8 months

Let's see... what can I tell you about our sweet boy who turned 8 months on Sunday? He's not very interested in crawling these days, and it makes him angry when we put him on his tummy. He doesn't even want us to set him down; he tries his best to keep his legs straight because he wants to walk instead! Now, don't get me wrong. He can't walk yet. Not even close. He lacks balance. But he thinks he can walk. He wants to stand up and hold on to things constantly. If you hold his hands, he'll walk around very proudly. He doesn't want to be fed either. Nope, he wants to do everything himself and he wants to be like the rest of us. Put it near his tray though, and he'll eat anything! He loves chicken; he'll nibble on spinach leaves. Just about any fruit or veggie you give him (bell peppers, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and more), he'll eat, as long as you don't try to feed it to him. We'll see if this independent streak continues! We're using Baby Led Solids this time, instead of lots of purees. Maybe this will lead him to be a more adventurous eater! Sweet Sister, on the other hand, continues her streak of ham and apples; at least she's done with salami and canteloupe- that phase lasted for months!!

Mind your Ps and Hs

Eliza is starting to notice that letters are all around her. It reminds me of when I first learned to read and I felt like the whole world suddenly revealed itself to me; I can't wait to watch her have that same experience. Eliza is quite the little chatterbox in the car. Well, she's quite the chatterbox everywhere, but it's especially noticeable in the car, as I am usually trying to focus on my driving and she's asking questions a mile a minute! A couple of months ago she started to notice the P and H signs around town and asked what they meant. Now, every time we pass one, she yells, "Mom, there's a hospital nearby! Mom, there's a parking garage nearby!!" I should mention we pass approximately 10 of these signs just on our way to campus. :) Never a dull moment around here!

On another note, El and I went to a birthday party on Sunday. I reintroduced her to our friend, Sara. Eliza says, "Oh, I know her. Last year at this party her baby threw up everywhere." And he totally did! You never know what's going to stick with them!

Besties

Something I've noticed about Ez is that he likes to hold hands as he falls asleep. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. Lately he cries every time I put him in his carseat, even if he isn't tired, hungry, wet, etc. Almost immediately Eliza gets him to stop crying though! Her carseat is right next to his and she either blows raspberries until he laughs and laughs or she fake sneezes until he laughs. I love it when the two of them giggle together.

1 year ago today...

We found out Ezra was a boy! For months afterward, Eliza reinacted the scene at the ultrasound, with her being the tech. Crazy that just a year later, he's standing up in his crib, shaking the rail back and forth with a huge smile. He seems to be saying, "Look out world, here I come!"

Standing

Pics

That first shot is Santa's sleigh, constructed by Eliza. :)

I'm the Best

Last night at bedtime Eliza "read" a book to me instead of the other way around. It was called I'm the Best and it's about everyone being good at something. It's a fairly long book and she had it probably 90% memorized. The cool part was this isn't a book that we've been reading to her for years. This is a library book that she's heard maybe 4 or 5 times. I take that back. The coolest part was the proud look on her face when she said, "I can read!" She also told her dad "I love you" in French before she fell asleep.

I think she has a little crush on one of her assistant teachers. She told one of the other teachers that she likes the way Mr. Stephen smells! I think it embarrassed him and made him rethink wearing cologne at school. Ha! When I asked her about it, she said, "Yeah, I do. Do you smell him too?!"

The Gymnast

Baby boy is hitting new milestones faster than I can blog about them! Slow down, Ezra! I'm counting on you to be my snuggly little potato for a little while longer! I'm sure he has no idea what he's saying, but he's started saying Mama. Last night he said it a lot. It was so cute. I also noted that Mama sounds a lot sweeter when it's not followed by "I don't like green beans!" or "I told you I only wear tights to school- no jeans!" Yes, a simple "Mama" with a smile and no attitude is nice. (Side note: Last night I heard Eliza tell Ezra, "Well, that's not gonna happen!" Wonder where she got that from?)

He's also started crawling, sort of. He's doing this backward army crawl move; it works best on tile floors. I'm not sure it's "officially" crawling, but I do know that I put him on the floor on one side of Eliza's room last night as I read stories and he managed to get to the other side of the room. Ah, he's mobile.

Yesterday morning I put Ezra in his car seat as I helped Eliza brush her teeth. I didn't strap him in. Maybe one minute later I look up and he's grabbed the "roll bar" part of the carseat with one arm and moved his legs forward so that the seat is tipping forward. He looked like a proud little gymnast. Thank goodness I saw him before he threw himself out of his seat. I think he might be a wild one. We better hang on for the ride!

More firsts

This morning Eliza was a little snotty and asked me if she had a cold. I told her I thought she had allergies like me. Apparently the word allergies reminded her of a conversation almost a year ago! She said, "Oh, allergies. Are they going to have me play with those blocks again?" It took me a bit to figure out what she meant. Last spring, a UT group came and tested the kids' hearing at school. Eliza failed part of the test because she was congested. I remember her telling me the person who checked her ears said, "Oh, I think you have allergies!" They had the kids raise a block to show that they heard a sound. I can't believe she can remember such a random event from that long ago! It makes me wonder what other things she remembers!

Eliza is still writing like crazy. She has all of our names memorized. She'll also put random letters together and ask us what she's spelled. She gets very annoyed when it turns out she hasn't spelled a real word!

Ezra had a couple more firsts this weekend. We put him in the baby swing in the back yard for the first time and he loved it! He giggled a lot and Eliza liked pushing him. I also gave him his first real tub bath last night, with me in the tub with him to keep him from slipping. At first he fussed a little but then he loved splashing. I decided he needed a real bath because he was covered from head to toe in baby food. It's rare that he'll let us feed him. It helps if the food is warm; he's not interested in stuff straight out of the fridge, at home or at school. He did really love the butternut squash soup I made the other night though. It was fun to make something that all 4 of us ate. Most of the time he wants to feed himself though. He gnawed on an apple for a long time last night and he loves the teething biscuits. He'll also eat apple sauce out of a pouch that he holds himself. He's a very independent little guy (well, as much as a baby can be). If you hand him a toy, he's not interested. But if you put it down and he "discovers" it himself, he's happy.

7 months

Our sweet Ezra is 7 months old. I don't know how it happened so quickly. He is reaching and grabbing for everything in sight. Ellie and I are wearing ponytails constantly because he yanks out fistfulls of hair otherwise. Yesterday he got a huge Lego stuck in his mouth- the sort of thing that is NOT supposed to be a choking hazard. He seems to have an alarmingly large mouth for a baby; he can fit his whole pacifier in his mouth too. Lately he's doing these push ups; I think he's gearing up for crawling. Yikes! Time to do some more babyproofing!

Eliza is done with naps. She doesn't even nap at school anymore. Instead she goes to "richment", which she is so excited about. And she goes to bed earlier, which means less time in the evenings with her. :( I peaked in on her at school yesterday and she was sitting with her friends "reading" books and looking so grown up. I was going to pick her up early and take her to Costco with me, but she said she'd rather hang out with her friends. Such a big girl.

The last 2 weeks was a blast. We spent most of our time at home, playing on the living room floor. I miss my little buddies today.