First an update and then a picture post.

Things have been busy here. Holidays (finally over) and just general busy stuff. I get approximately zero minutes to myself on a regular day. I usually end up going to bed with Ezra. And it's usually at MY bedtime, not his, lately.

On Sunday we celebrated Toby and Ari's half birthday. And we really did celebrate. I baked a cake (coconut-macadamia-ginger carrot cake with coconut icing, from Vegan With A Vengeance) and made crowns and everything. Six months seems pretty substantial. I think because the pregnancy was so difficult, and because there are two of them and so it's been such a challenge just figuring out how to manage every day.

The babies have started to really interact with each other a lot, which is adorable. They are blowing raspberries at each other, and cooing and saying “ghee” and laughing. They also pull on each other and scratch each other if I don’t keep their nails short enough. They are still really social with everybody, although they definitely have an awareness of strangers vs. people they know. It’s just a lot of fun to watch them develop. Both are sitting up pretty well now, which is nice for them. And Ari rolls front to back now as well, although not as adeptly as Toby. I’ve started seriously thinking about twin-proofing (child-proofing on steroids) and about buying some sort of gated area that I can put in the living room with our foam mats to give them a totally safe play area. Safe from hazards and also from Ezra, who loves them but can be a bit too exuberant in his attention. [As I write this Toby is making the cutest noises at me. And then every once in a while he’s farting really really loudly.]

I was just thinking that Toby's sleeper seems small and I ought to move them to 6-9 month clothes. Then I realized that it IS 6-9 month size. . . .

Ezra loved going to shul for Simchas Torah. At night he went with Baruch and came home so excited about singing and dancing with the sefer Torah. Yesterday I took all the kids (Baruch was working) and Ezra was exhausted, having gone to bed at 10:30 the night before, but had such a good time and was totally wild by 1:30 when we left. He was just dancing and running around in circles with the other kids and enjoying snacks and having a grand time.

Ezra's new obsession is puzzles. Constantly puzzles. He's pretty good at them, and he can do them for hours. His new thing is to mix all the puzzle pieces together and do all the puzzles at the same time, picking out a piece and fitting it where it belongs and going on to the next piece. And he never wants to stop. Last night he was up past midnight. I don't know exactly how late. I took the kids to my parents' house for dinner, and usually he falls asleep on the way home. He didn't, even though I drove a bit extra. Then at home he wouldn't stop playing with his puzzles, so we finally got his diaper changed and got him upstairs, but he still wouldn't go to sleep. Then he spent about 45 minutes screaming in our bed while Baruch slept next to him and I kept pulling him back into bed because he kept trying to climb out. He insisted he needed to go play more. At about midnight he stood up in bed and said he needed water. So I woke up Baruch to go get him some water, and Ezra just stood there quietly waiting. I fell
asleep before Baruch got back with the water. Baruch says that Ezra drank some water and he expected him to hand the cup back but he didn't, he just sat there holding it. So Baruch went to sleep. I don't know, Ezra must have fallen asleep not long after that. I woke up at some point to get a baby and moved the sippy cup to the bedside table. I really sometimes don't know what to do with this child! He's so tired today.

Some collected sayings of Ezra:

I handed Ezra a piece of junk mail and he said, "Oh Mama, mailman got Ezza a present!"

When asked what he wants to be for Halloween, he replied "crackers".

Ezra takes a bite of something and says, "mmm, I eat it. In tummy...." Then he gets a big grin and says, "POOPOO!" Yes, Baruch taught him about digestion. This is repeated many times a day. He knows about intestines but prefers to skip right to the good part.

He's also started talking about the past, which is always "yesterday." He also talks about his feelings a lot. If he is frustrated with a puzzle piece sometimes he says, "Mama, I VERY UPSET." He talks about times in the past when he was scared or upset and says that he cried and does a little fake cry to further illustrate his story.

I'm sure I have more I could write but that's it for now. Going to post photos.