Golden Pig Tales

Ezra likes to hit the top of his new table while sitting on the table’s chair. The table and chairs are a cheap kids table we bought at Ikea now that Ezra’s love of the highchair appears to be fading because at times he fights with the highchair’s waist strap and pushes at the sides of the high chair and the tray of the highchair and the wooden strip separating the legs. We bought him a table for him to maybe use to serve him breakfast, lunch and dinner.

He did help assemble the table by tasting some of the long screws and unpacking the pieces from the box. …Ezra is very good at unpacking boxes and drawers and picking up screws when your attention is focused on assembling legs to a table top. …We assembled the table and chairs and then he sat on the chair then on the chair before the table. He sits on the chair though his feet do not touch the ground. He has yet to eat food while sitting at the table, but he did perform a couple of drum solos today while sitting before the table, so at the very least we have bought him a new instrument.

Ezra stuffed self with milk last night then spit-up. Soon after I brushed his teeth. While I was brushing his teeth, he put the toothbrush he was holding in his mouth in my mouth and began to brush my lower incisors and tongue.

I with held the desire to gag or spit out the bile covered tooth brush until I set down on to the sink the toothbrush I was using to brush his teeth, and then I helped guide Ezra to move the toothbrush he put in my mouth from my mouth to his mouth all with a smile and an after taste of stomach acid and -v-’s breast milk, so Ezra would still see the smile on my face and how much I love brushing teeth!

Some day Ezra will get to eat more blueberries. He was very happy to have a lot of them recently. They were in the big red colander on the counter. Ezra would point at the colander and make the noise he makes when he wants something. It’s sort of a grunt. The other day though, the colander was empty and hanging on the wall again. Ezra pointed at it and grunted, but I had to tell him that there were no more blueberries. He looked sad and blue.

Some day Ezra may be thankful to me for writing fewer blog entries. Kalab gets upset when I don’t write, but I bet Ezra will be happier when he’s a teenager that I didn’t write sometimes. He’ll look at me and point to the blog and grunt like all teenagers do, and I’ll know that he is happy I forgot to write about an embarrassing moment or two.

Goodnight Moon is a book Ezra brings to us to read and turn the pages for him. I don’t know if it is the pictures or the words or the way the thick pages taste in Ezra’s mouth that drives him to pick up Goodnight Moon and give it to -v- or I. Whatever it is, the book actually calms Ezra as -v- or I turn turn and read each page. He loves this book. And I hate it. I’ve read it TOO MUCH, and I never liked it before I read it TOO MUCH.

I don’t want to read Goodnight Moon any more. I don’t want to read it in that voice I some how manifest everytime I read it for Ezra. I don’t want to try and read the book as Ezra flips pages altering the flow and direction of the story as I try to read. I don’t want to read about the mush and the old lady saying hush. Nor do I care that there is red balloon in the green room and some cow jumping over the moon. And those mittens drying by the fireplace can burn. The kittens playing around the house need to grow up, become cats and catch the mouse spreading the plague around the room.

I secretly wish we would have let the book fall apart and not tape its binding with duct tape, so I could have reason to slowly hide its pages then slip the pages into the recycling bin, and then I wouldn’t have the book to read and reread and reread and reread… I don’t want to read Goodnight Moon, but Ezra does like the book and liking books, I believe, is a good thing even if I hate one of them and have to read it again and again and again and again…

While -v- and I are slowly trying to decrease Ezra’s allowed pacifier sucking time, so he isn’t the only kid in kindergarden sucking on a pacifier, we are taking away his pacifier during moments when it is obvious there is no teething that needs soothing. This taking away of pacifier has had some resistance, but overall is being accept by Ezra.

However, there are times like today when he feels he needs to have two pacifiers. One pacifier in mouth and another in his hand. And during these times taking either pacifier way will cause Ezra to become fussy.

