Random Episodes with Zoe Part 1

Dada Powder Episode

One time, John was drying up Zoe after his morning bath. Like any toddlers… we dab his body with baby powder…

John: c’mon Zo… let’s place some baby powder on your back.

Zoe: baby powder? dada powder… mama powder.

 

Daddler

 

Zoe’s our youngest… and though he is already two years old… We still endear him “baby”.

But then one time [again] John told Zoe that he is no longer a baby…

Zoe: NO… Zoe’s a baby. I'm a baby.

John: No, you’re not. You are a toddler. Baby’s crawl… You can walk already

Zoe: No… not a “daddler”, Zoe’s a baby.

This little “barneying” of John and Zoe continues every now and then, just to mess around Zoe. So, one day…as the footling went on…Zoe quickly went on his knees and started crawling.

Zoe: See? I’m a baby.

My son was enjoying the birthday party of his god-brother, Jed. He was singing the birthday song and excited for the games… 

That birthday cake was awesome…my son and Jed plus Joe…love cars. These lil’ boys are exchanging their toys during Sunday school…sometimes one gets frustrated because the other doesn’t wanna let go of his car. The three of them get possessive of their toys especially if it is new.

That’s Zoe intently watching his new car- he got one from the “PABITIN”…

Joe and Jed…watching Zoe rolled his new toy…

Zoe sitting by the pool after the party.

Zoe's Alouette

Zoe loves to watch Barney and Sesame Street... and Animal Planet. He loves stuff toys too. Like most little children, Zoe likes to repeat things and never gets tired of watching his favorite videos. Last week and [sigh] this week, we have to keep playing this specific scene of Barney, singing Alouette. Poor DVD, it has been abused again. LOL. Here is the video of Alouette. And of course below the video is the translation of it.




English Translation: Alouette means "Lark", so you will find it is much harder to sing this song in English since "lark" has only one syllable, while Alouette has four. The song is actually about "plucking" the feathers (plumage) from a lark, presumably in preparation for cooking. A lark is considered to be a small "game bird" (a game bird is a bird considered to be suitable for food, like the coot, dove, grouse, hazel hen, mud hen, partridge, pigeon, plover, quail, rail, snipe, thrush, and woodcock).

Lark, nice Lark (or Lark, lovely Lark)
Lark, I am going to pluck you
I am going to pluck your head,
I am going to pluck your head,
And the head, and the head,
O-o-o-o-oh

All the verses are the same except the part of the body.
The usual ones are
La tete - the head
Le nez - the nose
Les yeux - the eyes
Le cou - the neck
Les ailes - the wings
Le dos - the back
Les pattes - the legs
Le queue - the tail

Zoe's Schmooze

Zoe is becoming chatty. He surprises me with his ad-libs, wisecracks, and  schmooze. Here are some of his statements, phrases, and words.

"I like this."

"Are you workin?"

"Whoah!"

"That's bad!"

"I love me."

"My butt! My butt!"

"Text Dada, buy bread!"

"Not sharing!"

"Nope!"

"Bite ya!"

"Buzz Lightyah!"

"Im Dada"

"Zo-zo's fine."

"Name is Zoe."

"eIo"

"Stay there!"

"Go home."

"Hungry"

"ah buy candy." [ah means i'll]

"Dada work."

"Make pee"

"Make popo"

"a one, two, nine, ten"  [or one, two, six, seven, eight, nine, ten]

"Bopen, paper, write Zo-zo"

"watch bumbum bee"

"what's that"

"Ewww... eww-we! YUCK!"

"I go"

"Dada's upset...Zo-zo's upset."

Move Feet

Yup you heard it right! Move Feet. Is it a sequel of Happy Feet? Nope! It is not. Though my son loves watching Happy Feet. "Move feet" is the phrase that Zoe constantly whines about when he is about to sleep at night. 
You see, Zoe has this sleeping habit. He habitually tucks his feet under any parts of my body. Sometimes he inserts his feet under my legs, or back or when I'm lying down on my tummy.
He cries when you won't allow him to place his feet, and his hands too, under my body. This sometimes becomes irritating. So Zoe and I, or sometimes John, would wrestle. He couldn't sleep if he cant tuck his feet in but I cant sleep too when his feet are underneath. Tsk! This is some kind of a torture for me. But well... he does win all the time.

