Zoe Journal

31 March 2011

allenbarton — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:35:54 +0000

This month marked a Major Occurence – you went #2 in the bathroom at school. You told me on the way home, but we even called the school to verify – this mean you got your lego train set, the dress, the ice cream cake – all sorts of goodies. Upon which you refused to do it again. Anywhere. And so we still wait…. You’re obsessed with Pink’s song “So What?” – which you have rechristened “Rock Star,” but pronounce “Rock Start.” So whenever we get in the car you ask for “Rock Start!” You like to get up in the morning before me now, and then pester me to wake up, with questions like, “Papa WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING ALL DAY?!” at 6:45am. You’ve invented an imaginary older sister named Gloakly, to whom you give strengths and powers you don’t have. Gloakly isn’t afraid of flies. Gloakly likes the freeway. Also – Gloakly lives either in Korea, Japan, London or New York depending on what day we ask you. I went to NYC at the end of the month on business, and you were very fastidious in setting up a coffee date with Gloakly on the phone for me. And you still won’t let the waiter clear your plate at dinner – if he does so, you throw a spaz attack, and we’ve adopted the behavior that Mom has to ask the waiter to leave your place intact until we leave.

Reed: You finally sleep through the night, which is a big breakthrough. We put you down around 7-8pm, and you cruise through the night for about 12 hours. Bliss! You will often wake up before me, and I can hear you chatting with no one in particular in your crib until I come and get you. Everyone says you look just like me.

28 February 2011

allenbarton — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 06:57:41 +0000

You saw your first movie in a theatre this month – “Little Mermaid” at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. You gave mixed reviews – you were kind of scared by how dark it was around you, and it was too loud sometimes, so that halfway through you cried and said, “I WANNA GO HOME!” But you stuck it out, and have often compared Little Mermaid to your home favorite Beauty and the Beast. This month the lego train set was delivered, which your mom ordered as a bribe to get you to go #2. No chance. You still won’t go. And the train set just sits in the living room, unopened. You still lecture us about what should be doing with Reed, when he needs a diaper change, when we should feed him, etc. A new line you learned in school: “Zip it and put it in your pocket!” (As in, shut up.) And you’ve become obsessed with the pop singer Pink, and her song, “So What,” which you have renamed “Rock Star,” and pronounce “Rock Start.” Can we listen to Rock Start? Please? Can we listen, please?

Reed: This was the big month where we started to put you down to sleep in the crib instead of letting you sleep with mom all night. You adapted quickly – first night was 45 minutes of crying, and the second night was 10. By the end of the month you were sleeping great. Every morning you wake up on your own and just chat gleefully to the ceiling in a nonstop babble. You also purr. Yes.

31 January 2011

allenbarton — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:44:17 +0000

Zoe: Some classic lines this month. “Papa, will you pretend to be a man and fix the tire on my Lego boat?” You meant to say “repairman,” but you left out the repair part and what a brutal omission! And I’ve just started to tell you that you can’t pick your nose in front of people, that you can only do it when you’re alone. So we get a lot of, “Can I pick my nose? I want to pick my nose! I’m going to my room to pick my nose.” It’s rather hilarious. We added Beauty and the Beast to the DVD collection, and you’re now obsessed with the plot. Every night before you drift off: “Papa? Can we talk about Beauty and the Beast?” Plot questions, plot questions…. You had your first violin recital this month! You did the “rest position song,” where you don’t actually play (not there yet, but close….), but sing a song about being in the correct position. Really cute. You also can pick out middle C on the piano quite reliably. We’re still fearful that you will go to college wearing a diaper. You just won’t get rid of it for #2. You keep promising you will do it – next saturday, next week, when I’m THIS tall, when I’m a BIG girl…. We’re stumped. The best, though, was one night as you drifted to sleep: “Papa? I want to be young forever.” Wow.

31 December 2010

allenbarton — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:29:19 +0000

This was the month of Lassie. I bought you a DVD of the 2005 remake of Lassie with Peter O’Toole, and oh-my-GOD. The first viewing was emotionally shattering for you. Early on a bad man takes his belt to Lassie, and you LOST IT. You were GONE. And I had to hold you through the entire movie and you just were a mess. Subsequent viewings chilled you out somewhat, but just about every night before you go to bed, you ask, “Can we talk about Lassie?” And you ask all sorts of plot questions about the film. The other big event this month was the Ivy School Christmas Show – truly a classic event. Just about 100 adults crammed into a small room upstairs at the school, the temperature shooting past 80 degrees early. The show started at 6pm, after you had been at school for nine hours, and it went on for two hours, with multiple costume changes. Little kids were dropping right and left from emotional trauma – and while you performed admirably on stage, you fell apart during the changes. We found out later you cried so hard that you threw up, a fact that you proudly restate again and again: “Remember when I got so sad at the long day at school? And I cried so much I threw up!” Other highlights include the Christmas gift of the Lego House. You are obsessed with the Lego House. This month also had you coming up with “Can we share?” – which really means, “Can I take this gift for Reed and use it for myself?”

30 November 2010

allenbarton — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 02:09:33 +0000

Six weeks down since Reed came into the picture. You’re still handling it very well – aside from a lot of very plaintive “I want my mommy!” and “I miss my mommy!” exclamations – since Mommy has her hands full with feeding Reed and we’re all pretty generally exhausted. All of us have gotten sick twice since October – stupid cold went around and around. So on many nights I will sleep with you because we were both sick, and we didn’t want the baby to get ill as well. Then Mom would get sick and the rotation would alter. Weekends are busy with Saturdays (Colburn school music class) and Sundays (violin lesson) usually full of activities. Also this month, your grandfather visited from New England – he was in Orange County on some missile defense project and wanted to come up to see you and Reed – it was only the second time you got to meet him. And Aunt Nancy from Connecticut – for three days. Zoe vocabulary: “Fantaskit!” “Can I talk to you?” “I get to watch three Doras because I’m three years old!”

