Zoe is 5
I still cannot believe that Zoe is 5 years old! Five always feels like such a huge age milestone. I think it’s because as she says, she is now a whole hand! But it feels just too old and I still do not really want to admit that she is 5 and will be starting kindergarten in the fall.
Zoe is growing so much these days! She had her well check right after her birthday and she is right on track developmentally. She is a very healthy little girl. Zoe’s stats were:
Height: 42.3 in (48th percentile)
Weight: 39 lbs (46th percentile)
Zoe is wearing mostly 4T or 5T clothes. Well, I should say she can wear 4T or 5T shirts. Shorts are a whole different story. I pulled out boxes of clothes when we were prepping for our Disney trip and tried so many shorts on Zoe but had a hard time finding ones that actually fit. I had bought her some 4T shorts on clearance 2 years ago that I thought she’d wear last year but she never grew into them. I thought for sure she’d wear them this year but they are still too big! She really needs 3T or 4T shorts (as long as they have an adjustable waist or a functional drawstring). She’s just so petite. She is wearing size 10 shoes.
Zoe is growing in size but also in how much she is learning. She loves going to school this year! Although, I think she likes the social aspect of school the most (our little extrovert). But, she is doing really well in school with learning her letters and numbers. Her handwriting is improving constantly and her teacher says she has amazing fine motor skills, especially for being a lefty. When we were in Disney World, we saw a little kiosk that sold all things lefty related like notebooks with the spirals on the opposite side and pencils that don’t smudge as the hand goes across the page. It was fun to explore all these things we never thought about needing for our little lefty girl.
I continued with the annual birthday questions with Zoe this year. Like I’ve said before, I love being able to remember the girls at different ages in their own words.
How old are you?
5
What is your favorite color?
Dark Orange
She has finally stayed pretty consistent with this answer. And I love that she is very specific, not just orange, it is dark orange.
What is your favorite food?
Lasagna soup, oh and pie
Zoe is still not a big fan of stopping to eat. Zoe loves most fruits, any kind of pasta, brown rice, almonds, pretzels of any kind, a brown rice and quinoa mix that we get from Aldi and any kind of bread. She is a big fan of dips, especially Chick-fil-a sauce and ketchup. She will eat chicken, fries, chips, pasta, and quesadilla dipped in sauce. It seems kinda gross sometimes what she dips but we are just thankful she is eating so we let her go for it. She’s even dipped kale chips in Chick-fil-a sauce, which I’m sure the sauce negates the health benefits of the kale but she eats it. I think another type of meal that is her favorite would be any kind of breakfast for supper. She loves waffles, pancakes and biscuits with scrambled eggs. She also still loves her yogurt and applesauce pouches. She also still loves her almond milk. We still have to limit her milk every day because she would be more than happy to fill up on that and nothing else.
What is your favorite restaurant?
The one that I got cake at…Cracker Barrel
Zoe ate at Cracker Barrel for her birthday with her grandparents and the waitress gave her cake so that made a big impression on her. She also loves Chick-fil-a still but mainly just eats the fries and mac-n-cheese. She’s a big fan of Starbucks and asks to get a croissant almost every day if we are out around lunch time. We tried buying croissants from Aldi but she said they were not as good as Starbucks. She will tell you she loves Papa John’s pizza (or any pizza place) but she really only likes pizza crust or breadsticks. She will pick the cheese off the pizza and just eat the crust. Zoe does love Mexican restaurants and gets a quesadilla and rice but especially loves the chips and queso.
What is your favorite outfit?
My sparkly red leotard
Zoe still loves to dress up and this is one of her dress up leotards. She has several leotards that are from her recitals and old dance classes and she loves to dress up in them. She also has several princess dresses that she will wear. Another favorite dress up item is her fuzzy llamacorn full body costume. It was a halloween costume that we bought for her to try this past year but it was too big. Well, I returned it online to Target but they said I didn’t have to actually send it back. So, she ended up with an extra costume for free. She loves to wear it around the house (even if it is 80 degrees outside). I was surprised by Zoe’s answer to this question because I thought for sure she’d say her footies. That girl lives in her footie pjs. She will reluctantly get dressed to leave the house but as soon as we get home she asks for her footies. We just recently bought some cotton ones because she was running around in fleece footies in 80 degree weather. She wasn’t complaining but we told her it was time to get more seasonally appropriate footies. I even took these portraits in her fleece footies because she didn't want to change and I figured there was no better way to represent Zoe at this stage in her life than in her footies. When she does wear clothes, she likes dresses a lot but she also loves any kind of comfy clothes like knit shorts or a sweatshirt.
What is your favorite TV Show?
I like Peppa Pig and Mira
Peppa Pig is a new show for Zoe (it’s been around for a long time but she just watched it for the first time recently). She also loves Ada Twist Scientist, Dora the Explorer, Daniel Tiger, Angelina Ballerina, Llama Llama, Doc McStuffins, Puppy Dog Pals, Vampirina, Fancy Nancy, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Minnie’s Bowtique, and Wishenpoof. It was so fun watching Zoe in Disney World interact with the Disney Junior characters. She loved meeting her favorites like Doc and Nancy. We let the girls watch several episodes on Saturday and Sunday mornings or while I fix Zoe’s hair and they love it!
What is your favorite song?
The song we are listening to right now, Mira
Zoe still loves music and loves to sing. Disney and Disney Jr. music of any kind is the top pick in the car or the house. Encanto has definitely taken over Frozen (just like most households with kids these days). But, Frozen still gets played a ton. We actually took the girls to see Frozen at the Peace Center right after Zoe’s birthday and it was fun to see them experience their first Broadway show. I asked Zoe if she wanted to be on stage like the actors in the show and she said yes! We do think she could do well in some sort of performing future. She rocks her dance performances and never seems bothered by the crowd. She actually did better at her true performance than the rehearsal last time. She seems to like when she has an audience so we will see if she sticks with dance and where that takes her. She loves her hip hop/tumbling class this year. She will be too old for that in the fall so we are trying to see which class will be best for her then. She also wants to try gymnastics but we are not sure which she’ll choose. It will be fun to see where her talents take her!
