The Music Continues

Band practice is a weekly gig....clothing optional!













Top 5 Song Requests:
5. Willy Was a Whale
4. Itsy Bitsy Spider
3. Chinchilla
2. I've Been Working on the Railroad
1. "Momma's Songs" Compilation of, you guessed it, Momma's songs

How Grateful We Are For Our Cool Neighbors

We aren't exactly the quiet types.





And, here's a completely unrelated photo that is just too cute to not post.

artClass!

When we took E to his first day of art class we knew it was going to be a good thing. Paula, the teacher, bowled a big ball of purple play dough into his green tray and it was love. The hour continued in purple, the color of the day, and ended with a paint magic trick we continue to do to this day.

You put yellow paint in one hand and blue paint in the other, and then you smoosh the colors together in your hands and, voila, you get GREEN!

Paula took these pictures the first day of class for a future project. She was to develop only one but couldn't make up her mind which one she wanted for the project because they were all so darn cute. They speak for themselves.






Well, although art class is over, it still inspires. E continues to have art/play dates with his buddies Liko and Argus. These three are three peas in a pod.


This is their future album cover for when they form a rock band. Too cool for school.

Happy Valentine's Day

Ezra has heart.




















Happy heart Momma. Meet Mommy on 29th and.......

Since We've Been Home....

Ezra is experimenting with his own personal style. Since he has learned his colors, dressing Ezra has become very, very interesting.

E is becoming fast friends with Burton during breakfast time. They both seem to enjoy toast.

He is becoming politically active in his community.

And, he is ALWAYS exhibiting rather creative ideas about what he likes to play with..eh hmmmmmmmm........



And, when he can't just choose one....he must choose them all...right?
















Lots of fun here in SF. Ezra is taking an art class and loves the color green. And, he gives lots of kisses and sings songs. 21 months is a pretty great age!

xoxoxoxoox

The Grand Holiday Finale

There are certain things that are of the utmost importance to share with your family. These things become family tradition as they say, or simply put, a happy ritual that makes you feel all giddy inside. For example, all these crazy holiday traditions that we have adopted. Well, it would be apropo that we finish our holiday trip introducing our son to our yearly indulgence to Joe and Pat's Pizza in Staten Island.

There is no pizza that compares to this tasty, thin crust treat, according to Momma who grew up eating this heavenly pie. Ezra has heard about this pie since the day he was born. In fact, if you ask Ezra who makes the pizza, he will tell you, "Joe and Pat." E already knows that a saucy, bready pie just isn't a pizza at all. The only pizza that suffices here in SF is at Delfina. And, there we shirk all tradition and order the ricotta and broccoli rabe pie so E gets his greens.

Anyway, making our way back to NYC from Asheville, Grandpa Oscar picked us up from the airport. It was nice to see him again, and since we only had this day left of our vacation, we wanted to make the best of it.
After relaxing a little at his apartment, we set out for the park. It was very cold that day, so we had to do some extra bundling up.

The sun sets, while E takes a swing. Grandpa watched while Momma had images of pizzas dancing in her head.

Finally we have THE pizza. Look how serious they are. This IS very serious stuff.














As Ezra says goodbye to everyone at the restaurant, we meet Joe. You know, Joe and Pat Joe....Of course, he asks, "Who makes the pizza?" to which E replies,"Joe and Pat!" Momma is so proud.

And, what a great ending to our trip. The following morning we catch a cab back to the airport. The cab driver has two kids, so we teach him the taxi song (Taxi, Taxi, riding in the back seat.....)And, he draws a picture of a dog for Ezra. Ezra named it Joe....


Just kidding...he named it Archie.



So happy to be home, but we miss everyone a lot.

Holiday in Asheville-Part2

Well, After Grandma E outlasted all of us on New Years Eve, we brought in the New Year quietly and cozy. E woke up early and we watched the sunrise. On New Years Day we got to see an old friend from SF who now lives not far from Asheville. Jeff and Regina immediately bonded with E and Jeff and E played a little catch.
And, of course, Ezra maintained his oral hygeine while in Asheville....
And, we visited Asheville's Family Health and Science Museum where Ezra got to crawl through the Tunnel of Blood...now not many boys and girls can say they have crawled through a tunnel of blood.
And, sadly we said goodbye to Asheville and Grandma and made our way back to NYC to say our final goodbyes.

