Friday, June 29, 2012

TV talk...and lots of Ezra!

I'm currently a little bit crazed over United States of Tara.  I never watched it when it was on Showtime, but recently noticed it on Netflix and decided to give it a shot.  Holy crap.  It's pretty spectacular.  I mean, I tend to love most things with John Corbett in them, but this also has Toni Collette and Rosemarie DeWitt (who looks shockingly similar to Mary Louise Parker, who I love).  Really great stuff...and I'm already sad knowing that it's only a 4-season series.


Here's EZ last week at the zoo.  He loves the snake-neck turtles.  He does his happy-dance and runs up to the tank to see them up close.  He also does his happy-dance for other people as they approach the tank, too :)

This is Ezra at Playtown.  We met a friend there and they had a great time...it's an indoor play area with a bunch of ride-on cars/trucks, a bounce-house, a mini roller coaster, a big tunnel play structure, and more.  Really cute.





The next day, we had a playdate at Kellogg Park in La Jolla.  I love that place...Ez loves it...it's win-win :)  Seriously though, he had SO MUCH FUN playing in the waves.  Huge, Ezra-smile, happy-dancing, wave-slapping, fun times :)




Friday, June 22, 2012

21 Months!


Ezra is 21 months old!

My little baby is turning into a real little boy, right before my eyes.  Learning new things seemingly everyday, he never ceases to amaze me.

What is Easy-E up to these days?

-He loves to dance.  He spins and does all kinds of crazy moves and especially loves to imitate the dancers on So You Think You Can Dance (the BEST show ever, btw).  He even claps for them when they're done...before he begins his own rendition of their dance ;-)
-He waves at every truck, bus, motorcycle, police car, fire truck and bicycle he sees.  Every one.
-He learned about half of the signs on his 3 newest Signing Time DVDs after watching them twice.  TWICE.  He doesn't even sit, glued to the TV when they're on...he's up and moving around, looking up every now and then.  And he loves to use his new signs...can't wait to find a leaf or for the wind to blow or to see a rainbow.
-Hanging out with the snake-neck turtles at the zoo is still a favorite activity.
-His sign for "scared" is, hands down, the cutest, funniest thing ever.
-He is completely obsessed with his bike again.  Must ride it constantly.
-He clearly says "Mama", "Dada", and......."Elmo".  Yep.
-Broccoli is still one of his favorite snacks.  As well as fennel flowers.
-Instead of signing "cookie" for Cookie Monster, he puts his hand in his mouth, wiggles it around and "talks"... just like when Cookie Monster shoves cookies in his mouth :)  It's cuteness that you wouldn't believe :)
-The obsession with cars and trucks and motorcycles, etc, continues.  It's only getting more intense, really.
-He is so smart and funny and sweet.  He's the most amazing little boy and I tell him every single day.

Here's some pictures...


Ez, in all his 21 Month Old glory!  Also, Cheddar Bunnies stain teeth, people.

So sweet.

My silly boy.

He was signing "train" and making the face he makes when he signs "hurt."  He's a bundle of cute.

 I'm this many!

And finally, here he is signing "scared!"




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Father's Day Weekend Camping Trip!


Last weekend, we headed a little north to Guajome Park to go camping with some friends.  Jordan's not exactly the most outdoorsy person ever, but he made an effort and we had a really great time :)

Upon arrival, Ez and Desmond discovered how much fun a tiny, blinking ball can be...

The first night was pretty uneventful, as everyone arrived at different times and we pretty much just set up camp, let the kids get their crazy out and went to sleep.  The following day, we had breakfast and took a little hike over to one of the playgrounds at the park.  The sun was pretty hot and though the kiddos got sleepy quickly, they managed to have a great time.  

Ez and Desmond drove the fire truck...

Claire made the mistake of stopping to pick up a hitchhiker ;-)

The heat was getting to be a little too much, so we went down into the woods...where the bugs were...
but still managed to get some cute shots of the kids :)


 It was Father's Day, after all!

 The kids enjoyed a little appetizer of watermelon after their nature hike (to another playground within the park).  You can tell by their full mouths that they were happy about this idea...

 Ezra stole Claire's hat and promptly applauded his own achievement...

 Thugs.

