Wha- Happened?!

I am amazed at how quickly the summer passed. Now we are almost past autumn, and Zoe has pretty much passed into toddlerhood. I know I shouldn't be, but I am also a bit embarassed at how long it's taken me to blog again. I had such good intentions and lots of milestones to recount. But it all happened so fast!! No sooner do I set a single thought down in my little "baby's first year" calendar, when something else happens! A waiting parent in the blogosphere told us how inspired they were by our story, and I felt a little awestruck that someone was still reading. I vowed to get something new down right away! That was almost 3 months ago. Oh, well, I hope my friends and family feel I am keeping them posted on the world of Zoe in other ways. Not everyone has time to read e-mail, right? My mother and father-in-law don't even have a computer. We have been focusing on keeping up with new pictures to post in our gallery: http://www.stanford.edu/~ksharp/gallery2. That in itself has required much time and effort (more than you would assume in the age of 1-2-3 instant digital technology). As it is, we only got as far as Zoe's first Halloween. Next, it's on to post our wonderful Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara!!

And meanwhile, Zoe has reached her 18th month, is expressing herself in every way except spoken language (and doing it well, I might add--that doesn't mean she isn't noisy. She also signs for the basics), has been walking expertly, going up and down stairs, does tumblesaults (mostly intentional), blows kisses, waves bye-bye, feeds herself solid foods, can follow directions (when she wants to), puts on her own shoes, helps take care of Kitty (dispenses her treats), and keeps growing taller and more beautiful all the time.