Almost 2!

(A quick technical note: Google seems to be experiencing a hiccup, or a ploy, involving blog video and Firefox. If you use Firefox and have trouble seeing the video below, try using Google Chrome or Microsoft Internet Explorer. -ed.)

Ezra turns two in three weeks, and in five weeks (maybe fewer) we'll be the parents of TWO children! All of this is kind of hard to comprehend. But ready or not, here we come... into a new reality. I (mom) have no idea what Ezra understands, but I do worry what it will be like for him having to share our attention. I'm getting ready for him to ask us when we're going to take the baby back to the hospital... or catch him trying to dump the baby in the garbage can, or something. Judging from his disdain for the baby doll Eliot (Spitzer) that we got for him, I'm not really anticipating a huge surge of fraternal love, at least not at first. Any ideas on how to smooth the way?

Sorry for the utter neglect of this blog. We've been busy with our non-blogging life. Visits from both sets of grandparents, and then our friends Lea, Jack and baby Zoe from Alaska... wet, watery runs through the fountain at Millennium Park to escape the 90-degree heat... and then a week-long trip to Martha's Vineyard for a big Gross-Hughes family powwow. One lesson learned - if you bring lots of tiny trucks on the airplane when you're very pregnant and flying with a toddler, tie strings on them or something so you don't have to keep bending over, squashing the one in utero and defying physics, to pick them up when the kid drops them.

We were sad Gabe couldn't make the trip with us. He stayed home to keep toiling away and hoarding vacation days for a paternity leave. But we had a really fun time - Ezra had his first AND second ice cream cones, went to the beach ("go in the water! look for whales!"), hunted bugs and discovered my uncle Thru's collection of toy trucks that are half a century old but somehow still work - unlike the plastic pieces of you know what that break the instant you get them nowadays.

And sorry to break it to Gabe, but the thing Ezra seems to have missed most in Chicago while we were away is his older friend Oscar's house. Until last week, three-and-a-half-year-old Oscar lived downstairs in our building. He has a train set that's out of this world, plus a truck set that rivals Thru's. At random intervals pretty much every day we were away, Ezra would cry out plaintively, "Oscar's house! Oscar's house! Play with trains there! Play with trucks!" Gabe would call on the phone and I'd say, "Ezra, want to talk to Daddy?" and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Oscar's house!" By the end of the trip he was saying, "Back in Chicago? Oscar's house?" Meanwhile Oscar and his parents have moved to another place in the neighborhood. He doesn't really get this when we explain it to him. He just says, "Oscar's house? Maybe later?" We're planning to expand Ezra's own train set in time for the baby's arrival, but I fear it still won't have the allure of O.H.

Well, it's getting late and this is long enough! I'll have to post a Picasa album because there's way too many good pictures than can fit in a blog post.

Love,
Ash, Gabe, Ez and Moose

Year One

One year ago today Ashley and I stood together before our families, our friends and the universe, and declared through words and ritual that we are for each other. We are flooded with warmth all over again as we reexperience that day. Toward the end we stood holding Ezra as our families wrapped us in the tallis, our parents and siblings all draping us in love and optimism. I remember that moment as perhaps the best in my life. And then tonight Ash and I dusted off the wedding video, which we have not watched since the event. We cried all over again. At the end, as we on TV were preparing to stomp the glass, Ash grabbed my hand and placed it on her belly. Just as TV Us brought down our heels on the glass (several times!), the very real baby in Ashley's tummy delivered two swift kicks that nearly made my hand jump. Maybe that, then, is my best moment.

Anyway, I'll spare you more sap. Suffice to say we have a lot to be grateful for. Over the weekend Nonnie and Mickey visited and we all had great fun -- this despite Ezra being diagnosed with a double ear infection. His first! He's been characteristically joyful even though he's sick -- his fuse is just a little shorter than usual.
But he was pretty thrilled to have his grandparents around. We all went to the botanical gardens and saw model trains, and we brunched with our senior citizen friends Alex and Marion. The two of them, in their 90s and 80s respectively, kept up with Ezra remarkably well.

The weekend before that Ashley, Ezra and I took a little road trip to Starved Rock State Park. Entering that place is a little like leaving the Midwest and walking into Yosemite. Well, a tiny, puny Yosemite short on mountains and long on highway noise ... but with just enough grandeur to feel otherworldy. It's a glacial anomaly, full of sandstone gorges and lovely waterfalls. Anyway, we hiked all afternoon, which had exactly the desired effect on Ezra. I carried him in a backpack, so his mouth was about 3 inches from my ear, and he narrated the entire day with great gusto. "Tree! Green tree! Doggie! Waterfall! Dirt!"

He marveled at the inexhaustible supply of sticks and rocks, and seemed to really take to the outdoors. Not that it's surprising that a little boy should think the woods are cool, but it was gratifying to start instilling in him that reverence for the natural world.

And finally, we've been into a real Chicago heat spell, and as you can see in this video, we've drifted toward a clothing-option mode here. Also note both the new talent Ezra has developed, and the fraternal spirit with which he applies it.

