...."and I am 3 years old, and this is my new scooter....

.....and I have this helmet to match...it keeps me safe....and it's blue.....it's a nice day today....."

Our boy turned three this passed week and not only is he big and strong and beautiful, his verbal skills have vastly changed. He is now having conversations with people on the street. He tells them about his age and his birthday gifts. He tells them about the safety of his helmet and then comments on what a nice day it is. We are blown away. He's been talking a lot but not to random people. The shy gene might be disappearing.

Well, we have been celebrating and the cows have not come home yet. Whoa! Ezra's 3!

He ate lots of coconut cake with ginger snap ice cream.

And, he shared his moment with his pal Argus. His birthday was a blast and we missed those who were not able to be there with us. There was lots of dancing and lots of eating.

Ezra's Po broke the plastic rule and Hot Wheel Tracks are now part of E's toy assortment. No worries Po, you aren't fired. The joy on these little boys faces says it all.

And, since E had been reaping the many prizes for his birthday, he and his civic minded friends (and Parents) exercised their right to protest being sprayed with an icky pheromone for the Light Brown Apple Moth. Chicken Coop pals were at the Play Not Spray Play-In at the Civic Center on 4-28-2008. If you haven't heard about this, please read about it here. Sign the petition, call or write Schwarzeneggar and your Senators. There has to be a better way to take care of this issue other than spraying our kids and pets.

"What Happened?"

I know some of you don't have little boys, or even little boys who are almost three. Some of you have already experienced this strange phenomenon that resembles a torrential river of emotions, or what some have decribed as the testosterone surge. We don't even have the excuse of it being a sugar high. When these waves of, um, sheer wackiness emerge, we often stand back and observe with eyebrows raised and heads cocked to one side (and, lucky for Mommy, a camera to document this event for posterity).

It all begins with a little of this.

And, then it swoops in like a tornado.

And, then there is a tensing of every muscle in the body....

And, then denial sets in. "What you talkin' 'bout Mommies."

No. He doesn't say that. But, he has been known after one of these bouts to say, "What happened?"

The Greatest Great Great Grandma Edie 1915-2008

GGE is who she was to Ezra. She was, of course, Grandma to me, Mommy, since I was 18 years old.

When we met for the first time, she grabbed me and gave me such a squeeze. We had the same hands and we held them up together to gaze at their likeness. Her blue eyes were amazing to me. I mean, I am always a sucker for blue eyes, but hers were so warm and cozy. The fact that I didn't exist in her life for 18 years didn't seem to matter.

20 some odd years later, she welcomed Momma (before she was a Momma) into the family, sitting closely and talking to her, accepting my choice of who I could love. She never wavered from her love for me and she extended that love.

Then Ezra came. And, again with those big blue eyes, she filled our family with warmth like she did with all of her great grandchildren. Like she did with her great, great grandchildren.

I don't know if Ezra will remember her. I will show him photos and I will tell stories about her, hopefully in the poetic manner she told a story. But mostly, I will make sure her genuine warmth and acceptance will be valued and cherished in our family and our extended family for many more years to come.

The Adventures of Dragon and Giraffe

Yesterday, Dragon and Giraffe flew through the ice cream clouds to "Burton's" house. Giraffe navigated; for his long neck lets him see far distances. We picked flowers in the garden, swam in the pool where a dinosaur lives, and went to a jungle were the monkeys swang on the tree branches. Dragon's special skill is making lots of pancakes for everyone with his super fire breathing abilities. We invited several friends over for pancakes and tea. Then we all took a nap.

Happy March and Lava Flows

Happy March everyone. It's almost Spring. The plum blossoms are blooming. Sunny play dates at the playground. The birds are singing.

Boy is singing too.




......and lava flows on the Big Island?








Yikes! We are hoping Po has a great Spring without a remodeled back yard.

