Caterpillar's in, Birdy's out

Ah, the fickleness of young Zoe love.

Until recently, it was all about Birdy. Conversations at all hours of the day and night with his little purple self. The constant jingle jangle of his little bell.

And then all of the sudden

*WHAM*

in waltzes Mr. Caterpillar and Birdy can't even get the time of day from Zoe. She literally wraps her little six-month-old-baby arm around Mr. Caterpillar in the crib. And she's just crazy about his little red nose and his orange antennae.


So the question is: Do I have a moral responsibility to warn Mr. Caterpillar about my daughter's mercurial affections, or is this the kind of lesson that a stuffed animal just has to learn for himself?

Maybe Moses was onto something...

...this sitting in a basket thing looks pretty fun.

and if you add some toys, instant sleepytime:

Praises revised

Zoe did not sleep through the night last night.

Which is fine.

EXCEPT that instead of waking up at 10pm to eat, she woke up at 2:30am to eat.

The doctor would probably say this is progress.
The doctor does not live in our home.

When Zoe wakes up at 10pm, we secretly love it. We haven't seen the girls in a while and suddenly we get a visit from a cute little Zoebird just before going to bed -- like a little angel wishing us sweet dreams.

When Zoe wakes up at 2:30am, it's not quite the same.

Perhaps she hasn't received the memo on this.
We are sending her a memo today.

Give praises and thanks!

Give praises and thanks to Zeus and his various brethren and offspring!

Burn bundles of incense on the grill deck!

Zoe slept through the night.
The real deal.
7pm to 6:15am.

Three cheers for the Zoebird!

It's a Zoebird perogative to change her mind

Zoe is decisive.

When she's having a bottle, for instance, she will be happily eating away and then suddenly and without warning out the bottle will go and that's that. NO MORE MILK. Eleni kind of winds down, and will pretty much keep on eating very, very slowly until either she or you falls asleep. Not Zoe.

HOWEVER

Zoe is also at an age where she likes to put things in her mouth. Which means that sometimes, after she has decisively finished eating, she will in fact grab for a bottle and pull it into her mouth to suck on only to discover to her indignant shock and horror that there is MILK IN THE BOTTLE.

Milk.

In the bottle.

IT'S AN OUTRAGE.

Over here, Daddy

Are you watching, dad?

OK, I take this foot here...

And pull it closer...

BULLSEYE!!!!!

Am I talented or what?!?!

Socks: Caught in the act

Today, Zoe was caught red-handed (and bare-footed).

But mommy, the sock was taunting me.

Fishies vs. Spiders

In the war between Fishies & Spiders in our house, our finned friends have wiped up the floor with the arachnids.

I am referring, of course, to the battle of the bouncy seats.


There is universal agreement that the aquarium bouncy seat, which has better springiness and fishes blowing bubbles in real water, is far superior to the itsy bitsy spider bouncy seat, which boasts merely two plastic spiders slowly -- and I mean s*l*o*w*l*y -- moving up and down. The spiders themselves are pretty darn cute, but the overall affect is pretty boring, especially when there are bubbles happening elsewhere. (See details at right.)

Today there was an argument over the fishy chair. Zoe got stuck with the spider chair, and made her not-so-happy feelings known.
As you can see, an amicable solution allowed both parties to view the fishies.


The Marousis girls are all about compromise...


Note the discarded spider attachment on the floor on the right behind Zoe.

Applesauce

The girls have started eating solid food. Bananas came first but just a couple licks. Rice cereal was next. Eleni dove right in; Zoe was suspicious, but she has since come around. Then came applesauce. We were very excited for applesauce and I was convinced they would love it. I guess it looked a lot like rice cereal because it went right in...then

AY CARUMBA

...and back out. And then the look. The ice cold glare of indignance. I still have chills.

First Fight

The girls had their first fight today, complete with gloating and hair pulling.
We're not sure who won. I imagine the fights may get to be a bit more dramatic in the future...

Toy Inspector

Our friend Allison recently gave the girls a set of car keys (we can only assume the car comes next year). Eleni didn't want to rush into things, so she took some time to come up with a final opinion on the new toy.

I believe the final assessment was "two thumbs up, one tongue out."

Swingers

I remember being a kid and thinking that the baby swings at the playground were a big fat waste of space.

I stand corrected.

Socks

Not long ago, I swore I would dress my children in one-piece zip-up footy pajamas until they were old enough to dress themselves.

.

They still spend most of their time in footy pj's, but I have finally succombed to the alure of the outfit. But the tricky part about outfits, aside from the other tricky part (diapering), is the feet. The girls were given two sets of the most adorable socks-that-look-like shoes (thanks J9 & Adam, and Jeanine!). And they are completely adorable.

.

But to be truly adorable, they have to stay ON THE FEET.

And therein, my friends, lies the trick of the matter.

Sitting Up

We've been working on the sitting up thing lately. Eleni's kind of getting the hang of it.

Kind of.

Eleni at the controls

We opened a new "6 months & up" toy today. It's a big kids toy, meaning you should theoretically have to be able to sit up to use it -- Bumbo to the rescue.

Eleni dove right in. Zoe supervised.

Good photo shoots gone bad

Sometimes, even the best intended photo shoots go bad...

The Diaper Dance

Zoe frequently does a little dance when we change her diaper. It's a kicky kind of dance that seems to say both "I'm chilly chilly willy" and "let's get this diaper changed so I can get on with the rest of my very exciting day!" I haven't been able to catch this little dance on tape because I tend to be otherwise occupied at the moment. Today, however, Zoe was kind enough to give us an encore in her crib while I was grabbing a onesie from the other room.

The soundtrack is courtesy of Eleni from the other crib -- oh me a bit at the end: "gtheetuli" means "nudey" in Greek.

Bonkers for Bumbo

There are these cool little chairs that you can put babies in before they're able to sit up on their own -- brand name "Bumbo."

As far as I can tell, the entire purpose for these chairs is to amuse parents -- and I for one think they serve their purpose perfectly. Something about a little baby sitting upright is indeed highly amusing. For this reason, I put the girls in the chairs on a regular basis -- but not for too long, because I'm not entirely clear on whether they're in agreement.

I am convinced that you will be, however.

Occupational predictions

Kostas made the first career prediction for our children some time ago. An ambulance passed us on the road and he decided Zoe should consider a career as a drive because if the siren broke she could just stick her head out the window and...well...you know.

But it wasn't until today that we had an inkling of what Eleni's career path would hold. And then there it was, clear as day: Hairdresser.

Of course, Zoe will have to grow a bit more hair before she can really get some practice.

Move over Olivia Newton John

Bring on the calisthenics.

Rise and shine, Bunnytoes

This was the view when I went in to check on the girls this morning. At least the feet were up and ready to start their day.

Favorite bunny socks courtesy of Aunt Christie.

NeverNap

What mom mistook to be naptime this afternoon was in fact a happening affair, including a good deal of squawking and some fully-clothed diaper dancing.

Baby Pilates

It is amazing what six-month-old abdominals can do -- Ellie is all about her core.

And no, she doesn't have naturally shiny knees, just dry skin. That's Acquaphor.

Chatting in the Crib

Mom's got the camera again and she caught the girls having a conversation. Well, something like that. Birdy makes a brief appearance.