Fourteen months old

I'm 14 months old (and then some). Have you missed seeing pictures of me? I thought so. That's why I put so many in this post. This was my most photographed month yet!

Here's where I lived this month.

You could also say I lived here . . . in my sling. It's where I sat, ate, and slept.

I played with lots of friends this month. I love dancing with Grandpa in castles . . .

. . . and reading books in the metro with Uncle Jesse . . .

. . . and eating doner kebabs with Alex . . .

. . . and hanging out with my Spanish friend Miriam.

Even nuns want to stop and talk to me.

Frankly, I also consider the washer my friend.

My favorite food . . .

. . . just happens to come in baskets I like to wear on my head.

Do you know what else is delcious? Paella. It's so yellow and good.

I like peeking under the legs of statues with Mommy.

And sitting on Oma Jane's shoulders at the flea market.

I have strong shoulders too! I think I want to be a pack mule when I grow up because I love putting heavy things over my head and stumbling around.

I love this Oma Jane. I also love pinching her neck. Don't ask my why. It might be because I'm not sure I have a neck.

The swimming pool next door to our house opened a week before we left. I was overdressed in my swimming suit. The Spanish babies got to swim nakie!

Do you like my spike?

This month, I went on a long car trip. Every day for a week I drove somewhere new. I became good friends with this seat.

The first place we drove was back to Tossa de Mar.

I liked playing in the sand (as long as it didn't touch my feet), but I really liked the chocolate cookie part of the picnic on the sand.

My first beach swim was in the Meditteranean Sea!

I love lying on pillows with Mommy like this one in our Barcelona hotel.

It was too hot for jammies!

I melt Mommy's heart whenever I want just by giving her kisses. It's easy. I know how to pucker up real good now.

The tiles in Gaudi's Barcelona Park Guell not only look pretty, they feel really cool.

That park even had a stone seat where I could sit all by myself! I'm such a big girl.

Strolling down the Barcelona Ramblas with Mama. Well, more like sitting easy on Mama.

Which is prettier--the view of Barcelona or me?

I'll tell you one thing, this street performer thought I was pretty. He like dancing with me.

Some babies have security blankets. I have security toothbrushes. This one helped me nap on the drive to Tarragona . . .

. . . where I walked in the ocean again--but only one foot at a time!

There was a Roman apitheater there. So I look like a gladiator? Hey, who is Mama laughing at?

Not to be blasphemous, but do you see any parallels here?

I love horsies now. I rode on my first one in Valencia.

In Valencia's cathedral, I found my fellow cherubs.

And I saw Gulliver. To be honest, I think Mama was more excited about that than I was.

One thing that got me through the long drives was water--I like the bottles even more than what's in them.

Our Valencia hotel room was so pretty. But don't you wish this picture was in focus? Why doesn't anyone ever let me take the pictures around here?

Give me food! Why do Mama and Oma Jane seem so confused about what this face means? It's obvious.

Fields and fields of olives are behind me. Num num.

Why are we standing in this corner again?

The further south we got, the hotter it became.

Mama tried to keep me cool with an umbrella and fans . . .

. . . but I went for water anywhere I could find it. That's what you do in 110 degree weather!

Cordoba's mesquita is worth craning your neck for and looks better from on high.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not always happy. But I'm cute even when I'm sad.

And usually, I just need a nap.

* * *

Zoë was such a cooperative and cute traveler this month. I only wish that she could remember everywhere we went when she's older. Oh well. I guess we'll just have to do it all again. The rate at which she's learning things now is staggering and so fun.

Zoë's tricks: Favorite new word--up (for up, down, or some other change of position) closely followed by "op" for open. She's gotten very good at opening containers and fitting small items (like keys) into small spaces (like locks). Walking! (but more on that later). Signing "please," "thank you," "drink," and "all done." Saying "hi" and "bye" to every stranger she sees.

Zoë likes:Stirring things. Walking up and down metro and train cars holding on to just one finger. Nursing in the sling on the go. Laughing at people pretending to hurt themselves (usually me bonking myself in the head to keep her entertained in the car). Older kids. Holding on to the bar by the swimming pool. Ice cream and cookies (oops). Putting things over her head--this is more of an obsession, really; she does it with anything and everything, even something like chapstick. Putting on chapstick and smacking her lips. Watching the wash go around in the washer. Doggies. Being out at night. Returning to the street she'd come to know as home (she would flap her arms, open her mouth wide, and breathe loudly).

Zoë doesn't like: Being in the car too long, especially if deprived of a water bottle. Being away from Mama. Staying in one place.