When I got to pre-school yesterday, the kids were playing with these little multi-colored plastic toy animals. Ezra had a small family of bunnies and 1 gorilla. The other kids had their own little zoos. I noticed that one kid Ax was putting the animals in his mouth and chewing on them, but that wasn’t a surprise because this kid puts everything in his mouth and chews on it. Ezra and I went home and started to think about dinner. I asked what we should have, and Ezra said that he wanted eggs. So I got out some eggs and started to cracking. As I was whisking the eggs, Ezra looked at me and said “don’t eat animals”. And I said….”hmmm”. I was wondering whether he had gotten some go veg literature from someone somewhere. I asked him who told him not to eat the animals, and he said “Ax no eat animals” Then he went to the fridge and pointed at the cow magnet that he got from Grandma and Grandpa T, and said again “don’t eat animals”…”eat food”. Maybe he was thinking about how Ax was chewing on the animals at pre-school, and maybe the teacher told him not to eat the animals? Because I don’t think Ezra realizes yet that meat and eggs are animals, because he happily sat down to eat the eggs I made for him.
Where once we gave Ezra M & M’s to remain still while -v- trimmed his hair, now he seems to want it before bed like it’s brushing his teeth. For the second night in a row, Ezra wanted his hair trimmed before bed, so he went into the guest room where we trimmed it for the first trim and sat on the blue plastic box like he did during the first trim and then asked for a trim. So -v- trimmed a bit of hair, and Ezra smiled.
Ezra asked to sit on the potty tonight after I had put him in his crib to go to sleep. He sat down on the potty for about 20 seconds, then got up and wanted to put his diaper back on. So we did, and he went back to bed. Then about 5 minutes later, he wanted to sit on the potty again. This time, he sat on the potty for about 2 minutes, when all of a sudden, I heard the sounds of pee pee in the potty! We were both very excited and we turned on the big light in the room and I did a pee pee dance and Ezra got up and pointed to the pee pee in the potty and said “I did it!” I was sad that Kalab was not there to see it, but I did take pictures. The jubilation turned to tears after about 10 minutes though, when we had to figure out what he wanted to wear. And then there were more requests to sit on the potty with no results. So, now, while I am excited about Ezra going potty in the potty for the first time, I wonder if bed time is going to end up getting stretched out longer and longer, because now he could really have to go potty!
Ezra’s wondering what Ezra’s doing or where’s Ezra going by saying aloud, ,,What’s Ezra doing?” or, ”Where’s Ezra go?” This is said from morning to night and nearly every time we answer. We answer walking to the backyard, eating cereal, coloring, playing with trains, going toward the bathroom, playing with blocks, looking at books, going to the park, going up the stairs, eating noodles, brushing teeth…
While I don’t find the questions annoying, I do hope by the time he hits adolescence he no longer talks third person about himself for nothing annoys me more than a person talking third person about themselves. When Ezra does it now, it is cute.
He wants to lick his hands free of liquid soap when washing hands. He likes to drink soapy bath water. He sucks suds from wash cloth and likes it.
I suppose the liquid soap does look similar to the food condiments that we use for food, so I don’t fault him for wanting to try soap nor would I believe he liked soap if he happened to lick or try to lick the liquid soap from his hands once or twice, but he wants to lick his hand free of soap every time he washes hands rather than rinse the hands free of soap with the water flowing from faucet.
The easiest way to get Ezra to change his diaper or put on shorts or take off shorts or shirt, socks, shoes without fuss is for me ask Ezra if I could change or put on his article of clothing with the article of clothing in hand. He will then grab the article of clothing and say, ,,No, mama do it.” Ezra will then allow -v- to change or put on the article of clothing, and he won’t fuss.
This has been a fail proof method that works even when -v- has tried to put or change an article of clothing and gets a fussy reaction from Ezra. All I need to do is take the article of clothing from -v- and say, ,,Ezra can I put on your shirt?” Then Ezra will take the cloth of article from me and say, ,,NO, Mama do it,” and then give the article of clothing to -v- and let her change or put it on without fuss.
I don’t know why this is. -v- and I suspect it could be what seems to be some competition between he and I for -v-.
Today had been the first time in weeks Ezra had a bath with Mr. Bubbles, so I gave him a little extra bubble.
Today had been the first time Ezra pooped in the tub that I know of.
I cleaned the poop and Mr. Bubble. Hand and towel scooped poop that floated around the tub like it was a fish. One poop separated as I scooped it with paper towel and hand. Those chucks of poop streaked the tub and mixed with Mr. Bubble. Then the poop gathered in the drain. Bleach cleaned the steaks. A paper-towel-covered finger cleaned the poop from drain.
I was thankful the water and Mr. Bubble hid the fragrance.