Earth Shadows and Bigger Boys

I beleive Ezra would say Lunar Eclipses "rock." He would also say that older boys "rock" too. An exclamation that he has adopted from his Mommy, unfortunately. He even uses his little fist while saying it, thrusting it into the air as if he were at an arena concert.

He was getting his "dude boy" on the other night when we went searching for the Lunar Eclipse. We walked up several hills in our neighborhood, watching the moon duck in and out of the fog. We found a spot with a beautiful view that spanned from the city to Bernal Hill. We tried to blow away the fog but resorted to picking several daisies at a near by bush after feeling a bit dizzy from hyperventilation.

Then a Mom and her 12 year old son, Chucky, joined us at the daisy bush and we watched the partially eclipsed moon emerge from the haze together. Well, Chucky eclipsed the moon for Ezra. E was enamored. He danced around Chucky trying to get his attention and Chucky played along. Then we all danced Ring-Around-The-Rosie, the clouds shadowed the moon and we all headed home. We love our neighborhood.

Ezra is one lucky little guy, such as I have pointed out many times. We realize that he has such great men in his life. I don't know how we did it. We live far away from family. But, our male friends have become significant people in his life.


Here are just a few bigger boys in E's life that mean the world to him.

There is Po, who showers him with Happy Anytime gifts and good Po-Haku love.

There's Jeremy, whom E refers to as Daddy, in the universal sense.


There is Axel, whom E has known since birth, who always creates a magical space for E and his friends.

And, there is Viru, whom Ezra always calls first when he is pretending to use the telephone.
















And, these are just a few. More bigger boys abound in his life. We just don't have the photos.
Boy looks pretty happy and balanced.
Moms are happy when boy is happy. And, we are grateful.

Gung Hay Fat Choy

The Chicken Coop celebrated the Lunar New Year today. Happy New Year of the Rat!
These Roosters were perfect little Lions running around Noe Valley.

Playground Prowess

I think the monkey bars will be next.

We Think Ezra May Prefer Warm Weather

After we celebrated a beautiful holiday here at home with Grandma, we settled into the new year with a hike with some friends and a highly anticipated scheduled date to take Grandma back to her home in Bishop.

Meanwhile, Ezra and his pal Liko have a moment while reading the Family Book by Todd Parr. Ezra believes that "some families are loud." Ezra has single-handedly placed us into said category.

Then we rented a giant red minivan and we sped off to take Grandma home. While you are viewing this lovely scenery of the Sierra Nevadas, we would like you to imagine E, Grandma and two Moms winding our way through the snowy moutains at about 7500 feet. E subtly mentions his back hurts after drinking a pint of milk. E gives us a squeal to end all squeals and in the slowest of motion, he vomits. Mommy flies from the front seat to the back, Grandma is shielding herself from the milk-curdled projectiles and gives out a faint cry, while Momma rounds another curve as we reach the apex of Echo Summit. We settle ourselves in some driveway surrounded by about 4 feet of snow. We somehow clean up, using the snow to wash all the vomit clothes. We jump back in the foul smelling minivan and continue on our journey. Afterall, there were only 5 hours to go.

Did we mention how beautiful the snow was?

The next day, we bundled our bodies and headed out to have a different experience in the snow. Make a snowman and snowballs? Our cute snow boy lasted a total of 15 minutes and adamantly requested to head back down the mountain and go to a playground. We were more than happy to accomodate that request.














He was obviously happy to be back in moderate weather and at the playground. We're not sure if we'll be able to get him out in the snow anytime soon. I think we may have a beach boy (uh hmm...Po).

While at Grandma's house, Ezra found himself a baby to care for whom he named Zelia (snicker). We are working on our friend, Jeremy's, utopian vision.














When we returned home, our neighbors asked Ezra what he saw on the ground while at Grandma's and he replied, "A red van."

