obligatory spaghetti photos

Of course every baby must have photos of his face covered with spaghetti sauce, so here they are :)







Oh, and y'all are all invited to Ezra's birthday party! It will be July 29th at Grandpa's farm. Time still to be determined (Ezra seems to have changed up his nap schedule, so we'll see if he keeps it up over the next few days and decide accordingly). We'll be having falafel, yummm! We'll be calling to invite everybody once we figure out the timing :)

photos from Charleston

Ezra and I had a spectacular trip to Charleston. Ezra is completely in love with Gideon the dog, chasing him all over the house and patting him and pointing and saying "doggy!" We went to the beach on the Fourth of July, and Ezra loved the ocean but disliked the sand (in fact, he wouldn't sit in the sand, and wouldn't touch my hand when it had sand on it). Ezra's Grandma and Granddaddy took us to the aquarium, also, and Ezra had a wonderful time pointing at all of the fish, watching the sharks, and seeing some cool birds. While we were there he really picked up on his language skills, and now says quite a few words, although most of them he doesn't say very often. He seems to have mostly given up on signing (with an exception being the sign for "more," which he signs a lot and also says, "mah! mah!") in favor of talking. His favorite word at the moment seems to be light ("ight!"); he points at all the lights in whatever room we are in, including the library. And one of his favorite things to do is get any phone (house or cell) and hold it up to his ear and babble. Sometimes he also holds things that aren't phones to his ear, too.

Here are some photos my father took while we were visiting (with the caveat that my father will probably work on them a lot before they are officially ready for viewing, but I wanted to get them up now!):

11 months

Yes, I'm a bit delayed in posting our update for 11 months, but here it is! Our baby boy is really growing into a little kid in so many ways (yet he remains a baby in many others). He can stand by himself, and has taken a few more steps here and there, but isn't close to walking yet. People always comment on his multitude of teeth (8, minus a small chip in front!). His first word is "banana," which comes out either "nana," "banaya," or sometimes just "yayaya" in the cadence of the word "banana." Always while indicating the appropriate fruit, though :) He likes to play with his alphabet blocks, especially if we build towers for him to knock over; Baruch calls him our expert demolition crew. As always, he loves books; The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a perennial favorite, and we're also delving into some books with more words, like Where the Wild Things Are and Dr. Seuss. Thanks to Uncle Shimon for the lovely books!

The main development in the past month seems to be in Ezra's comprehension of what we are saying and what is going on around him. He's more aware than he used to be. He understands a variety of questions and requests. Baruch and I both think he might be answer "yes" sometimes to questions (sounds more like "yesh"). He claps when things are fun, he points out things he's looking at, he dances to music (and sometimes to music that's apparently only in his own head). He's still a sensitive little guy, and gets very upset if he's tired or doesn't feel good, and is sometimes inconsolable. Overall he's simply an adorable, cuddly, funny (always funny!), fun little guy.

Ezra and I will be leaving for Charleston this morning and coming back a week from today. We will miss Baruch, who will be here working and studying hard in his Family Practice rotation! I'm looking forward to taking Ezra to the beach on the Fourth of July, and we have other fun things planned as well.

Oh, and one last thing: Ezra is apparently going through a growth spurt, since he wants to eat ALL THE TIME. He's nursing a ton, and also eating huge meals at lunch and dinner (well, huge for him). He's eating whole bananas, he loves vegetables like corn, peas, lima beans, and carrots, Cheerios are always welcome, and he also really likes bread with hummus. There is very little that he doesn't like, actually. Oh, tomatoes are a particular favorite!