Zoe en Voice

“ I want to take a bath, OK? That’s my point!”

“Hey! Yours bum! That is yours big giant BUM!” Then she slapped me on the behind.

“I think superhero’s mommy help them clean up – why not you don’t?”

“My other girl will be named Ini and the other one is named Lunch. My boy is named Jackson and my other is Jeffy.”

The first thing Zoe said to me one morning was, “Mommy, we’re bestfriends!” And we hugged and kissed tightly and then she pulled away and said, “That was tough love.”

“I pinched mommy’s cheekmonk”

While remembering a memory back home in NYC she referred to it as, “The Happy Jones Place.”

Zoe has quite a vocabulary for calling names, mostly to DesmondJones. The majority are words she makes up when angry and it’s pretty clear they are intended as an insult. Her frequent one is Lizard. “You LIZARD!” There are also: Fuffer, Fuffet, Malpomb, Kaseba, Undol, Wizard, and Stish. {None of these are Russian words, btw}

“I ate it all gone to my throat!” She often announces this when she’s proud to have eaten her food.

Both mybabes are in school now. So 5days a week, we have those parting moments where I earnestly attempt to send them off with words of encouragement (wisdom!). It was somewhere in the third month of attending school (Dec) when Zoe asked me shortly, “Mom? Could you not say ‘rememberwhoyouare’ everyday?”

“1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 8 . . . 44 . . . OUT!” Z’s countdown before she pulls the plug out of the tub.

While opening a cupboard in the kitchen Zoe asks, “Can I have some I love you treats?”

“I’m growing up to be a grown up!”

Des and Zoe were mumbling the other day after Nate left the apartment before they were ready to leave (he went down early to dump the trash). Des grumbled while trailing down the stairs after N8, “Dads macaroni.” Zoe agreed, “Dad’s a bad guy.”

During a joint bath time, D&Z had taken to playing a game where one placed a hand over the others face and then pushed it under the water. I told them that the game was too dangerous and asked them to stop. I repeated myself a few times. Finally, Zoe had had enough of my parental supervision and spat at me, “If you say that again I’m going to hurt you!”

During our cuddle on the morning of her 4th birthday, Zoe happily declares to the universe, “I LOVE my mom and dad and Desi and Grandma and Grandpa and other Grandma and Grandpa!”

During dinner one night, Zoe tapped on DPJ’s shoulder and said, “You’re a genius!”

“Mom! Snap out of sleeping and play with me! Snap out of it! Snap out of it!”

“I love you mom and I don’t want to kill you either.”

Early one morning after Zoe cuddled up with Nate, a little air escaped from her behind. Nathan asked her, “Did you come in here to fart?” Zoe reasoned, “Oh, I guess all bums do that sometimes.”

After telling Zoe about how as a girl I shared a bedroom with my sister Holly, she sighed and said, “You have a spell on you.” I was surprised and repeated her statement with a question. She covered her face and sadly explained, “You’re a grown up and I didn’t see you as little.”

After squeezing Zoe’s cheeks together and calling her a chipmunk, she said, “I’m not a chipmunk, I’m your sweetie!”