It's the little things

I may have mentioned this before, but Zoë is not really into traditional toys. And if she does like something she plays with it in a way other than it was intended. For example, Legos. She loves her Legos, but she doesn't usually build anything with them. Instead she sorts them by size. That can occupy her for quite a long time.

But really her favorite things to play with are little things like rubber bands, straws, and loose beads. I actually put rubber bands and straws in her Christmas stocking and she could not have been more thrilled -- that may actually have been the two best presents she got.

A couple of weeks ago I took her into Toys R Us to pick out a present for being a really good girl. In my mind I had set a spending limit of around $20. Without much hesitation she picked a bag of lanyard strings that cost $2.99.
"Mom, can I please get this?" she begged.
"OK, but only because you've been so good," I conceded. I almost felt bad because she could have spent more, but she was so happy to have those strings!

Of course, this is a pattern that I hope continues well into the teen years. Doubtful, I know. I'll just have to try and remember these trips to Toys R Us when I am buying her her first $100 sneakers or similar.

Dangerous Liasons

I just finished reading "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" also known as "Dangerous Liasons." What an excellent book! I can't believe I never read it before. It is kind of hard to believe this book was orignally written and published in the 18th century. Talk about risque. It was a selection from my book club and it is definitely the best book I've read with the club and the best book I've read in awhile. I definitely recommend it to just about anyone.

Must have been those 2 years I lived in Dallas...

Your Linguistic Profile::

50% General American English

35% Yankee

10% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Thanks to Queen of Slackers for that highly amusing link!

Justice in a book review!

The New York Times review of Curtis Sittenfeld's new book, The Man of My Dreams is out today and it is not good.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/books/18masl.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The very critiques given to this book could so easily have been applied to her celebrated (especially by NYTimes) debut novel, Prep. Just when I was starting to lose faith in the NYTimes book reviews, they finally do some justice. They even compared her unfavorable to Melissa Bank saying...

"The Man of My Dreams," like the similarly quotidian but more varied and
assured oeuvre of Melissa Bank, is set up as a string of lonely-hearted short
stories rather than a fully imagined novel.

(Ms. Sittenfeld gave a scathing review to Melissa Bank's book The Wonder Spot back in June of last year.)

Baby Doll

Zoë: I wish Baby Doll would hurry up and grow up.

Me: But Baby Doll is a doll, honey.

Zoë: I want her to be a big girl, like me.

Baby Doll is, of course, Zoë's baby doll. I would say favorite if there were another, but she has never wanted another baby doll. I once bought her one and she completely rejected it -- going as far as throwing it out of her room into the hallway. It was a beautiful doll, too. Finally, I gave it to my niece rather than see it constantly rejected. Zoë has the whole kingdom in stuffed animals, but there is only one Baby Doll.

So, how do I explain that she will never grow up?

Mother's Day

Spent Mother's Day at the Yankee game this year. It was a fantastic way to spend the day. Beats brunch hands down. Plus, it was Zoë's first baseball game and she loved it! She lasted until the end of the 7th inning and then had a complete meltdown followed by a very good nap in the car on the way home.



It could only have been better if the Yankees actually won.

3 sentences

Zoë read almost 3 complete sentences the other night! I can almost declare that she can read. It was amazing to listen to her sounding out each word. And then when she got it all she was so proud of herself. I almost started to cry. My little baby is reading! I remember when she couldn't hold her head up on her own. Wowza!

For anyone starting to teach a child to read I highly recommend the Bob Books published by Scholastic. They are perfect. Start with: Bob Books First! Level A, Set 1

Getting dressed

What is it about getting dressed that is so awful? Seems like every morning when I tell Zoë it is time to get dressed it is like I am telling her it is time to stick pins in herself. The whole operation takes less than 3 minutes, but she spends much more time than that in complaining about it.

This, of course, is completely different from playing dress-up. Zoë will gladly spend as much time as needed to put together the perfect Princess, Bumble Bee, Fairy, etc. costume from her dress-up box.

Garbage Cow

I know the warm weather has officially begun because we paid a visit to Garbage Cow after dinner last night.

Who's Garbage Cow? He's the big cow that stands next to the big garbage can outside Sunny Daes ice cream, of course. The first time we went to Sunny Daes, Zoë was about 1 and just learning to talk. She saw the big cow and the big garbage can and identified each "Garbage" and "Cow." A couple of days later we were driving by and she saw Sunny Daes out the car window and she shouted "Garbage Cow!" And the name has stuck from there.

I'm not sure which Zoë loves more about Sunny Daes -- the chocolate ice cream or the Garbage Cow. When we left last night, as is the case every time we're there, we had to stop and hug and kiss the cow. She told him (no convincing Zoe that cows are girls) not to worry, she'd come back and visit soon. I never thought it was possible to love a big fake cow, but clearly it is.