What We're Up To

Yesterday (Friday) morning we went to the local library's huge book sale, which was fun. I got a bunch of great books for Ezra: classics like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Robin Hood, Treasure Island, Paul Bunyan, and The Little Prince, as well as a few random other books. I got some fiction books for me (frivolous things, e.g. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which is a fun book) as well as How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen and Listen So Your Kids Will Talk. I would have loved to stay longer, but Ezra needed a snack (I gave him an apple while he hung out on my back in the Ergo as I checked out, and he proceeded to eat the entire thing...including the core) and a nap, and it was difficult to really browse through the books while keeping track of Ezra playing with cars on the floor and trying to maneuver the double stroller around the tables. I was very pleasantly surprised, though, when after I finished nursing both babies in the lobby, a woman from the business office at the auditorium came out and made sure that nobody had said anything negative to me about nursing them in public. Apparently somebody in the office thought perhaps a passerby had made a comment, which had not happened. But I thought it was great that they were being proactive about protecting my rights! Very cool.

Anyway. Tonight Baruch is on call, so I'm home alone with the kids. It's raining quite a lot. It was raining all day, in fact, and we got stuck in shul because it was pouring. A nice family invited us for lunch, as they live closer to shul than we do. So that was nice. As is typical on Saturdays, Ezra did not nap. So I drove over to my parents' house to return a bunch of my mother's tupperware that I had, and Ezra fell asleep in the car at 6:40; getting him to sleep was, of course, my intention. When we got home I played with the babies for a while and then put them to bed and and them asleep by 7:45, and I thought I was home free for a few hours! I went to get started on straightening the playroom, which is more like a huge pile of jumbled toys than an actual room at the moment, and about 3 minutes later I heard Ezra on the monitor having a nightmare. It took forever and a glass of water to calm him down and get him back to sleep. All of this woke up Ari. So then Ari was up until almost 10. Of course I just got Ari to sleep and now I'm going to write this up and go to bed myself. So much for housekeeping. It would be nice to actually be able to walk in the playroom, and the dishes need doing, but whatever.

Here is a photo of my stitches without the covering bandage, but with a steri-strip over them (WARNING: this is not pretty, and also my skin and hair are gross so just ignore that):



Also, this is a very interesting article in this weekend's Sunday Magazine from The New York Times:
Kosher Wars

I find it particularly interesting because I didn't realize there was a whole movement of people who felt the same way I do about factory-farmed meat not being kosher due to the mistreatment of animals. I've been saying that for years. I know it's not technically true, but I feel like it ought to be. In any case we are vegetarians (leaning towards veganism, especially in what we buy for our home; I was a vegan for a while until I found out I was pregnant with twins, at which point I started eating eggs and dairy for extra fat and protein). But I would definitely consider eating humanely raised grass-fed beef and poultry. I would consider it, but I'm not sure. It's been a long time since I ate meat. Certainly I would prefer to eat eggs and dairy from sustainable, humane farms, if it were available. Not that we could afford to. Which is why we are ideally vegans. It takes more work to healthily feed a family as a vegan, and at the moment I often only have the energy to stick a piece of cheese on bread and toast it for Ezra.

With the financial crisis right now, I keep thinking about how money is really imaginary. It's a social construct. When Baruch hears that people are losing money with the stock market, he wonders where the money is going. I say nowhere, it's all make believe. What I really want is to own land. A nice chunk of land, with a house and enough area to plant a large garden with produce to feed our family. Land isn't imaginary. If you own it fair and square, it can't just disappear one day (barring catastrophes like war or natural disaster). That's me. I'm not one to invest in the stock market. I'm more likely to buy gold and hide it under my mattress. I just am very risk-averse. I want something tangible. I want stability.

Speaking of feeding our family, in another 6 months or so it's going to be a heck of a lot harder to do so. I so hope the babies are sleeping well by then so I will have the energy to actually cook for a family of 5.

In closing, a few random things Ezra has said lately:

-Pointing to a picture of a tractor in a book: "I ride that yesterday." Huh? News to me! He can spend a surprisingly long time pointing to vehicle after vehicle in a book repeating with each one, "Ezza drive that. Ezza drive that. Ezza drive that...."

