut Brown Hare (from the book, Guess How Much I Love You), who is known generally as "Rabbit" no matter how often we tell her it's the Little Nut Brown Hare.
Anyway, Moose and Rabbit always have to be together now. If she has one, she has to have the other. I've overheard her playing with them, and it seems that one is the daddy of the other, but I'm not sure which (I think Rabbit is probably the child).
And just how a moose ends up being the parent of a rabbit we're not sure...
School holidays
I have, again, been remiss in updating this blog (sorry, Shazza). It's been school holidays for the past two weeks, and I've had my hands full trying to keep the kids occupied and out of trouble. When Zoë gets bored, she gets into things, many times things she shouldn't be. It's been a bit of a pain, to say the least. A restless Zoë is not a pleasant Zoë.
Anyway, she's doing very well. She's reading, for sure. We can't tell how much, but she's absolutely reading some words and making it clear that she understands them. She's also very clear on concepts like "tomorrow" and she understands that it's holidays, to the point of telling us (when we say it's time for bed) "It's holidays! No go to bed yet!"
She's been talking quite a lot, sometimes very clearly. She's talking about things like what television channel she wants to watch (and she does know the difference most of the time), she's been talking about the Commonwealth Games (discussing the running, the swimming, etc., and she was quite fascinated with gymnastics), she's been talking about all sorts of things, including telling her sister (and occasionally others) to shut up.
In fact, she's talking so much that sometimes we wish she'd be quiet! All these years we've been doing the speech therapy and encouraging her to talk and now we wish she'd stop (sometimes, anyway). Oh, the irony...
I think Zoë is looking forward to getting back to school. We've been talking about it, that she'll soon go back on the white bus in the mornings and see her teachers and schoolmates, etc. I know I'm certainly looking forward to her going back to school. As I said, a restless Zoë is not a pleasant Zoë...
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