Denny's = Eat

Zoe is Brilliant

After a very long day in the car, we were looking for somewhere to eat. I was in the back playing with Zoe (typically she is ok by herself but she was tired and hungry by this point). Gavin mentioned that he had seen a Denny's restaurant a while back but he didn't see anything in the next few miles. I noticed that when Gavin said "Denny's" Zoe turned her head and was listening intently. Gavin continued talking about finding somewhere to eat and again mentioned Denny's. Zoe immediately smiled and signed "eat." I continued to watch Zoe, and every time Gavin said "Denny's," Zoe immediately signed "eat." We thought this was hilarious. And what a great sign of her cognitive understanding. Perhaps it is Zoe's American genes coming out. And perhaps this is a sad commentary on how much we have been on the road recently. We also noticed that if we said "Denny's" or "eat," Zoe would go from excited about eating to devastated that we weren't eating right away in about ten minutes. And so we learned the power of spelling in front of our child. We even have to spell "D-e-n-n-y" since she knows that is equal to eat!

The Other Sign that My Child is a Genius

After eating half of my pot of mussels (yes, she ate an entire half!), Zoe continued to eat her food when a "Great Big Sea" song came on the radio. Zoe immediately started laughing and smiling like she does when she is listening to music now. The funny thing was that this was not even a song that we usually listen to. It was a song from an album we don't even own so she could not have heard it more than once or twice but she must have recognized the band. As soon as the song ended, Zoe immediately signed "more" and looked at me. I explained that I could not control what song is on the radio. She got a little upset with this answer but was distracted by the rest of her food so all ended well.

And the Sign that my Child is Amazing

We visited with my cousin Elena and her family on our way to and from Boston. Elena has a beautiful daughter Clover (I should post some pics of them playing together- it was very cute). Clover was kind enough to share her jolly jumper with Zoe. Zoe has not been in her jumper recently and we noticed something very interesting. She kept trying to walk in the jumper. Which means Zoe would bear full weight on her legs, hold her trunk up, and actually take a step or two by herself before collapsing in the support of the jumper. Sometimes she even managed a few steps before she reached the end of the slack on the jumper and got pulled back and would swing back and forth while laughing her head off.

We had a great time in Boston this past weekend. It is amazing how much more relaxing travelling is when Zoe is well. And it is amazing how much better I feel when I actually get a full night's sleep. Imagine that!

And We Aren't the Only Ones Who Think She is Cute

Check out Zoe on the Ryerson site http://www.ryerson.ca/ece/index.html I love her hair in this photo!