Our Determined Little Z

Z just turned one a little over a week ago and I still can't believe how quickly this year has passed. It's so exciting to see her grow and develop, and I love learning more of her personality. But all of the changes also emphasizes how precious each moment with her is, and how she's never going to be little bitty baby again. These days, whenever I see a newborn baby, I find myself surprised at how small they are! And then I remind myself that Zoey was that little just a few months ago...

Recently I've started to learn that Z is quite the persistent, determined little girl. This is a great quality to have, in my opinion. But, boy, I think that the hubby and I are going to have our hands full. :p For instance, there was the time when I put Zoey down for the night, and then clicked on the screen of our video monitor to check up on her a few minutes after I left her room. That night, she surprisingly stopped crying after only about 30 seconds, and I wondered if she was sleeping already. But when I turned on the monitor, I saw that she was sitting up. But her head was drowsily bobbing up, down, and left and right. She was obviously very tired, half asleep, but seemed to be wanting to fight falling asleep completely very much. Every so often she actually would fall asleep, which would lead to her falling down to the laying down position...but the impact woke her up just enough so that she could prop herself back up again. It was hilarious to watch.

I thought that the cycle of bobbing, falling down, and then propping herself back up would only last for a few minutes, and then she would finally give in to sleep. But Z is a persistent little one! She continued to do this for about 20 minutes. Then the hubby came home from class and I filled him in on what was happening. We then watched the monitor in awe/while giggling as our little girl continued to resist sleep for another 20 minutes or so. Finally, hubby decided it was time to go into Z's room and help her out a bit. Here is a video clip of her wobbling in her crib:



There was also the time a couple weeks ago, when we were at my parent's house the day after Z's first birthday party. Hubby and I were cleaning up the kitchen and needed our hands free. So we put Z and Milo the Pug in the family room (where we could see them) and created a makeshift barrier with a couple of ottomans. There were a few inches between the ottomans, and although it was possible for Z to get past the barriers....she would need to squeeze. We didn't think that she would actually try to do that. Boy was I wrong. Hubby and I watched as she wriggled and wrangled, and huffed and puffed, and tried with all her might to get past the barriers and crawl over to us. All the while, she looked straight at us with this intense look of determination! And then she got through to the other side! She was so proud of herself too :) We were pretty impressed as well.