Zoe's First Seven Months
by Mitch 7-15-00

Zoe Mirabel was born 4� weeks premature and still appeared to be living in the womb for her first month. Her birth weight was 4lb 15oz, but she was 4lb 6oz when we took her home. One doctor commented that she was the smallest baby he saw outside of the hospital. I could hold her in my hand like a guinea pig. They let us take her home because she had a good suck. She hadn�t fully grown into her face, and looked undernourished with no cheeks or fat in her face. She was always curled up into a little ball. Her head was long and narrow with a bald spot on the back, and reminded us of the dinosaur bird. She couldn�t balance her head face up, so her head rested on one side or the other. Her nasal passages were tiny and it always seemed like she was having trouble breathing or had allergies. She also had digestive development pains and seemed to be struggling. We anxiously stuffed her with milk every 3 hours, and nervously awaited the doctor�s weight measurement to insure she was gaining weight. Jodi and I used to joke, �do you think Zoe is going to make it?� and we�d say �woe is Zoe�. Zoe was the underdog.

Zoe had many funny faces and movements that made us laugh. She often slept and rested with one arm extended up in the air, which we called �the subway position�, and which explained the rib cage pregnancy pains Jodi experienced. Zoe was an acrobatic infant, skilled at movement from an early age. She turned from side to side by lifting both legs straight up in the air and then letting them drop to the left or right. We once put Zoe in the crib oriented one way, and were surprised to see her oriented 180 degrees rotated the next time we checked on her. She accomplished this by lifting her legs up, curling into a ball, and pivoting from the center of her back. Zoe�s cry also made us laugh. She cried like a cartoon character, with an upside down smile and a �waaaaaah, waaaaaah�. Her voice was unique and throaty, perhaps due to her small nasal passages.

As of seven months, Zoe blossomed into a beautiful, smart, and happy child. She has straight brown hair growing longer over her forehead, fair skin with rosy cheeks, and blue eyes. She is slender and nimble, adept at movement. She knows how to travel to any desired location by combining rolls with pivots and squirms. If you leave her alone in a room, you may find her six feet away when you return. More recently, Zoe has learned to lift her entire body up by doing a push-up from her hands and toes. She crawls backwards, and it�s only a matter of days before she�s crawling away forwards.

Zoe is very curious and fascinated by life. She�ll exhibit concentrated focus on each of the functions of the exersaucer and her crib toys until she�s mastered their mechanics. She wants to explore and touch everything: plants, grandpa�s beard, the remote control, telephones, anything within sight and reach. She likes to play with newspapers, pulling apart and separating each page. She is skilled with her hands. She has long thin fingers and can pick up tiny thin objects.

Zoe doesn�t like to take naps. She may look very tired and irritable, but she has the will and determination to stay awake. We think she inherited this sleeping problem or need for little sleep from me. I joked about raising money with a Zoe Napless Marathon. Zoe will then catch up from time to time by sleeping 14 hours straight until 10am. We�ll check to make sure she�s still breathing. Zoe�s best naps are in the stroller or in the car seat while driving.

Zoe falls asleep on her back with her hands over her head, sucking on her pacifier, and clutching her purple blanket knit by Aunt Rena. More recently she sleeps on her side wrapped in her blanket. She loves her musical crib toys. She used to fall asleep watching and listening to the musical mobile turning above her head. Later she played with the animal sounds / musical crib kick toy attached to the railing of her crib. She moves all around the crib and changes direction frequently. When Zoe wakes up, she gently touches and talks to her crib toys. She lets out a giant smile and kicks her feet up and down when she first sees you in the morning.