Why Spank.

Zoe was really crying at the same time asking " Why spank? Mama Why spank?" Yup...in the midst of his crying, he was also asking in his broken voice "Why Spank?" He is maybe really smart... At his age 2 years and 4 days...he can audibly ask questions, make funny remarks and quite advance psychomotor skills.

Why did i spank him? Aside from all his advance skills and capabilities... he is also naughty. It is cute but little as he is, he is not excuse to be naughty despite it appears cute. Zoe has to learn to behave appropriately... tantrums, though (again) he looks cute whenever he does things, is not cute at all. He needs to be corrected if telling him won't work the rod serves as the final notice of his behavior. I am a firm believer of Psalms 13:24 that says:

"He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him."

I wrote the three major rules in our house in one of my blogs. You can click it here. Violating those rules has a consequence. Minor offenses get verbal warnings, if the kids won't heed the warnings, they get grounded.

We apply those rules to Zoe. He gets two swats on his buttocks if he breaks the rule. Good thing he got fleshy buns. LOL. And like I said in my other blog. It is really hard to discipline your kids because my heart is aching as I implement the consequences. If John does it... It is also hard to listen to the sound of the swat.

Last night when he was spank. He asked not because he did not understand but because he just do not want to be spanked. Who wants it anyway? He knows when he is going to get rod. With Zoe, he gets the warning first, making sure he knows what he is doing and what is coming if he pushes it.

Rest assured that my kids were not larruped. Beating them are different with the whipping that we imposed. For sure also that there are lots of christian literature that support the idea of the rod. And our rod is a foot and a quarter long including the handle and has 1.25 inch width at least.

Our Rod has a Sticker that serves as a reminder. I also found this Online which is very similar to the "How To Spank" in our rod.

• Have the child tell you the reason they are being punished.
• Parent should wait one minute between each swat.
• Apply no more than 5 swats per day.
• Spank only on the rump.
• Child must be wearing clothes.
• Use force sufficient only to get the child's attention.
• Support child's torso so no stress can be placed on their spine.

But to add those how-to above... Comfort the child immediately after spanking. Do not make him feel rejected. Hold him/ her close and reassure him/ her of your love.

Zoe Turns TWO

Zoe was born July 17, 2007 at around 8:46 piyem by C-Section at Mindanao Medical Center. Last year, we were in Manial when he turned 1 yr old. We were all there for Jason's open heart surgery.

Zoe's 2nd birthday was celebrated at home... funny Timyta forgot to buy the candles for his birthday cake that we simply bought over the counter of Red Ribbon... so it ended up like Zoe is still a year old after all. LOL

He actually had 2 and a half slices of cake and 3 helpings of spaghetti...

transition

Zoe usually wakes up asking for milk early in the morning. Then when he started to learn to open the doorknob, he normally gets up and looks for everyone who is already awake then asks for milk, if he wakes up ahead of everybody, he tends to wake up his dada and drag him out of the bed then to the dining.

But today, he didn't do all that. He stayed in bed a little bit longer. He laid his head on my tummy then began talking. He recalled what happened yesterday. He narrated to me how he bumped his head, how he tripped.. he said all that of course not the way we do but all in his funny keywords and his sound effects.

Made It!

Potty training... is demanding to some extent. Parents need patience to successfully make it with their child until the kid forms it a habit to sit simply on the potty whenever he needs to pee poo or poo pee...

Zoe is still a year old, 11 months, 3 weeks and 3 days today... and we made him sit on the potty and he successfully made poo. For 2 weeks, we accompanied him to pee but still could not poo in his potty. He calls any one of us whenever he needs to pee and... we rush to the bathroom and he takes a leak there. But tonight, he did call me and he told me he wanted to poo. So i brought him along and stayed with him, him sitting on his potty and me on the bowl. After a few minutes... Zoe made it.

I was really happy... so proud of my youngest child who is also willing to be trained like his older siblings. It maybe a little late for him compared to his "kuya jason" and "ate yanni" but we are happy of his progress.

We know kids have different respond to developmental stages so we always appreciate each one of them of their strength and congratulate them of their success. We encourage them whenever they need a little push when faced with difficullty.

superZOE

Boys love superheroes. My two sons are no exceptions. Both love to watch JL and XMen. They have "costume day" where both would just put on their superhero costume.