 We discovered that Ezra really, really loved fennel flowers as we were on a nature walk one day.  He kept trying to eat every random yellow flower that he saw and also kept signing "more flower!" at us when we'd pull him away from the dandelions and buttercups :)  He's so freakin cute.

 My cute little man...

E-Z-E,
playing since 2010.

We had a really great time and I'm SO looking forward to making it a tradition.  The kids had so much fun and it'll be awesome to keep doing it as they get older :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A Maine Hodgepodge


It was pretty rainy/cool/cloudy for the first few days that we were in Maine.  Not that I'm complaining.  We don't exactly get that much rain, so it's a nice change of pace.
It did keep us from exploring much, though.  When Ez did make it outside, he tried to go straight for the muddiest parts of the yard.  Naturally.  
There's a few days that didn't get much in the way of pictures - I got really sick for about a day and as soon as I got over the flu, some crazy allergies kicked in and turned me into a sneezing, coughing, human faucet.  We still went outside a lot, but I was carrying a box of tissues instead of my camera :(

Here's my Mini Man playing on the rocks outside his Grampy's house.  He liked to sit down and POP back up...he just laughed and laughed at himself :)




And here he is, driving Grampy's car.  He loved it so much, he had to do it several times a day :)

We visited Uncle Greg and Aunt Kim's house...and of course, Ez found their tractor out back --

...and Uncle Greg's SC 360 in the garage (next to the other John Deere mower and a bicycle -- both of which he had to "ride" and touch, as well).

And he spent some man-time with Grampy and his great-uncle Greg...

I took along Ezra's Signing Time DVD's, which turned out to be a really helpful distraction while I was cooking.  Unfortunately, I forgot to turn it off one night before we sat down to eat.  Here's Ez craning his neck to see the TV while eating his black bean burger.  (I swear, I gave him more than the crumbs that you see on his tray ;-))


I took EZ into Freeport one day.  We did a little shopping and grabbed some ice cream from Ben & Jerry's on our way back to the car.  What?  We were on vacation! 
Here's my boy, digging into the ice cream, instead of smiling for the camera ;-)


Grampy even helped him get dressed and ready for the day!  They were best buddies :)

Spending some time counting rocks and playing in the dirt outside...

Ez really enjoyed going for walks up and down Grampy's road to pick flowers (and weeds).

Soon after this pic was taken, it was Grampy's turn to get on Ezra's shoulders ;-)

Kid has finally learned to do his own diaper laundry!  He really loved being able to put clothes in the washer and dryer....perhaps I need to get him some new front-loaders ;-)

And finally, a quick shot of Ezra and Ellie at the playground.  They had a lot of fun swinging, going down the slides, and watching the dogs at the dog park across the field.

We also went over to Uncle Brett and Aunt Patty's house, where Ez had so much fun running around and playing with one of his little cousins.  They played tag, ran around in the field, checked out some tractors, gators, huge rocks, trucks, and mud puddles...and I managed to get exactly zero pictures.  I also forgot to take any pictures of Ez petting the horses in Carter Country :(  He especially loved the mini that was out...he kept wanting to give him love and pet his mane...he's just so sweet.  

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

An afternoon at Great-Grammy's house!


We got to spend some time with my cousin, Ashley, and her kids while we were in Maine.  Her kids are 10 months older and 11 months younger than Ez, so it was a good time :)

Ashley picked us up at Dad's house and we headed down to Gram's house.  It's easy to get used to the ease of freeway driving here in San Diego.  You can get to most places within 10-15 minutes.  There, it's a little different.  2-way streets, long & winding roads through the woods & country.  20 miles takes 45 minutes, sometimes.  
Ezra really loved going anywhere in Ashley's van, though -- he got the back row to himself and could see straight out the rear window (cars! trucks! motorcycles!).  Uncle Mark, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Heidi and Aunt Sonya showed up to visit, too...it was almost a full family reunion ;-)


Here's a few stats for you for the following photo...
Ezra : 20 months old, 21 lbs, wears 12-18 month clothing
Joey:  9 months old, 22 lbs, wears 12-18 month clothing

Aside from height, they're the same size :)

Ez and Ellie had a really good time rearranging all the magnets on Great-Grammy's refrigerator.  Funny, I remember Ash and I doing the same thing ;-)

Ezra caught a glimpse of this lantern in the kitchen and thought it looked like a blender...so he pointed and whined at it for awhile.  Aunt Debbie managed to get both kids to stay relatively still and calm for a good amount of time by letting them take turns turning it on and off.  Ez required applause each time he did it...

