That Toddlin' Town

Pops here. I'm pleased to report that Ezra's speech has progressed to the point where he now has a couple of stock catch phrases. One of them is: "Hi." OK, I didn't say it was a great catch phrase, but neither is "Git 'er done!" and that guy's a millionaire. Anyway, Ezra loves to say hi to, oh, just about anyone, including the vagrants guzzling malt liquor in our alley. This turns out to be a handy ice breaker, since I'm never sure what to say to those guys. But they seem to appreciate Ezra taking an interest, as Ash says they enthusiastically wave back and say hi to him whenever they see him now. "Hi" has also been a big hit at the office.

His other catch phrase is "bih-dah." This loosely translates to "what's that?" Or, "gimme that," or, sometimes, "This chalk is delicious!" We're not sure where these particular syllables came from, but it works for him. In general, his babbling has gotten more sophisticated, and often has the tell-tale inflection of actual human speech. This makes it seem sometimes like he is really speaking, just in a foreign language (or perhaps that he's got the Holy Spirit). I'm including an audio sample of it below, along with a few recent pics.


His walking is coming along very nicely, too. He can string together 10 or 15 steps now, and seems undaunted by his regular tumbles. Though he still gives up pretty quickly and takes off crawling. Hard to blame him, since he crawls at blazing speed. The other day I was playing with him in the living room when Ash came home. As she walked in the front door, he was so excited that he shot off crawling at top speed across the room. But then, at full tilt, he hooked his shoulder on the leg of the coffee table, and his body torqued down into a face plant on the hardwood. Luckily, he recovered quickly. We've been delighting in his walking progress, bumpy though it is.


Ez is also getting a couple of new teeth on top, which makes for a sore mouth and some pretty cranky periods. Yet, his sleep has come a long way in the past couple of weeks (after another round of Ferber, which was not that fun). Last week he slept through the night 3 or 4 days, and his night wakings are a little less agonizing than they'd been before. We've managed to more or less phase out the last night nursing, and we're hoping this pattern stablizes.

Not a whole lot else to report at the moment. We didn't do much for High Holidays besides have Shabbos dinner and apples and honey. But it's wild to now be beginning the second round of all the yearly milestones with him -- his second Thanksgiving, second Hannukah/Christmas, etc. Travel season begins again soon, too: Ezra and Mama will head to New York in a few weeks to see the aunties, then to Ohio for turkey, then New Mexico for Christmas. We hope we can manage to keep up.

Happy New Year to all -- may it be sweet all around.

Much love,
Gabe, Ash and Ez

Walk This Way, Talk This Way

Wow, five steps in a row today! Ezra's been working on improving his balance, steadying himself when he wobbles instead of just collapsing onto his diaper-padded butt. And today he made great strides, literally. He walked across the dining room floor to me (mom), twice losing his balance and almost toppling over, but he paused and then kept moving forward. His smile took up half his face. Hooray, son of ours!

Grandpa Mickey (Gross) swooped in for an impromptu visit on Saturday. We decided to take a trip to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park - a place Gabe and I have been meaning to go to for a while. What an awesome place. We walked into their butterfly exhibit and felt transported to the tropics. Thousands (okay, maybe just hundreds) of butterflies zipped by us, landing on ripe pieces of watermelon or flowers for a quick meal. Ezra's eyes got big and he kept saying, "Bah-tuh", which basically has come to mean, "what the heck is that?"

I can't describe how much fun it is that he now notices everything and gets excited to find out more. I remember taking him to places like the zoo as a newborn and all he'd do was sleep. I kept

waiting for the chance to show stuff to him, and now that chance has arrived.

Speaking of showing him stuff - we stumbled upon a group from a local herpetological society

who had brought along their pet pythons, boa constrictors, iguanas and turtles. They let people pet and even hold their reptiles. Gabe was over the moon - he's been in reptile withdrawal ever since the untimely passing of his dear Mitka the snake. Grandpa Mickey and I were pretty fascinated, and Ezra... well, Ezra to be honest was way more excited to crawl in and out of the turtle enclosure than to look at or touch the reptiles. Go figure.

