All About Ezra

Poor little blog.  I feel like I've neglected you so...

Anyway, I've been meaning to post about Ezra for the last couple of weeks.  Not that anything particularly exciting has been happening with him, I just feel like he consistently gets a bit neglected in my little corner of cyberspace.  So, today's contribution is all about Ezra Emil...

Ezra has really grown up lately.  He's just...mellowed, somehow.  As many of you know, Ez has always been my most high maintenance child.  I love him to pieces, but he's just very emotionally volatile, stubborn as a mule, and extreeeemly independent.  As he's a little grumpy all to often, I'll occasionally refer to him as my little raincloud.  We still have daily shrieking-and-floor-writhing tantrums and he'll still whine for an hour if I attempt to mix his butter and jam on the same piece of bread, but it seems as if in the last while, he's just gotten a little bit easier to handle all around.  I think getting his tonsils out last August has helped quite a bit because he's more well-rested now combined with just getting older in general.  His independence has started to help, instead of hinder, our day-to-day routines.  Overall, I'm really enjoying this stage of things.

Ezra's currently attending preschool and is absolutely loving it (he always has been a structure junkie).  He has a bestie there named Simon and they're inseparable.  They consistently refer to each other as Simey and Ezie, insist on walking out to the cars together, and will even allow themselves to be convinced to wear their coat if the other one has it on first.  I had a parent teacher conference the other day and his teacher just loves him.  No one can ever believe he's anything other then perfect at home because of how well-behaved he is at school :P

Ezra dressed up on President's Day

 

Ezie (red shirt) and Simey (white shirt in the front) painting their Mayflowers

Ezra's super-excited for the new baby and it's so adorable.  He's old enough to really get it this time around and loves to feel my stomach move and talk about what it's going to be like after he's born.  He's even started stockpiling some of his prized possessions for when the baby is born (I've had to explain multiple times that a newborn probably wouldn't appreciate his lego car/blue ikea plate/Dr. Seuss book quite as much as him for the first couple of years).  When I first asked him what he thought we should name the baby he said he couldn't think of any boy names and left it at that.  Like a week later, out of the blue, Ezra solemnly informed me we should name the baby Hiccup since "it's the only boy name [he] knows" (for those of you not in the know, Hiccup is a boy on How To Train Your Dragon).  I didn't have the heart to inform him that his well-thought-out boy name isn't really much of a name at all.

Ezra is one of the pickiest kids I've ever met in my life (and I'm not just saying that because I have to cook him dinner).  He's uber-sensitive to textures, tastes, and smells...all of which play a big part in mealtimes.  We (only semi-) joke that Ezra is on a one-ingredient diet as he'll basically only eat absolutely plain foods with only butter as an occasional topping (so no sauces, soups, casseroles, sandwiches, or anything else one might typically eat for a meal).  Even with all that, however, I feel like, finally, we've come to an understanding of each other.  I know what Ezra likes and will eat and he knows what's expected of him at mealtimes.  We've had the "3 Things" rule for nearly a year now and it works most of the time.  Basically, he has to have 3 different things on his plate for both lunch and dinner (and, much to his eternal dismay, his drink doesn't count).  He can choose those three things off of what's on the table, but that's it.  I make it a point to have a few things that I know he'll eat so he doesn't completely starve, but if I reeeeally want him to try the main dish (which is almost always his biggest issue), then I make sure that there aren't three sides on the table.  Except for milk, he won't touch most dairy and meats are always hit and miss (and even then have to be basically plain and/or grilled), but he likes most fruit and a fair amount of veggies, so we're doing ok.  Overall, we've found a happy-medium.  He might put odd things on his fajitas like fresh carrots and cucumbers, but if it works for him, it works for me.

Ezra's independence has become a really nice personality trait over the last year.  He dresses himself every morning with very little or no help from me (thank heavens it's his natural inclination to match!) and can help make himself breakfast if I ask him to.  He's starting to pick up his toys more (which has always been a huge battle) and he's always willing to help out with his younger sisters by turning on lights they can't reach, accompanying them down to the scary basement, and fetching their shoes for me.  He likes to help me unload the dishes and will often help me put away laundry.  He's extremely meticulous in pretty much everything, so while it might cause some fights with his sisters and means everything he does takes forever, he usually does things right the first time.  We've gotten a reward system set up (all the kids get to put pom-poms in a mason jar and when it's full we do a fun family activity) and it really helps encourage him to help out a little more willingly. I don't think I ever realized that a tangible form of positive reinforcement would work so well for him.

Ezra has a strong natural faith.  He'll pray for something in complete faith and then recognizes the answer to his prayer soon after, all on his own.  His most recent prayer was to help him be more obedient so they could fill up the pom-pom jar faster.  He insisted the next night that Heavenly Father had helped him obey all day long.  As faith is something I've had to work very hard at, I love to see that little seed of faith burn so brightly in his nature.

I know I've mentioned it a dozen times on here before, but Ezra LOVES to dance and has a huge list of songs he insists on groovin' to regularly.  A few of these include Mika's We Are Golden, Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash, OK Go's This Too Shall Pass and  Here It Goes Again, I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas, Enrique Iglesias's I Like It, and I Wanna Be Sedated by The Ramones.

Well, that's about all I can think of right now.  I know it's very long and probably way more about my kid then you really wanted to know, but it kinda, sorta makes up for months of neglect, right?  Hope you enjoyed (or at least the grandparent and aunties of y'all ;)!