Zoe Mae's First Food Fight!

Hooray - Zoe's eating solid food!  And by "solid" we, of course, mean liquid.  It seems such terms and their meanings are quickly parted around babies...

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In any event, wee Zoe is climbing up the growth chart graphs like nobody's business, so the good doctor gave us the thumbs up to start letting her smear food everywhere eat some "solids" (read: strange rice flake things that dissolve in milk).  Cara mixed some of this deliciousness up earlier this weekend, and it would appear that Zoe knew exactly what to do with it...

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Mmm... What's that?  Solid Food!  The soupy milk stuff was welcomed by the little one.  She has been carefully watching us eat for some time now, so her little neurons were firing on all cylinders as she chomped away.  She seems to be a professional chewer, and wasted no time in trying to chew the milky slush into oblivion.  

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Heck - she even went on chomping on her bib as momma readied the next spoonful of goodness.  We can't quite be sure if Zoe is associating eating this way with nourishment yet, or if it's just some awesome new game to her, but it is very clear that she likes it!

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She made short work of the bowl of ricey stuff, and was thrilled to be able to thoroughly spread it around her very chic bib as well.

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Rocco was on hand for the event, but even he has begging standards.  While a pinch of rice powder mixed with milk may qualify as "solid food" for the small humans who don't know any better, Rocco has his priorities straight:  Only real solid food causes him to sit at attention.

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Speaking of which, we had a gaggle of wild turkeys meandering through our back yard a few days back, and Rocco pretended not to notice.   Once wild animals are bigger than him, he quickly looses interest - perhaps they're a little too solid for the pup.  Zoe, however, was very interested, and goo-gah-gee'd at them from her bedroom window.  Solid food indeed.  Who knew that "solid" was such a vague term?



Anyway, after the big meal it was time for some good old fashioned relaxation.  After such a big new experience, we let Zoe bask in the comfort of a far more familiar ride...

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Turbo baby swing!  Wait - that's a lie.  There is no turbo option on Zoe's swing, and Tommy has not bolted one on.  In fact, the swing was purchased at a garage sale for $5, and it only has one speed, SUPER FAST!!!  Nope - lies again.  It's just a 20 second exposure.  Remember the thing about a new camera a while back...

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Zoe enjoyed her calm post-dinner swinging, and then went for a nice walk strapped to momma, just like old times.  She did express some initial concern about the large flower on her forehead, but wore it proudly around the block.

Northern Exposure

Some holidays just seem to hold sway over larger forces - such as the weather. Once again we made it up to the River for Labor Day, and once again, like clockwork, the long weekend brought about a seasonal change right on time.  We had a beautiful summer day's worth of swimming and whatnot on Friday, followed by the wonderful tumult that an autumn wind brings.

Pushing a 35+ degree change in temperature in a few hours, we had a great blast from a cold front.  Walking the TIPark 500 was almost a challenge, and even poor Rocco was afraid to jump in!

I mean heck - look what the wind did to the puppy's face!  We brought Zoe for the stroll as well, but she was safely fastened under both the stroller's and the carseat's sunshades, which provided an armadillo's worth of protection from the elements.  Hence - no pictures of the little one from the windy way.

Safely back in the cottage, she was looking dapper in her argyle sweater-vest and matching socks while perched in the bumbo on the opium poppy inspired couch.  Rocco, ever vigilant, kept a keen eye out for invaders while disguising himself as a cat.

Knowing that her momma's birthday was right around the corner, Zoe insisted that her parents go out to a nice dinner - just the two of them.  (Some call this a "date" - we call it wonderful.)  So after heading to  Kingston and Chez Piggy for dinner, we decided that it was high time that Zoe began her honest-to-goodness international travel as well.  Thus, the next day we piled into the Wee Box and pointed it North.  Several feet north of Wellesley Island is another swell island called Hill.  Now Hill Island is another country all together, so into Canada we ventured.  As usual we set lofty goals for our travels: in this case, 400 feet.

That's right folks, the 1000 Islands Skydeck!  Although it's right down the road, I hadn't been up there in at least 25 years, so it was quite the family outing...  And yes - this gigantic swizzle stick in the sky comes comfortably equipped with an elevator!  (Sadly those stairs that swizzle are for emergency purposes only.)

The deck up top provides a mean view of the river, and is safely glassed in so even wee Zoe could confidently look out over the vast waters that she usually patrols from a few feet above the surface in an infant lifejacket.

Up top, however, is where the real action is!  No walls, windows, ceiling, etc.  Just a railing and an amazing unobscured 360 degree view of the river.  Rockin.  Note the heavy rain in the background - that there's autumn rolling on in.

This is just one of the many shots we took from above.  It's hard to leave such a great spot atop the river, particularly with a new camera in hand!  However Zoe was demanding to get home so she could tell everyone about the excursion, and there was that weather rolling on in...

Back at the homestead Zoe just had to tell Grammy all about it!  Meanwhile Papa enjoyed a Guinness 250th anniversary brew (which was fine, but nowhere near as tasty as their Foreign Extra Stout.)  

Then came the big meeting with Zoe's contemporary, Connor Nugent.  First things first, she gave him the once over, admiring his caboose.  At just four months old each, they weren't the most chatty couple on the block, but they did get off to a solid start.

And then wee Zoe decided to kick the relationship by a notch by holding Connor's hand, but he just wasn't ready for the type of commitment yet.  

Connor cried foul and wee Zoe bashfully averted her eyes, then called in the reserves...