22 Months!

Twenty-two months, people.  22.  Months.  

I wish this kid would slow down!  He's far too close to 2 years old now...and I'm not ready!

Here's some pictures of E-Z-E, to mark his special day...

My boy is turning into such a cool kid.  I'm so freakin proud of him.  Here's a little of what he's up to these days...

-Broccoli and roasted garbanzo beans are two of his current favorite snacks.  

-He's got quite an arm on him...he loves to play catch and is also getting really good at hitting the ball off his tee.  

-He recently acquired some new cooking/food toys and has been having a whole lot of fun "cooking" with them!  He loves to use his spatula to take the cookies off the tray, he uses his little whisk to stir up his veggies in Potsy...he's just so cute :)

-He learns new signs faster than I do.

-Turtles and elephants seem to be his favorite animals right now...I couldn't be happier!  I swear, I had nothing to do with this ;-)

-He is nearly obsessed with babies.  His best buddy has a 4 month old sister, whom Ezra just adores.  He loves to play with her and signs "baby" over and over again.

-Hats are as necessary as oxygen to this kid.

-He will stare and wave at every police car he sees.  LOVES them.

-Motorcycles are right up there with police cars.  He often gets motorcyclists to wave to him, which really makes him happy :)

-He likes to fake-sneeze...but really dramatically.  It's hilarious.

-He's so energetic and smart and funny and sweet.  He's the most amazing little boy and I tell him every.single.day.

Complaint Box...and lots of Ez pictures!

I haven't really done much of anything lately.  We've been to Playtown a few times, done some playgrounds, lots of walks and bike rides, and some indoor playdates.  Nothing too exciting to talk about, but definitely some makes-Ezra-happy-times!  

We are in the middle of a serious tantrum phase.  I'm pretty sure that 75% of his outbursts are hunger-driven, in spite of my constantly offering different foods to him.  He's just not that interested in food.  

Go figure.  

The kid who required round-the-clock-feedings for the first few months of his life due to his weight-gain issues...has a problem with eating enough to keep himself sated and happy.  He can't grasp the idea that eating will make him happy and will cause him to not throw fits and have temper-tantrums...resulting in time-outs.  

Duh.  

To be honest, I hate even having to put him in time-out during these times.  I know why he's upset.  He just refuses to eat.  Not interested.  Especially once he gets into a mood.  The crazy, high-pitched screams, the flailing, the real tears...it's all very much what I was warned about regarding the "toddler-years."  My sweet, adorable, considerate, often-too-kind little boy turns into a little monster on a daily basis.  

I know that once he figures out the pattern or, perhaps, once I can begin to force-feed him food - he'll be my sweet little Ezra again.  Mostly, I just relish the happy, smiley times.  And consistently remind myself that it's just a phase and that I'll have my little love back once it's all over :)

Here's my happy little man, at Playtown, going down the slide like the big boy that he is :)

Here he is, looking rather surprised.  He was playing with his friend and just happened to run up to me and this was taken seconds before he began a stream of "Ezra-talk." 

 Ez and his buddy on a walk/bike/firetruck ride through the neighborhood.

 Professor Ezra, at the zoo.

 Ezra, the paleontologist, at the zoo.

 Me and my Mini-Man, checking out my faves, the elephants.

 Easy-E and his buddy, Claire.

Ez, getting his cookin' on.

Fourth of July!

So, I'm a few days late posting these...but that seems to be my trend lately.  

On the morning of the 4th, we met up with a bunch of friends and participated in the Normal Heights Neighborhood 4th of July Parade!  It was so freakin cute.  Ridiculous.  All the kids were riding in their red-white-&-blue-decked-out strollers, bikes, trikes, pack & plays, etc.

We took Ez's Radio Flyer Fire Engine over and it ended up being perfect for the occasion :)

 It was impossible to get everyone in our group in one picture - we ended up spreading out as we headed down the parade route.

 Mama and Ez.  He kept waving at the people standing outside their homes...he's such a ham.

 He even let his buddy share his fire truck :)

 Afterwards, there were all kinds of sweets and things being passed out.  Naturally, Jordan grabbed an ice cream sandwich...and naturally, my obsessive child took it from him for a couple bites.  I'm telling you...this kid...

 AHHHHHH!  Sugar!

 Ezra-wrangling was necessary after the ice cream.  Kid went crazy.

Ez, signing "scared" for me.  Yes, I make him go through his signs just for fun.  Yes, I love the way he looks when he does this one.

 The kiddos, post-parade, pre-sugar-induced, past-naptime-meltdowns.

 He LOVES cars, dude.

After Ezra's nap, we packed up some food and toys and headed over to Bird Park to settle in and watch the fireworks.  Ez was pretty happy about the whole situation and really liked running around, butting into adults' games of catch, ladder ball, etc.

We got there around 4:30, knowing that we'd have to get there early enough for a decent spot for the fireworks at 9pm.  Lots of walks, soccer playing, car-pushing, wrestling, dancing, tantrum-avoiding-tickles took place during those hours ;-)

 There was even moment of snuggle time...

And some deep conversations...

 But soon enough, it was bounce-up-and-down-on-mom-until-she-admits-defeat-and-gets-back-up time.

So, it finally got dark....and at around 8:50, we started to get Ezra ready.  All excited.  He'd even learned to sign "fireworks" just for this.  We were ready.

 This was taken just after the giant firework-explosion...he kept signing "more!" and I was a little more than sad when I had to keep explaining that there wouldn't be any fireworks this year :(  We did wait it out, though, until about 9:45...then packed it up and went home.  By the time we got settled in, the local news had picked it up and was already talking about the giant ball of fireworks.  Apparently, it was ALL of them.  For the whole show.  All at once.  In 3 separate locations.  Crazy.

We still called it a win, as we got to spend almost every moment of the day outside and Ez even got to have a dance party with the little girl on the blanket next to us ;-)

Forgotten Photos

I tend to take a lot of pictures of my kid.  As you can tell.  

This means that I also forget to share them, despite knowing that my mother is just itching for daily documentation of Ezra's life.  

So, here's some pretty random pics.  Some of them have made it to the Facebook realm.  Others were just sitting patiently in iPhoto until I remembered that they existed.  Either way, here ya go.

Mr. Cool at the playground a couple days before we went to Maine...you know, he had to work on his tan before his big trip ;-)

I'm only kidding.  Really.  He wears sunscreen everyday.  I should buy stock in California Baby.

Climbing the big grassy hill at Petco Park.  It wasn't a game-day, so there were far less people hanging out, but Ez still had a good time watching some kids take batting practice in the kid's field.

A patient who has season tickets to the Padres gave Jordan tickets to a game.  Turns out, we were just a few rows up, directly behind 3rd base.  Pretty sweet.  And as you can tell by this picture, Ez really got into the game (for the first couple innings).  He clapped every time anyone in the crowd clapped and loved to see them hit the ball :)

 Here's Ez during one of our daily super-long walks.  We've been starting at Jordan's office and making our way to Balboa Park after a quick stop at the 6th Ave playground.  Ezra really likes the fountains.

I'm not entirely sure when this was...but I know it was before the trip to Maine.  Either way, this would be photographic evidence of Ezra's first Freebird.  He got a baby-bird, but mostly just wanted the tortilla chips. I know now to ask for them in a separate basket...so he doesn't even know they're there ;-)

E-Z-Rider picked out the wheels he wants for his bike...

Nighttime Zoo is Back!

We went to Nighttime Zoo for the first time this season last night.  It was awesome.  The lion was out, pacing and roaring and he even sprayed some unsuspecting people while we were checking out the brand new baby jaguars (holy crap, they're adorable!) nearby.  It's okay to laugh about them getting sprayed...I did ;-)

Almost every animal that we walked by was out and about, except for the gorillas, so it was a total win for the kids.  Ezra just loves the fish in the hippo tanks, so he's pretty happy every time :)

Here's some cute shots of the kids...

Ez getting a little help from his friend

...and picking the gorilla's nose...

 Jordan and Ez

 Ezra and his new buddy

 Then, it was Claire's turn to take a ride

We tried to get a picture of the 3 kids looking at the monkeys, but Claire kept turning around to say "cheeeeeeese!"  She's so cute.

And me and my E-Z Rider, on the jaguar in Elephant Odyssey.

Here's a quick video of Easy from bath time a couple nights ago.  I asked him to say Mama, Dada, Elmo...and then Jordan walked in and asked him to say Cookie Monster.  He doesn't say it, but rather, imitates Cookie Monster...

Also, I'm not sure if I ever shared this one.  Frankly, I'm too lazy to go back and check, but the view count is telling me that I probably forgot about it.  Just a little Ezra, going down the slide like a big boy :)