Wednesday, February 24, 2010

the ups and downs, as lived by Zoralee

a new game with Uncle Dan
You are seeing there actual distress that the bouncing horsey needed a break.
She hung there on his leg for quite a while. It was a little embarrassing.
eating a treat of processed cheese with Grandma Rena
being told by Mama that that's enough of the crap-ola
(I LOVE this new "o" mouth. It's almost worth her getting sad.)
egg intrigue
fear of approaching chickens
(these shots were taken a couple weeks ago - I happily report their relationship is improving)
I mentioned that Zoralee had the measles. At least, that's the best we could figure from the flow charts in the old medical books my mom raised us kids on. Those flow charts are rad! Brought back some good memories too, of searching through to try and find naked people. Sure, they usually had some sort of disease, deformity, or broken or missing part, but if you weren't used to seeing much nudity, hey hey.
*
Anyway, Zoralee had several days of an up and down fever, and I initially thought she could be teething harder than usual. But as soon as the fever died down, little pink bumps appeared on her head, neck, and torso. She had teensy white dots on her tongue too, like flecks of salt. All of this was classic measles. She was needy and fussy, and wanted to nurse lots and eat less solid food. The body bumps stayed for a few days, and one or two migrated to her legs; they weren't especially bright and didn't seem to bother her or itch. Then it was over. She has recuperated beautifully, and I am thankful.

Today Zoralee has a bright red mark below her eye and several tiny red scratches, from falling on the icy path leading to the chicken coop. Maybe she had seen one too many winter sports crashes and wanted to feel the pain herself. She'd landed on her bum, then sort of konked over onto her face from there, into the tiny razor-like crystals that the snow has become with all the melting and freezing. But, like a true Olympian, no amount of falling keeps her from the ice.


And speaking of falling, I shall end on this NEWS FLASH of an up: I think I witnessed Zoralee falling in love today. She wasn't going to sleep for her afternoon nap very easily by nursing, so I asked if she wanted her kitty. After a moment of pondering, she shook her head yes. Keep in mind that Zoralee has not formed an attachment to any specific item whatsoever, including pacifiers, bottles, blankets, toys, or dolls. When I tucked her kitty into bed and put the blanket over them both, she looked at it with fresh eyes. She nuzzled and kissed it, and then hung on to it while she stared up at the window in a serious lovestruck delirium. Then she cuddled it a bit more, looked into its eyes, and smiled.

This is later, after we'd given up on the nap.

(As time goes by, we'll see if this is true love or a one nap stand.)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Even though I'm right here and living this all too, I LOVE these blogs with pictures and commentary of Zoralee's and your lives! So many great memories. Thankyou :)

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

Aaaaaaaaaaah! This is the best one! It still makes me uncontrollably sad and icky feeling to see pictures of her being sad (I almost cried at the one where you took away the processed cheese...) I don't know why. It's like I just physically CANNOT STAND her being sad, even if it's for her own good. But... it's good to see these pictures and know that children can be sad and still survive. Goodness. I'm going to be a frightening parent.

I too love these blogs the best. I wish you would post one of these each week (I wanted to say each day, but that would be pushing it. I know that).

I can't wait to see her in a few weeks, or, this weekend if I come over for Katherine's funeral. :(

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

Oh yeah, and the one of her hanging on Uncle Dan's feet is THE BEST. That is hilarious. And Aunt Leah's face in the background.

Oh, Zor.

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

Sorry... one more thing. What are these odd looking tennis shoe-looking contraptions on her feet that have been showing up in all the pictures these days?

Karissa Patterson said...

YOu inspire me to get off my rear... I saw Kale looking at the scrapbooks the other day and of course as life happens there are no scrap books of him =(....I am almost done with his book from an online scrapbook company and then just need to order it...anyways rambling...

amy frances said...

You have the world's cutest terrified baby. Seriously dude.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the updated pictures I sure miss that cute baby maybe we can get the Skype thing going in this direction so she won't forget her Out East Grandma :)

lori said...

Ma - - well, living here with you greatly enhances the memories!

Rae - - I know whatcha mean about icky feelings over seeing a sad kid. With Z, because I usually have a good grasp on why she's sad and what I can do to help her, it doesn't make me feel helplessly sad myself. Also, those are, well, tennis shoes. You saw them this weekend. I'm glad you approved of them in person.

Karissa - - when you say you haven't done a scrapbook for Kale, I can only assume you successfully did them for the others. That's mighty impressive! I haven't even started Zoralee's baby book, though I have the materials and am excited about it. What website did you use?

Amy - - gosh, thanks. :) We do like her an awful lot and keep the terrifying experiences to a reasonable minimum.

Nana - - hello hello! I'm sure Z misses you too. She says "Nana" when she sees your picture in our photo book! I was going to see if any of you had a web cam. It has been so fun!

Mars said...

As for that first "fear of approaching chickens" picture - I'd be afraid of those chickens, too, if I were holding a couple of their beloved eggs in my hands as they were approaching! :)
By the way, what do you guys lay down on the floor in your coop? It looks so neat and clean, too, sheesh - ours is a poopy mess of dirty hay...Charlie's not even allowed to go in there without his "chicken boots" on.

Shana said...

It's okay, Zoralee...chickens scare that crud out of me, too!!! I love her pout face also~that should be illegal or something.

Seriously, though Lori...you could just do a blog of Zoralee pictures. She is such a beautiful child full of wonderful personality that is soooo soooo fun to look at and just imagine what she is thinking at that exact moment in time!