Thursday, December 19, 2013 - the day the sun rose in the west?!?

otherwise known as the day Zooey REJECTED mommy!!!!

Everyone told me that around the 2-year mark, Zooey would start showing a preference for 

her dad, that she would finally become the daddy's girl that both her daddy and 

I have been not-so-patiently waiting for.

Well, at 22 months, it seems that day has come.  

I thought I would be jumping up and down with joy to get a bit of respite from the 

constant cries for "mommy, mommy" throughout the days and nights, but when she woke up crying 

"da-ddeee, da-ddeee" and pushed me away, my heart broke a little and 

I finally understood the rejection Chuck has been feeling all these months. sigh.

For several weeks now, she is always asking where daddy is when she wakes up in the mornings, and she goes to him more and more frequently, so it appears the 

transition is definitely happening.  And no matter how quietly she calls for "da-ddeee," he drops whatever he is doing and comes running.  

I, on the other hand, yell for "Chuck" from the next room and no response, but that's another story.

Of course five minutes after this picture, she called for mommy, and all was right with the world.

Fun at the Park

Snow!!

Mount Baldy is only a half-hour drive from Claremont, but is at ~9000-10,000ft and 30 degrees colder. And there was Snow!!! Alas, there was only enough snow for one ski run, but that was plenty enough to introduce Z to winter weather!

To get to the mountain, you drive part-ways, then ride up a lift the remaining ways to the ski area.  I think enjoyed Z the ride, but Jennie--not so much.

On her first time in snow, Z stood motionless like this for a few seconds--I'm not sure if it was because she didn't know what to do, or if she was too cold to move!

Nice view from the top. Who knew?

Goofing off with Uncle Tim. The rest of us were in the nice warm cafe/bar having some nice warm snacks

I think she enjoyed it--to quote Z--"Fun!"

A Claremont Christmas

Claremont had a tree-lighting ceremony in early December so we took Zooey out to see it.

 quartet singing Christmas carols

Zooey loved the music but wasn't so interested in waiting for the tree-lighting -

it was coooold that night and raining and she was OVER it.

not happy :(

Air Z!!

Z loves to play "PLANE" with Mommy. Yup, those are wings.

Z mugging!!

Zooey the fashionista

Pucker up!

Ready to go face the Socal winter!

Shopper-in-training

Trader Joe's has these mini-shopping carts for 'shoppers-in-training' that Zooey loves to push around the super-wide aisles.  She also loves putting the groceries in herself - beware the person

who puts something in for her!

"hmmm, 2% or non-fat? soy or almond? am I lactose-intolerant yet? decisions, decisions!"

Daddy and me!

Trick-or-treat

After Disneyland, I took Zooey into downtown Claremont for a little Halloween celebration for kids, including the merchants handing out candy.  We missed most

of the festivities, but she really enjoyed the "trick-or-treat"-ing! 

She especially enjoyed her first lollipop ever!

 This was all the candy she got but she was so happy and kept taking the candy out, putting it back in,  over and over again.  If she could count, I would definitely say she was counting her treasures, making sure none of them went 'missing'...

Halloween

On Halloween, we went to Disneyland with Julie emo and a friend of hers who has a 

son, Lewis, who is two months older than Zooey.  

Here they are (his mom made his Totoro costume!) walking hand-in-hand as we made 

our way to the entrance.  It lasted for about one minute but was so cute. (They were walking SO SLOW! we decided to separate them and coax/push them to move a little faster...) 

At LAX on the way to Hawaii, backpack on and ready to go!

"HOORAY!!!"

Waiting for Dad  to check-in at the Aulani in Hawaii

Timeout

We have started using timeouts as punishment for Zooey and somehow this

little section of wall between the tv and the kitchen has become the designated spot.

We're not sure who taught her to put her arms up like that, but it makes for a cute picture, doesn't it?

crying...

 later that same night...

The next day....

and the next...

We have also taught her that "ddook" means to stop crying, which you can hear in the video.  When we say it, she really does try to stop unless she's in some serious pain or really upset.  

Of course if she's fake-crying (as is often the case), she will stop and give a big smile. 

Soon after I explained "ddook" to her, she accidentally hit me in the face so I pretended to cry.  Then I heard her say "ddook!"  

Any chance to order me around.... 

Strangely enough, she seems quite proud of her 'timeout' spot, and eagerly runs to it when her emos ask her about it.

[not to worry, though she does end up crying, the timeouts are barely a minute long]

Doing the hula

Lovely singing and hula instruction courtesy of Zooey's great-aunt from Korea

Where are you Zooey?

"Here I am!!"