Today is the 3 month anniversary of Zoe's Gotcha Day! Looking back on the past 3 months, it's remarkable how much she has changed and grown. I believe it's because she knows that she's home. Although our time together hasn't always been perfect, (she is in the "terrible two's", after all) I think it has been perfectly normal considering all the changes in our lives and the adjustments we've all had to make. We're a family and Zoe is an essential part of it. I could no more imagine life without her now than I could imagine life without Caleb. They continue to act just like two siblings should...Zoe loves to drive him crazy. She spent one entire day putting her feet on him...yes, that's exactly what it sounds like. No matter where he was or what he was doing, she would get close enough to him to stretch her leg out and put her foot on some part of his body. She spent another day hiding his stuff. Everytime Caleb would put something down, Zoe would snatch it up and hide it. Her favorite hiding place is her Dora backpack, which she then carries around with her. By the time Caleb came and told me what she was doing, that backpack had to weigh 20 pounds...and everything in it was Caleb's! Last night Caleb was talking to his Dad on the phone and I heard him say, "Zoe is such a pain in the butt!" Yep...welcome to the family!

We have 17 days until we see Daddy again, 19 until we move to New York. In trying to keep Andy up on the developments here while he's 2800 miles away, I was trying to remember to tell him whenever Zoe used a new word. Then I began to realize just how many English words Zoe was actually using. So last night I started writing down everything she said in English. What follows is a list of Zoe's communications to me from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and then this morning over breakfast. I have to admit, I was stunned when I started counting...

• swimming (wimmin -- how Zoe says it)
• pool (poo)
• cannonball (boboball)
• OK
• alright (aw-wight)
• potty
• shoes on (zoos on)
• pull up
• book (boo)
• flower (flouwa)
• fish (fiss)
• flush (shoosh)
• puppy
• Sheen
• Daddy
• NO (that comes out loud and clear!)
• Mommy (ommy)
• pee pee
• ow
• bye bye
• popcorn
• hot
• elephant (efefant)
• bubble (ubble)
• balloon (nanoon)
• yeah
• lunch (nunch)
• paper (papu)
• go
• what's that? (dots dat)
• music (jujic)
• Uh Oh Spaghettio (uh oh dettio -- thanks for teaching her that one, Gaga!)
• snack (nack)
• juice (jew)
• water (hodder)
• what's this? (whits shish)
• clean up (geen gup)
• good
• cow
• banana (nanna)
• muffin (uffin)
• mine (a concept she has embraced fully)
• bo bo bo (What Blue says on Blue's Clues...hey, that counts!)
• Thank you
• You're welcome (ecome)
• coming (uhmin')
• hungry (ungie)
• sorry (shyee)
• moon
• mouse
• bear
• chair
• house (we were reading Good Night, Moon)
• kitty
• waffle
• all done (all gun)
• wash hands (wis han)
• brush teeth (bu teef)
• one, two, three!! (one, two, fweee!)

Pretty impressive list for just a 3 hour span of time. And this doesn't include all the body parts she can identify, the animals her brother has taught her, and all the foods she knows. At this rate, I can't imagine what she's going to be able to do by the 6 month anniversary of Gotcha Day.