Mid October

We are coasting through fall with some new routines and plenty of interruptions to those same routines. In other words, life as usual.

We are enjoying our time with Zoe and feel lucky to be able to spend so much time at home with her. We do not have her in preschool and are not considering it until next year if at all. With her January birthday, she is not eligible for Junior Kindergarten until 2011 and will go to Kindergarten in 2012. In the meantime, we have her enrolled in a couple of toddler classes at our local (and fantastic!) neighbourhood centre. She is currently taking Salsa Tots and Sportplay. Both classes meet once a week and are for parents and tots (i.e. not drop off). To say that she loves them is an understatement!

In addition to Zoe’s classes, Sara belongs to MumNet, a group of mums who meet one morning a week for an hour of exercise followed by an hour of discussion. One of the best features of the program is that childcare is provided. Zoe did well with being dropped off in the childcare room last year, but had some separation issues at the beginning of this year’s fall session. However, we did a lot of practice at home with her dolls (initiated entirely by her!) and also bought The Kissing Hand (a great book recommended by fellow blog friends in which the child holds a mother’s kiss in the palm of her hand for the duration of the her time away from the mother). By the third drop-off, the crying was gone and Zoe now states on occasion that she actually wants to go to MumNet.

Wednesdays are our busiest day of the week. It is Julian’s teaching day. He leaves the house around noon and does not return until close to 11 PM. That leaves Zoe and Sara to give Chengis his afternoon walk as well as get to Sportplay on time. With a few other logistics thrown in to deal with, we decided that Wednesday night would be Zoe and Sara’s special night to go out for pizza. We have a plethora of pizza shops and other eateries within walking distance of our house. By the end of Julian’s semester, the plan was that we would have hit them all. But then it turned out that both of Zoe’s best friends were also free on Wednesdays (with their moms and one baby sister). Our special night out has now turned into a regular girls night out with four girls under the age of 3 and three moms. We rotate houses and order in. Sushi seems to be the universal favourite. It is the perfect end to an otherwise long and tiring day.

In addition to Zoe’s two best friends, Julia and Taylor, both of whom she met in a music class a year ago, a new friend has entered the scene. Her name is Eebie. She lives with us, though only Zoe can see her. She plays the role of best friend, baby sister, and rival. We are not really sure when she moved in. We actually heard the name sporadically a long time ago but could never quite figure out what Zoe was saying. It has only been in the last month or two that the name has been said with enough frequency that we realized what was going on. It has been fun to “watch” Eebie grow and take shape.

We have mentioned various developmental leaps in the past. Zoe has made another leap in the area of play over the last month. She will now go off with her stuffed animal friends (Bear and Pooh being the consistent favourites) and play for a solid hour or two. She dreams up various scenarios and chatters away all morning with them. It is so cute!! Her imagination has really taken off in this and other areas. Of course we are thrilled with every developmental leap, but this one in particular is especially thrilling as it buys us a little “free” time while she plays.

On the physical development side, Zoe (2 ¾ years old) recently weighed in at 25.5 lbs and 34.5 inches tall. She is in the 3rd percentile for weight and between the 3rd and 10th percentiles for height. She is a wee little thing, but very healthy!

Today we celebrated Kazakhstan’s Republic Day (they declared their sovereignty 19 years ago) with the other families in the Toronto area. As always, it is fun to gather and share stories with a group of people who have been there and done that! It is also fun to share in the anticipation of those who are waiting to travel. In fact, one of today’s participants got “the call” just last night!

A group photo was attempted though we never did get all of the children in the same shot at the same time. For those who may be worried, Alex (front centre) bounced right back up unscathed.
A family shot was a bit easier.

Happy to be Kazakh!!

One of the families brought this horse for the children to play with. Zoe made a beeline for it and, when asked, announced that they had the same one in her baby house. (It was blue but otherwise the same.)

Following are some pictures taken around the house and neighbourhood over the last few weeks.

These two never tire of holding court by the front door.

They also love to antagonize each other and then play Mister and Miss Innocent.

Zoe in the middle of a play session with Bear and Pooh.

Reading books to Bear and Pooh.

The longer she plays, the more she sheds.

This was one lengthy play session!!