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.

Highlights

Christmas vacation got off to an early start after Ezra ended up in the ER for a stomach bug. He's fine, in fact he was perfectly smiley the whole time in the ER too (from midnight to 5am, sigh). So, I'm doing my best to work from home yesterday and today. Yesterday it was just Ez and me, like old times. Today, it's all 3 of us and I'm getting decidedly less accomplished. :)

So far my favorite part has been Eliza asking me how to spell "Princesses only allowed" so she could write in on her castle and keep her brother out. Ezra has learned how to clap and is currently jumping up and down in his Exersaucer, clapping while his sister sings Christmas songs. Now they tell me they're going to be putting on a show for me and they're hiding behind the curtain. :) I better go; wouldn't want to miss the show!

Update

After 3+ months of excessive drooling (seriously, he goes through like 4 bibs a day, just due to drool), Ezra's two bottom teeth popped out on Friday. This makes me a little sad because I adore his gummy grin. The teeth still have a ways to go, but you can definitely see them and feel them, when he gnaws on your finger. He's started solid food, but he's not so into it. He mainly just likes sitting in his new high chair with us while the rest of us eat. He'll also gnaw on things like cucumbers, spinach leaves, you name it.

He's not crawling yet (hallelujah! I am in no rush for him to be mobile. Something tells me life is going to get a LOT harder once they are both mobile...) but he does inch around on his tummy and manage to grab toys that he's after. He'll either roll over to get to something or just sort of army crawl in a circle until he accomplishes his goal.

I took both kids for their well checks recently. Ezra is 27 inches tall and weighs 20 lbs. Eliza is 39.5 inches tall and weighs 36 lbs. Ezra is in the 80th percentile for weight, which actually makes him my skinny baby! Eliza was in the 95th at that age. Taking them both at the same time was meant to be good multi tasking but was actually pretty draining. Poor babies both got several shots and Eliza had a blood draw. Dragging two crying babies out of the office was no fun but they both perked up shortly thereafter. (Yogurt pretzels may have helped the oldest.)

Speaking of our oldest, she is becoming quite the artist! She always wants to do "artivities" lately. She's also way into writing. She constantly asks us how to spell things. The other day she wrote my name without my help and she's got her own memorized. She can also write "Papa" quite easily and quickly. This morning she gave Ezra a drawing and she'd spelled his name on it. Instead of asking me how to spell Ezra, she'd looked on a cube our sweet friend Dilshad knitted for Ezra and Eliza used that as a model.

We are having lots of fun together and I'm excited about getting to spend 2 weeks straight with them over the holidays! On the way to school in the mornings we've been listening to Kat Edmonson's "Lucky Me" and Eliza has been singing along. This morning we were listening to "Pumped Up Kicks" and jamming out. Eliza said, "Look, Mom, Ezra is a rock star!" We are so lucky. I hope I have enough energy for our 2 rock stars these next couple of weeks! Merry Christmas to the 4 of you reading this blog! ;)