Tuesday, November 22, 2011

14 Months!

14 months.

Man.  Time is flying by.  We're about to celebrate Thanksgiving for the second time with Ezra.  It's crazy.

So, what's Easy-E up to these days?  Well, I'll tell ya...

He's walking.  Everywhere.  All the time.
Pushing his bike, stroller, push-toys, anything he can get his hands on, will fill hours and hours of the day.
He can point to his nose, his tongue, his belly-button, his foot & his head when asked.
Ez loves to munch on Fiddlesticks.  Yep.  My kid is eating packaged treats.
He's an expert at his straw-sippy-cups.
Did I mention he's walking all the time?
He says "Baa" for bath.  And even signs it about half the time!
He's getting pretty good at signing "Please."
He likes to dance!
Ez gives hugs and kisses to the dogs :)
He blows kisses & it melts my heart.
Peekaboo is now played by covering his face with his hands instead of a blanket (or diaper, wipe, etc!).
He is getting pretty good at sorting shapes.  Circles and triangles are his shapes of choice right now.
He can identify the letters "A" and "B."
He's so smart.  And sweet.  And beautiful.
He's amazing and I tell him every.single.day.

Here's a bunch of pictures...because I couldn't choose just a couple ;-)



He was mid-chew here...munching on a Fiddlestick.  I just thought it was cute.

Gimme!

You'd think he was a puppy...





And just in case you were wondering, yes.  He's got an appointment to get his hair cut again, next week :) 



Saturday, November 19, 2011

Better Late Than Never: Oma's Pumpkin Patch!

 Back on October 19th, we headed a little East to Lakeside to visit Oma's Pumpkin Patch.  Ezra got suited up in his brand new shoes (he had been walking with help, so we wanted him to be properly outfitted to walk outside), and ended up having a great time.

They were lacking in the actual pumpkin patch...they had a lot of "pre-picked" pumpkins, but no real patch to speak of.

What they lacked in the patch arena, they made up for in the everything else arena.  There was a petting zoo, complete with sheep, goats, itty-bitty adorable baby goats (kids?), and a little calf!  Also, a lasso-the-fake-steer-area, an arcade-style basketball game, hay-bale maze, cottonseed-hill sledding & a hayride through the working dairy farm.  Plus a fake milk-the-cow set-up and numerous tractors, straw bales & pumpkins set up for photo-ops.  It was pretty awesome.


Here's Jordan & Ez when we first got there.  EZ was pretty distracted by all the fun stuff :)


EZ on the flatbed pickup truck...admiring the pumpkins.

Petting a goat...

He really liked this mama--baby combo.


 He was extra gentle petting the adorable calf.



 Me & my Ezra.

Riding some fake cows!

 He's a cowboy!

Farmer Ezra!

One day, he'll understand that he's supposed to poke his little face through.  Until then, we get these ridiculously cute photos of him kinda doing it ;-)

Farmer Ezra & Jordan the cow!

 Just shootin some hoops with my Dad.

He was a little confused when we told him that this is how you milk a cow...I mean, he hears the word milk, and immediately signs it & tries to get me to feed him.  This blew his mind, people.  Milk.  From something other than Mom?  That's crazy-talk ;)

This one's blurry, but cute, nonetheless.  Ez & Jordan sliding down the cottonseed hill.

A quick family shot on the cottonseed hill.

Jordan trying to lasso a "steer."

Atop a straw bale hill.

He's ready, folks.  Ready to PLAY.

 He had a great time going through the maze & poking out at all the openings :)

Our friends, the Palmer's & the Champagne's arrived just in time for the final hayride of the night.  Here's a picture Mike took of  us (notice how nice his camera is!) as we were waiting to embark on our journey...

Ezra in the cottonseed...


Claire, Ezra & Desmond posing as baby farm animals!

Having some fun in the cottonseed...


Ez LOVED playing in the cottonseed.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Food Strike

Ez has been changing up his eating practices lately.  For a few days, if he couldn't hold it himself, it wasn't getting eaten.  

Here he is with his apple...


This is his "I've got too much apple in ma mouth" face.

I think his strike against anything on a spoon is coming to an end, but we'll see.  There's only so many things he'll eat (and not just throw all over the floor) with his hands...so hopefully we can compromise ;-)
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The walking is really coming along, too.  He's been going for walks -- pushing his bicycle or stroller -- up and down the block.  It's just too damn cute to see him pushing it himself.  AND, he's infinitely more confident walking in shoes when we're outside now.  Thankfully.
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Here's a bonus picture of Ez, in his basket of toys...as usual.

And another...asleep on Jordan's shoulder.

Monday, November 14, 2011

We have a walker!

Ezra has been taking a few steps here and there for a couple weeks now.  Tonight, he walked about 10 steps before tumbling into me!  It turned into a game of walking back and forth between me & Jordan :)

Here's our Little Man, in all his bipedal glory!





Thursday, November 10, 2011

Christmas card photo FAIL

We headed over to Ocean Beach to snap a few pictures of Ez to use for cards this year.  It was warm, sunny, and beautiful at our house.  Driving to the beach, we could see the ultra-thick wall of grey...and we were driving directly into it :(  

We had Brodie with us and he got some beach-time, so it wasn't a complete bust.  Here's some of the pictures that we did manage to take, though they won't be making the cut ;-)


 Those beautiful blue eyes...they're unstoppable.


 Me and my EZ.

 He really liked playing in the sand.  A lot.

 And this is just a bonus.  We've driven by this house (duplex?  apartment?) many times, and always mean to take a picture of it.  I know what you're asking yourself, "Is that a soda machine on the front lawn?"  Yep.
I call that, taking-charge-of-your-financial-destiny.

No, but seriously.  They have a working soda machine on the front lawn.  Holy hell.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

13 Months!

I know that I'm writing this post closer to Ezra's 14 month than his 13th month...but the pictures were taken on time!
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He was in quite a mood when I first tried to take his picture.  This was a quick fit...


 Then I let him crawl around.  He found my belt and decided to try eating it.  I took the opportunity to snap a photo of a non-fit-throwing Ez.

Then he decided he'd look anywhere except at me...

 These next three must be seen in succession.  He's been striking this pose A LOT lately - like he's asking a question and simply must use hand gestures.



 That last one cracks me up.  My kid, the comic genius ;-)

This is, by far, the best one of the bunch!

More smiles!

Time to read some books...Touch & Feel books have been very popular in our house lately.

 Ezra, workin on his fitness.  Watch out Tony Horton!

So, what has Easy-E been up to this month?

-He pulls up, stands and cruises on everything.  He's walking, with help, all over the place :)
-He can stand, unassisted, for about 20-30 seconds at a time.  He likes to clap for himself when he does it!
-Pulling the dogs' tails, grabbing their fur, and generally harassing them is a favorite past time lately.
-He has been practicing feeding himself!
-Green smoothies are a big hit...Ezra loves his spinach!
-If I'm too slow getting him into the bath, he squeals at me and tries to climb into the tub.  Bath time = Fun time!
-He signs "milk" and "dog" all.the.time.
-He LOVES bananas.
-Touchy-feely books are a big hit - he loves to feel the different textures.
-He smiles & laughs when I play him voicemails from grandparents.
-Climbing the couch like a monkey makes him squeal with delight!
-He may like to "ride" his bike, but he loves to push it.
-Going to the zoo is getting more and more fun - he's been really enjoying looking at the animals and learning to sign their names.  We have SO MUCH FUN together :)
-He's completely enchanting.  He's the most amazing little boy.  Seriously.  And I tell him every single day.