Skip's First Words

Before I forget, I should announce that during a trip away Skip started saying his first two words. The first was "Mama" and then "ball." I'm working on him to learn "Mommy," but so far no luck and I remember it took Zadie a while to learn that.

I can't find any blog posts I wrote about Zadie's first words or when that happened. I think it must have been "mama," too.

Zadie Is Back in the Fold

I guess I never exactly announced it on here, but we're home from China! We had a great trip and of course there is so much to say about that, but I don't know where to even begin.

So I'll write instead about coming home to see Zadie. We got home on Tuesday and on Wednesday Zadie was delivered home around noon. We were at work but we met up for lunch and had lots of hugs and kisses. We were very excited to see her and, although we Skyped with her a fair amount while we were away, we really missed her.

I could tell that she was happy to see us and Skip, but it was also obvious how hard it was for her to leave my parents' house. She broke down in tears a few times crying for my mom. I can't really blame her for that since I know she had a great time and she was sort of living in paradise and as an only child all that time. I would have had hard time, too.

Now she's back with us and adjusting to having a little brother who rips her puzzle out of her hands and likes to wrestle. And also to authority figures who aren't quite as permissive in the food and drink department. But we're trying to take it easy on her and I was proud of Tori for letting her have PB and J at lunch and strawberry lemonade -- and letting her eat her fruit first.

We missed you Zadie and are so excited to be reunited!

Zadie The Storyteller?

When do kids start telling stories? I don't know what the typical age is for that, but I've never heard Zadie tell a story. That's why this story from my dad totally amused me. This is taken from a family email he wrote last week:

After dinner and after our night swim, we gathered around a big fire at the firepit. When it got dark Denise asked me to tell some stories. I thought of a good one and started "When I was a little boy at the ranch..." That's as far as I got before Zadie interrupted me and started to tell some doozies about when she and her brother and her Moms were at the ranch. She told stories about riding horses and a pig (yes, riding a pig). Before long Izzie interrupted Zadie and trumped her with even taller tales. The two of them got into a story telling competition. Half the time they were both talking at the same time. I felt like I was sitting by a campfire listening to Clay Wyatt talk [family member notorious for talking up a storm]. I couldn't have been prouder. Denise and I laughed till we cried. Sophie is a listener. After my opening sentence I was too. No one alive could compete with Izzie and Zadie's stories last night. When we put them to beg they were still talking a blue streak (just like Clay).

And here's one more story my mom sent me a few days ago:

Today we went shopping and she got a new pair of shoes, a "Hello Kitty" t-shirt that she couldn't live w/o (because it had sparkles on it), and butterfly wings that she "needed". When we got home, she put on the butterfly wings and asked if she could fly now. I said she would have to try. So she ran around the yard flapping her wings trying hard to fly. She didn't get off the ground, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. She thinks the wings are great and she is napping with them on as I type this. She also got 2 pairs of new shoes and wanted to sleep in them. She asked me, "Do you ever sleep with your shoes on?" Her bed is crowded right now with her wings, sea turtle, a dog that was a gift from Auntie Kim, and a new outfit for Skip. For some reason she wanted to sleep with all of this.