Holiday in Asheville-Part1

We made it to Asheville on a little commuter plane the day before New Years Eve. E was on our laps the whole hour and a half and, again, was a trooper. It was rather surreal to come from a very crowded city, standing in hour long lines at the airport, and then arriving at this beautiful little airport where it was so quiet and still. I think we were still a little frenzied when grandma met us at the end of the escalator.

Then she drove us to her beautiful big house with a beautiful big yard in a beautiful little area in Asheville. Did I mention it was big and beautiful? When she pulled in her driveway, I think we all finally took a deep breath.

E fell asleep in the car and woke up on Grandma's bed. He was a little disoriented, but that all ended when lots of presents ended up on his lap. Grandma E was very generous.

E and Grandma spent a lot of time together. She read to him.

They played Leggos together.

They took a walk together.

They even played drums together.










Grandma was such a good sport about having E's new toys everywhere. He really enjoyed himself having lots of space to run around in. Grandma made us feel like we never wanted to leave. We all played a lot in the day and always had a nice meal together in the evening. Then when E was sleeping after a busy day, Grandma and the Moms pulled out the Boggle and played for a few hours before we all crashed. It was such a nice visit.

But wait, there is a Part 2 of this trip.

Stay tuned.

Holiday in NYC-Part 3

NY wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Petrillo's. We were fortunate enough to see them a couple of times before we flew off to North Carolina. They made a lovely meal with some excellent apple crisp at their cozy abode and we met Thay for the first time, as did Thay, Aswad, De La and Maya meet Ezra for the first time.




Ezra took this cute pic of Thay and Aswad.



We saw them in the park the following cold day in the East Village. Thay and E were pretty darn cute together. We kicked around a ball or two with De La and hung out with the lovely Tiny and Maya who have grown into such amazing women. In the summer we all usually treat ourselves to a De Roberti's Ice, but our treat this winter was just to be together.


Look at this cute family all bundled and cozy. Momma and E both had fevers that day

Now, we are off to Asheville, North Carolina to see Grandma Elizabeth. Ezra hails us a taxi!

Holiday in NYC-Part 2

It was an oddly festive morning as we entered SFO in a cab blaring Handel's Messiah, passing many colored lights and decorations. It felt like Christmas. E was so happy to be in his first cab. And, we moms were looking forward to a stiff cup of airport coffee to help us awake after a sleepless night. We were too excited to sleep.

It was getting close to 7am and E was in heaven watching all the planes land and take off. If he remembers this trip, he will remember the cab rides, the airplanes and the NYC fire trucks screaming down the road. He wasn't used to fire trucks actually in action. He was used to his neighborhood firefighters returning videos at the neighborhood video store and picking up a cup of joe at the neigborhood cafe. It was pretty startling for him to see his first fire truck turn a corner, honking its horn with sirens blaring and lights flashing. Now when he hears a siren he mimmicks it by saying, Nee Nah Nee Nah.

After a fairly uneventful flight, we arrived in NYC around 4pm on Christmas Eve. We completely missed the sun that day and bundled ourselves for what turned out to be some pretty mild New York weather. We hopped into cab #2 and found our way into Manhattan singing the Taxi song we learned from E's friend Lily.

E's Uncle E and Aunt H and cousins V &G were so kind to open up their space for us. There is no such thing as a large apartment in NYC, so letting a family of three stay with them for almost a week was pretty great, and we hope to repay the hospitality one day.

When we arrived, we settled in and decided to go out for a Christmas Eve walk. We ended up at this great light show in Union Sqare called Bright Lights by the artist Tord Boontje. Signature Boontje shapes were projected onto the ground, and when you stepped into a lit square, the images moved away from you. I have never seen E laugh so hard. He was making other people laugh because he was giggling so hard. He would run from lit square to lit square, and the images would scatter. Music played and created such a great ambience. It was a nice introduction to NYC for Ezra.

Christmas morning was beautiful, and E was overwhelmed by all the excitement. He adored his cousins and watched their every move. He also met his Grandpa Oscar for the first time. The entire day was very cozy and super fun for him. So many toys to play with. Yet, he only wanted to play catch with a balloon and pretend various stick-like objects were flutes. Easily entertained, our boy is.




Of course, like every other parent in NYC, we decided to take E to the Museum of Natural History the day after Christmas. Although it is was a grand mob scene, it was so much fun to watch E inspect the bones of dinosaurs and point to the birds in some diorama of some prehistoric creature. I think he thought the scenes were real. The crowds were worth it because we got to hang out a little with E's Aunt Cassie and his Uncle Noah.


