Like Father, Like Daughter

I spend so much time planning out healthy and balanced meals for Zoe, and she's a pretty good eater (knock on wood). Lately, though, she's discovered after-work snacking with Jody. He's introduced her to all sorts of snackycakes and whenever she sees him munching away, she's right next to him with her arm stretched out saying "more."

The other day Jody texted me that he was bringing home a big surprise for Zoe after work. A few minutes later, in walked Jody with two huge buckets of cheeseballs. Jody's theory was that once he polished off the cheeseballs, Zoe could play with the empty buckets and attached shovels at the sandbox in the park.

Little did he know the cheeseballs themselves would be Zoe's true big treat. As soon as she saw Jody eating the cheeseballs she wanted some too. That's when Zoe officially became a snack-monster, just like Dad. Oh my goodness, she *loved* those cheeseballs! Couldn't get them away from her. With orange dust all over her fingers and mouth, the girl was quite a sight--and quite happy.

New Tricks

One of the most fun parts of parenthood is watching how much Zoe changes every day. It's pretty amazing. She is such a curious and active little girl, too, and she gets so proud of herself when she masters something new. So as a way to keep a record for ourselves (since I've been so bad on keeping a baby book of milestones) and to share with all of you, here's a breakdown of some of Z's new tricks:

* Moonwalking and Twirling: It all started with Zoe figuring out how to walk backward. She gets a sneeky little grin and starts shuffling backward. Then her little "moonwalk" builds into a twirl. Now she just twirls until she gets dizzy and plops down. We have no idea how she decided to start walking backward or twirling, but it just happened one day and she loves it.

* Words: Zoe has started getting really chatty in the past month or so. She's branched out beyond "baby" and "ball" and has moved on to "mama," "uh oh," "mo'" (translation: more), "no mo'" (translation: no more), "toe," "dog," and "up." One day Gracie told me that Zoe said "monkey" and I didn't believe it until later that evening when she totally said "monkey" to me too. Haven't heard it since, though, and Jody doesn't really believe me or Gracie.

* Second gear: She's gone from being a confident walker to a speedy power walker. We're pretty sure running is just around the corner.

* Where's your...?: When asked, Zoe can point out her belly button, toes and nose (usually). She also points to Mommy's nose and Daddy's nose (usually).

Our 1st Seder

Passover has come and gone, but I am just now getting a chance to post about our very first seder. Well, our very first that we had at our place anyway. This year we decided to host a small seder with Jody's dad and Jason, Heather and Ean.

The biggest challenge for the seder was finding a seder plate. We put off this task until the last minute, which didn't help matters. We went all over the city looking for a place that sold seder plates. I had seen some seder plates at Target.com, so I figured they could have them in the actual store too. Nope. When I asked a Target lady if they had Passover stuff, she thought I was talking about funeral stuff. (Which of course made me wonder for a minute what kind of "stuff for a funeral" they have at Target.) Finally, we found a cute seder plate at Art Effect in Lincoln Park. This is one of my favorite boutiques for gift-buying and I was excited that they sell Jewish holiday things (i.e. seder plates, menorahs, etc).

The seder went really well. Since our kitchen table is too small (and usually covered in clutter), we had to improvise. So we set up the "table" on our oversized kitchen island and that seemed to work. We all pitched in to make a complete meal. We provided the matzah, charoset, macaroons and salad; Jerry brought brisket, wine and the haggadahs; and Jason and Heather made matzah ball soup. All very tasty! This was my first time making charoset and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Zoe enjoyed a matzah ball of her own and ate the entire thing! Go Z! All in all, the kiddos did a pretty good job through the seder. Zoe got a little antsy in her high chair, but we kept the reading portion of the seder shorter than usual (and we kept her busy with Cheerios in the slower parts). It was really fun to host our own seder. Now that we have our own seder plate, hopefully we'll be hosting more in coming years. So instead of next year in Jerusalem I'm saying next year at an actual table!