I guess at this point it doesn't really make sense to write down so much of what Ezra says. It's amazing to me, but really objectively pretty boring. His language has just exploded, though. He is talking in incredibly complex sentences, paragraphs really. He has really focused on grammar, and it's just been remarkable listening to his brain develop. He likes to use the word "because", and he draws it out, like: "I not happy..becaaauuuse...I need dump truck." (The reason he doesn't have his dump truck is, invariably, because he's been chasing the dog with it.) He's also very particular about saying, "it's" when appropriate, and really emphasizes that s. Tonight for Chanukah he got a wooden snake, and when my father walked in Ezra said, "Look, Mama buy a nake fo Ezza. It's a pesent fo Chanka." Yeah, nake=snake, fo=for, pesent=present...really it's not hard for most people to understand most of what he says, which is a big difference from just a month ago. His articulation has improved a lot, and he doesn't say many words wrong anymore. With some absolutely adorable exceptions: helicopter is "helitractor", refrigerator is "refrigadozer", and octopus is still "ah-pus-pus" (tonight he told me, "Mama, E-Z-P-R-O spell ah-pus-pus! I be a ah-pus-pus, a dancing ah-pus-pus!" and then danced around his bed. I think he started to spell Ezra, which he had been doing, and changed his mind lol).

He's also amazingly good at understanding his own feelings. He will tell us that he is hitting the dog because he's upset, for example. Today I took him to bed for a nap and he really didn't want to be there, and he said, "I no sleep! I be very upset! I hit train track, that feel good." It was like he understood that the reason he wanted to hit the train was because he was upset about the nap...which I love because it tells me that he's understanding some of his own feelings and learning to handle them. Instead of tantrums, usually these days if he gets mad because we tell him he can't have something or take something away, he pretends to be sleeping (he even pretend snores lol) and says he's tired. Or he'll cover his ears and say "I close my ears!" like he can't hear us.

Anyway...I'm just really enjoying observing him grow and mature and get smarter by the minute. It's so darn cool. Of course he's also been incredibly difficult lately, especially when it comes to the dog (he's so cruel to her sometimes), but mostly he's just my adorable little boy and I can't even begin to describe how much I adore the child.