This weekend Ezra's other grandparents will visit, and have kindly volunteered to hold down the fort while Ash and I split town for a couple of days, to celebrate our anniversary. It's wild to think that at our second anniversary, we'll be a family of four. I'm certain there are lots more best moments to come.

Much love,

Gabe, Ash and Ez

Mom, Enough with the Mococo Already

So long, "mococo." Now it's "moh-cycle." "Bihduh" is gone, replaced by "what's that?" My favorite, "dam mamas," has morphed into "pajamas." Sigh. And what's this? I (Ash) go away for one weekend and come back to find that a train engine is by no means a "locomomo" but a "locomotive" instead.

But, these linguistic leaps have an upside, too. Now Ezra says "I love you" completely spontaneously! Here's a recent conversation (I'm relaying secondhand) between Ezra and Gabe. Gabe's rocking Ezra before putting him down to sleep.

Gabe: "I love you, Ezra."

Ezra: "Soooooo much!"

Gabe: "Yes, so much!"

Ezra: "I love you."

Gabe: "Aw, I love you, Ezra."

Ezra: "I love Mommy."

I wish I had a recording of that conversation so I could play it over and over and over again.

He's also starting to learn the fine art of phone conversation. I was in the bathroom the other day when I overheard him saying, "Hahr you? I'm fine." I came out to discover him holding the computer mouse to his ear, having an imaginary conversation. Now he picks up any gadget with buttons on it (tonight it was a lock hanging from a neighbor's gate) and says, "Hahr you? I'm fine."

As I mentioned, Gabe took on 24/7 child care duty this past weekend so I could go to Toronto to visit my friends Yoko and Evan. It was my first time away from Ezra longer than one night. It was pretty awesome. Slept in till 9 am two days in a row, ate leisurely meals out, wandered around the city, saw a movie, hung out in a coffee shop reading (something I don't think I've done once since Ezra was born!) and got to catch up with good friends. Thanks, Gabe. It was a wonderful little pre-baby #2 break. I worried Ezra would have a hard time, but other than one early morning slight freak-out, apparently he was happy as could be. Ezra would look at Gabe quizzically and say, "Mommy's here? Mommy's here?" and Gabe would say, "Mommy's on vacation. She'll be back soon." So pretty soon Ezra would just say, "Mommy vacation. Back soon."

Anyway, I'm including some recent pictures, including some beautiful ones Katy took when she was visiting here in March.

Love,

Ash (and Gabe and Ezra)

Change of Address

Big daddy here. So, this time we have an excuse for being blogosphere deadbeats. Besides being preoccupied with the move, we were actually without internet for a couple of weeks. Finally on Friday, a technician from AT&T came to plug us back into the series of tubes. He arrived while Ezra was napping. When Ezra awoke, Ash brought him out into the living room and pointed to the tech -- she said, this is Sam. He's hooking our computer up to the internet.

OK, stay with me. Fast forward two days. Things transpire. There are shopping trips and playdates. New foods are tried and rejected. It's the weekend now, Ash and Ezra are at the playground. Apropos of nothing, Ezra busts out with, "Sam! Computer! Internet!" It's kind of stunning to observe how much raw information is sinking into that kid's head. I feel like he's way, way beyond anything we as adults are capable of right now. If he kept up at this pace, he'd crush us within a couple of years. Luckily, he'll slow down and his old dad will still be able to boss him around for a while yet. At least, I think so.

So, as always, the flip side of Ezra's frenetic little mind is that he can be impossible to manage. We made an ill-advised trip to IKEA Saturday, which we naively thought would be fun. Ezra instantly took the place over. He rolled his little toy lawnmower thingie all over the place, disassembled stuff, darted in and out of the massive (and quite dirty) shelves and stacks down on the first-floor warehouse area. And he would not tolerate being reined in. Somehow, other toddlers we saw were placid and even bored. But IKEA, to Ezra, is something like a performance-enhancing drug, complete with bouts of 'roid rage.

Anyway, between that trip and some dogged unpacking, we're slowly managing to move this lovely new apartment from utterly chaotic to just pleasantly disheveled -- in short, like the kind of place we would live. We're really liking it, though. Our landlords live below us and have twin three-year-olds, and the first-floor tenants also have a three-year old. Everyone is really friendly and welcoming, and the back patio is all set up with toys for both kids (sandbox, playhouse) and adults (deck chairs, gas grill). The in-unit laundry here is a godsend, and the place just generally seems bright and full of good vibes.

There are also several very fine playgrounds nearby, which Ezra has been exploring. And while we traded away our close proximity to the Lake, we now live a 5 minute walk to the River, where there are several miles of bucolic little trails and plenty more playgrounds.

Ash is swelling up nicely. We had our 20-week ultrasound almost two weeks ago now, and everything looked A-OK. Moose is measuring right where he should be, and seems to be generally on schedule. Now when we point to Ash's tummy and ask Ezra what's in there, he says, "Baby!" Then he says, "Come out!" Though as Ash points out, he may be eating those words before long.

Anyway, we apologize for not posting pics of the new place yet, but it's still such a wreck that it's just not quite ready for prime time yet. Perhaps on the next post .... which, I promise will not take as long as this one did. Thanks to Sam.

