Remember how I said Zoe's next agenda would be communication? (See the 'Agenda' post from march 13th) I was wrong.
Not that she isn't working at increasing her vocabulary and communication skills. In fact she is a very opinionated little lady and has no problem making her favour or disfavour known to one and all (Mine, NO MINE!)l. But word acquisition and the like is more of a hobby for her these days. Her real passion is in the physical realm.
I honestly don't know why I didn't see this one coming. I mean it's not for nothing that we have always called her 'Zoe Go Go', that her first words were 'go go', and that her favourite shirt is her Gymboree 'Go Go Girl' shirt from Kiki & Erika. I guess the first sign of things to come appeared a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly her knees and forehead were layered with cuts and scrapes and bruises and Liam could periodically be heard uttering the phrase "Mom, Zoe's doing a heart-attack-thing again". It was then that I realized that the new 'tattoo' bandaids were going to be more than 'accessories' for Zoe, like they were for Liam, and I began to wonder about whether or not I should keep her in helmet and knee pads 24/7.
So last Thursday Andrea and I decided to have a relaxing morning with the kids at Mattick's Farm, and as soon as Zoe hit the ground she took off in all directions at once. She was everywhere, and everywhere that wasn't safe. A two foot drop is a CLIFF to a 31 inch tall person and yet it's also a great deal of fun to stand on the edge of and flap your arms and giggle uncontrollably while your mother has a heart attack. That was the day the the stroller metamorphised from a inconvenient restraining device into a ladder-of-possibilities. OMIGAUD was she a handful! I called her 'six kids' and Steve provided 'a sackful of puppies' but however you describe her behaviour it was exhausting. NOTHING is too tall, too hard to climb, too out-of-reach for Zoe to at least attempt to conquer.
We're in Calgary now and not much has slowed her down. Not even a fever. Last night after Advil and a change of PJ's cooled her down at bit she decided that the wing-back chairs in front of the TV were the next great adventure. She actually scaled the side wing and attempted to throw a leg over the top, giggling all the while. I'm not sure what she thought was going to happen then... or perhaps it was all part of the master plan to have me run up and snatch her from gravity's embrace. Or, as it happened at the last, help her to slide head first down the outside of the chair while hanging on to her ankles.
Little did we know what we were in for when we named her Zoe - LIFE!
And she's full of it!