Grandma is happy and back in her home with lots of good people caring for her. We are adjusting to life without her for now. We are excited by the possibilities of spontaneously heading out of the city for the day, while at the same time experiencing a sadness because of the empty chair at our dinner table. Ezra enjoyed his Grandma very much. Although it was a difficult 6 months, we enjoyed her very much too.

Happy Holidays!

We just finished a lovely Hannukah, eating lots of latkes and lighting many candles. Ezra learned the dreidel game, had a Hannukah party with his Chicken Coop buddies and learned many a Hannukah song. Although, after the lighting of the candles each night, he wanted to sing the Happy Birthday song and blow out the candles. So we did.

Next up is Soltice fun and lots of snow songs sung to Ezra's Po. And, then a Christmas party at Liko's house and then some caroling and a little Santa fun. Ezra is so excited to put surprises in the stockings and pretend to be Santa Claus with a big cappuccino foam beard (funny the references kids will make....You would never know that his Mommy drank many cappuccinos).

Grandma gets to spend Christmas with us and will try to keep warm in our drafty abode.
Momma will happily be on vacation soon and Mommy spends her days looking at preschools for next year and trying to get massage clients. Ezra is Ezra as you can see.

One Pox Too Many

When we say pox, we mean just that, a pox.

Ezra had the Chicken Pox recently. Or so, we think he did. Yep, it appears that his Chicken Pox was probably the mildest case seen around in a long time. You may notice the remnants there on his left cheek just below his eye. One giant pox.

He had all the symptoms. He was definitely exposed. He broke out with other spots....but the other spots just faded away. The one on his face festered and did its pox thing. We attribute this mild case to our wonderful and smart Homeopath/MD who gave him a remedy when she found out he was exposed.

He seemed fine through the whole thing. The hardest part was keeping him away from others for the 3 week incubation period. Man, what a funky and sneaky illness.

So after our little boy was no longer contagious, Momma took him to see the Red Balloon; his first movie in a movie theater. After many questions while the movie played and a growing circle of empty seats surrounded them, he came home with a red balloon and the hope that other balloons would come and he would float up in the sky and into the clouds.

We are gearing up for Hannukah, Solstice and Christmas.....we hope this finds everyone well.

Happy Halloween!

For weeks now, when asked what E wanted to be for Halloween, he would say, "a giraffe." His wish came true with the help of our local consignment store and some store credit. We scored the only 3T giraffe costume in sight.



















We didn't foresee the growth spurt that had ensued. Here he is getting warmed up this morning, trick-or-treating with his classmates from the Chicken Coop on 24th Street. For several stops he would stand back and watch his friends say the magic words and receive the magic treats. This little, short-necked giraffe had to process every Halloween move, then........
He and his giraffe friends started loosening up.

....And by the 3/4 mark of the one block excursion, this giraffe was a pro.

....Then he discovered the pink lollipop.










You would think that it was all over at that point, but E tasted the lollipop and put it back into his bag and saved for the Halloween Fairy.

Yup, all the treats E collected today were for the Halloween Fairy. We came home tonight and took our pumpkin and blew out the candle after singing Happy Birthday to the Halloween Fairy. We then filled the pumpkin up with all the collected treats. And, tomorrow when E wakes up he will find that the fairy took all the candy and left him a special gift; a beautiful gourd shaker with a Dia De Los Muertes image on it. At least, that is what she told me.

Tomorrow we will build our altar for The Day Of The Dead. We have our marigolds and papel picados and one sugar skull.

For now, Happy Halloween!

Ezra and the Playground Pioneers

E's in print again, this time in an article in Greater Good Magazine written by Jeremy Adam Smith, who is also one of the writers for Daddy Dialectic, and a dear friend. It's an article on parenting, which includes interviews with both Mommy and Momma. And, if we weren't involved enough with this article, Mommy contributed the photos. This is probably why you see E in 2 out of the 3 photographs printed.

He's awfully cute and a super lucky little guy to have all these cool people invested in his well being.