NYC wouldn't be complete without a little New York style pizza. If this boy is particular about anything in his life, it will probably be his taste for pizza, instilled in him by his Momma. Thin crispy crust, fresh sauce, lightly seasoned with quality cheese. Oh, light on the cheese. Heck, he already practically orders his own bagel at the cafe. I am sure it will be pizza next.

More NYC later....

...And a Partridge in a Pear Tree-Part 1

Wow! This has been such an amazing holiday season for E and his Moms. We celebrated Hannukkah with friends, met the jolly fat man in red, flew East for Christmas, and South for the New year, and here we are at home, recovering and grateful for all of our loved ones and our many adventures. So much generosisty was extended to our family this year. We feel pretty lucky. E has definitely learned what presents are. Lots of little wrapped boxes arrived in his lap through out these past three weeks. He now says "present" farely clearly. And, there are still more gifts coming his way. We thought we would start our many planned posts of the holidays with Hannukkah. Forgive the inability to rhyme. We are a bit jet lagged. Happy New Year Everyone!

On the first night of Hannukkah, my buddies gave to me:
A Thomas engine car, a spinning top, a hebrew alphabet set and lots of latkes to eat.
On the second night of Hannukkah, my aunties gave to me:
A pair of grammy jammies (thanks Charlotte), one Christmas book, a harmonica and one flute to toot(Thanks Christina! And yes, I insist on playing it upside down).


On the third night of Hannukkah, my Mommies gave to me:
One butterfly clicker, a puppet jungle glove and train tracks with cars that go coo coo.

On the fourth night of Hannukkah, my mommies gave to me:
A new Ezra bag that will house my playground snacks, my SIGG water bottle and spare hats and an extra pair of shoes.

On the fifth night of Hannukkah my mommies gave to me:
Lots of kisses under the snowflakes and cranes (ickcakes and canes)and bowl of Tom Yum Kai to ease our icky colds.


On the sixth night of Hannukkah, my Po gave to me:
A set of wooden blocks, the dot game of my dreams, a sharky bath toy, earplugs for my mommies and some really tasty Hawaiian shortbread treats (Thanks Po!).


On the seventh night of Hannukkah, my mommies gave to me:
A strum, strum on the big, big guitar.

On the eighth night of Hannukkah, I gave to my mommies:
30 straight days of pooping in the potty!



And then we packed our bags and flew off to NYC.....to be continued.

Gearing Up For the Holidays

Our family continues to build onto our holiday traditions. We've maintained a few traditions from last year and have introduced a few more. We still have our green and orange stockings made from old sweaters. They are hanging up and have been accepting gifts all year 'round. Momma continues to push the boundries about when we actually give gifts. Apparently, this year we've introduced PRE-Hanukkah gifts. Gotta love her! Her ability to avoid traditional gift-giving Eves is uncanny and makes for lots of entertaining negotiation. We decided not to have a Christmas tree this year and have introduced snowflakes and oragami cranes to our holiday aesthetic. We went a little over the top and hung many snowflakes from the ceiling while E was napping last weekend. He loves them. And, calls them blohplaxk.....he's almost got it, right? ADDENDUM: The new pronunciation for snowflake is Ickcakes!

We will have a little Hannukah party on Friday, and E and his little friends will dance under the snowflakes (ickcakes)and eat latkes and light a candle and sing songs about, um, a winter wonderland clad with menorahs and dreidels and lit trees and giant, jolly, white-bearded men saying ho ho. Then we are off to NY and NC to see those that we love and miss and celebrate more cold winter nights together (the idea of cold may be a bit different than what we've been used to).

Oh yeah, latest interests that have developed for E are:
-moons, stars, and yes, snowflakes
-any form of guitar and drum and his new love, the harmonica
-taxis, trains, buses, garbage trucks
-bagels, bagels, bagels
-music by Justin Roberts
And, lately his favorite video is this one:


Happy snowflake and moon dreams, everyone.

Happy Teeth-Giving

The two-year molars are on their way. They are poking through and after this we are done with teething.....right? He's obviously pretty proud of the current 16.

He's been flashing this beautiful smile to complete strangers lately.

And, occassional expressions of boredom. Or, it could be exhaustion, but us Moms have come to terms that this boy never gets tired. It seems that, as of late, the only expression on our faces is a giant yawn.