ATV

Zoe's precious moments... able to sit on this ATV...was one euphoric memory to keep... He just loved this pictures and would always feel elated to see himself on ATV over and over again...

A, yOu'rE aDoRaBLe...

A you're adorable... Zoe is simply an adorable kid. My kids are all incredible and happy kids. Moms do say that to any of their kid. Mom says her child is brilliant...she said her baby is the most adorable one...and please allow us to do that without contesting our remarks for our children. Only moms can exercise the right to use superlative... not to fill air on our kids' head... above anything else... i believe mother's role is to encourage, assure, boost confidence, facilitate her child in order for him to learn, develop his potentials, excel in his craft, and make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Bedtime Stories

Parents reading to their kids is a picture of a classic and ideal home. John and I do this. We read stories to our kids. Zoe is into this stage where he just grabs a book before going to sleep...he starts calling John and I to bed. Then we read the book.


Most of the time he grabs the book from us and he picture-reads it. He loves Dr. Seuss Books... he also likes those that have bear characters like Corduroy. Just so you know, Zoe, like Mr. Bean, loves teddy bears. He has lots including hand puppets. So obviously, his fave book is Corduroy... and some Dr. Seuss with those bears in the story.

Stay here...stay there...

Zoe is very attached to his dad. He whines every time John goes away from home, either for work or some errands.

Lately, Zoe did something funny. He could already sense that Dada was about to leave. So he ran towards our bedroom door and told John "Stay Here!" ... then after he said that he zoomed towards our main door, slammed it and locked the knob... and shouted "Stay There! Stay there!!!"

Zoe used to plea to his dad... he tearfully say "No Dada! No!" with a voice so helpless. Zoe is the only one who is like that. Our two older kids had never been fussy or whatsoever every time John or even myself would go out from the house. Both Jason and Yanni were sang-froid... assure that no matter, we will always come back for them.

I wonder how we would deal with Zoe... He is really attached not just to John but even to his older brother.... Zoe is simply different. Kids, no matter how much they are alike in some of their mannerism but their individuality still dominates. In the case of Zoe, he really does not like to be left behind by John or his Kuya.

Moods

Zoe has moods. He is really the little man in the house... and I can't help enjoying the moment but in a discreet manner. I just do not want him to get used to the attention. Though sometimes he feels there is a pair of watchful eyes around him... and he plays pretend whenever he is feeling some audience. Kids know. They even understand that adults are talking about them.

One time at lunch, John and I were talking about Zoe...but of course we do not namedrop especially if kids are around. John and I have codenames for them and for the kiddie stuff so they would not know when discussion is necessary and if they are around. And so, Morse coding in our talks...we saw Zoe's eyes light up. He knew we were talking about him and he felt that we have a surprise for him. We just went laughing seeing his expressions and how he had been acting after.

Oh my slippers!

Zoe is just a year old and 10 months...but he speaks clearly and converses well. For his age he expresses himself clearly...

Just today, when he saw his slippers in the corner of our doorpost, he exclaimed "Oh my slippers" with a hint of worry in his voice...

I was elated deep inside hearing him burst those words out loud. My Zoe is growing fast...there is no stopping.

Lately also, he wailed every time his Dada goes to work. when he sees John dressing up for work...he began throwing tantrums and cried "No..no...no". It's a heartbreaking sight to see Zoe plead and broken. He really dreads seeing John all ready for work and leave. He has been acting this way since John arrived from his business trip- it was a long wait for Zoe. Now, he doesn't want his Dada leave.

Hot wheels

I brought Zoe to the Toy Central yesterday... He really went gaga seeing all the hotwheels and other matchboxes displayed.

He began pointing to all the hotwheels he found attractive and said, "I want that one... that one... that one..want one... that one.." and so many "that one" phrases.

Then after getting all those he wanted, he began looking at each box, examining... as if he knew better... then say "Put it back"... until one box was left in his hand...then he went saying.. "Open...please...open."

I was really enjoying observing him... He is just a year and 10 months but [modesty aside] my youngest son is equally smart like his older siblings... but being there with him 24/7 [I am already working part time with homebased jobs online] ..and able to see all his firsts experiences..is something new to me. I wish I did the same to my two older kids.