31 October 2010

allenbarton — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 05:09:50 +0000

The big news this month was of course the arrival of your younger brother, Reed Thomas Barton, on 16 October. It’s been love at first sight, at least on your end. You came to the “hostipal” the day after he was born, and we have video of you proudly pushing him in his cart around the hallways. You constantly come up to him to tell him you love him, and are always wanting to kiss him on his face, even though you’re not supposed to! Last night before I wrote this entry, was another evening where we ended up with FOUR people in our bed – and you lost out. At about 4:30am you rolled off the edge and onto the floor with a bang. So sad! Your violin lessons are progressing – you’ve learned to hold the bow correctly (when you put your mind to it), and you dressed as Snow White on Halloween, which was very cute. At each house we went to, you would practice saying “Trick or Treat!” all the way up to the door, but when the door opened you’d be struck with stage fright and say nothing. Priceless.

30 September 2010

allenbarton — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 05:47:23 +0000

Here’s what we’re worried about with you: 1) You are a spaz about your plate at restaurants, won’t let it be cleared, and at the end of the meal we have to assure you, like ALOT, that the waiter will not remove your plate even after we leave. 2) You have taken a sudden dislike to freeways, and sometimes cry your eyes out at the prospect of getting on a freeway, and yell the entire time about “Getting down from the freeway! Go down from the freeway!” 3) You still insist on going number 2 in your diaper. You’re quite open about it. You announce that you’re going to “go poo poo in my diaper now!” We ask if you wouldn’t rather go in the bathroom, and you’re like, “NO! NO!” Recently I asked you when you would start doing so, and you said, “Next Saturday.” That was 3 weeks ago. 4) You now have a public bathroom phobia, even on #1. This occurred when we drove up to “Fran Sansisco,” and your mom took you to the bathroom at a freeway stop. It was one of those automatic flushers, and it triggered while you sat on it, and that was that. You’re terrified. On the other hand, as we set up the house for the arrival of your sibling, you keep testing out each element with your toy babies, and that is really cute.

31 August 2010

allenbarton — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:41:26 +0000

Lots of Barton visits this month because of my play “Engagement” – you saw your cousins Andy and Ellie, and Bill, Florence, Fred, Linda, Nancy and your grandmother. We ended this month with a trip to San Francisco with you, where you met your cousin Lara (you and she are the current oldest and youngest of your generation, until the arrival of your younger sibling), as well as her little baby Rose, your first cousin once removed. We took you to the CA Academy of Sciences, and I took you on a cable car ride from Pier 39 back to our hotel. That was pretty hilarious – you loved that. We are currently worried that you will wear a diaper all the way to college. You tease us with Number #2: “It’s coming. I’m going to go poo-poo on the potty today.” And then you deny us and still insist on diapers. Wednesday-Friday has a pretty set routine that I both take you to and pick you up from school. On the weekends you’re continuing with your violin lessons, and you have developed a fascination with Dora the Explorer. You’ve begun to use temper tantrums as a means of getting what you want, throwing a spazz attack if we deny you certain requests. We’re trying to stop that, but boy – when you get going you really get going.

31 July 2010

allenbarton — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:08:25 +0000

Took you to a July 4th Fireworks show down in Torrance – you liked that one. And, we’ve let you know you have a sibling coming in October. You’re very sweet. You now come up to Mom and touch her stomach and say hello, goodnight, etc. to the little one inside. Every day we ask you whether it’s a boy or a girl, and the answer is different every day. (When I ask, it’s about 85% you say it’s a baby sister.) New behavior: You cup my face in your hands and slap them both at the same time and say, “You so CUTE!” Sometimes you add in: “Good boy!” which you obviously get from our talking to Milo. Speaking of which, one evening I was trying to get to rehearsal and you were tapping the computer as I was trying to use it. I finally got annoyed, and said, “Zoe, knock it off! I’m working!” You got sad and walked away. Twenty minutes later Mom calls me on my way to rehearsal, and said she heard you drawing by yourself in the other room, and you said, “Milo – knock it off! I’m working!” You continue to enjoy preschool, and brag about how many friends you have. When I ask what you did in school, you already answer, “Nothing.” Ten years early.

30 June 2010

allenbarton — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 07:36:53 +0000

Happy Third Birthday! We threw you a small party here at the apartment, with your grandparents coming over as well. Each present we opened, you screamed, “I want MORE!” Classic. Your aunt Linda gave you a piggy bank, and I gave you some coins to learn its function. You love that. Last week you had your first violin lesson with Lauren Deutch, after waiting a while for your mom to get through early pregnancy so we could check out another teacher that had been referred to us. But the second teacher annoyed us, so we went back to Lauren, who we met a few months ago when you observed a lesson. Earlier this month we took you to Disneyland – pretty hilarious. You’re still pretty young for all that. Our first ride was a simple carousel, and you cried bloody murder from fear! The Peter Pan ride also scared you to tears. But then you liked a lot of the rides after that. What an exhausting place! But you’ve been there. We’ve fulfilled our parental duty. Great Zoe vocabulary: Sugar, which is what you say instead of “Booger“. So you pick your nose and say, “There’s no sugar there! We need to go to the store to buy sugar!” I mean… Hilarious. Also: Hostipal (where you go if you’re sick) and Segundheit (said after a sneeze), stoller or storrel (stroller).