Zoe Paige

About Me

As a little girl I dreamt of far-flung adventures, a passport stamped with destinations, friends littered across the world. Well, although many in my family have lived that nomadic life, I don't feel I am missing out because I have created my own little piece of the world. Along with my most excellent husband and best friend, Tim, and our adorable daughter, Zoe, we have created our own fabulous life, filled with fun and laughter, travel when we can fit it in, long-lasting friendships, good food, good wine, and I already said it, FUN!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Mommy-Daughter dates!

Tim started his master's program in January, and he is taking the weekend course. Which means that he has class on Friday nights and Saturday all day, a few times per month. What this also means is that I get a lot of quality solo-time with my Zoe! Now, while my favorite things to do are with Zoe AND Tim, there is something to be said for having one-on-one time with a toddler. You don't have two adults trying to steer the boat, not to mention the child, who thinks she is Steven Spielberg (seriously, she has been bossing us around and directing us since she was born). I can set our schedule, and we go at her pace.

This past Saturday, we started out at Kohl's, because Tim bought me a Packers shirt that was about as wide as my right arm. Not going to work. So I returned the shirt, bought a much roomier sweatshirt, and just as Zoe started to squirm in the cart and was shouting "walk" "walk" "WALK" (meaning, she wanted to get out of the cart and run free and never come back) I whisked her back into the car. Now where to? Cranky Al's! For those of you that don't know, Cranky Al's is a Wauwatosa institution. They serve pizza at night, and they serve doughnuts and other baked goods in the morning. And they do both very very well.

Your kids can run pretty free at Cranky Al's, and no one gives you a dirty look, because everyone who goes there brings their kids. I ordered my latte, a cup of milk, and a huge pumpkin muffin. Zoe eats really well all week long, not too many sweets or juice, since she doesn't get that at school, so I let her have treats on the weekend. The child ate the ENTIRE muffin in about 5 seconds. Most of you have seen Zoe eat, and it's quite something to behold. Then she proceeded to say "Hi Daddy" to every male who is about Tim's age that passed our way. "No, Zoe, that's not Daddy, silly, Daddy is at school", I said about 10 times as I laughed ha ha, my child is so cute, NO, you aren't her dad. Slightly embarassing, but funny at the same time.

After about 30 minutes of this, we were off to Mayfair to get her haircut. I knew I only had about 30 good minutes left in her until a meltdown was about to happen, so I had to act fast. The child's hair is long and thick and she gets yogurt stuck in her bangs a lot. Last time I trimmed them myself, and it was a pretty hacked-up job. So this time, I needed a professional. I was not quite sure how Zoe was going to react to a stranger coming at her with a pair of scissors.

Well, she loved it (after she destroyed a pretty display of shampoo bottles, which took me a while to put back together). She sat in my lap, and she flirted with all of the stylists who were telling her what a good, big girl she was. $5.00 for a bang trim, and we were back in the car, headed home, for lunch and naptime, while Zoe talked about her "petty haircut".

I cherish these moments with Zoe, and while I do love staying in the house with her and just playing and snuggling on these cold, winter days (some people ask me why we don't ever just sit in the house and relax!), what I really love is being out in the world with her - seeing how she reacts to places and people is so much fun! Seeing her become the person she is becoming is my favorite part of motherhood.

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