The Solar System and Sleeping through the Night!

Well, at school last month, Ezra was studying the solar system. They made big paper mache planets, and learned about all of the planets, including dwarf planet pluto. Then, we've been listening to a lot of They Might Be Giant's "Here Comes Science" album, and Ez became obsessed with the planets song, so much so that he memorized all the planets in the solar system, including the names of some asteroids (like Ceres and Eris) and the general location of the asteroid belt between the inner and outer planets. Then we went to the library and he picked out some books on the solar system. Now he can name at least 4 moons of Jupiter, he knows about the Kuiper belt, that Eris is actually bigger than Pluto, and that Pluto used to be considered a planet, but not anymore. Noah and I have learned a ton, and maybe Arlo's taken in a thing or two! It's so much fun learning about all of these topics that you don't really think about much as an adult.
Arlo has just been doing great too -- he is so into using his hands right now, he stares at them all the time and can really grab things. He's not crawling, but if you put him down in a spot, he can squirm a foot or two in any given direction, and he's basically rolling from back to front now too (or at least 3/4 of the way there). Last night, he made it all the way until 6:45 am without waking to eat! Yay -- go Arlo! You are an amazing sleeper. Now, please teach your big brother about how great sleep is:) We are still wrestling with dealing w/ Ezra's night wakings, which got bad during our East Coast trip in August when he also transitioned to a toddler bed. Sigh. Well, on a positive note, I think Noah and I have finally adjusted to not sleeping w/ kids, and we're much more functional with the sleep deprivation!

Amazing Fall

It has just been so wonderful being on maternity leave with my two beautiful, sweet boys. We have been having so many fun adventures, and I can't believe how the weeks are flying by. Today, we went to Little Farm with our neighbors, and we talked to the farmer for a while, and we even brought home some eggs. Ezra ate his first duck egg and thought it was delicious! Ezra has gotten very brave when feeding the cows celery. And Arlo is starting to become very interested in the animals, especially the cows and goats. Today it occurred to me where the expression goatee comes from, and I feel quite foolish for not realizing that one before!

We also have been going to the Cal Acad of Science many Mondays, also with our neighbors. We love walking up the rainforest pathway with the butterflies all around us, and we also love exploring the aquarium! We've also been enjoying some time at home, especially in the backyard with the beautiful weather. Arlo and I have also been taking Ezra to his Ha Ha This Away class on Thursdays, where he does yoga, swings on the trapeze, and pretends to be different animals and creatures. He especially likes talking to Fred the Frog, and Arlo loves watching the big kids run around.

We've been having a blast, and life is good. I don't know how I'm going to deal with being away from these boys so many hours a week when I go back to work! Just got to try to savor the moment!

Ezra turns 3!

Well, his birthday isn't really for another week, but we celebrated today! What perfect weather -- a bunch of Ezra's friends joined us in Tassajara park, and we played at the playground, played some t-ball, opened up a pinata, ate some Lightning McQueen/Mater cake, painted some wooden cars, and had lots of fun. Ezra felt very loved, and Arlo enjoyed watching the whole celebration too. Here are some pictures! Ezra, we love you -- we can't believe it's been 3 whole years!

Ez sez

When Ezra first started talking, I imagined multiple future posts under the title "Ez sez"... and never wrote them. Well, here are three recent stories that fall into that category.

1.) Overheard at our house last week while we were discussing the baseball playoffs:
"Hey Daddy! Hey Daddy! Guess what?"
"What?"
"The Red Sox blew it."
"Yeah they did, Ezra. What about the Phillies?"
"The Phillies did not blow it, Daddy."

2.) When we went to a birthday party two weekends ago at a jumpy/bouncy house spot in Oakland called Pump It Up, there was a 6 year-old kid who seemed to want to play dodge ball with me. He kept throwing the balls at me, even when I was trying to ignore him and play with Ezra. When I took Ezra down one of the jumpy-slides, this kid was waiting for us at the bottom and pegged me in the face with a ball. Ezra jumped up, got right up in front of this kid (who was probably at least a foot taller than him), and screamed, "DON'T DO THAT! YOU COULD HURT HIM! DON'T DO THAT, I SAID!"

So protective. I think he's going to be a great big brother to Arlo...

3.) The other night we were playing with some of his race cars. One of the Lightning McQueen cars has a decal on the back-left side of the car to indicate where the fuel door is. Ezra picked up this car, pointed to the fuel door, and said, "Look, Daddy, it's Lightning's gas hole."