The First of Many

We know how 2 1/2 year olds can have difficult times transitioning, but when a drumming loving toddler breaks his first mallet, it appears that the sun will no longer shine as it had before.

We were pretending to be the Timpani players to Beethoven's #9 and he was louder than thunder....and well, it happened. We saw the splinter fly, and then the mallet took its last bow.

We held the mallet in our hands while tears flowed and said our goodbyes and thank yous. It was a very sad moment. After much appreciation of the mallet, we were able to take its splintered body to the garbage for the final farewell.

And yes, you can bet we will be the first customers at the music store tomorrow.

Here he is in action....

Early Birds, Spanish Words and Peeps

We have been moving at such a fast pace, we're not sure where to begin. First off, we've been waking up super early because E is going to school! Yup, our little chick has grown up and is attending a four family co-op created by all of us and affectionally named The Chicken Coop. The poem of the month is appropriately The Early Bird by Shel Silverstein.

Here he is on his first day. Oh, those sleepy eyes. But, check out that new backpack. We walked all the way to the bus stop, rode it for approximately 4 blocks and went to school.....


......where he began his day playing with play dough.


















Then he and his pal Remy got to see their favorite Spanish Immersion teacher, Susy Dorn, in Palo Alto last weekend. She held a fundraiser/concert for the earthquake victims in Peru. He became rather shy when he met Susy again. If she only knew how much he has learned from her.

Remy and E have a moment while watching Susy.

Here he is with his pal and school mate, Argus.











This boy has developed such great friendships. There are a lot of constants in his life and we feel he is thriving from it. This boy of ours is growing in so many directions it's hard to keep up. We just know that we are constantly proud of him.

We Went Walkin' Way Down To Weno Nevada

We thought our trip with Liko and family to the balloon races in Reno would mean Willy Was a Whale would be the road trip song of choice, but instead the boys discovered Yellow Submarine, which seems rather appropriate since the giant inflating balloons kind of had a 60's bubble-like animation to it.

We packed up the Big Car ( a seriously giant minivan that we all shamefully fell in love with) on Friday morning, gave Grandma and her caregiver a big hug and we went off to see the Big Balloons and indulged in a little vacation away from being caregivers ourselves. It was amazing, as you can see below. Ezra was both intrigued and freaked out about the hundreds of giant, brightly colored, firey, loud balloons that floated up to the sky with people attached in a little basket.

















Ezra and Liko are still reenacting going up in a balloon. Liko's favorite was the eagle shaped balloon while Ezra's was the strawberry.

The boys had a blast as did the adults. Thanks Liko and family for inviting us along!

Gravel Pits, Shovels and Blue Notes

Momma had the brilliant idea of a gravel pit. We realized that idea, planted a little garden with our boy's help, and now on these last lazy summer evenings, Momma gives E a little lesson on the trumpet in a kind of blue kind of way.

Happy September everyone!

Birthday Cakes Made of Sand

So many people to celebrate! First, Welcome Zelia Gloria Curtiss born August 10th around 11:58pm. Momma was Argus's guide through a beautiful homebirth. Also, Happy Birthday to Zelia's Momma, Karen who spent the entire day in pre-labor and didn't get a chance to celebrate herself, so next year we propose a trip to a relaxing beach after Zelia's 1st birthday. And, of course, Happy birthday to Aunt Oona! Ezra continues to perfect his ability to use Mommy's cell phone unattended and will probably call you again in the near future. He may even have a new song to sing.

Meanwhile, we have made many birthday cakes in the sand and blown out many pretend candles for all of you! In between our sand creations we continue to spend lots of time at the playground. We are bundling up in this chilly month of August.

Ezra is beginning to understand how to push himself swinging. Here he gets a little help from Olli and a high five from Liko

And, a playground date isn't complete without chasing

And, look at this happy big brother. Argus is in bliss

















Grandma is still with us and seems to be getting better. We've made many a sand cake for her as well.