Golden Pig Tales

According to the Doctor, Ezra has no hint or symptom of having croup, so playcare needlessly quarantined Ezra.

Ezra was in good spirits today. He and I had a few hours of alone together time as -v- was out. It was good fun because I was parent number 1. When he wanted to be picked-up, he reached for me. When wanted some one to read him a book, he gave it to me. When he wanted to run around the house, he ran with me. All this fun with a non-croup infected Ezra.

-v- had to pickup Ezra from playcare early today after he was suspected of being the virus vector of giving croup to some infant at playcare because Ezra coughed a few times during the morning. This is something that has never happened before because typically only a fever was reason to get him quarantined, which is understandable, but what I find not understandable is that I have observed many times the whole playcare flock of kids creating a cough symphony, and the fact is that the many colds and coughs I have had in the past year I can point to playcare as the origin of the cold or cough. And now Ezra can’t return until the doctor gives the OK because some infant caught croup. …Before I write fuck more times than needed, I leave the words be…

Ezra has a girlfriend at playcare. She is the only person at playcare that he mentions, which is done by him saying her name a lot everyday. He says her name in the morning after waking up. He says her name during morning snack. He says her name on the ride to playcare. He says her name on the way from playcare, during dinner, during play time and before bed. During the weekend he mentions her name for what seems like every hour. Sometimes he will repeat it over and over and over.

And though I have never seen his girlfriend nor him interact with his girlfriend, -v- says she is cute, and that it is cute when they both see each other at playcare. From what -v- says, they both scream with excitement and smile and Ezra then becomes shy and hides against -v-’s legs.

Ezra is awesome and I love him more than just about anything. The past few days, however, Ezra has been super mom-clingy and moody. Ever since we went back to daycare after our extended holiday/snowday “staycation”, Ezra has seemed to revert to being a superfan of mom and only mom. He gets upset when dad is the one who walks in his room in the morning. He is upset when I am not the one to soothe him when he takes a tumble. He gives me a scowl and furrowed brow when I say bye bye at playcare in the mornings. He screams and cries when he does not get his way in the realm of toys or food or diaper changing. I am hoping that this is a short-lived phase, but think it could be the start of the terrible twos?

Ezra has been awake for an hour and a half. He has been smiling and laughing and pointing and talking and looking at things. He has sat and walked and ran. He has ate.

It has been calm with only a little fuss from Ezra when -v- wouldn’t let him stand on a chair.

Just now -v- had to stop him from drawing with crayon on the window. He didn’t even put up a fuss like he would when he is sleepy after a day of playcare.

Is this what I miss when he is at playcare and  I am at work?

Ezra went with Kalab and I on a field trip Sunday morning to get his pumpkin for Halloween. We went out to the farmlands, to a place that has a big pumpkin patch, along with a animal barn, hay rides, and a corn maze. So much to do! Ezra got to run through the dirt and pumpkin strewn fields and find the greatest pumpkin out there:

A good time was had by all, even though we did not go on the hay ride, or through the corn maze.

Today Ezra and I were home alone, due to daycare being closed in “observance” of Columbus Day (like, huh?) and Ezra would go up to his pumpkin every hour or so and pat it, or try and sit on top of it. I can’t wait until next weekend when we get to the carving!

We were climbing stairs. We were halfway up the stairs, and he wanted to nurse and a nap and wanted to walk down the stairs. I helped him walk down the stairs then he walked to -v-.

He is now napping between two square pillows on floor between -v- and me.

Applesauce, oatmeal cereal, yogurt. A banana and Cheerios. Beans and vegetables.

Ezra is doing pretty well with the walking - able to take several steps on his own to get from point A to at least part of the way to point B.  At daycare, the kids who are walking or almost walking are the “Wobblers”.  The daycare ladies all shorten this to “Wobs” and today I talked with the daycare ladies who told me that Ezra would be a Wob soon! He spent his afternoons there this week, and will likely soon make the transition to being there all day. The daycare ladies also told me that they think Ezra’s started walking early to spend time with Norah - who is a little older and more mature, and a total Wob.

Today was the first day I dropped off Ezra at daycare without being with -v-. I had to make a song of the security code and the food instructions to remember what to write to fill out the log book, fill out the daily daycare sheet and food labels.

I had to set Ezra down once I got into the daycare room and fill out his daily daycare sheet. Ezra then cried and crawled to me. I picked Ezra up and completed the daily daycare sheet. After that I set him down by some of his daycare friends, and I finished getting his food and bottles labeled and stored.

Ezra began to adjust by the time I left the daycare room. His attention had been on the other kids and the daycare people, so there were no tears.

As I was putting on my shoes, I panicked and forgot if I had set out the milk bottles with the nipples on the counter by the fridge where they should be, and I went back into the daycare room really fast to check and seen I had set the milk bottles out then I tried to leave without Ezra seeing me, but Ezra seen me, and Ezra began to cry and cry and crawled to me, and he was picked up by another, and he reached for me in a fit of tears as I was leaving.

