Golden Pig Tales

Some time during the past couple of days Ezra has been called Prince Ezra by -v- and I. I have been thinking this and calling him Prince Ezra for days. Days after needing to carry Prince Ezra around to prevent him from entering in to a fussy fit of snot and tears when X reason was causing Prince Ezra to be in a fussy fit of snot and tears. I have called him Prince Ezra after waking for the third or forth time during the night to try to calm a  crying and fussy Prince Ezra from calling out for his parents. I have called him Prince Ezra while he was sitting on his high chair throwing one toy after another on to the floor only wanting another toy to throw on the floor.

Now Prince Ezra sleeps. In fact, Prince Ezra may have gone back to the kingdom. His mood today is less Prince Ezra like and more like the Ezra I know and enjoy. The Ezra that doesn’t need to be attached to -v- or I to sleep, be calm, eat, sit, stand or exist. The Ezra that sleeps through most of the night. The Ezra that wakes with loud talking noises and not loud screams and shouts. The Ezra that smiles more than frowns.  The Ezra that sleeps through most the night for more than one night.

Only time will tell if Prince Ezra is truly gone. Even if Prince Ezra returns, I will love him all the same as I love Ezra. I am after all King.

Ezra fell asleep this evening while I was  talking on the phone with my friend Liz. We were talking about babies - maybe Ezra found it boring to hear me talk about him for so many minutes. This was about 7pm. I took him upstairs and put him in his crib, and he did not stir or wake up. He is still asleep - and it’s 8:26! I wish that Ezra would sleep tonight just as he slept last night - which was awesomely well! So…I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but it would be so nice for everyone.

Right now I am listening to Radio Lab on OPB, and there is a segment on a baby not sleeping. I have read lots of blogs and bulletin posts about baby sleep, and it makes me feel better that other people have problems with baby sleep just like us. I know that somewhere out there are people with babies who sleep and sleep and sleep all night long, but I haven’t read many blog posts about that. They aren’t blogging about their fortunate situation, probably because they are asleep.

Last night was weird because Ezra slept last night while -v- and I were still awake. The night was weird because Ezra was not tense many times during the night or call out many times during the night. For a few moments this morning, it was scary because I thought that something might be wrong with Ezra because he was still sleeping. Then I heard a cough from the room and the steady breathing from the monitor. He was sleeping.

-v- was telling me today how the people at daycare said Ezra was pleasant and fun to be around today. This is the same Ezra that was fussing in the morning, fussing in the car seat, and (according to -v-) a bit fussy when they arrived at daycare. Despite all these signs and the past days of Ezra getting a bit fussy because of a cough and teething, once he was around other people at daycare Ezra turned on his charm and chilled out. This is not the first time Ezra has been moody when only around -v- and I only to be fun and happy when around other people.

I am happy that Ezra has been said to have been good at daycare and when other people have watched him when Ezra was fussy with us, but it leaves me wondering how Ezra makes this change from fussy Ezra when he is around us to cute and happy Ezra when around other people. This is something -v- and I have noticed very often. It is almost like he transforms into a whole another baby sometimes when people are around. This is not to say that Ezra is often a fussy baby. That would be wrong for all in all Ezra is actually happy and smiling a lot with us. It is just that are times when we think there is no way he will be happy and smiling because of his current mood only to be proven wrong when people are around and he turns on his Ezra charm.

It is now silent.

Ezra was crying seconds ago.

Ezra had woken from sleep after sleeping for an hour. Ezra needed sleep, but Ezra wanted to remain awake with -v- and I.

Ezra is calm with -v-. He is not loud talking. He is not talking while he chews. There is not talking loud enough for me to hear. I believe Ezra is calm because -v- is near.

-v-’s method of calming Ezra to sleep requires less movement than my method of walking Ezra around until Ezra is bounced to sleep while perched on horizontal forearm. -v-’s method doesn’t cause a bad back.

I don’t know her method, but I do know her method will calm Ezra tonight. My method of calming Ezra will be for the the very early morning when Ezra and I walk around and stand and sit and talk and read and walk around with Ezra propped on a horizontal forearm to keep Ezra pacified right before I lay him down for a nap.

It is now silent. I know I will wake early. I think of sleep. Then I hear Ezra cough, and I am awake.

There is no denying that Tooth #4 is. Now it is seen with the other three front teeth poking out of the gums giving a clear future of Ezra looking like a beaver for a short time.

Now that the teething of Tooth #4 is complete and the tooth exists, the tension from the teething of Tooth #4 has faded, and Ezra seems to not be bothered by very intense teething during sleep or before sleeping.

Unfortunately, as soon as one cause of sleeplessness goes away another another comes to be. This time another daycare cough kept Ezra awake last night. The cough has been developing since Wednesday. Everything about Ezra’s health is good except for a cough that woke him up last night making everyone’s sleep shorter than wanted.

Tooth #4 is here and the daycare cough will fade, too, so maybe some time during the next week we will all sleep during the entire night for more than one night. I do believe, however, more teeth are soon on the way for he is beginning to try to shove objects further into the mouth to chew upon the deeper regions of the gums, so it could come to pass that we will not be sleeping the entire night for a few years.

Ezra has been training us to fetch his pacifier or a toy as he sits high upon his high chair.