This extra pacifier appears to serve not only as a spare pacifier incase the other falls out and rolls away under a piece of furniture out of reach, but also serves as another pacifier that may offer a new taste or maybe a dry start to the pacifier sucking experience. For what ever reason he wants to have two pacifiers in hand, it appears Ezra’s pacifier addiction may be increasing and not decreasing, so maybe he will be the only kid in kindergarden with a pacifier (or two).

Before slipping to sleep tonight, Ezra had bouts of fussy fits and long strings of drool slowly dripping from mouth to ground and chest.

For the past days, we have suspected some of the pain he has experienced was a result of molars pushing from his gums. And a couple of days ago Valerie claimed she saw what she believe to be a molar in Ezra’s mouth. While we both tried yesterday to see inside Ezra’s mouth, we were both unable to verify this belief for Ezra either didn’t open his mouth wide enough or was moving his tongue blocking any view from the upper gums, the location of the suspected molar.

Tonight, during a fussy fit, I think I was able to see the molar.

Ezra started a new daycare on Monday, and today was the end of his first week there. Overall, I think he liked it. Or at least, all I can do is hope he liked it and hope that we made a good decision to switch.  (It makes me feel a little guilty to say it, but the impetus for the switch was initially financial. When we went up to 4 days/week, KC charged us for full time, which was a ridonkulous amount of money. But then I started looking at other places and thinking about the different things Ezra could experience that would be fun for him and help him learn and grow into a good person, things that he might not necessarily get at the KC place just because of the way those places are set up and run. So after a lot of looking around, I found a small bilingual daycare sort of near our house, which had a smaller class size, more staff stability, and it was significantly cheaper. And bilingual!)

Ezra  has cried each morning when I drop him off, but that was the case at the KC too. When I come to get him in the afternoon, he has been very happy to see me, but that was also the case before. He has smiled and waved at the teachers when we are leaving, but he was starting to do that before as well. The teachers say he is a great kid and very active and playful and they are happy he is there with them…but that’s the same as before too. His naps are a bit erratic, but that is true unless he’s at home the whole day. So the only things that really seem to have changed are the new faces and places where Ezra spends his days. Well, that and the language thing.

Today Ezra couldn’t get nursed when he wanted to get nursed because -v- was cooking dinner for it was her night to cook dinner. Ezra gave all the signs of wanting to be nursed, but he didn’t get nursed, and he ended up carrying around a pillow following -v-. Time passed. Ezra was pacified with reading a book to him, chasing him around, climbing stairs and with a pacifier. We gave Ezra his water bottle, and he drank some water then tossed it aside. Then Ezra began carrying around the pillow again, but he still couldn’t be nursed. This time nothing stopped the fussy fit that followed.

The fussy fit that followed was loud and long and dramatic. He began with a whine that puttered to a pout then became a scream with crying shouts. Tears came and went. He did his dramatic flops around the ground when he lifts his hand high up in the air and lets out a long crying shout then swoops to the ground like he his giving his daily prayer or bowing to royalty.

We offered Ezra his water bottle and some milk in a bottle, but that wouldn’t stop is fussy fit that became more a test of wills and manipulation than it did about him getting nursed. Tears pooled at corners of eyes. There was on point, about three minutes into his fussing, that I looked at him as he was screaming and crying, and he stopped almost like he forgot why he was making all this noise. The small tears still stuck in corner of eyes faded. His red face went away. Then he began making loud noises again, but this time it was just noise to be loud and for attention. Soon the sound stopped. He found his water bottle, drank some water, found his pacifier and walk away silent.

Since Saturday, brushing Ezra teeth continues to be easy. Even tonight with a tired and fussy Ezra brushing his teeth wasn’t that difficult when compared to many many many other times when he wasn’t fussy and I tried to brush his teeth. Sure, I have to sing and perform the Brush Teeth Song, which goes some like…Brush, brush, brush. Brush, brush, brush. Brush, brush, brush…while I hop from one foot to the other with a big smile on face.

EZ-O has become so easy to brush that he even leaned his head back last night with mouth opened wide, so I could brush his upper teeth.