What is your favorite book?
The Halloween princess book
This is a book we got from the library and she loved it. Zoe loves any book with Disney Princesses in it. She also loves Ada Twist, Angelina Ballerina, Fancy Nancy, Princess Truly, Winnie the Pooh, Daniel Tiger, Charlie the Ranch Dog, Disney Jr series, Pete the Cat, and the Little Leaders/Dreamers/Legends books. She really loves books with animals as the characters as well.
What is your favorite toy?
Magnatiles
Zoe still loves to build with magnatiles and any kind of blocks. She amazes us with how she figures out ways to fit the tiles together to create shapes/houses. We still think she has a little engineer/architect brain. She also loves to play with baby dolls. She loves dressing them up and taking care of them. She’s such a good little mama to her babies. She is obsessed with real babies as well (and really tries to be mama to anyone younger than her). Her favorite stuffed animal is still Eeyore. He gets his outfits changed regularly and she sleeps with him every night. She also sleeps with her JJ (cocomelon) doll and Brownie (her Big Nutbrown Hare bunny). Her purple blankie is also a must at bedtime and goes everywhere in the car with us.
What is your favorite thing to do?
Play with you
This was such a sweet answer. She is such a sweet little girl who treasures time playing with us. She loves to play baby dolls with me and to build with DJ. She loves playing anything with Ava. Zoe still loves to be outside, especially now that it is getting hot. We love taking walks with Winnie after lunch, especially to walk up to see the horses near us. She loves to play on the swing set and try out new tricks on the bar (gotta get her in gymnastics soon we think). I think her favorite outdoor activity is picking flowers. She loves to pick wildflowers and make little bouquets with them. She loves doing bubbles and sidewalk chalk and riding her bike or scooter. Zoe also loves to draw, create and paint. I love turning over her papers from school and seeing what she drew on the back of them in her free time.
Where is your favorite place to go?
To the playground and school
I thought she’d answer Disney World since we went right before her birthday but I love her simple answer. She doesn't need the big trips, she loves going to the playground and school. We are so thankful that we feel comfortable going to playgrounds again now that things are closer to normal again. Zoe is very brave on the playground. Sometimes she needs a little encouragement on the tall tube slides but once she goes down once she is good. She almost has the hang of pumping on the swings too. Zoe definitely looks forward to school days as well. She is such a social little girl and we knew she’d thrive in school. She is so excited to start kindergarten in the fall. Although she will say she’s nervous about it. We are so thankful that she and Ava will have one year in the same school together. I think that will really help ease the transition for Zoe.
Who are your best friends?
Chloe and Kate
Chloe is Zoe’s best friend from school and Kate is her best friend from dance. Zoe and Chloe play together every day at school. Her teacher said they are like sisters…they will be best buds and then they will argue. They are both a little strong willed so that leads to the disagreements. But, we’ve had a playdate with Chloe and it is so fun to see them interacting together and see the sweet friendship. Kate is a little younger than Zoe but they really hit it off at dance. They’ve been in the same class all year together and are such sweet buddies. Zoe is really going to miss Kate next year when she moves up to the next level class but we are definitely going to keep in touch and have lots of playdates. Zoe also has a lot of sweet friends at church. She looks forward to Sunday when she can see her friends at church. She loves going to Children’s Church during the sermon and loves playing on the playground after church. She is our little social butterfly!
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A Doctor
Zoe has been pretty consistent about this answer for a while now. Although she will say she isn’t sure if she wants to be a people doctor or an animal doctor. I told her she could be a pediatrician and work with babies and kids and she really liked that idea.
What do you hope to accomplish as a 5 year old?
Learn how to swim
I really hope this summer Zoe can accomplish this goal. She did really well swimming with her puddle jumper on last year and I think she will pick up on swimming really easily. It will be nice for her to have that skill as well so she can explore the pool more with Ava. Although, the one thing that does hold Zoe back in the pool is the water temperature…our little cold blooded girl freezes in the water and prefers to sit on the side in the sun a lot of times. We are so thankful to be able to use my grandmother’s neighborhood pool each summer. It is a really nice pool that is rarely busy. The girls love being able to have the pool all to themselves sometimes. We are looking forward to many pool days this summer!
Zoe still has such a big personality! She is still goofy and loves to make people laugh. She knows when she has an audience and she will turn on the silly. When she is with other kids who are being silly, she has to be extra silly. Her huge smile still lights up a room...I know I say this all the time but when she smiles her whole face lights up! She definitely has a tude and can be super sassy (always keeping it real)! But she loves to snuggle all the time and gives hugs and kisses all the time. She randomly says “I Love You” and is just so sweet!
We are so honored to be this beautiful girl’s parents. It truly is a privilege to watch her grow up, a privilege we do not take lightly. As we watch her grow, we know there is someone so special that is missing out on these moments. Zoe’s birth mama is such a special part of our family and we know that our joy comes from her loss. Zoe brings light to a very sad day in our lives but it also reminds us of another person’s grief. We love her birth mama so much and are so thankful to have her and Zoe in our lives.
I still do not know how in the world our baby girl is 5 years old. She is growing so fast but she is growing up to be a beautiful little girl. We cannot wait to see what all God has in store for her this next year, especially as she heads into a new chapter with school. Happy 5th Birthday, Zoe girl! Mama, Daddy and Ava love you to the moon and back!!