On our way home, we stopped for ice cream.  Ez thought it was just the most exciting thing ever.  Poor kid doesn't get sweets at home ;-)  After he had a few bites and decided he was done, he ran around like a maniac for a little while...and reminded me why I don't give him sugar.

I'm not sure what they were doing here, but it was funny.

Once again, no idea what's happening.  Cute picture, though.

Later, Ezra helped me make dinner and showed off his utensil-handling skills for his Grampy.

And then he went for a "ride" on the lawn mower.  He's completely obsessed with driving this thing now.  It's a several-times-a-day kind of situation :)

Monday, June 11, 2012

Let the Adventure Begin!


Easy-E and I took a last minute trip to Maine to hang out with my Dad for a little while.  Naturally, I was more than prepared for the flight, having read everything I could about making air travel with a rambunctious toddler easy.  I had a bag FULL of different food (I'd learned that hungry kids make for pissy kids), trucks, books, coloring books & markers (the magic kind that only work on certain paper), a fully-stocked iPad, and more.  I was ready

Our first flight would take us to Philly.  Miraculously, we ended up getting the whole row to ourselves AND there was a very friendly 12 year old girl behind us who just adored Ezra.  It was amazing.  He was constantly stimulated and had someone to walk up and down the aisle with him!  Happy Ezra :)  He fell asleep just before we landed, after hours of peekaboo, trucks, iPad, books, and playing with his new friend.  It was great.

Our layover was supposed to be 2 hours.  I grabbed Ez a sandwich, both of us water, and we settled down to wait.  1 hour in, we learn that our flight to Portland was cancelled.  Due to "lack of captain."  The hell?  Isn't there an on-call list for pilots?  

Mini-Man required a diaper change before we got to the customer service desk, so we ended up at the very end of the line.  After quite a while of standing in the exact same spot, we were finally escorted over to another area to be rebooked.  5:45 the next evening.  

Well, crap.

So, we got food and hotel vouchers...but ended up back at the airport at 1pm the next day because the hotel couldn't give us a late check-out, despite the circumstances.  (I wanted to punch that woman directly in her pie hole when she told me that.)

I managed to make an adventure out of it and Ez had a great time.  He freaking LOVED taking the shuttle to and from the airport/hotel.  And he got to see a lot of buses and trucks.  And motorcycles.  It was super-exciting :)

After a short delay, again for lack of crew, we boarded our flight.  We had to connect in LaGuardia (again, wtf?) before going on to Portland....which, I'll add, is a short 1 hour hop from Philly.  

Then we waited some more on the tarmac.  

And more.

Turns out, a storm had closed LaGuardia, so we were waiting on them to reopen....and then, when we were finally #2 for take-off, the storm shut us down too.  

Back to the gate we go (2+ hours later).

Once again, we were taken aside after awhile in the customer service line.  That woman was a freakin angel of mercy.  Seriously.  She not only told me that there was no way I was staying there again overnight, she found a direct flight that was delayed due to rain...and had them hold it for me.  AND she picked up Ez and ran with me halfway down the terminal.  Angel.

I had to run from the end of one terminal all the way to a shuttle, then clear down to the end of the next terminal.  Let me just tell you, there is no amount of 36 hour-old deodorant that can cover up that much sweat.  I had a fully packed backpack on my back, Ezra on my hip, and I was dragging a wheeled carry-on.  I imagine I looked like a big, hot mess.

But I didn't give a crap.  We'd made it.  That flight was great.  Ez was great.  Our seat mate was great.  Everything was just great :)

Here's some pics:

EZ with his iPad on the first flight.

He was on his way back to visit his buddy, Olivia.

Ez watched Signing Time in the hotel room while I repacked everything that he'd torn out of our carry-on bags ;-)

And finally, we made it to Grampy's house!  Here's Ez, cleaning out the cabinets....

Bathtime at Grampy's!