I was writing my friends an email and listing off all of the things Ezra does or says that make him such a big boy. The list got so long I decided to cut it out of the email and make a blog post out of it instead. Here it goes:
Ezra's not really a baby anymore. In fact, I hardly even think of him as a toddler. He's a kid. That's what he calls himself, after all. He says "I'm a big kid now" often.
His aunts tried to teach him to hold up one finger and then two, saying "Ezra was one, but now he is two". Through the end of April and the beginning of May, he had a really hard time only holding up two fingers, and he thought it was funny to say "one" in response to "how old are you?" (knowing full well that was the wrong answer, as his impish giggle proved). After his birthday, we stopped asking and showing him two fingers. But a few days ago he started to do it himself, perfectly! He says "Ezra two now. Was one. Now two!" as he holds up the appropriate number of fingers.
Last week, I asked him to show my mom this and he did. Then Mom asked him, "what about this?" and held up three fingers. He looked at her fingers, then put his index finger to his cheek and said, "hmm... oh! a W!" Of course it was a W! He constantly amazes me by making these (profound) connections.
He can say just about anything (and some of his vocab! as he'd say, "it's ridiculous!" so many huge words). He picks up new worlds all the time. Like a few days ago, Seth was just mocking my "bizarre reaction" and of course, Ezra heard him say that and now what does Ezra say? "That a bizarre 'laction'!" And he uses it appropriately! Well, ok, he labels perfectly normal reactions "bizarre," but he uses the phrase to label reactions as if he truly knows what a reaction is. And I guess he does now.
Ezra tells stories and sings songs constantly. He's been narrating his (and our) actions for a few months now, but lately he's making up stories or retelling Curious George episodes and his activities at "Grandpa's house" (never Grandma's house"). (The constant narration hasn't stopped either, in case you were worried about that.) And his songs! He knows so many songs! I think his current song list includes most of the lyrics for the following list: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "The Alphabet Song" (he does know all his letters but doesn't usually sing them all... and he knows the tunes of these two songs are the same! he has such an ear for music already!), "London Bridge is Falling Down" (he likes making up his own verses, like "build it up with purple bricks"), "The Ants Go Marching," "I've Been Working on the Railroad," "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain," "Holy, Holy, Holy" and probably another 3-5 that I'm forgetting. Oh, like "I Love You" (the Barney theme song).
Ezra picks out and can put on and take off his own clothes for the most part. Now and then he can't take off his shirts... Of course, he definitely likes being naked the most. Since we're (kind of) potty training and it's warm out, he spends most of his days (and most days, since we're not going many places) naked, running around outside.
He thinks he's so independent and capable. He often gets his own food or helps make it. For example, he loves peanut butter and jam on tortillas. He calls them "jam butter tias". So, to make one, he runs to the fridge and gets the "red (strawberry) jam" and brings it to me while I get the peanut butter and tortilla. I hand him a butter knife and open the jars for him and he does a pretty good job of spreading. I wrap it up and he runs out to his table on the porch to eat.
I let Ezra help me with most things. If I didn't, I probably wouldn't be able to do whatever it was I needed to do because I'd then be supervising Ezra outside, etc. So to make him do laundry with me assures that I know where he is and what he's doing. He's so fast and so curious that, in the time it takes to do a load in the washer, he could easily have decided to scale some new height, etc. I don't feel comfortable leaving him to his own devices out of my sight. Ever.
Thankfully, Ezra loves to help me and does a good job of helping me. Yes, everything takes twice as long to do, but at least it usually gets done. To use doing laundry as an example, he picks up the dirty clothes and drops them into the washer (once I lift him up to do so) until it's full. Then he stands on the washer and holds down the button to release the detergent ("blue soap") and we count to five and then stop. Then I twist the knob to the appropriate cycle and Ezra pulls it out to start the cycle. We watch the water rush in and then he closes the lid for me and I lift him down again. It's apparently very exciting.
He also loves to help me in the kitchen. One of his favorite things to do is "mixing". Sometimes I just put water in a bowl and give him a spoon to "mix it". But he really does help mix batters, etc. He's much better about mixing gently enough that he doesn't spill much anymore. And he loves to crack eggs and use measuring cups. We often use a smaller cup size (like 1/4 cup instead of 1 cup) so that we can measure "more" and he can dump "more" (four times instead of just once). It keeps me on my mathematical toes. (Is that such a thing?)
One of the other ways "Ezra helping" (he still speaks in third person most of the time) is that he fetches things I ask for all the time. Like Isaac's diapers.
Ezra's pretty good at counting 1-5. He often forgets 6 though, and goes right on to 7-8-9. He certainly knows all his numbers and can easily point them out (like every time we drive past a speed limit sign, for example). But we haven't worked on counting 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 for a month or two and he's obviously forgotten.
As much as demands attention ("look at me!" "watch this!" "play with me!" 'let's ____!") he is learning to play independently for increasing amounts of time. He especially likes playing with his cars. He cutely lines them all up in a caravan and then pushes the last car in the line to make them all go, etc. He'll also just sing to himself ot tell himself stories. He never stops talking. Everything is narrated.
Ezra also tells "jokes" often. He thinks it's hilarious to call a girl a boy and a boy a girl... he full well knows the difference. He gets this funny expression on his face - a smirk with his nose scrunched up - and says, "Mommy a boy!" and then giggles. Then if someone else doesn't say "no, that's silly - Mommy's a girl" he will. His other favorite joke is to mix up red vs green vs yellow lights. He'll say "green light mean stop!" and giggle. And then, again, if someone doesn't correct him, he'll correct himself. And it doesn't work to ignore him - he'll keep repeating himself (and get louder) until someone acknowledges what he's saying.
He loves Isaac very much, and often says so. He also calls him "little buddy" and "baby brother" and once or twice has even called him "best friend". He kisses Isaac constantly and is always showing and telling Isaac something. "Isaac, look at me! I wearing a dress!" "Isaac, this a square." "Isaac, wolf huff puff BLOW house down!" "Isaac, know what? I love you." In fact, he's a little too interested in Isaac and has a hard time giving Isaac space.
He's a little goofball. Sweet as can be, most of the time, but always a bundle of energy.
