City Kid

Also, this weekend we took Ezra to the park. While we've taken him on hikes in the park before, this was the first time we put him down to hang out in the grass. He loved playing with the grass and ripping it out of the ground. We realized what a city kid he is -- this being his first real experience with grass! We had to protect him from all the crazy city park dogs too, who kept wanting to sniff and lick him. Then we saw a mama owl with her two babies in the tree. It was a great weekend!

Just monkeying around...

Ezra has enjoyed playing with Grandma and Grandpa the last two weeks. Plus, he's begun to eat a little solid food, which he seems to be interested in. He's rolling over both ways, though he hasn't quite strung it together to roll consistently to move around the floor. And he is very close to being able to sit up by himself: He can do it for a few moments before he topples over, but it doesn't seem to bother him too much.

Bath time!

Ezra bonds with dad

So Noah has been taking care of Ezra the last few weeks, which has really been wonderful. It's also really helped my transition back to work, and it's so fun to come home watching Ez and his dad bond. It's also been amusing to see what activities Noah plans with Ez. For example, when I was watching Ezra I would take him to sing-a-longs at the local library branch. This week, Noah took him to see world famous systems biologist Uri Alon give a biology talk. Apparently, Ezra really enjoyed the talk and got more out of it than his dad, and Uri gave him a shout out from the lecture podium.
Last night, I knew their bonding had reached new heights. I woke up at midnight to see Noah basically sleep walking with Ezra in his arms. I asked him what the heck he was doing. He mumbled something about how Ezra wouldn't be able to sleep unless Noah cuddled him. I told him to put Ezra back in his crib. A few minutes later, Noah mumbled something about his having a brain made out of cheese.
All in all, it's been a fun couple of weeks!

Rolling around in his blanket...

March comes in like a lion...

Rolling over

Ezra has learned to roll from his back to his front, by arching has back and then pulling his legs over. He had learned to roll the other way (front -to-back) at 9 weeks, but then stopped doing it often. Now, he only does that occasionally, meaning he has been getting stuck on his belly. In fact, his first back-to-front roll was not seen -- I put him down in the crib for a nap on his back and when he woke up, I went in and found him on his stomach. I was pretty excited for him...

Since that moment, he has always rolled onto his stomach in the crib to sleep. Strangely, he cries more, but seems to sleep longer that way... This morning, I spent about 15 minutes trying to re-teach him the front-to-back roll, so he wouldn't get stuck. It didn't really seem to work, I have to admit.

Another note from this morning: I tried to get a video of him "walking" (i.e. staggering forwards while I hold his hands, supporting his weight). He did OK -- but when I let him lean backwards, he kinda moonwalked backwards pretty well. I'll try to edit the video down a bit and post it later.

It's never too early to learn to French kiss

Ezra at 4 1/2 months