words & wielding (a spoon, that is)

I've mentioned before how much Zoey has been talking these days; it's amazing to see the wheels turning in her head as she attempts to repeat so much of what she hears us say. Here are some of the new words/phrases she's been working on:

hi
hello
spiky fish (a toy of ours)
bless (for bless you)
tickle tickle tickle...
good girl

eyes
water
shirt

owl
cat
dog
spice
cup

Here she is enthusiastically saying "hi" a bunch of times and waving at the camera. This is interspersed with lots of pterodactyl-like noises and some cute gibberish.

We're also quite impressed with her spoon wielding prowess of late; she'd always tried to imitate us using utensils, but a few weeks ago, she actually had some success and has since been eating most of her food with a spoon, all by herself! And, she appears to be left handed, just like her Grandpa Middleton (whose genes also no doubt contributed to those baby blues.) Here's the hard evidence:

So yeah, Zoey may not walk until she's two (she has no interest whatsoever!) but that's just because she's so busy working on other important life skills. Right, Zoey? Booyah!

Oh, and I didn't forget to post about Halloween...trick-or-treating was postponed until tomorrow throughout NJ due to the hurricane, so I figured I'd wait and write a comprehensive Halloween post.  Until then...