Golden Pig Tales

Ezra likes dump trucks. Ezra likes to dump water, juice, plates of food, dirt, peaches and toys. The toys he dumps from his big dump truck he received for Christmas, which he sometimes also uses to dump dirt when he takes the toy truck outside. Everything else is either dumped with hand, plate, bowl or cup. We have been showing him and telling him and reminding him not to dump water outside of the tub or sink; not to dump dirt in the house; and please don’t dump your food from plate to bowl thereby playing with your food. No matter the substance dumped, nearly everytime he is dumping something, he says, ,,Dump it. Dump it,” at least twice. There are times when he will say, ”Dump it, dump it, dump it, dump it, dump it…” the entire dumping cycle.

Valerie had playcare save Ezra poop diaper to see if Ezra pooped a plum pit for we suspected he swallowed a plum pit.

We pulled apart the poop. -v- found two cherry seeds, and I found the plum pit. The cherry seeds were a poop surprise because it seems like it has been weeks since he’s had cherries.

We will be getting Melissa and Doug’s Swivel Bridge Train Set

He should enjoy it. Now it needs only get here in time! 10 MORE DAYS!!!

It was a rare moment today when Ezra didn’t have a peach or plum clasped in his sticky fingers. It was just as rare for him to have fingers that didn’t pick up fur and dirt particles because he wanted to play a game of run around after eating a peach or a plum.

Good thing is that his skill at washing hands in the sink by himself is improving after being asked many times these past days to wash his hands after he has devoured another peach. He can preform all the needed tasks to wash hands, but he still needs to be reminded sometimes that he can’t play with the water for it is wasteful.

Ezra and I went for a roll in the car. We went to the bank. got a snack. Walked in the park. He slide down slides and swung on swing. We drove past the trains along the way home.

Ezra is going to be 2 in two weeks! I’ve started talking with him about his birthday, and how Gramma O is going to come visit, and he’s going to have some cake. I think he kind of just equates birthdays with cake, rather than aging. Maybe we should all just look at birthdays that way. Anyway, he seems excited because he also knows that when Gramma O comes back again, we will go to the amusement park! He sees the amusement park every day we go to playcare, and I can tell he is just dying to find out what this place is all about. Hopefully the birthday will live up to his expectations, whatever those might be.

I have thought to get Ezra lots of LEGOS for his second birthday, but I reason that I will wait to buy small and very small blocks until he stops putting everything in his mouth to substitute for his bedroom binky. I have thought of getting him a wooden train set for he does like trains and the process of towing. I have thought of creating him a music catalog of some of the songs he has enjoyed during these past two years. I have thought to maybe buy him some gold or a bond for play during later life. I am thinking…

Ezra wanted to go down the steps of the back porch by himself. He insisted. He’s descended many steps before. This time he misstepped despite being a Stair Master 2.

I turned in time to see it: Ezra’s face fall flat and first upon a wooden step. There was a THUMP. …And I dropped his toy dump truck and the bike helmets and picked up Ezra and walked around with Ezra as he fussed, cried until we found -v-. This was yesterday.

Today, his nose is a bit big and there are bruises. But his nose is not broke, and there was no blood. There was no concussion. There is no other obvious damage, but I feel bad. I feel bad because I didn’t catch him before he fell. I feel bad because I couldn’t help. I only hope his cute nose returns to normal after the slight swelling fades and the bruises disappear. I hope I resist the urge to insist he hold my hand down steps until he is five.

Ezra attended his first ever da vinci days gathering this weekend. As Kalab said, this experience included the Daddies show on Friday night. It also included more music, ice cream, french fries, bouncy walks, mazes, balloons, walking, carrying, running, crying, almost losing a binky, an aborted trip to the wave science research center, bike-sculptures shaped like cats, slugs, tiki bars, and other weird things, a lot of fish art, and several trips to the new Corvallis transit bus that was on display at the entrance to da Vinci days. All this in just 2 days!

I think Ezra’s favorite part was where we sat on this new bus, and I sang many many different verses of “wheels on the bus”

Ezra’s experienced his first concert last night. He did groove out for a few minutes, but had more fun playing with a balloon while the stage was being setup for the show. I did take him up near the stage to dance with me until he said the music was too loud. Then he finished the concert laying on the ground away from the stage on our blanket.

Someday, I will explain to him what what the name Cherry Poppin’ Daddies means.