-Ari started crying while I was nursing Toby. Ezra called out, "I coming Toby!" and goes over and smiles at him, and then turns to me and commands, "Nurse a him!"

-I was cutting grapes, and Ezra pointed to them one by one and said, "Cut him. Cut him." I asked, "Cut who?" just to see what he'd say. He thought for a second, and tried again: "Cut her. Cut her." I chuckled and explained that a grape is an it, and I said I would cut it, and cut it, and cut it.

Adding this later (after Ezra fell out of bed and woke up, and then right after he went to sleep Toby woke up...):

I forgot to write about a big thing! Today every time I put Toby down on his belly, he would hang out for a while looking around, and then very deliberately roll over to his back and give me a huge grin. I had seen both babies roll front to back at least once, but this was deliberate and he did it many, many times. Both guys are also now regularly going from their backs to their sides, although I've only seen Ari roll back to front, and that was only once. It won't be long for sure! Ari sat for about 5 minutes with the Boppy helping him balance, and Toby is starting to sit a bit as well. Go babies!

Ezra's Big Day, Photo Heavy

I didn't get a chance to post this yesterday.

Before, in the stroller with Baruch pushing:





During:






I didn't get great photos afterwards. The first is before it was washed. The good ones from after his bath are all naked, so I just put in a cropped one of those.





It's still pretty rough. He stood still in the beginning, but then it was mostly my mother and me chasing him around the room with scissors. It looks awesome, though. He looks so grown up! I'm still getting used to how adorable he looks.

One final photo (as if there aren't enough already!) of Ezra being very sweet to Toby:

Ezra-isms and a Distracted Nurser

First of all, I feel a little guilty about the last post. Ezra is wonderful, he truly is. And sometimes he is an angel. Like yesterday at the gym class, and this morning at the children's museum. He's often wonderful in public, actually. He's really a truly sweet and fun little boy. He's sort of like that rhyme: when he was good he was very very good, but when he was bad he was horrid. That about sums it up.

Anyway, I love recording all the things Ezra says. He is in such a great verbal stage. I don't ever want to forget all of this. He's already grown out of a lot of saying a lot of things. He used to call a school bus a "boo-bus" and a fire engine was a "car-gong." He pretty much calls everything what it really is now. Although today after we went to the museum we sat and ate lunch by an outdoor fountain (the kind they have in parks), and to him that is called a "water mountain." Which is actually fairly descriptive. For the past few days if he's upset about something and I ask what's wrong, he often answers, "I crying." It's hard to get much more info than that lol And something that just makes my heart swell is that he's started saying "I like..." and "I luff..." Today he saw a back-hoe on the street and he said, "Oh, a back-hoe! I luff diggers. I luff cars and diggers." Often if he's eating something or playing with something he'll say "I like dat!" (When he says "love" it sounds more like "luff", but it's hard to replicate what his "like" sounds like. Maybe "ike"? More like "yike")

In other news, Toby has become my first distracted nurser. When Ezra was a baby I read about the stage when babies get easily distracted from nursing and pop on and off to look around and won't really nurse well. But Ezra never behaved like that, never. And Ari really doesn't either, although a bit more than Ezra. Toby, now...well I had a hard time nursing him at all while we were out this morning! In the museum he kept trying to look around to where Ezra was playing, and outside he kept trying to look over to the street and also at Ezra. He pops off and looks around and then goes back on. In the museum it actually looked like he was a swimmer coming up for air, the way he was coming off sideways and up and then going right back (does that description make sense?). So far I don't think it's going to be a problem. I hope not at least. My milk lets down so readily (for the babies; somehow I let down almost immediately when they are nursing, and even pretty readily if I try to pump, but I never ever leak past the first few weeks...lucky me!) that I think he'll still get plenty even while acting like a monkey.

Ezra is napping now and when he wakes up it is going to be a very big afternoon in his life! I hope to post pictures later. And of course tonight and tomorrow are Yom Kippur. Followed shortly by Sukkos. Busy times around here!

