New look

No, the crutch is not part of Zoe's new look - it's the hair. Courtesy of Beth, our neighbour, Zoe has a funky new do, and she's looking every inch the little girl she is. Don't know where she got the sudden passion for pink from, though, we certainly didn't encourage that. Is it in the genes after all? Oh yeah, the crutch is mine, courtesy of a collision on the frisbee field. I fractured my fibula and even though it's nothing complicated I will have to run around in a moon boot for nearly six weeks. And with these crutches that look like they're a hand-down from some World War I veteran. Zoe was a bit scared of them at first but now she'll happily carry them around for me.

Tub time

Tub time is a big favourite of the day, and it's especially fun if a friend comes along. Regular readers of this blog may recognise Garth, our neighbours' son, on the top picture. Zoe is a couple of months older so she feels she gets to be bossy boots with him - as opposed to Otis, the son of Vivien's school friend Kimberley and her partner Justin. He's nearly half a year older, he's bigger, and he will not be bossed around by a pip-squeak from Bondi. Her respect shows - and this was even before he threw a little tantrum in the tub, which really had her in awe.

Zoe sleeping Mama bed

Zoe is a good sleeper - she goes to bed between 8 and 8.30 and wakes up around 7.30 the next morning. Unfortunately she wakes up in a different bed than the one she goes to sleep in. While we have no trouble putting her down in her cot, at some time during the night she will insist on migrating into our bed. It all started in June or July, when one winter night she had a cold, couldn't sleep and started crying. So we brought her over to our bed and comforted her till she fell asleep again. The next night there was a frightening thunderstorm and we repeated the procedure. It only took one or two more opportunities for her to pick up the habit. Now, it seems as if she's subconsciously waiting for us to go to bed so she can wake up and demand to be taken over where she will happily continue her dreams. If we don't oblige, however, she will scream down the house. It can be nice having her in our bed, a very family feeling. But frequently she tends to take advantage of the space, tossing around, even kicking in her sleep, and ultimately driving me away. So now we're kind of waiting for her to accept her own cot and not wake up around midnight. But it doesn't look as if that will happen soon. As she said the other day after a transfer: "Zoe happy. Zoe sleeping Mama bed."

Speaking in tongues

The Stettner tongue comes in all shapes and sizes.