And here we are...11 months! Just one month away from being 1 year old and a toddler!! I'd like to say that I am in full denial, but I truly can see how much she has grown in a blink of an eye.
Of course, no one wishes for a pandemic to ravage the world, but I do cherish the rare opportunity to be able to hang out with her all day every day as a mom who usually works outside of the house. The first couple of weeks was rough for both of us as we tried to adjust to the new norm - trying to commit to a full-time job from home while also being a mom full-time isn't an easy mission - but we have settled into some type of schedule that is now manageable.
Personality
Oh, where do I even begin? Her personality is really beginning to show. So far from what I can tell - she is fairly easy-going, independent (she finds her own entertainment quickly), lots of curiosity, funny, and pretty wild...like why in the world does she think being upside down is the funniest thing? She loves her daddy tossing her in the air as high as he could. Unlike her mama, she is not afraid of drastic motion changes and heights. And, she loves the dogs, Lilly and Stark. It's fun to see her chasing them around (to a certain extent...we give the dogs a break for a little afterward ^^).
She is already exhibiting some toddler behaviors - getting a little testy, throwing tantrums, and doing things she knows she probably shouldn't do (literally looking directly at me and giving a mischievous smile).
Eating & Sleeping
So far, she is not being a picky eater. She eats anything we give her and especially loves sweet potato, salmon, banana, oatmeal, greek yogurt, noodles, porridge, and chicken. On really busy days, she'll take baby pouches, but she is definitely more interested in table food than purees these days. We are trying to focus more on offering her high allergen food these days, such as fish, shellfish, and eggs. She has baby eczema and seems to be quite sensitive to certain foods when it touches her skin. Before the pandemic, her initial blood testing showed that she may be sensitive to a lot of those high allergen foods but we never got around to doing a full food allergy testing to find out more. We are hoping to get this test done for her soon so we get a better sense of what her body can tolerate. Her typical food allergic reactions are rapid hives and severe itchiness.
Naps have always been challenging for Zoe, but she seems to get a better hang of it these days. She is taking two naps; her second nap tends to the better and longer one so that is when I tend to have my late lunch or catch up on work. She is still very good with night-time sleep, getting 11-12 hours of sleep each night. M-F nights are usually 7-7:30pm bedtime and weekends tend to be a little bit later since we don't follow our daily routines too much. Overall, she is a pretty flexible sleeper so we are very lucky in that department. On some difficult nights, we have tried the cry-it-out method, which personally was very hard for me to endure, but worked well.
Physical milestones
She's a chatterbox! Loves to say "mama", "dada", "baba", and "da~" (we think she's referring to the dogs). I also say jokingly say that she is a spinto soprano judging from her pitch range - this mezzo-soprano mama might be a little sad. She crawls like a champ and rides her walker like a crazy driver. Pulling up is no problem, and she has been practicing standing on her own (for 5-10 seconds). It's very exciting to see the progress she makes every day. A new thing she has done lately is throwing her arms up as if she's signaling 'touchdown' - also, lots of waving hi & bye. And finally, she has ONE TOOTH! It felt like a long time coming. It looks like an adorable snaggletooth.
Some other favorite activities include bathtime (we recently introduced some bath toys), pulling everything out of every known cabinet in the house, banging objects, looking for a mirror to look at herself, eating up remote controls, holding my legs hostage when I'm doing things in the kitchen.
Things she doesn't love
Diaper and clothing changes! She absolutely hates them. Reading time hasn't been a little bit challenging, too. She wants to eat the books or doesn't want to sit still. We usually read to her while she's drinking her bottle.
She is just an absolute joy to be with and it makes me so happy to watch her grow full-time. We love you, Zozo/Zozie/ZoeBear!
Kommentare