It's Only Getting Harder

The babies are in an in between stage. They are very alert and aware and want to play and do things, but they are physically not capable of much. They can crudely manipulate toys with their hands, but they can't sit well yet and they certainly can't crawl or anything. So they just want me to hold them most of the time. And I can't hold both of them all the time. So we have a lot more fussing and crying here than we used to.

And Ezra...oh, Ezra. The child seems to have a special sense for what would annoy me or make me maddest, and he goes for the jugular. I adore this child, he is fabulous, but he is also incredibly...awful. Before 9 this morning he'd already had a number of tantrums. He wants to be in control of everything, which I know is typical for his age. But he doesn't just test limits, he pushes against them with the strength of an ox.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I can go on to my usual praise and bragging.

Yesterday we went to our second class at The Little Gym. The first time we went, Ezra would barely even look at anybody else and he clung to me the whole time. This time, in spite of being beyond exhausted (I had to actively keep him awake on the way there), he had such a great time! He was all over the room playing on everything. He let the instructor pick him up and help him do something on the bars. Even though I had to spend some time sitting with the babies, he participated and had a great time. He's so sweet, too. When it was time to put the balls away, he was the last one with a ball, and he kept shaking his head no, he wouldn't put it away. So I went over and he indicated to me that he wanted to throw the ball in the basketball hoop over on the side. So I helped him do that, and then he happily put the ball away. That's all he wanted. At the end he didn't get bells to sing with, because there weren't enough to go around, and when it was time to put them away he was almost crying and said he wanted a turn. So I asked the instructor if he could hold a bell for a bit, and he took one and jingled it a few times and then put it back and was fine. I was impressed.

Also yesterday while I was changing Ari's diaper Ezra started singing Old Man River to Ari. Baruch has sung Old Man River to Ezra during diaper changes for a while now. Ezra actually knows most of the words. It's a bit disconcerting to hear your 2-year-old say, "Tired of living, and scared of dying."

And when we were in my parents' back yard, Ezra walked over to the place I had been talking about with my parents a few days ago and said, "I need a swing set here." It amused me.

Oh, I forgot to mention another amusing thing: a few days ago on a walk we saw people putting up white tents. I said to Ezra, "Oh look, they're going to have a party." Ezra said, "Yes, a party, and dance all night." Whaaaa? Where did he get that? LOL

Okay Super Why is over (hehe) and the babies are starting to fuss, so it's time to start our day for real. I'm so tired, I'm not sure what we'll do. I suppose go to the children's museum. Stay posted for a very huge update this afternoon...

Apparently he's getting the message

I sometimes have a hard time finding a balance between teaching what I think is right and trying not to be judgmental. There are some things I'm just judgmental about, and I'm actually not sorry about that, but I definitely don't want to teach Ezra to be judgmental.

Today we were out for a walk and he saw a man on a motorcycle. This child loves motorcycles. So of course he pointed out the motorcycle and watched it, and when it was out of sight he said, "man no wearing helmet."

Funny thing? For once I actually hadn't noticed.

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Anne tells me that what I posted earlier is, if not impossible, at least highly improbable. Anne is my guru, so just forget I wrote any of that signing stuff. The Ezra stuff is for real.

Call Me Crazy . . .

but then you'd have to call my mother crazy, too.

Over the past few weeks, I've been doing more signing with the babies. They're young, but very alert. Ezra also likes to teach them signs (in fact he will even wake them up from naps to teach them a sign...). Mostly I show them the sign for milk, but we really do anything that occurs to us.

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting on my parents' back deck with my mother and Ari. It was a gorgeous day! I asked Ari if he heard the birds singing, and showed him the sign for bird. And I am NOT INSANE when I say that Ari tried to do the sign himself. He certainly did. Really. My mother saw it, too.

My mother then said that a bit earlier she had been playing Ladies Ride ("This is the way the ladies ride, bum-de-bum, bum-de-bum...") with Toby and she stopped and he signed more. I would not have believed her at all if I hadn't seen Ari with my own eyes. I'm still skeptical anyway; Toby likes to chew on both hands at once and often brings them together in front of himself. But I won't completely dismiss the possibility, either. He's certainly seen the "more" sign used (Ezra often uses it still, either while saying more or to ask for more while his mouth is still stuffed! lol)

Okay, so it's unlikely. But is it impossible? (Anne, what's your input?) I really don't think I was imagining things. My mother saw it at the same time I did. Sure, Ari was just trying to imitate me. But he was looking up at the tree as he did so.

