"Wait!!!"

"Wait!!!"

Zoey's vocabulary is growing daily.  Today she screamed "wait!!!" for the first time as Daddy tried to take her juice cup.  Earlier today I taught her "elbows".  She now throws up her hands, palms upward inquisitively, when she wants to know where something is or what just happened.  Last week when sitting in my lap, I sneezed, and I swear she said (approximately) "bless you" and patted my arm.

It won't be long now ... soon she'll be correcting my grammar ... as she fetches things for me that are on high shelves.

18 Months!

18 Months and Growing!

Not sure where my baby went and where this little girl came from!  Zoey always amazes us with how fast she grows.  Now, at 1 1/2 years old, our daughter is energetic, spontaneous, and creative.  We're still struggling to make sure she eats her veggies, but she loves cheese, apple sauce, and, like always, milk.  She enjoys playing outside, tucking acorns in to her pockets for later.  She definitely lets us know when she's ready for bed and goes down easy.  Zoey is comfy in her 18 mo. old clothes, sporting a size 6 shoe, and even has enough hair for some pigtails.  She's repeating simple words back to us and building her vocabulary, which is roughly 25 spoken words at the moment.  Her diapers are size 6, and she helps us out by letting us know when she needs a fresh one.  If she "tinkles", she'll point down to her crotch.  That's the only sign so far, and if we miss it, she doesn't seem to mind marinating for a little while longer!

Today we witnessed something really neat: she actually played a game with a toy and expressed happiness in success and disappointment in failure.  We have a Rubik's cube toy that we got last Christmas.  It's not really a Rubik's cube, though.  It's shaped like one but doesn't have moving parts.  It is electronic and lights up a colored square on each side of the cube.  We've let Zoey play with this frequently, but this was the first time we've seen her actually play the game correctly by herself.

She searches for the lit square to press the button.

She can get several in a row correct.

Oh no!  She didn't press it in time and it beeped at her!

Ha!  She even pulled her hair in frustration.

Don't worry; she has fun playing!

More photos here:

What Zoey has spoken so far:

• Daddy
• Mama
• no ("NO!!!" + extended index finger)
• doggie ("doddie")
• meow
• up
• hi
• thank you
• ball
• bubbles
• I did it!
• that
• baby
• Zoey
• bye / goodbye / bye-bye
• shoe
• ears
• nose
• mouth
• belly
• Anubis
• horse
• mess
• moon
• box

Zoey still uses some sign language too:

• milk
• more
• all done
• pumpkin (daycare taught her this for Halloween!)
• bird

Zoey's Halloween

Halloween 2010!

This is the first year for Zoey to actively trick-or-treat!  We decided on family costumes based off the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender.  We absolutely loved this animated series (but we heard the live-action M. Night Shyamalan movie sucked).  Mommy and Daddy worked on the costumes for weeks and it all paid off!

Zoey is dressed as Aang, the main character from the cartoon.

Mommy is Katara, Aang's water-bending sidekick.

Daddy is Prince Zuko, the angst-ridden teen enemy.

On Friday, Mommy & Daddy took off of work early to take Zoey down to Nana's Fall Festival.  Zoey enjoyed meeting everyone and playing on the playground.

On Sunday we went over to cousin Keira and Tarin's house to visit.

Keira was little orphan Annie and Tarin was an elephant!

Cousin Jillian is Tigger!

We went to Nana and Granddad's house for dinner.  Spooky punch!

Zoey and her parents tried to go trick-or-treating but didn't make it very far.  Zoey didn't really want to walk down the street.  Instead she wanted to chase some cats.  We only made it to 2 houses before we called it quits.  Zoey scored 3 pieces of candy!

Back at the house, we watched The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Garfield's Halloween Adventure. 

Zoey had a great weekend and hopes you did too!

Zoey vs. The Pumpkin

Zoey vs. The Pumpkin

On Monday we bought us a pumpkin to carve for Halloween!  This is Zoey's first time to gut a pumpkin.  She wasn't terribly thrilled about it, but we believe she had a good time.  Mommy and Zoey took turns tasting different parts ... ICK!  Daddy did most of the work.

More photos here.

Hi

Hi, I'm Zoey.

More September photos here.

Zoey's First Wedding!

Zoey Attends Her First Wedding!

Zoey and I had an awesome weekend!  We flew to Alexandria, Virginia to attend the wedding of her Auntie Rachel to Bob.

Everyone was so excited to finally meet Zoey, and we had a great time.  Zoey especially enjoyed running around and climbing up and down the stairs with her cousins.

Cousins Gabriel, Rachel, & Sammy

Zoey was pretty shy for the most part, but when the music kicks up ... she likes to cut a rug.

Everyone agrees; she looks like daddy.

More photos here!

The Maverick

The Maverick

Last night Shawn taught Zoey how to play with the Nerf N-Strike Maverick.  She thoroughly enjoyed plucking the suction cup darts from the oven and reloading the gun.

more photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/metria/ZoeyAndTheNerfMaverick?feat=directlink

Zoey Knows English!

Zoey Knows English!

Zoey is making some exciting progress with the English language.  She is a good listener and puts down her toys when I ask as we're leaving the house.  She sits down and scoots when I ask her to because a step is too high for her to walk down from.  She has even voluntarily given up her pacifier whenever we come to take her out of her crib.  Zoey knows how to point to her nose or mouth when asked where they are.  Last week she said her first phrase: "I did it!"  She certainly has!

We finally upgraded her car seats to Graco's Nautilus.  We bought the first one at Buy Buy Baby with a 20% off coupon, and she loved it.  She very much enjoys being able to see Daddy as he chauffeurs her around.  I bought another one on Amazon for about the same price.  I assembled it while she was napping and left it in the foyer.  When she saw it later on, she insisted on sitting in it.

We look forward to more adventures!

Swimming!

After Malaya's baptism, Zoey got another chance to go swimming at her uncle Todd's pool.  Here she is with her cousins Lula and Tarin!

Hair?

I was working late tonight when Shawn called me.  "Did you do something to Zoey's hair?" he asks.  "No, why?" I respond.  This is what she looked like when he picked her up from daycare:

I think she looks like a Dr. Seuss character!

God Bless Malaya

God Bless Malaya

Zoey had a great time on Saturday.  We got to celebrate little Malaya's baptism at St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic Church and then hang out with family for lunch afterward.

And cousin Vivi is crawling now!!!

God Bless Zoey

Zoey Andrea Wingler

was baptized on June 19th, 2010

at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church

What a blessed and wonderful weekend!  Our baby girl was baptized in front of family and friends on Saturday.  She didn't quite enjoy getting water splashed on her, but she behaved very well for the most part.  

Thank you to everyone who helped make this day so very special.  We love you all!

More photos here.