Yellow

I asked Zoe to try a piece of squash. She first said no, but I asked her again nicely (and she was in a giving mood), so she stuck a piece on her fork and hovered it just above her upper lip. She shook her head, indicating that she did not like it. I asked her if she could put her tongue on it, so she stuck out her tongue and almost imperceptibly touched it to the squash. She paused, stuck her tongue on it again, and then slowly put the piece in her mouth. She ate two pieces.

We are all just returned from a trip east, to Connecticut and Florida. In CT we had a sprawling, wonderful time celebrating Zoe’s cousin Sam’s Bar Mitzvah. Alison and I each had a small part in the service; mine was to carry the Torah in the procession around the synagogue, a role that is considered an honor. We were already running late (Dunkin’ Donuts) and as we pulled up to the temple I developed a bloody nose. Alison went ahead, and after I staunched the flow of blood I sauntered into the synagogue, only to be immediately approached by my mother-in-law and quickly ushered onto the bimah. I was already a bit disorientated (light-headed from loss of blood?), but fortunately the speed in which everything happened prevented me from angsting over a possible fall down the bimah steps with the sacred scroll (I was mini-smitten, a.k.a. bloody nose, for stopping for coffee, imagine the smite if I had dropped the Torah?). Zoe also enjoyed the trip, although I don’t think she really understood why we were dragging her all around. But she had fun swimming in the hotel pools and pressing the buttons in the elevators. And through all our travels she only threw up on Alison three times; on the plane (a little), then again while we were in CT (a lot! Zoe’s got a little Linda Blair in her sometimes), then again in FL (a little).

For a long time Zoe's favorite colors have been green and blue. She never fails to point out an item of either of those two colors. It's possible that those two colors are her favorite because those are the only two colors she can say. I know she knows other colors, as she will point to the correct color when tested. Over the last couple of weeks she has sporadically said the word yellow, but she was shy about using the word, and would barely whisper it when she was pressed to say it. So this week we really pushed her to say the color when she saw it. Every time she would say yellow we would praise her like she had just won a Pulitzer, and by the end of our trip she was saying it at every possible opportunity. On the plane home she said it approximately forty-seven times in a row (she was pointing out each yellow light on the runway as we taxied). Our next goal is red, so check back frequently for the BIG breakthrough.

Recent photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/dbglass/ZoeMichel22ndMonth#
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