Ezra may have become a Stair Master more than a year ago, and now he is a Stair Mater 2.

Yesterday, he earned his second Stair Master title after climbing and descending stairs without supervision from -v- and me. We were eating dinner, and he was roaming around. We heard him from afar asking something. I walked up the stairs to find him wanting into his room for he is still unable to open the high, old and stiff door knob. He entered his room, but refused me entry. He wanted -v- in his room, but not me. We wanted to eat, so we went back downstairs. Soon Ezra followed thus completing his solo ascent and descent of the steep wooden stairs without knowledge or supervision.

We still don’t have gates installed before the up and down entrances of the steep wooden stairs.

Ezra wanted his mommy, but he only had me because mommy needed some Mommy Alone Time as daddy has had his Daddy Alone Time.

Ezra still wanted his mommy because my explanation wasn’t enough, so much so that he began to call me mommy soon after -v- left and saying, ,,Hi, mommy.” He did this with a smile after fits of tears for MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY! He called me mommy over and over and over again, which was fine with me because he wasn’t screaming it. He did begin to scream it again after he realized the real mommy was not home.

I was able to subdue Ezra with Sesame Street and potato chips, but after I stopped feeding potato chips and after I stopped playing Sesame Street Ezra wanted his mommy again.

He let me know it. He cried, fussed, told me, ”No,” when I tried to change his diaper and put on his night time cloths. He screamed a scream many horror movie directors would love to dub into the films for me simply telling him that mommy wasn’t home right now.

There was nothing I could think to do, but let him cry. So we stayed in his room as he cried, as he sucked on his binky and as he soon fell asleep.

Mommy will be home for him during the morning. Then I will be daddy again.

Ezra tells me to, ,,Wait,” at the top of the steep and carpetless stairs for him to descend. Then he steps to the stairs, looks back to make sure I am far from the top of the stairs. He waits to makes sure I won’t be following him then he steps down.

Each step makes me nervous. He lifts foot and slowly lowers foot to the next stair. He leans against the wall and leans back while slowly bending the knee. The foot hits the stair below and the other foot slips from under and steps to the stair below with butt hitting the stair above. Then he stands.

When he is standing at stair’s edge, I get the most nervous because sometimes he just stands and stares and looks around. And while he looks around, I look at him and say, ,,Be careful, Ezra.” Then he says, ,,NO, DADDY. Wait.” He takes another step and another then another until he is at the bottom and then I am no longer worried he will miss step and fall head-first from wooden stair to wooden stair to wooden stair. Then I realize Ezra is grown-up and if anything I am going to cause him to lose focus and fall down the stairs because I am calling out his name and saying to him every step, ,,Be careful, Ezra.”

In an effort to entertain Ezra with videos from YouTube, I find my self thinking of things Ezra would enjoy, and I haven’t been very good at it. -v- was the one who found the garbage truck videos, the skate boarding videos, the firetruck video, the Trains Across America videos and many of the Sesame Street videos he use to watch. Then the other day after watching the garbage truck videos, I went through the list of things he wanted to watch, but he kept saying, ,,No.” Then a moment of inspiration over came me: MONSTER TRUCKS.

Now Monster Trucks are a subject he wants to watch daily. And for me it brings back memories of my child hood. It has been years since I had seen Bigfoot CRUSH and SMASH cars….

…What’s really cute is that Ezra says things like, ”Oh no,” and gets all worried and concerned when the monster truck rolls over or loses a tire not knowing that it’s all part of the show.

We got new garage doors finished today, so now we can actually put stuff in the garage. I told Ezra that we were getting new garage doors so we could put stuff in the garage. Stuff like our bikes.

We went on a ride this evening and went to the park. We played on all the equipment and ran around in the grass, and then we continued to ride a little more. As we approached the garage, Ezra asked “bikes garage?” and I said “Yes!” So we opened up the doors and put the bikes inside, with Ezra’s helpful assistance. Then we closed the doors and said bye bye to the bikes and the garage. Hopefully when we go back to the garage tomorrow to get the bikes to go on another ride, they will not be covered in cobwebs or gnawed on by rats, as I really don’t know what might happen in that garage.

Ezra woke early. I reasoned he went night-night early, so he might wake early. I was walking up stairs with loud steps to go see if Ezra was awake and ready for the day. -v- Shhh’d me for Ezra was going back to sleep.