Happy Birthday, Zadie!

Today you are one.


You woke up with a smile on your face and a exclamation of wonder, eagerly pointing at the room around you. You walk around, mostly, leaving crawling for moments that need a speedburst.


You delight in birds, dogs, cats - any animal makes your face light up and your voice burst with excitement. You drive toy cars just like your big brother.

You won't really eat anything you can't feed yourself. You have eight teeth. Your mother often dresses you in pink, but you look good in anything.


You still eat books more than you read them, though the pendulum is swinging on that one. You wave 'hello' and 'bye-bye.' Your sunshiney personality literally stops people in their tracks to say hello.


You both take chances and still call for help when it's prudent.

You chew on shoes.

You make music with rattles and maracas. You are ticklish under your chin.


You do not like your diaper changed. You do not like taking medicine. You do like balloons.

You will fake cough if someone else is coughing. You mostly say "da-da-dad" and make little indescribable high-note babbles.


You gently 'pat-pat' animals and people.

You have very expressive eyebrows.


You dance to your mother's voice and your father's music. You flash your dimples for your brother's antics.


You pucker and purse your lips until they touch your nose. You do this on your own and in response to us doing it at you. You dance to cell phone ringtones. You love the tub.

We love you, Zadie. Eyes of blue; cheeks of peach. Smiles that melt our hearts.

Oh, for fun!

Our vacation was a blast! Here are just a few pictures - more to come!

Red Alert: Zadie is Walking!

Insert video here:

Can't see it? Oh, right - because she is slightly uncooperative in this respect. Still hoping to catch footage of these early, wobbly steps before she's simply running around. She took her first steps in St. Paul - I think it was the siren call of DOG-DOG!

Zadie is eleven months old!

Zadie loves the bath. While I fill the tub, she screams and pulls at the side, letting me know "I want to be in there!" When she sees Nolan in the tub, she goes ballistic. (We've tried the combo tub a few times but it's not really working out yet.) She stands at the tub's edge and tries to climb up and over. She has to be removed from the room and out of earshot of the running water. Her favorite thing to do in the tub? Point at the spout cover that has a picture of a sun and look at me so I can say "sunshine." Oh, and bang the toy cups together. Sunshine; bang, bang. Sunshine; bang, bang. It's like a little song.



Speaking of songs, I sing a little ditty to her:
She's an ittle, bittle baby
An ittle, bittle Zee.
She's my bittle, bittle lady
A bittle baby Zee.
When she hears it, her arms stick out like wings and she bobs them up and down, swings side to side and bops her body around. She also likes The White Stripes' "Now Mary." (One of Nolan's faves.)



She stands on her own a lot now. A few times she has let go of me and swung around to grab something else (cabinet door, couch, etc.) And while she's not taking a step, she's getting the idea. She has just started to do that walking thing where she holds on to your pointer fingers like handlebars and you walk behind her. (Also known as the "back-breaker." Cute, but punishing.)



Zadie, baby. Two dimples. Fuzzy little hair. Peaches and cream.