Yes, I was sad he was crying, but I have to admit it felt good to be cried for. It felt good to be reassured that I am at least number 2 in Ezra’s life, and as long as -v- is number 1 then number 2 is good for me.

Almost a week after Ezra came home with an ‘Incident/Accident Report for Parent’ for teething on another kids hand, -v- and I noticed yesterday while changing Ezra that he had a set of bite marks on his shoulder like some four toothed child vampire went for the jugular but is still unskilled and sucked on the shoulder instead. The skin wasn’t broke just bruised with four tiny red marks, but considering Ezra was wearing a shirt the baby vampire did some pretty serious teething on Ezra’ s shoulder.

Now, a week after Ezra’s ‘Incident/Accident Report for Parent’, I am imagining a bunch of kids teething on each other at daycare.

Ezra came home with an ‘Incident/Accident Report for Parent’ today. The ‘Nature of Incident/Accident’: ‘Ezra bit a classmate on the hand.’ ‘Action Taken’: ‘I gave him a teething toy and redirected his attention.’

This happened around 1:00 P.M. today. Fortunately, the situation wasn’t too serious, and -v- and I will makes sure Ezra knows that biting people is not socially accepted behavior.

-v- and I are wondering which kid it could be. There are a couple of kids that we have spied pulling on Ezra’s ear or taking a toy away from Ezra and hope that any bitting was done to them. There was this one kid today whose mom accidently tripped Ezra, and then her kid took Ezra’s playing area while Ezra sat fussing on the ground, and I have thought that I hope it was her kid Ezra bit even though the kid was a girl, but I have not told Ezra this for Ezra must learn bitting people is bad.

Ezra is officially a category 2 Infant! He’s moving up in the ranks of daycare.
Today was Ezra’s first day as a full resident of the Infant 2 room. This is the room with the mobile, solid-eating babies. Now Ezra can crawl and pull up on things without having to worry about getting hung up or tripped up on all the little immobile baby bodies scattered across the floor of the Infant 1 room. Now Ezra can sit in a high chair next to other babies eating solid foods rather than sitting alone across the room in the high chair in Infant 1. He’s also been reunited with Even. Even and Ezra were often laying or sitting next to each other, playing with toys back in Infant 1, and Ezra seemed kind of sad when Even left because Even started crawling. Even doesn’t freak out when Ezra makes noize, and Even is just as grabby as Ezra. I think Even is Ezra’s first friend!

Ezra was sitting by Baby J today while I was getting all his stuff put away. Ezra started screeching and making his Orca sounds, while reaching out towards Baby J and trying to grab him. J started crying! His mom was there, and said that usually he’s the loud one. But once she left, Miss M told me that Ezra did that to J last week too! And J is just really sensitive, she said.

I hope Ezra’s not turning into a bully!

Kalab reminded me that today is St. Patrick’s Day, and maybe Ezra was trying to pinch J because he wasn’t wearing green! In honor of the day, Ezra wore his Packers outfit. “Or maybe Ezra put the Pack Attack on him,” Kalab said.

[note, picture not taken today]

Besides the fact Grandparents mean I love you when said or written to Ezra and the daycare says and writes We Love Ezra to be polite for getting paid, Grandparents have more fun with Ezra, and Ezra is happier and more excited after a day with grandparents.

-v- was telling me yesterday after returning from daycare details about daycare I have noticed too (now that she mentioned it): the other kids at daycare wear pants and shirts with socks and shoes while Ezra wears a baby body suit most of the time.

The baby body suit is the type of outfit babies wear when sleeping or lounging around the house. I equate it to a babies version of sweats and a sweater, but with 70’s body suit twist.

The baby body suit is one piece like a onesie but is thicker and has longer sleeves and leggings that have feet on the end, so Ezra can have warm feet and not wear socks. The one piece outfit also helps Ezra’s body heat to remain trapped and circulate through out the baby body suit for it is one piece of clothing. If Ezra needs a change of diaper, the baby body suit is easier to access than pants with socks with maybe a onesie underneath. The body suit is great for sleeping, and in my mind it is great for daycare too.

Until -v- mentioned that all the other kids are wearing ‘real’ cloths like button up shirts, pants, socks and shoes (even thought they don’t walk) at daycare, I didn’t care. After she mentioned the kids not wearing baby body suits my mind began to remember the same details I have noticed when dropping Ezra off in the mornings.

Most of the kids are older, but not by much, so now we feel Ezra shouldn’t be dressed in his baby body suits for daycare. Ezra needs to become part of the system like everyone else and the sooner he becomes adjusted to wearing shoes and socks and pants and shirts and not wearing the baby body suit then the sooner we can begin to show him how to dress for the system. I would hate for Ezra to want to wear body suits with feet on the legs and cute animals on his feet forever.