Sunday, March 8, 2009

Gross Motor Skills (and Spitzer Motor Skills)

I (Gabe) write this post knowing that there's a limit to how much mass appeal a baby's granular developmental advances have for people who aren't that baby's parents or grandparents. For example, to us it's a big deal that Ezra tried sweet potatoes today (his first tuber!). Not sure if this merits others' attention exactly, but we'll go ahead and report them anyway. 

Today we had some distinct verbal progress. Ezra's vocalizations thus far have consisted mostly of grunts, moans, raspberries,  coos, chirps, screams and more raspberries. Today, we began to hear some telltale consonant-vowel pairings: mostly "da" and "boo." The Gettysburg Address is sure to follow shortly. 

Also, he seems to be getting his manual dexterity on. As you can see in the video below, he's getting pretty sophisticated in his ability to manipulate objects, and seems to have discovered what his wrists do. He also managed a few pincer-like grasps of small objects between his thumb and forefinger. 


The Briscoe clan visited us this weekend. You'll recall they're our friends from Wisconsin that we visited recently (see posting on Feb. 1). They provided us a glimpse of the future (or one of our possible futures), in the persons of their two wonderful, exuberant, sweet and highly energetic boys. We did our best to keep up with Arthur and David, and they kept Ezra in thrall. We
 gallivanted around downtown Chicago in the pouring rain, and went to the top of the Hancock Tower, which was completely enshrouded by clouds. All of the boys had big fun, and Ash and I really enjoyed connecting with Pat and Sarah (the brood's owners). 
The visit reminded us that the term "parenting" encompasses a whole hell of a lot. Parenting Ezra is very, very different from parenting a 5 year-old, which is completely different from parenting a teenager or, say a 32-year-old. It  hardly seems like the same term should apply. I think that we will never, ever be bored again. 

Much love, 
Gabe, Ash and Ez

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