Walk Out

Zoe has been a joy to us. Even in little things he does can thump us into reverberating laughter. One time when we all gathered in prayer, All of us were simultaneously praying including Zoe was unintelligibly imploring too.

But Zoe like any toddler has short attention span, he could no longer wait until all of us were done. So what happened was, he snapped “AMEN” then walked out and went to bed. All of us including his siblings abruptly stopped praying, looked into each other, then laughed boisterously.

So whenever Zoe prays with us, we mostly do breath prayers so that there will be no more "may I walk out" scene for Zoe.

Pick Up Truck

Zoe loves match-box or hot wheels. One time in Manila, we took him to toy kingdom. Then John brought him to the hot wheels section, when Zoe saw them all, he genuinely said “WOW! Wow!”. Then John led him and allowed him to get his hotwheels... Each hand got one piece. His right hand took the red pick up truck while on his left hand was the black and red race car. Zoe loves those toys and he consistently plays with it. Every time he sees those toys, he has the same enthusiasms playing with it.

One time before the kids go to bed, we all knelt down and pray. Each of them started their own prayer, Zoe is already joining his siblings... he knelt down, hands clasped together and eyes closed, the he said, “Jesus.. [speaking three syllables of his own language, then say] P”TRUCK... amen. Yeheey!” I was about to burst into laughter but i tried hard to hold it.

Well, yes...he did pray for a pick up truck and for a kid his age... 1 year old and 7 months or less that time, it is indeed very obsequious or gratifying for me to see my kid doing amusing yet not so ordinary things.

Lactum

Anything interests Zoe. He looks at things with curiosity and mimics things he finds amusing. Watching TV is one of his interests. What seems to be impressive is, he rather pays attention to commercials than the program. Any commercials with kids on it are his favorites. And he seems to follow the flow of the commercial. One of these commercials is the Lactum. Zoe does the hand-sign that is four fingers connecting altogether to form a triangle but his version is instead of placing those fingers near the heart, he puts the sign near his eyes as if peeking through it.

Zoe's Vocabulary 101

Zoe learns to syllabicate early. He mumbles and get the sound right. Like for instance, he would say "mulk" for milk, "Emo" for Elmo of Sesame street. He also says "hod" for "hold" or "tam" for "come". His first sentence was "Ahwantwan" which means "I want one". This was when he was just a year and 4 months. Last Feb. 10, 2009, his first clear sentence was "Mama, I fart" (ewe, oh!?) That was cute and so hilarious.

He first two imitated phrases was "Deal or No Deal" and "Hep Hep Hurray". And went like this "diw or no diw" {all short /i/} and "hep hep ohray".

Then, three days ago, he finally said "I want milk". And my eyes went wide. In disbelief and of course in excitement. Zoe still mumbles things. Like his "bonk" would mean he got hit. He goes and say "Mama, I bonk" and that would mean "Mama I got hit".

One Time Zoe Was Up To Sing

Zoe is a performer. He is used to seeing his Dada sings every sunday at church. My husband serves in the music ministry. Every time Zoe sees Dada on stage, he would always want to join him. One time his brother and sister performed a special song one sunday together with the other children from Kid's church... Zoe made his escape from Dada and went on stage. Now this video is one of his talent shows. This was taken and motivated by my sister.

Click this http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1058071050&ref=profile#/video/video.php?v=1071845166578

Let There Be Zoe

I have a son, a year old and almost 8 months now, He is the youngest, and he has a brother 10 years older and a sister 8 years older than him. And his moniker is Zoe... obviously the meaning of that name is “God-kind of Life”. He is given that name because he was struggling for life when he was in my womb. We almost lost him when he was just three months inside, i got bedrest from then on until I birthed him last July 17, 2007 by cesarean section (oh, my two other kids too). Many had reacted on his first name, Jakob, because they said it has a negative meaning which is “To Succeed” or “To supplant”. If that is the case then how come many moms chose it, the name James has the same meaning too? But as a mom, i believe that my Jakob will make God proud of him. He will succeed in being God’s ambassador because as a mom, i will do my responsibility to the best i can in molding him as a child after God’s own heart. His second name is Zuriel because God was and is and will be our Rock. Our family’s story has proved God’s faithfulness. And my kids will live up a life full of trust to God.