THE MANY MOODS OF ZOE

I know we've had more pics of Athena lately, due to her greater mobility and range of abilities, but Zoë's starting to show a startling array of emotions, from intrigued...



to scheming...



to concerned...




to incredulous...



to fear and terror...





to pleasantly surprised...



to steely resolve...



to astounded...



and even a hint of coyness...



But mostly, she shows us lots and lots of smiles.

COOKIE PARTY

A few weeks before the holidays, my friend Ben graciously organized a cookie decorating party. As you can see, they did a superlative job with the supplies.



But, unfortunately, Athena was mostly interested in all the new toys. Like a funny hat to put on Daddy.



And a guitar that made some wonderful new sounds.







Ah well, at least Athena's dad was there to prevent any excess cookie surpluses.

PLAYING WITH ZOË

As I've mentioned, Athena cannot resist playing with her new sister. Here she is sneaking up on a sleeping Zoë.





Here she is poking Zoë's mouth.



And here, despite Zoë's expression, I swear Athena's hugging -- not strangling -- her.

One sure sign of Athena's emergence into toddler-hood, her curiosity gets her into everything. For example, pens...


And I can forget about getting any work done when she visits


We've even given Athena her own camera so she won't lunge for ours whenever we try to take her picture.

Some more random photos...

Here's Athena and Zoë on the sofa:




And here's Zoë waking fromm a nap.


And here's a leftover shot from Athena's birthday (note Elmo birthday card):

And here's a photo of our friends Devon and Brenda with Zoë

I recently found these three pictures from when we first brought Zoë home. She's about twice as big now.

ATHENA PICKS UP THE CHECK

That girl is one class act.

Zoe came too, but slept through the meal.

ATHENA EXPLORES HER BABY SISTER





Yes, there are some initial bumps, as the older sibling learns she no longer has exclusive claim to her parents'attention, as well as what's okay with the new baby (kissing, stroking) and what's not (biting, touching the eye).

It's especially tough as Zoe is a constant source of fascination for Athena, especially when Zoe's sleeping. It's perversing fun to watch Athena struggle. She knows she should let Zoe sleep and yet she... can't... resist... walking... closer...

Lately, Athena's been content to merely watch Zoe sleep.



Or, even better for us, take a nap at the same time.

PARTY TIME WITH ATHENA (with guest blogger Sally Ngov-Nordvall)



Athena with Kimmy at Jerry's 1st birthday banquet. Athena was very bashful at the beginning but she charmed everyone with her cute smile and adorable looks. But of course most of the guests remember her from Iris's baby shower (Jerry's mother) a year ago.

She was eating "trees" (brocolli) and shrimp with sugar crane. At first she had a high chair, but she insisted on being treated just like the big kids.

Last weekend, Sally's brother Nam came to visit with his kids Floyd and Sean. We went out to a Dim Sum place. (Check out that decor!) Here are some pics.





LUNCH WITH THE FOLKS

BABY'S FIRST (AND THIRD) HALLOWEEN

We recently had our first Halloween as double parents. Zoe didn't go out, although she did get dressed up.







Athena, however, had her candy bucket ready...



...although she's really into Trick-or-Treating more for the socializing than the candy. She especially enjoyed dancing with a guy in a gorilla suit.





And playing in an outdoor Halloween play area one of our neighbors set up.



She even found a tricycle someone left out (perhaps dropping a hint for Christmas).



In the end, she had so much fun, Daddy had to carry her home.