2 years old!

A few of Ezra's favourite things

Ezra just had his second birthday and continues to grow quickly!  He is 36 pounds and 36 3/4 inches of solid boy.  He is wearing 3T clothes and 8-9T shoes.  His language and vocabulary are growing daily now and he enjoys so many things.  If you were to ask him what his favourite food is, I could garuantee he would say "cookies".  If you asked him what he wanted to do he would say "watch a video".

So you would never know we have been quite delayed to introduce desserts, cookies, and sweets as well as technology, but they are two of his favourite things and things he asks for regularly...  As in all day long.  However, even though he would not admit to having interest in other things when asked, he very much enjoys playing with Mommy and Daddy, and listening to music.  Ezra and Daddy now have regular jam sessions in the living room as Daddy plays the guitar and Ezra "dances" or in other terms, runs around the living room in circles.

Ezra enjoys all things sports.  He will play with a ball or balloon a good portion of his day.  He loves to jump up and down, and kick and throw a ball, and most recently knock over his bowling pins from a play set he received.  Those around us have informed us he is quite athletic, coordinated, and advanced in his gross motor skills for his age.

As his language is developing quickly we have enjoyed his mostly cute pronunciations of certain words.
Below is a short glossary of words in case you run into him on the street and aren't quite sure what he is saying:

Star- Up-pah up-pah (as in the song Twinkle Twinkle:..."up above" the world so high, like a diamond in the sky)
Dessert- Bah-zert
Video- Vee-dio
Truck- *uck (Please don't ask him about trucks in public, I promise he didn't learn that one from us)
Thank you- Tank you
Please- Peas
Basket ball- Buzoolah (this took us DAYS to figure out, still not sure what he's saying other than it's starts with a 'B' and is otherwise unidentifiable)

Honorable mention goes to one of our favourites he has now grown out of in the last few months
Milk- Mook

I also have him his first short haircut, so his long locks are gone.  I've never been one to fuss over hair or getting it cut, but I had a little heart pang seeing him look so grown up with his hair buzzed short.  I've already adjusted but it did give me pause.

Before haircut

After haircut

Over the last few months Ezra and Daddy have been enjoying more together time and shared interests and it warms my heart to see Ezra bringing his bible to Daddy to crawl up in his lap to read bible stories in the morning and asking Daddy for "song" which means he is asking for Nate to play the guitar and sing for him.

It will still catch me off guard at times to hear Ez's sweet unprompted voice saying "Tank you, Momma" after doing something for him after I've already started moving onto something else.  Ezra enjoys his evening prayer time with Mommy and Daddy and get to choose who he wants to pray for every night, many nights it's just for Mommy, Daddy, Grandma's, and Grandpa's but every now and then he throws in a buddy or babysitter too.  He is  just starting wanting to speak the words to the prayers himself.  

He really does do our hearts good...thank you for being interested in his journey.

16 Months

Well 16 months in theory.  We don't have 29 days in February this year so we will pretend.  It's close enough.

This last month has seen some fun and not so fun developments.

Fun:
Had his first hair trim and survived
The shrug; He now enjoys mastery of using his shoulder muscles and it's especially delightful when he times it with a question, as if to say "I don't know"
Cute faces, think squinty eyes and smiling
Increased speed and energy, fun to watch, hard to keep up with
Increased sounds/words.  Says the staples, Momma, Daddy, No, clearly and enjoys imitation of animal sounds and trying new words like close and truck and using a few more baby signs to communicate.
Enjoying gross motor play; climbing, wrestling with Dad, and being outdoors on nice days


Not So Fun:
Screeching, especially at the dinner table
Shaking of head/Saying "no" to everything
Mini Tantrums at not getting his way
Teeth-Ez has been getting his four eye/canine teeth on top and bottom

First hair trim

Playing in Daddy's dress shirts

On the deck playing "ball"

Has discovered the joy of puddles

Loves climbing and playing

A few more months...

The last 2 months have flown by!  Ezra celebrated his second Christmas in Alberta before we flew out the next day to spend a few weeks in Ontario to celebrate the Christmas season with the Wiebe's.

 Ezra enjoyed spending more time with his cousin and was much more fun for his cousin to play with as well.  Our last visit with the cousins, Ezra wasn't walking.  So his 2.5 year old cousin could play much easier with a mobile toddler this time.

 His interests are expanding quickly as he begins to connect objects, sounds, and names.  He loves tractors, cars, trucks, farm animals, and labeling parts of the body.  He enjoys spinning the the living room and making himself dizzy.  He is also quick to pick up new signs when I introduce them such as "please" and "milk".  In the last few weeks, I've started to hear the long awaited "mommy" outside of just when he is mad and yelling.  Now he might be walking around and say it in a sing song voice.  That is so much more preferred.

 I've tried a few times to introduce him (on milder days) to snow and playing outside, but it seems he is still to little to enjoy it.  He is way more concerned with the layers and bulk of the clothes he is wearing, and doesn't appreciate the extra constricting nature that it entails.  However, a few weeks ago, on our last outdoor play attempt, he enjoyed trotting back and forth over the cleared deck.

 With the help of a friend, Ezra got a small trim around the ears and on the back of his neck where the hair was getting a bit long.  He wasn't a fan, but it could have been worse. ;)  And the final result was much handier than trying to sweep back the hair that liked to rest on top of his ears.

 Ezra also loves to sit on and ride everything, so just this week I found a second ride on toy for the house.  It is an airplane and he loves exploring the propellers and wings that fold up and down and the numerous buttons for music, plane noises, brakes, etc.