Much love,

Gabe, Ash and Ez

Moving

We are moving. It's not fun. But at least as of Saturday night we'll be in our new digs. Then we'll do a proper post.

Love,

Ash, Gabe and Ez

Noni & Mickey Drop In

Living in Chicago means living far away from all our immediate family. It really is a drag sometimes because Ezra loves his aunts, uncle, and grandparents, and they love him - and it would be fun to just have them around all the time. But thankfully, flights to Chicago aren't all that much, and it's not too terrible a drive from Ohio, so he's gotten in some good quality time with both sets of grandparents lately.

Mickey and Noni Gross flew into town for a couple of days this past weekend. Ezra had fun playing "I gotcha!" (a cross between monster and hide and seek) with Mickey. Ezra would go into his room, slam the door, and my (Ash's) dad would stand in the hall. Then my dad would slowly push the door open, reaching in his hand (with Ezra giggling inside) and then barge in, grabbing Ezra and yelling, "I Gotcha!" And Ezra would shriek with delight. It was a big hit.

The nature museum, as always, was a ton of fun (even though we had to pull Mickey away from the Canada-U.S. final hockey match, I think he'd say it was worth it). Ezra ran around, yelling, "button! button" (a machine with buttons you push to make frog sounds), and "bear! bear!" for the polar bear, as well as "butterflies! butterflies!" This time, no butterfly landed on him, unfortunately, but he still remembers the time one did and he'll say, "butterfly! knee!" It made a big impression. We also made it to the zoo, and I'd have a hard time saying who was more excited by the meerkats - Ezra or my dad. They're cute little prairie-dog type creatures.

Gabe and I are starting to prepare for Moose's arrival. We found a new, bigger apartment to move to and will be doing that at the end of the month. The thought of packing all this junk is pretty daunting. But we're excited about the new place (washer/dryer INSIDE the unit! what luxury!). We'll also be sad to leave behind the animal/hot air balloon/monkey family mural we painted on Ezra's wall. But there are a lot of reasons to leave, not least of all the sketchy guys who hang out in our alley with bottles in paper bags - whom we have to pass every time we go to our car.

I'm including a picture of Ezra and Isaac at the Field Museum. We have a semi-regular playdate every other week with them and he may be Ezra's best friend, even though they hardly interact. He does talk about Isaac all the time, so I'm hopeful one of these days they'll actually start to play together!

Love,

Ash, Gabe and Ez

Blasto + Moose = Double the Fun, Double the Chaos

Well, Ez, you've got six more months at the center of the universe. On or around Aug. 15th, make way for Moose! (See picture.) We are excited to announce the impending arrival of Blasto II, gender: male. We dubbed him Moose because when we learned of his presence about 6 weeks ago, he was about as far away from Moose-size as you can get.

So far Moose has been a chill little fetus. Hasn't caused me (Ash) any morning sickness or made his presence felt to any degree, besides starting to make buttoning my pants a challenge. But I know this calm is temporary. After talking to friends with two little ones, I admit to feeling kind of terrified. Coping with one sometimes seems about all we can handle, especially on those days when we can barely drag ourselves through the accumulated mess enough to wash a few dishes. But hopefully we'll muddle through like all those parents did before us.

In the meantime, watching Ezra learn new stuff is a constant reminder at how fast time moves. Just last summer he was still a baby - and now he's this little boy who tells us what he wants and doesn't want, throws fits and goofs off. Every day he does or says something new that cracks us up. The latest is that he throws one of his cars on the floor and then says "Accident!" And, according to Gabe the other morning in the middle of uncontrollable crying, Ezra paused long enough to say, "I'm freaking out!" Now, I am skeptical as to whether he actually uttered the complete sentence. But I'll give my husband the benefit of the doubt because it makes me laugh.

It's been so long since we posted... it would be amazing if anyone other than our immediate family still checks this site. Grandma and PopPop Spitzer came to visit at the end of January and brought along the most INCREDIBLE wooden push-sled, handcrafted by PopPop. It is a thing of beauty and Ezra loves it. We had fun visiting the Skokie cousins (Cathy and Joe Gluck, and their kids, along with Emily Spitzer). And one afternoon, Ezra showed his grandparents the nature museum (I'm sure Grandma especially was thrilled with the cockroach exhibit!) and he finally got the hang of going down a slide on his own and then didn't want to stop.

We also visited our pals, the Briscoes, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Ezra dove into their collection of Transformers and robots and weird things I'll have to learn one day - like "Bakugan Battle Brawlers." Arthur (6) and David (4) were so sweet to him, I am still in awe. They actually WANTED to show him their toys and didn't mind him touching their stuff. And we all went sledding down "Mount Garbage" (I'm told it's not actually garbage). I thought Ezra might be scared, but as soon as we got to the bottom, he said, "Again! Again!" and cried when we left.

This Friday Nonni and Mickey Gross arrive, so Ezra's getting a good dose of grandparental love. We're looking forward to some good visits to Ezra's favorite place, the "museum!" (This can be any museum, as long as there's a lot of space to run around in and some animals to look at.)

Love,

Ash, Gabe and Ez