Maybe it’s when he pushes on me and says, ,,Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnno,” with a long dramatic push, when I try to help him instead of -v- like today when I said I would pick him up from the ground because -v- was cooking, and Ezra wanted to be picked up. Maybe it is when he gives me the hand and says, ”No,” when I say I will watch videos with him instead of -v-. Maybe it’s the squirming and fussing he has when I try to get him out of the car seat instead of -v-.
He says these Nos and Don’ts when it involves me doing something with him instead of -v-, I feel, because by me doing it means he will have less time with -v-. I feel as if he feels I am taking time from -v-, like I am competing for -v-’s time.
If I were a religious person, I would have believed tonight Ezra had a daemon inside. It wasn’t the uncontrollable crying. It wasn’t the snot covering his face and the tears streaming down his cheeks and dripping from chin. It wasn’t the crying and speaking that made him sound like he was speaking tongues. It wasn’t his flopping on the ground to prevent either -v- or me from picking him up to change his diaper before sleep. It was all of this during on instant of him in the corner of his room with the lamp light hitting him just right and him screaming, ,,NO, NO, NO, NO!!!” with his head twisting madly side to side to side.
Whatever the pharmacists put in Ezra’s Amoxicillin and Clavulanate Potassium for his ear infection has got him reaching for it when the fridge is open. It is like his new dessert. Gone are the times when we would have to try to shoot the stuff into his mouth as he twisted head side to side then hope he wouldn’t spit it all out. No longer. Now he wants it. He will even calm down from a fussy mood if he sees the syringe full of Amoxicillin and Clavulanate Potassium. Even after all of it has been injected into his mouth he will like the syringe wanting every last drop. Too bad for him that he only has a few days left of taking Amoxicillin and Clavulanate Potassium.
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.
For some crazy reason, it seems, when Ezra eats hot dogs he has a span of time after when he gets crazy. And I mean crazy by running around talking and playing and generally trying to practice to become a stuntman. This is behavior -v- and I have witnessed and noted during the past months and monitored closely during the past weeks. This behavior and our belief hot dogs juices Ezra to excitement was proved again tonight after I fed him a hot dog for dinner. As usual, he ate all the hot dog then he began running around, wanting to fall backward on the couch without concern of if he will land on the couch. He ran here and there. He chased the cats around. …Of course, this behavior isn’t too far from Ezra’s normal behavior. It just feels that after eating a hot dog he is a little more excited or juiced to take the playing to the next level.
During these past days while we have all been trapped inside the house Ezra has walked Valerie and I to the bathroom four or five times a day to brush teeth.
He won’t exactly brush his teeth, but rather he wants his tooth brush topped off with a kid friendly toothpaste, so he can suck the toothpaste from the tooth brush and sort of move his tooth brush over his teeth as he watches Valerie and I either brush our teeth or act like we are brushing are teeth.
We are able to help him actually brush more than his front teeth throughout the day, so it is worth the time. And it is kind of cute and a good habit for the future if he wants healthy teeth and gums and fresh breath.
Ezra takes his sippy cup, turns it upside down and shakes out water on a plate or on top of his table. Then he slams an open palm in the spreading pool of water and watches the splash. Then this action is performed again until either there is no more water or inspiration has waned.
He also likes to take some of his food from his food plate and put it in an empty cup. Then he takes his sippy cup and shakes water from the sippy cup to the inside of the cup with food. He will then look inside the cup and reach inside mixing the food and water together. Most the time he is satisfied with leaving the mixture of Food Art and Water Art in the cup, but other times he wants to use a different canvas, so he spills the cup’s contents upon a flat surface allowing the food and water to flow and the art to spread.
At first, I would criticize his Water Art regardless if it was on his plate, his table or the floor. But now, after following the wisdom of -v-, I have chosen to limit my criticism of Ezra and only criticize his expression when his canvas is the floor.
Ever since we took down the last gate, Ezra has been hanging out in the restroom that the gate had prevented Ezra from entering. Now, this restroom is his new favorite place.
The restroom is his new favorite place because he includes it as a place to go when he is running around the house. It is his new favorite place because he goes in the restroom often and closes the door and waits for someone to knock before he opens the door, and he can wait and wait and wait. It is new favorite place because he can stand inside and look around and look around and look around and look around. It is his new favorite place because for the past days he has the desire to eat and play in the restroom, which we have not allowed, which causes for Ezra to fuss and whine.
I realize that after a life time of seeing people step over the gate and step into the restroom and shut the door has likely created in Ezra’s mind a fascination for the restroom. Little does he realize what really goes on when other people are inside the restroom is not eating and playing, but rather pooping and peeing, but he is learning for the restroom is also a place he likes to enter when other people are inside using it.