He will suck on, wave around, or hit against the surface a pacifier or a toy while sitting in his high chair. Eventually, the object in his hands or mouth will drop and fall to the ground.

Ezra will then get fussy. His feet will fidget. His arms will sway. His face will become tense and wrinkled. Ezra will then begin to create high pitched, stressed, short sounds that sound like, „Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh,” while he reaches toward the last known location of the pacifier or toy. If he sees it on the floor below, he will reach for it.

Playing fetch with Ezra usually occurs while -v- and I are eating dinner, so minutes, usually seconds, after the object falls to the floor -v- or I will succumb to the clues of discomfort and retrieve the object that is on the floor and give it back. Then Ezra will suck on the object, bang the object on the surface or wave it around in the air then let it drop to the floor. This usually happens several times until we refuse him the object because we are trying not to play his game of fetch. We try to hide the object he just dropped. And if he whines, we give just let him whine, or we will give him another object to occupy his time. But when one is tired or eating or both, it is difficult to sit through the Tension of Ezra, so we give in to his desires.

We are trying not to play his game of fetch because some times his smile is too wide and bright when we fetch for him the object he dropped. A smile that is more coy and mischievous than happy for pure joy, so I beginning to think he is getting some sort of joy at manipulating his parents. I am sure this is only the beginning of Ezra trying to manipulate us.

We are all pushing for Ezra to birth Tooth #4 from gums. While aspects of Sleepy Ezra have returned to the house, and -v- and I have been sleeping for longer periods of time, Tooth #4 has not punctured the gums causing teething and fussiness and Sleeping Ezra to leave and be replaced by Fussy Ezra with a face covered with snot and spit. Thankfully, the tooth is about ready to burst through.

-v- and I are thankful that the pediatrician didn’t notice any bulges in the gums at yesterday’s checkup signifying that no more teeth are to begin to tear through Ezra’s gums anytime soon. We are thankful because -v- and I would like Sleepy Ezra to remain for a week or two while we rest up for the next teething bout or emergency or sickness or emergency-sickness.

Ezra’s 6 months old today! Happy 1/2 Birthday for my baby boy!

Ezra got to spend the morning of his birthday with grandma T - they had lots of stand practice and even went outside. Then I came home and we went to the doctor. Probably not the best birthday present ever. Ezra is 16.07lbs, 27.5″ tall, and has a 17.5″ head circumference. Yay! He got 2 more immunization jabs, and only cried for about 5 seconds, then smiled at the nurses before they left the room : )

Here is Ezra not with happy-birthday-flowers, but with the get-well-soon-flowers-that-are-taller-than-he-is we got from Extensis last week (and all the other junk on the table).

Yay, yay, it’s Ezra’s birthday today!

Yay, yay, it’s Ezra’s birthday today!

Yay, yay, it’s Ezra’s birthday today!

An amazing event occurred yesterday. I was making a video of EZ-O’s crazy tongue action and trying to get the state of his growing teeth on full motion video. Without expecting it, EZ-O, a blossoming beatbox artist,
used two of his natural tools to create a new sound. A sound that was a progression of skillz that came together to create a new skillz.

First there was the skill of a new beatbox sound created with lips.

Second there was the skill of moving the tongue all crazy after the discovery of the tongue.

NOW, he has created and preformed an new skill and sound with these skillz:

This sound was a sound that was long in coming. It has been a sound that both -v- and I have helped him train by example to expand his beatbox performance. Now I can write and say to the world that a beatbox master he is becoming.

-v- and I watched Escape From L.A. list night with Ezra in his bedroom. Ezra, like Snake Plissken after escaping New York and escaping L.A., needed some sleep. Ezra did not see Snake Plissken Escape from L.A. because he was sleeping after taking to breast.

At 2:30 I escaped from sleep. Ezra was just making talking noise. Then at 3:45 A.M. I left the bed, so Ezra could get some more sleep close to -v- because he woke with lots tension.

The source of tension, we believe, is teething and possible memories of him vomiting more than once in Ezra’s Bedroom and all over his bed, which could be making him not want to sleep in Ezra’s Bedroom. For Snake Plissken the tension to make sleep difficult was and will be New York and L.A. was and will be too intense for sleep, and Snake Plissken has bombs in his body while in New York and he will believe he has a virus in his body that is going to kill him while in L.A..

Something has happened to Sleepy Ezra. During the past week, Sleepy Ezra was replaced by Awake Ezra, who wants to stay up two to three hours more  per night and only take naps that last minutes and not hours. While it is great fun to hangout with Awake Ezra, Awake Ezra becomes Fussy Ezra then Screaming Ezra when we lay him down for sleep time. Awake Ezra is further awakened possibly by Tooth #4 pushing through the gums as I write, so we are hoping that after Tooth #4 pushes through that he won’t be getting any more teeth for a few days or weeks, so maybe Sleepy Ezra returns, and we can get some sleep.

Ezra has returned to his normal fluid output, which means lots of drool and some spit-up. And the diarrhea has almost been pooped out! AND the rash that was developing is fading to normal skin color, so when I changed his diaper tonight I got the usual smiling and kicking instead of screaming and crying of a rash.

Of course, now Valerie and I are getting over having a touch of the stomach flu like sickness Ezra had. We also found out that at the same time Ezra was vomiting that another fellow daycare friend was vomiting for similar reasons, so the vomit and diarrhea seems to be another daycare contracted sickness.