(Now, I would actually prefer *not* to have super geniuses for kids. Smart is good, but too smart is difficult. I can't imagine life with one of those kids who beats people in chess at 11 months. My kids aren't like that at all, and it's a relief. What do you do with that child? How do you help him have a happy and fulfilling life?)

As long as I'm wondering in awe at the abilities of my children, I should write about Ezra. The other night we were sitting at my parents' table and he had brought a little backpack full of magnetic letters with him. He took them out one by one and named every single one of them. Correctly. So yes, he knows all his letters by site. All the capital letters, and I found out the next day that he knows many of them in lower case, too. And yesterday morning he was working on reading the word "bat"!

Of course I take no credit for this. Okay, only a very little (since we do read books all the time). You know how he knows all of his letters and is starting the beginning steps of reading? He watches Super Why every morning. How's that for good parenting?




Yes, Ari is learning to sit up! In another month they'll both be pros :)

Bath Water

me: Ezra, if you drink the bath water you'll get a stomach ache...it has soap and dirt in it

Ezra: Noooo...I love a stomach ache...Mama drink? Mmm, tasty good.

Conversations With Ezra II

Out walking yesterday:

Ezra, pointing up at a bird on a wire: "Babba, chicken up there."

Pointing again: "Mama, a squirrel climbing on a house."

(That struck me because it was such a complete sentence. His speech is really picking up!)

Just now, Baruch took Ezra upstairs to get Ari, who had just woken up. I heard over the monitor: "Hi Ari! Good nap?"

Ezra is really into the cleaning lady who comes every other week (my parents have been kind enough to have her come to them only every 2 weeks, so we get the alternate weeks). Now he will make a mess or see something that's a mess and say, "Biiiig mess. Miss Binky clean up." Very matter-of-fact. I have tried to explain that actually I have to clean it up because Miss Vicky only comes every 2 weeks, but to no avail.

Ezra was in the bath yesterday and he talked for about a minute straight in what seemed to be a complete paragraph. I didn't really catch it all though. Something about the water and his cups and pouring the water.

I think there were more that I wanted to record but I can't remember right now! I guess I'll add them if I remember later.

I remembered another: I put a sweater on Ezra to try it for fit for the winter, and he looked down and said, "oh, awesome!" That cracked me up.

Say It Ain't So, Ezra

How is it possible that my 2-year-old is outgrowing his nap???? He's much too young. Really he still needs the nap, he just won't take it a few days a week. I hope this is a slow process, and he continues to nap at least most days for a while longer.

The big topic of conversation in our house (well aside from politics) is To Cut or Not To Cut. We love Ezra's hair long, but he won't let us put it up, and even when he does, he won't keep it up. So it's always in his eyes. Plus now the babies grab it and pull it. So I'm advocating for cutting it, even though I love it and it's beautiful and I'll be very sad to see it go. We'll see if Baruch agrees.

For some reason I can go a few days without a blog post and then on a car ride I'll suddenly think of 5 posts. All of which deserve their own posts. I wonder if that's typical. I'm new to blogging, obviously. Not that anybody is reading this :p

Yes We Can

My Three Sons

I couldn't decide which photo I like best. I know, they are almost exactly the same :p

(there is an unofficial, uncensored version which involved nakedness ;-)...if you are a close friend, ask to see it, because it's super cute!)

Conversations With Ezra

My mother, on the phone to me: "How is Ezra doing?"
Me to Ezra: "Ezra, how are you?"
Ezra: "Two"

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This morning I told Ezra that the woman who comes to clean every other week, Vicky, would be coming this afternoon. After his nap we were eating a snack and had this conversation:

Me: "So Ezra, what would you like to do this afternoon?"
Ezra: "Cleaning. Miss Binky comes."

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We were cooking dinner and I showed him how to squish garlic cloves so they could be peeled.

Ezra: "SQUISH! Awesome!"

And since this is about Ezra, here is my current favorite photo of the dude: