(Never) Mind Your Manners

Dad here, and I fear that we have reached the stage where we are at risk of being banned from several neighborhood restaurants. Some time ago we enjoyed a tasty brunch at a local place called Pauline's. The outdoor table was too small to move our food out of Ezra's reach. So toast, pancakes, hash browns and egg were fodder for merry destruction. He'd reach over and grab fistfuls of flapjack, and knead them vigorously into a dough ball and mill the oozy stuff through his clenched fingers. He'd bite creamer cups until they popped. By the time we left, the floor around our table looked like a compost heap.

So it seems we've reached a new phase of toddlerhood, wherein we dine at home. Not that meals here are much better. We've wondered from time to time when the appropriate point is to begin teaching table manners. The video below offers some hint as to what we're up against:

Though it's not obvious in the video, Ezra has made some progress in establishing a few socially acceptable eating habits. He's finally managed to take charge of his sippy cup (though he still chucks it on the floor now and then), and he's actually learning to use a spoon -- only, he doesn't always use it for eating. Sometimes he uses it as a drumstick, makeup applicator or pry-bar. But we take these as steps in the right direction.

He continues to home in on walking. He's taken wobbly steps a few times, and can stand for long stretches unassisted. In speech-related news, he's added a few words as well: "baby," "taco" (seriously), "bath" and possibly "water" round out the vocabulary. He also enjoys picking up objects -- remote controls, wallets, etc. -- and holding them to his ear as if they are a telephone. We've had some delightful conversations and we're thinking of adding him to our "Friends and Family" plan.

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OK, a few hours have passed since I began this post, and we just wrapped up putting the child to bed. We have a big Curious George book that we open up occasionally. It's one of those sorts that has no story, just a page of, say, different animals or fruits or tools or whatever, labeled. There's a page of vehicles, and we started asking him to point to different ones. "Ezra, where's the motorcycle?" Nailed it. "Ezra, where's the boat?" Bingo. Over and over -- train, truck, tractor. It's just wild -- I had no idea he knew some of those concepts. We've been reading to him since day one, and I got kind of used to the idea that he abstractly

enjoyed story time, but had no idea what anything in the books meant, let alone the names for them. It's just a reminder that there's so, so much going on in his little brain that we only get glimpses of every once in a while. It made us intensely proud.

Onward,

Gabe, Ash and Ez

Feeding a Lamb, and Other Fun Stuff

Wow, we've packed a lot into the last couple of weeks! (This is Ash typing, and man, it's slow because I sliced my ring finger while cutting onions and it's now wrapped up in a big hunk of gauze.) So I may keep it short, but it's not for lack of material.

First, we discovered a place that I swear is more fun than Disneyland and Six Flags combined - and all it is is a dinky little "water playground" with some sprinklers, geysers and various other devices that shoot streams of water. We went on a 90+ degree day, and Ezra was in ecstasy. And Gabe and I laughed more than we have together probably ever. Ezra couldn't get enough. He was not at all content to sit and play in the little baby zone. He kept crawling at breakneck speed for the Old Faithful of the place and didn't care a bit that much, much bigger kids were running right past him, slippin' and slidin'. We seem to have an adrenaline-junkie on our hands. I'm a little scared about the implications of that.

Then, Aunt Katy and Noni (as Grandma Andi would like to be known) dropped by on their way from the desert to the Big Apple. They came bearing some really cool gifts, including a handpainted stepstool and a handknit cardigan, both Noni's handiwork. This child has more handmade, beautiful, one-of-a-kind possessions than an art collector! He has, of course, his awesome handmade motorcycle rocker (made with love by Grandpa John and Grandma Cheri), many crocheted blankets by Grandma Cheri, and now also a hand-sculpted fish-mobile that just arrived in the mail from Aunt Lisa. I'm told that Aunt Katy is working on something, too. Get on the stick, Katy!

We joined our friends, Pat, Sarah, Arthur and David Briscoe last weekend in Door County, Wisconsin. It was a blast, beginning to end. (Except maybe the car rides to and fro. Ezra reverted back to his nonstop crying. Ugh.) Pat and Sarah won a gift certificate to a pretty fancy resort in Egg Harbor - overlooking Green Bay - and decided to share it with us. (They were that eager for a rematch in the board game Taboo.) We frolicked in the pool, hung out in our two-story suite, cooked yummy food, drank lots and lots of Wisconsin cream soda (and some other brews with a little more kick), and made one fantastic field trip to a place called the Farm.

Going to The Farm was like waving a magic wand and bringing to life one of Ezra's board books. There were lambs, kittens, pigs, calves, horses, geese, goats, donkeys, peacocks, bunnies, and a bull with a scarily long tongue. We got to bottlefeed a lamb, and Arthur and David fed corn to the calf. We all got to take turns holding teeny-tiny kittens. I think it must have kind of blown Ezra's mind to see that these creatures exist in real life.

It was so fun to see Arthur (6) and David (almost 4) with Ezra. They didn't seem to mind when he'd swipe their toys - in fact, they were kind of fascinated with him. Arthur even began lobbying for Pat and Sarah to have another baby. David drew the line at that, though. And the time it took two hours and nonstop crying to get Ezra to bed one night probably tipped the scales for all of them against that idea.

Anyway, this wound up longer than I thought it would. Sorry again for the delay, and thank you to the readers who have hung in there with us!

Love,

Ash, Gabe & Ez

P.S. Lots of advancements in speaking lately! Mama, Daddy, chee (cheese), tuh (train), buh (balloon), buh (bear - depends on context), hi, yeah and he's repeating lots of stuff without necessarily understanding what it is. No walking yet, though.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Ezra James

To quote one of my (Ash's) favorite They Might Be Giants songs: "You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older. And now you're even older. And now you're even older... Time... is marching on. And time... is still marching on!"

And so it is - especially when you've only just completed your first circumnavigation of the sun. Ezra celebrated that achievement with a

big birthday blast last Saturday, Aug. 1st. We were delighted to have 100% turnout from the Spitzer side (and even a bonus person - Josh's girlfriend Jennifer, who gave Ezra a stylin' pair of baby Chuck Taylor All Stars).

Grandpa John and Grandma Cheri came loaded with gifts - and the prototypes of some cool homemade wooden toys. Uncle Josh proudly presented Ezra with that time-honored classic, Walter the Farting Dog: Banned from the Beach.

We wanted to have a low-key picnic in Lincoln Park near the lake, but the weather didn't cooperate. So we welcomed into our small apartment 12 adults and 6 babies/toddlers, plus the seven of us - it was the most people we've had here since Ezra's bris a year ago tomorrow! Luckily no one seemed too bothered about sitting on the floor. Grandma Cheri brought bubbles, and I had bought a bunch of helium balloons and those pretty much kept all the little ones entertained. Ezra didn't go as bonkers over the birthday cake as we had thought he would, but he definitely seemed to like it. Gabe daubed frosting on his nose just to make him look more legitimately messy.

The one real bummer of the weekend was that Ezra's sleep regressed A LOT. Gabe and I were sleeping on the futon in his room, with him in his crib. Once he realized this, at 3 in the morning one night, we were done for. I tried nursing him and putting him back down but he stood right up, whining and peering over the side of the crib. I tried to get him to sleep with us on the futon, but instead he wanted to crawl

all over the place, babbling nonstop. So in frustration, I put him back in the crib and laid back down on the futon. He whined and cried and stood there looking at us plaintively. Gabe and I lay there pretending to be asleep. Then Ezra said very clearly, "Mama! Daddy!" It was just about the cutest thing I've ever heard. I had never heard him say mama and daddy with such clear intention before. Unfortunately, the next one and a half hours weren't so cute - lots of crying, Gabe and I exhaustedly fleeing to the couches to try to sleep, taking turns trying to soothe him, and Ezra falling asleep FINALLY at 5 am. And I had to be up before six to go to work. Oh joy. Anyway, he seems to be getting back on track with his sleep... let's hope!

He seems like he could walk within days. He's very good at getting around while holding onto stuff, and I've managed to coax him to take some steps toward me - holding my arms out for him to grab onto. He kind of lurches forward like Frankenstein. Today he actually fell once trying to do that but he didn't seem to care. As for words, it's still pretty much just mama and daddy, but he appears to be saying "chee" for "cheese" and "tuh" for "train." I think, or it could be wishful thinking.

He's eating a lot better, which is a giant relief. He went to the doc earlier this week and weighs a couple ounces shy of 18 lbs. That's pretty darn puny for a one-year-old, but we're learning not to care too much. He's in the 1st percentile for weight but 32nd for height, so that's fine. The doc says he "looks like an angel, just not as fat." S'okay, we love our little skinny angel.

This coming week, Grandma Andi (aka Noni) and Aunt Katy and possibly Grampy Mick will come visit from Santa Fe. Katy's en route to the Big Apple to start grad school and my mom is helping shlep her junk there. That will be fun to see them - I bet they'll be amazed to see how much he's changed since May. Then next weekend we're looking forward to a little getaway to Door Couny in Wisconsin with our good friends, the Briscoes. You can read about some of our previous exploits with them here and here.

Love,

Ash, Gabe and Ez