We also managed a quick trip to the beach, three blocks from our apartment. Ezra fulfilled his baby duty by shoving as much sand in his mouth as possible. Gabe took him for a quick dip in the (um, kinda polluted) lake, and we discovered the joy of making sand castles for our son and having him smash them. A lovely weekend, all in all.

Love,

Ash, Gabe and Ez

(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.

--> time lapse <--

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

On Two Wheels

I choose to think that I am, sort of, handy around the house. I persist in this belief despite much evidence to the contrary. But yesterday, I finally acknowledged that I could not manage to install our new baby seat on the back of Ash's bike. Or rather, I could -- only my usual jury-rigging method seemed a bit risky when it comes to vehicle travel and toddler safety devices. So off to the bike shop we went, which allowed us to finally realize the longed-for dream of taking Ez out for his first bike ride.

He seemed to do OK in the seat, though we soon discovered that they don't really make helmets for one-year-olds with a head size in the 5th percentile. So it flopped around a bit. Nevertheless, we strapped everyone in and headed out for the lakefront trail.

We took a modest ride down to a nifty playground a few miles away. When we got there, Ezra showed far more interest in playing with grass and leaves than in playground equipment.

On the way back, he got pretty fed up, so we walked the bikes home the last half-mile or so. Kind of mixed reviews from the kid all told, but we're hopeful that as he grows into the gear he'll learn to love it.

Back at the ranch, we seem to have happened upon the greatest toy ever invented. When the box arrived a few months ago from Ashley's Uncle Thru and Aunt Lucy, we were under the impression that the lovely lamp inside was the gift. It turns out, the real gift was the packing peanuts. These are something like baby crack, as you'll see in the video below. You may also notice in there that the kid is really getting the hang of standing ...

Next weekend, Ezra turns 1! We're still wrapping our brain around that one. On the one hand, the time has absolutely flown by. On the other, it's hard for us to imagine life without him. Grandma and Grandpa Spitzer, along with Uncle Josh and his companion Jen, are coming in to town this week to help fete the jolly good fellow. We're planning a picnic in the park with some of Ezra's diminutive pals from around the neighborhood. Should be great fun. And many moooooore!

Much love,

Gabe, Ash and Ez

Ahh, This Is the Life...

Oh we're movin' on up, to the Lake Side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky.... Ah, we wish. But we did get to taste a little of the good life last weekend at our friends Alexandra and Enrico's Mies van der Rohe lakefront highrise. And that included a dip in their pool - Ezra's first time ever! He took to it with as much splashing, writhing excitement as we could have expected.

Other than that, we've been settling into post-wedding, post-honeymoon "regular life." The biggest excitement around here these days is observing the almost daily changes the little guy is going through. He babbles nonstop, even in pseudo conversation, responding to our queries. "Oh, did you go to the playground with Najiba today?" "Boo, bah, bah, boo, blah!" "No kidding! And then did you have some yogurt for lunch?" "Ah, goo guh guh blah." "Great!" And on and on till we get bored and turn on the radio.

His top two teeth are almost in. And he is soooooo proud of them! He's picked up a new, kind of unpleasant habit of grinding them against his bottom teeth. He also loves feeling our teeth and then his own. It's fascinating to observe him make the connection that he has the same parts as the rest of us and start to discover what everything's for. He loves biting Cheerios in half these days, as well as chomping off bits of thinly peeled carrot. And although he hasn't taken any steps yet, it's not too far off - he's getting way better at standing without holding onto anything and is cruising around tables and couches (not to mention climbing up couches and onto windowsills! Luckily we finally got around to tying up the windowshade cords.)

In just two weeks he'll turn 1! It's so hard to believe. It's bizarre to think back to last year at this time, when we had no idea who the little being in my tummy was - what he'd look like, what his personality would be. And now we have this third member of our family with very clearcut likes and dislikes, a curious, happy (if sometimes pretty needy) little boy, very purposeful and singleminded, but also goofy and full of smiles. Gabe says he'd sometimes like to freeze time and keep him the way he is now, but I feel more excited than sad about the changes. I can't wait to hear him start to talk more and have real conversations... it's all coming soon enough, I guess!