Some Zoe stuff (& Pierce too)

I'm going to interrupt my trip blogging with something quick because I don't want to forget it.  When Mattie was a little girl, the first word she learned to write (other than her name) was C-A-T.  She was very young indeed.  Pierce, unfortunately, I don't remember, though I may have written it down on the old website somewhere.  Zoe's first word that she can spell was, fittingly, H-I-T. :)  And her second word is C-O-S-T-C-O.  Both very appropriate.



Zoe loves bandaids.  She wants a bandaid whenever she gets the least bit hurt.  I usually require blood for a bandaid, but at a really nice restaurant (while on vacation) I needed to keep her busy while we waited.  So I gave her a FREE bandaid, with no scrape at all!  She called it an "un-blood bandaid" and was very happy about it for the rest of the day.


Zoe is always coming up with a new name she wants to be called.  Last winter she was called "A Different Princess, Rose" whenever she wore a certain dress-up leotard.  This year she is called "Galonze" with one leotard (I probably have a picture of it somewhere), "Julee" (accent on the last syllable), and lately "Layne".  She says her fancy name is Layne, and she spells it T-I-H-T (she's vague about the order, but the letters include H-I-T).


Zoe thinks she is very nearly all grown up.  She has lots of ideas for what she will do when she is a grown-up.  One thing that she will do call me Pam, her dad Matt, and her grandparents by their first names also.  One day walking home from school she told me that Perry took them to McDonald's... I told her that she needed to wait until she really IS all grown up to call her grandpa Perry.


Pierce wanted a marshmallow too.  It seems like forever since he's had front teeth!  He is so kind and helpful lately, it's wonderful.  He told me today that his teacher told his class that they needed to be writing for 30 minutes a day, every day, to be sure they're ready for 2nd grade.  He said it with a bit of concern, and I realized that he was a little worried that he wouldn't make it to 2nd grade.  Since he's reading at a late 4th grade level (or higher, it's been a few months since that assessment) I don't think he needs to worry.  He and his friend Parker are writing a book of oceanography facts.  He says they're up to 62 pages so far.  I hope he grows up to be a marine biologist!  I will go with him in the little exploratory submarines.


Pierce and Zoe are such good buddies lately.  Pierce is always on the lookout for ways that he can help Zoe, and Zoe likes to make him happy too.  (Although she told him that when he is kind to her, it makes her be kind to him.  But when he is unkind to her, it makes her UNKIND to him.  I reminded her that we need to make a good choice for ourselves no matter what anyone else does.)  I used to want a big brother, and I would have wanted one just like Pierce.