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...

Random Debate Thought

I might have more to post tomorrow. But for now:

Seeing McCain and Obama stand and basically lecture a room full of "ordinary people" had an impression on me. This was a room full of humans, just people. And the McCains of the world (and Obamas too, but it struck me when McCain was talking) are so privileged and have so much power. But they're just human like all the other people there. They're just people. They eat and sleep and use the bathroom just the same as everybody else. But they're special because they're powerful. So they have everybody sitting in rapt attention to what they are saying. And what they are saying actually has the potential to change the world. (Well maybe not what they're saying, but what they actually do.)

This is a stupid thought. I mean it's one of those things I would have obsessed about when I was about 11 years old. But it struck me for some reason. I suppose it always has been and always will be this way. It's probably even older than society itself. All advanced animals have social hierarchies. That's basically what we're doing, right? Deciding on pack leaders via bloody fights to the death...or something like that.

(I think maybe I need more sleep.)

Bedtime

Tonight has been ridiculous already, and it's only 11:30 PM. This is becoming typical. Except that tonight, Baruch was home, which is not the norm. Generally I'm attempting to do this all by myself.

Background info: We live in a 3-bedroom townhouse, but one bedroom (a very small one) is on the first floor, and the other 2 (huge master and good-sized second) are on the second floor. So we made the one on the first floor into a playroom. This means that all 3 boys share a room. Which I do think will eventually work. Eventually.

Also, Ezra is starting to be in a transitional period nap-wise. On days he takes a nap, he is in bed late. If he doesn't nap, he goes to bed earlier and sleeps well. But if he has too many non-napping days close together, his sleep deprivation becomes obvious.

Today Ezra took a nap, so I figured he ought to go to bed at around 9. At about 8:45 the babies were ready for bed, so I put them down. Miraculously they both went to sleep peacefully within minutes. Usually Ari protests for a bit (meaning I replace his pacifier a bunch of times, or something of that nature; we don't let our kids cry in bed). I was really relieved, and figured Baruch could take Ezra upstares for bed soon. Of course, Baruch being Baruch, it was soon 9:15 and they were still downstairs, so I suggested they go up to bed. At this point Ezra starts freaking out because he doesn't want to go to bed, he wants me to go with him, etc. He insists he needs to go to HIS bed. (He'll end up sleeping in our bed regardless, so lately we've just been putting him in our bed to begin with.) The babies are sleeping in their room, but finally I say fine, can you be quiet? Ezra assures me that yes, he will be quiet while Babba (our version of Daddy) reads to him. I say I'll come up and lay with him when they're done brushing teeth and reading.

Bad move on my part. I heard them reading (quietly) on the monitor, but of course Ezra kept making comments in his typical loud voice. And of course Ari woke up. So I went upstairs and got Ari and sat on my bed to nurse him. Ezra was sitting next to me on the bed. At this point he could basically insist on what he wanted, because loud crying or screaming would wake up Toby. Ezra kept talking and touching Ari and of course then Ari will not go back to sleep. So I gave Ari to Baruch, who took him downstairs, and I tried to get Ezra to sleep.

Ezra wants to read the book again. He wants to read this specific page 5 times. He wants to...I have no clue what he's saying, he's crying and carrying on because he wants something about the book that I simply can't figure out. He's tired. I put down the book for the umpteenth time and say now it really is bedtime. Which prompts more crying and thrashing about. I turn out the light. I start to sing his songs, but he screams that no, he doesn't want singing. So I try just laying with him. At this point he starts hitting me. Hard.

So I gave up. I told him I was upset that he was hitting me, and I came downstairs. I brought him, of course, because he would have freaked out even more otherwise. But I was basically ignoring him because he was pissing me off so much. It's hard to really capture in writing what was going on here. This child is stubborn and difficult and just plain exasperating. Oh and yes, Ari was still awake at that point.

Eventually it seemed like Ari would go back to sleep, so Baruch took him up. He wouldn't go to sleep, so finally Baruch stuck him in the swing. During that time Ezra finally laid down on the sofa and went to sleep (at about 11 PM). Then I was waiting for Ari to sleep so I could take Ezra up to bed. But, of course...as soon as Ari fell asleep (in the swing), Toby woke up. So I went and nursed Toby back to sleep, then came down and got Ezra and put him in bed. And finally, at 11:30 PM, all 3 kids are sleeping and I can go to bed myself.

For 5 minutes, until Ari wakes back up.

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 :)