18 Months!

Easy-E is 18 months old!  Here's a little of what he's been up to these days...

-He runs everywhere, even if where he's going is only a few steps away.  You know, because he can.
-His signing is really picking up ever since he's started watching his Signing Time DVDs.  He knows milk, apple, banana, water, mom, dad, baby, fish, cat, dog, bird, please, sorry, want, cookie, candy, poop, wet, dry, boy, help, all done, eat, hungry, cheese, ice cream, more, stars, night, cracker.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some.  I'd also like to point out that some of those things (ice cream, candy, etc), he's never had...but still knows the signs for them :)
-Sweet grape tomatoes, pears, bananas and strawberries are among his favorite treats lately.
-Going to the zoo is super-fun now - he LOVES the flamingo/duck area and anything in a tank of water, like the pygmy hippos (with all the fish) and the snake-neck turtles.
-Reading books is at the top of the list of favorite things to do.  His current faves are Green Eggs & Ham, Sleepytime Farm, I Love You Through and Through, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  He's also got favorite pages in those favorite books and can flip through and find them at a moment's notice ;-)
-He's got a love/hate relationship with his bike again.  Some days he climbs in it himself and others he will throw a screaming fit if I try to put him in it.  Eh.
-It's becoming increasingly more difficult to get him out of the bathtub.  He loves bath time.
-He drinks out of cups and water bottles (with some guidance) and occasionally prefers that to a sippy.
-He'll give you a kiss if he likes you :)
-When he's at the petting zoo, he'll "give love" to the goats by laying his hand and head on them, closing his eyes and smiling.  It's so stinkin' cute.
- I love him more than I ever thought possible.  He's the smartest, sweetest, cutest, most amazing little boy I've ever known.  And I tell him every single day.

Here's some pictures of him in his special 18 month onesie!

A recap of sorts

I've been really busy lately.  Not like, productive-busy.  Just busy with all sorts of day-to-day stuff.  That's my excuse for not updating...take it or leave it ;-)

Keeping up with EZ is getting to be like running a marathon, but thankfully, he's fallen into a schedule with sleep and naps...mostly.  I'm knocking on wood here, but I think we're back in the groove :)

Ezra has been learning and doing so much everyday.  His most recent new favorite thing to do is to play with the salad spinner.  He loves to push the plunger down, then lift the top off really fast so he can watch the basket spin.  He gets so excited and laughs when he does it!

The weather has been pretty great lately (with a few cooler days tossed in), so naturally, Ezra & I have been spending more time outside.  Here's Ezra last Saturday at the OB Kite Festival.  He had a great time running around, chasing bubbles & kids & balls.

We took our lunch down to the beach & then spent a little time on the grassy area playing some soccer...

On our way back to the car, we stopped for some ice cream at a local shop.  My Up-All-Night-Espresso ice cream was fantastic, but it was no match for the novelty of Jordan's ice cream waffle sandwich...

Yum!

In other news...
He's back to loving his bike!

Last Sunday was my birthday.  My 30th birthday, to be exact.  Ouch.
Actually, it was pretty great - and surprisingly, being 30 doesn't suck.  Who knew?  It was a day full of my favorite stuff...We started the day with strawberry pancakes and a mimosa, headed to the beach, picked up some Chinese takeout on the way home and finished it off with ice cream cake from Coldstone.  The best part?  Ezra decided that his present to me would be him suddenly loving the water & waves at the beach!  He walked right in and didn't want to get out (despite the very cold water!).  The only thing he liked as much as that, was playing in the sand.  He could've done it for hours :)  'Twas a good day.

Tuesday Playdate...just late!

Not only is this post late, but we were incredibly late to Ez's playmate this week.  The night before was the 3rd of a 4-night stretch of seriously restless sleep.  He would be up, down, and literally all around, from the hours of 2-6am.  It was pretty brutal and reminded me of the newborn days, except not quite as bad.

So, we finally made it to the park...about 30 minutes before his buddy had to leave.  The kids did have a good time though.

First, they played in the flowers.  It's not really a place we were necessarily supposed to be (it's a pseudo traffic circle, of sorts), but the kids were enjoying smelling the flowers so we went with it :)

The Japanese Friendship Garden was part of the Free Tuesdays, so we went in -- and Ez lead us straight to the koi pond.  Some veterans volunteer in the garden and had some food for the kids to feed to the fish.  They LOVED it.  And so did the fish.

After his buddy left, we went to the Museum of Man.  Ez was really just interested in running around, banging on stuff, and waving hello to all of his adoring fans ;)

Jordan thinks Ezra looks just like he did as a kid in this picture.

Since he was so rambunctious, we spent a little time walking around the sculpture garden.
This sign says not to touch or climb on the sculptures.  We were apparently in the clear on that one, because Ez was only interested in trying to rip the sign out of the ground by violently shaking it...

When I tell people that I have to constantly shove food in Ez's face just to get him to eat, I'm really not joking.  This is proof.  He'd squatted down to play with something, so we jumped at the opportunity to force a little mango puree at him.

And finally, here's Jordan trying to teach Easy to log-roll down the hill.  He does it on the floor at home all the time but seemed skeptical when we added the downhill aspect :)

Beans and the Beach

Since we're on the go a lot more lately, I'm trying to use the crockpot more for easy dinners.  So, I tossed in a whole carton of veggie broth, about 15oz of canned, diced tomatoes, some salt, black pepper, a good amount of smoked paprika, cumin, and a mixture of presoaked (overnight) beans (cannellini, black, red kidney, and pinto), and about half a red onion into the crockpot.  Cooked it on high for, like, the whole day...because I'm a genius and didn't think to start it the night before on low, instead.  That's it - and it was SO freaking good.  Like, way better than I expected plain 'ol beans to taste :)  I did blend up about a cup or so in the VitaMix, then poured it back into the crockpot, just to make it thicker.  Served it with some brown rice & even Ezra ate all of his - for dinner and lunch the next day.  That's got to be a record.

We went down to Crown Point for a little running-and-playing time a couple days ago.  Ez had a really good time and especially enjoyed throwing wads of wet sand into the water.  Of course, he wouldn't reach down to get the sand himself -- that was Jordan's job.  He simply grunted impatiently for more the second he threw his last fistful into the water ;-)

17 Months!

I can't believe we are so close to that 1 1/2 year mark!  Time is flying by and Ezra is growing up so fast.  Care too hear what he's up to these days?

-He loves to eat fish!  Salmon is his favorite so far.
-Playgrounds are getting to be easier to get around & he loves to go down the slide by himself!
-Ez will only take 'stand-up-baths'...no sitting down for this kid.  Oh, no.  You can't pour and splash water all over the bathroom when you're sitting down ;-)
-He has been loving his Dad a lot lately - clinging to him when he walks in the door, fussing if he sees him leave...it's really cute.
-Ezra loves to walk around on his own, going up to strangers, waving hello at them.  It's really great to see him want to be so independent.
-He's got a few women on TV that he just loves.  One is Regina M. Benjamin, our 18th Surgeon General, who has a commercial that gets played all the time.  As soon as he even just hears her voice, he gets really bashful and buries his face.  So stinkin cute :)
-He's got a billion teeth.
-He loves to flirt with checkout girls.  Like, he really takes it seriously.
-He's getting really good at sorting shapes.
-Ez loves to dunk.  The kid is a natural.
-He's gotten into the habit of bringing us the books that he wants to read.  This means we read, and reread the same books all.day.long.  Good thing he's cute!
-Stacking, sorting, banging things...all activities he's very adept at ;-)
-He's so sweet and smart and amazing.  And I tell him every single day.


Here's some pictures of the boy.

He was not having the best day.  Quick naps, got up too early after a restless night, not eating much...all blended together to make taking pictures a very tough thing :)

 He just refused to look at the camera for about 99% of the pictures.

I had to make all the funny noises I've got in my repertoire to get a smile AND a look in my general direction.

This was .003 seconds before he alligator-rolled and slid himself down the couch to run and play like a manic.

A couple videos

These were clearly taken prior to his latest haircut, but cute nonetheless.

He's got a cute laugh...

Not too keen on kicking-only, I'm thinking rugby is in his future?!

Tuesday Playdate at the Science Center

It was the first Tuesday of the month, which means the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center was on the list of free museums!  The kids LOVE this place.  There's always a line to get into the kid's play area, so once inside, it's literally filled to capacity with running, jumping, playing, crazy kiddos :)

We had 4 kids meet up this week, and it's so great to see them interact and get more accustom to being around each other.  I mean, they've been getting together since before birth, but these definite, weekly meet ups are a newer thing.  

Ez loves peekaboo...what kid doesn't?

What's this fake food crap?

Just doing a little grocery shopping...

I tried to get all 3 kids in the shot, but my arm wasn't long enough :(  They all really liked the lightening globe, though.

Ezra & Claire, making some watts.
(It makes me chuckle a little every time I type or say Ezra & Claire in the same sentence -- our hypothetical girl's name for Ezra, if he had been a girl, was Claire!)

Trying to get all 3 kids to look at the camera at the same time is like trying to keep a cat in a bathtub.
Just not going to happen.