by Mitch 3-4-01
Sam is a very handsome boy with Mediterranean coloring. He has short thick dark brown hair that is starting to curl, brown eyes that twinkle when he smiles, olive-colored skin, and a husky build. Zoe is a very beautiful girl with fairer features. She has thin wispy light brown hair, big wide-set slate blue eyes, light colored skin, and a petite lithe build.
Sam and Zoe have very distinct personalities. Sam is very much a boy, and Zoe is very much...Zoe.
Zoe is a very busy girl. She spends most waking minutes marching around the house, exploring everything. Opening and closing drawers and doors, emptying drawers, laundry baskets, boxes, and her toy chest, reaching for objects, climbing surfaces, and carrying objects back and forth. Sam waddles around sucking on his pacifier, dangling dolls and shoes by their hair and strings. He is content planted on the floor mastering his musical toys, reading books, or watching TV.
Sam and Zoe follow each other around the house, always mindful of each other's discoveries. If Sam finds something interesting, Zoe wants it. If Zoe finds something interesting, Sam wants it. If one learns a new skill, the other copies it soon thereafter.
Zoe is very aware of Sam. She'll find and give Sam a pacifier, a bottle, or a toy to play with. When Sam is upset, Zoe hovers nearby very concerned. Sam is more oblivious to Zoe's feelings and has no problem tackling her if she has something he wants. Zoe often hands Sam something and then wants Sam to give it back, but he never does. But we don't think of Sam as a brute or Zoe as an angel. Sam is a very good natured boy with a sweet disposition, and Zoe can be devilish, plucking Sam's pacifier out of his mouth and holding it beyond his reach cackling when they're together in the stroller.
There's something about Zoe. She marches to her own drum. She's impish and constantly amuses us with her actions. She's an explorer and inventor. She discovers everything on her own, and initiates behaviors that others copy. She was the first to crawl, to walk, to climb, and to turn on all the electronic devices. And then there are her unusual behaviors. She takes off her bibs at meals, and later puts three bibs around her head while Jodi's folding the laundry. She wriggles out of her high chair. She takes off her clothes and diapers. She walks around the house collecting abandoned pacifiers. She switches pacifiers with Sam, and then switches back again. She parades through the family room using the kitchen funnel as a megaphone. She crawls under her crib and gets stuck. She presses the nipple of her bottle into the carpet to spill out the milk and then wipes it clean with a cloth. She joins another family at the playground, sitting next to them and shoveling away in the sand. She's fearless and has spent many days with bruises on her face to prove it.
Zoe's favorite activities are playing with her shape sorter blocks, turning on electronic devices, climbing and playing on top of the activity table or in the toy chest, emptying out the toy chest, drawers, and bookshelves, taking apart newspapers, handing us things (toys, clothes, mail, food), or carrying around objects like homeopathic medicine bottles in each hand. Her favorite activity used
