Tennessee Valley Hike

We got up this morning and decided to take one of our favorite hikes and to ultimately show our little man the beach and waves and seashells and birds and butterflies and dragonflies....
We forgot about kites.
A lovely Mom with two sons was flying her easy-to-use and easy-to-lose $2.00 drug store kite and was so kind to let E fly it.

Definitely, the highlight of the day.
"The beach is way cool!" That's Bah Bah Bah Bah in E language.

41 Years, 36 Years and 13 months....

Hmmmm.....We are all feeling a little older these days.






XOXOXOX

Scrapes and Bruises

We always wondered when it would happen. His beautiful baby skin has been marred by bug bites, bruises and kitty scratches, but E had yet to experience his first scrape. Yesterday at his friend Linus's birthday party (Happy Birthday Linus!), he did a face plant onto the ground.

Sand covered his face, and an icky scrape ran from his eyebrow to the tip of his nose. Needless to say, he was not a happy little guy.
This morning at the playground a Dad asked *the* question when he saw E's nose, "Whose watch did that happen on?" Ugh! Mommy is still reeling with guilt.



On the other hand, E has forgotten about it and is having a great day with his Bellafone. He also flirted endlessly with the ladies at the cafe this morning. No silly scrape is going to stop him from being super cute.



psst...Tomorrow is Momma Jess's birthday.

Phone Pictures

I've been trying to clean out my phone of some old pictures because I am running out of room! But I couldn't just get rid of them, so here they are. The last few months of E. They are small and low res, but E none the less.

Jour de Mères

Happy Mothers' Day! What a great day for two Moms and Ezra. First off, E woke us up super early so we could be the first party to be seated at our favorite 10 seater breakfast place. Although he has been reading "Baby Make Me Breakfast," I don't think he felt quite confident to flip a couple of pancakes for us and left it up to Chloe's Cafe. Yum, yum! Thanks E!





Then after a much needed nap we headed out to the park and picked up a baguette and brie for the Moms and black beans and carrots for the boy. The temperature today was a sweltering 80 some odd degrees, which in SF is super hot. We pushed E up many SF hills to the most beautiful little spot to sit and eat our lunch and recuperate. E took one look at the baguette and it was love.


We've been resistant to giving him wheat, but it appears it has become the "forbidden fruit." He really would have made the French proud in how he was able to maneuver his bread and tear a little piece from the loaf with his 8 teeth. There was no distracting him from that loaf.








We did play with his new Gertie Ball and attempted to slide down the slides. He ended the day with a big poop in the grass. We cleaned it up, of course, unlike the time I saw a Mom in Paris poo her child on the sidewalk. If you think there is a lot of dog poop in Paris...you may think
again.



Au revoir pour le moment.

Broccoli and Minor Chords, Oh my!

Ezra is eating more solid food these days. His number one fave is still apples, but black beans and oranges are coming in a close second. He doesn't seem to have a taste for broccoli and usually brushes it off onto the floor. He got new dishes from his Aunt, Uncle and cousins in NYC for all his fancy new eating. We look forward to when he will actually use them as dishes and not musical instruments.

On a side note, we went to Enzo's Music Class today and E now stands up and does a little dance when music is played. But, we've noticed that he cowers when minor chords are used. Interesting little boy he is.

One Year Old Today

We rehashed the whole year while E played with his many toys from his Grandmas and friends.

It's hard to imagine it was just a year ago he was like this.

And, now he points,

chews,

shakes,

and is just a darn cute little boy. Lucky us.

In case you're wondering, he isn't potty trained yet. Soon....maybe...but, not yet.

More Birthday Fun

First Birthday Fun

The highlights of the day were:
-Our friend Sharon making the most amazing food for the 30+ peeps who showed up to wish this boy a super special #1.

-His Pa-Pohaku showing up unexpectedly from Hawaii......what a surprise!

-His Uncle David falling asleep on our bed.

-Cupcakes jumping out of their box and on the floor upside down....

-Wendell the Cotton Monster begifted from his Aunt Oona....

-Many kisses for the boy who willingly took them but was attached to us like a koala bear for the first hour.

-His vegan zucchini cupcake frosted with apple butter. Delicious! He was a fairly clean cupcake eater but gave us a big cupcake hug afterward. He likes to share.

-Falling asleep in Momma Jessica's arms after such an exciting day.

Thank you all who were able to be there and to those who were there in spirit. It was a very special #1!

Teething

I wish that E would take interest in a teething ring or a nice cool rag to comfort his sore gums. But instead, while he gets 4 new teeth at the same time, he decides to chew on everything but. At least he's not chewing on our shoulders.

Flower Face

An excellent view of those cute cheeks.

Gentle

Our loving 16 year old cat, Burton, is a neurotic mess. We think he dropped a few pounds. And, we are sure he thinks this toddling being has over stayed his welcome. Oh, B.

We keep telling Ezra that he needs to be gentle, but he still hasn't gotten that concept yet.

Bites

Hah, another word Ezra can say. Bites. Bah!

Yup, it takes a few flea bites to get your heart racing, fearing the worst. Is it Chicken Pox? Well, thank goodness it wasn't. We would like to wait a few more years for that. It was the first time we actually were thankful for bug bites. That's Bah Bah in E language.

This is his cutest pouty face.

"I don't like flea bites, Moms."

Bah

Believe it or not, Ezra can say ball, bell, bird, bug and butterfly. Bah! He is a very talkative little boy. Unfortunately, without his cute little pointing finger it would be hard to distinguish between them. Bah!

Steps

So this little boy of mine is going to be 1 year old at the end of this month. Of course, he looks closer to two years old, but that is simply genetics. The poor little guy is probably always going to look a little older than the rest all his life. I passed on this gene, and he will most likely be shaving by the time he is 4th grade. Sorry, E. All this brings tears to my eyes. It’s happening, as they all say, “really, really fast.”

The news is he is taking steps! Not perfect walking steps yet. They are Frankenstein-like attempts that usually end in the yogic downward dog position. He takes 3 steps here and 4 there. Last weekend at his friend’s Geno’s first birthday, he took 7. Yep, seven. It was in the middle of the room and everyone clapped. Jess had tears in her eyes. I had my hand on my forehead in great O’Hara fashion.

He IS growing so quickly, and with every new physical and mental development, the house changes too. The bookcases are L-bracketed into the wall, and there is a special shelf for his books and toys. Pillows surround unusable furniture, and cabinet doors have been taken off to expose yet more toys. A gate has been installed in the kitchen and, well, the cat has learned to run for his life.

We read books every night, and his favorite is Todd Parr’s Family Book. Jess says he always turns back to this page of a lady with big, purple hair. She thinks he thinks it’s me.

A big party is planned on the 23rd. Lots of friends and a few smatterings of family. But mostly friends posing as his aunts and uncles. We will have lots of fun!

His Favorite Game

peekaboo

7 Months, 40 Years, 35 Years....

family time