Ezra has created his own sign for milk! It is only used for “mama milk” - Ezra hasn’t yet developed a drinking relationship with cow’s milk and he currently only uses it to wash his hands or squirt on his high chair tray. The first time he did this was last week when Grandma O was here visiting. I had come home from work, and was sitting in the living room with Ezra, Grandma O, and Kalab.   Ezra walked over to the couch and grabbed a pillow - one that I have frequently used to prop him up while he is nursing. I thought maybe he was just going to flop down with it on the floor, but instead, he walked it over to where I was sitting, and practically threw it at me! Then he waved his arms in the way he does when he wants to be picked up. So I thought this was cute and decided that since he had figured out a way to ask me, I would let him nurse. This might have been a mistake. Now every time Ezra wants to nurse (which has been often the last few days because it’s been so hot and he is teething), he picks up a pillow and gives me the sign for milk. And if I refuse him, he gets sort of upset!

Ezra’s sign for “mama milk” is so great I wish I had it on video! Maybe Kalab can help with this.

To better show and tell Ezra how to brush teeth, and to distract Ezra with entertainment and props while I brush his teeth, I give Ezra a tooth brush when I brush his teeth. This has never helped me brush his teeth until tonight when he stuck the tooth brush he held in my mouth and brushed my teeth. Then he opened his mouth, and I was easily able to brush his top and bottom teeth. Then he brushed my teeth. And he smiled and kept smiling while I brushed his teeth.

I can only hope this happens more than just to night.

…Ezra’s brushing of my teeth was light brushes and chaotic movement that made me gag when he brushed for the molars. Even if I have to choke to brush Ezra’s without Ezra becoming fussy having tooth brush in mouth then I will choke.

The day began at 8:23. -v-, Ezra and I slept until then.

We woke.

-v- went to work.

Ezra and I play with books and blocks. We ate. We farted. We talked with sounds that I do not believe either of us know the meaning. We both took turns blowing into an old baby bottle to hear the different sound our voice made when we spoke into the old baby bottle. We laughed. He cried. He got fussy for sleep and pacifier. We looked at our belly buttons. He moved his toys through the rooms of the house. I picked them up. We played his alphabet drum. We ate some more. We sweat through the day for it was very hot. We drank water. He want to play some game where he would hit me then run away hoping for me to chase him. I told him he shouldn’t hit people then began to sing the song I Will Not Chase Ezra If He Hits Me. …We both waited for -v- to arrive home. And we both felt the joy of her arrival.

Ezra sleeps. And soon I will too…

Ezra had a follow-up doctor’s visit to check on the ear infection discovered on Monday. The follow-up visit was to determine if Ezra needed to get a prescription of White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium to fight off the ear infection or if the ear infection was being fought off by Ezra’s immune system. I am happy to write that, according to his doctor, Ezra’s immune system is fighting off the ear infection, so there was no White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium prescribed! WOO HOO!

Grandma O has been visiting with us for the last week. We had such good times with her. Grandma O, like many grandmas, likes to take photos. I just downloaded a shizzle of images off her memory card, and I had such a problem trying to pick which one was cutest. I think this one might be in my top 3 pics of Ezra so far, mostly because of the face (he’s got some like, Blue Steel face going on) but also, the onesie Grandma O found to put him in:

Ha Ha! It will be funny to show him this picture in the future, should he somehow grow up to be a raging neo-Con republican.

-v- took Ezra into the doctor’s on Monday for his big boy 1 year checkup and his shots. BUT, to our surprise, he has an ear infection. An ear infection that was the reason we were tired last week. It is the reason why he will be going to the doctor’s office on Thursday for a follow up check to see if the ear infection is going way. If it is then there won’t be any White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium. If the ear infection continues to grow then Ezra will be enjoying more White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium which he hates.

This is weird because we took him to the doctor’s office a month ago because we believed he had an ear infection, but he was only getting his molars. And while he is still getting in his molars, we attributed his fussiness to the molars, but it was in fact an ear infection.

Here is a gratuitous shot of Ezra with cake on his face at his birthday party : )