While He's Still 1

I've been meaning to write about all the new words Ezra has been saying, the interesting things he's been doing, all his favorite foods, activities he enjoys and silly personality traits he has. I want to preserve these moments and memories somehow. I love this age. So, here's a little more detail about Ezra at this time in his life, while he's just one year old - 23 months old to be exact. He's still one for one more month.

One of Ezra's favorite snack foods are almonds. Baby oranges are right up there with the almonds, along with homemade popcorn (made with butter and nutritional yeast). He also loves bacon. Who doesn't?

Ezra's vocabulary and language is similar to where Esperanza's was when she was almost 3. When Esperanza was his age, she would point at the moon and say "eh, eh". Ezra has been saying the word moon for as long as I can remember. He started saying sentences a couple of month ago. When he was still putting two words together, it started with fire truck, then dump truck, then garbage truck, then big truck...you get the picture. He loves trucks. Then he started saying 3 words sentences "Big fire truck". Now he says sentences with several words. "Mama, yucky diaper, big garbage truck"...his way of saying that his dirty diaper will go into the garbage truck. He often repeats the same sentences over again but at different times "come with me", "Tio Juan owie", "Grandma big rocking chair", "Grandma fall down". I'm not sure where that last one came from. He puts a lot of thought into each word before he says it when he's putting together new sentences. He says peoples names the most: Grandma, Naomi, Chance, Rafa, Kiko, Hanna, Celeste and of course 'Peransa' (Esperanza). He calls her sister just as often as she calls her Peransa. When he first started to attempt Esperanza's name, it sounded like Santa. He's so cute!

He knows most of his colors when you ask him what color something is. Green, pink, purple, orange, white and yellow he has down. Red and blue he gets mixed up, and he doesn't know black, gray or brown I don't think. He can also count. He follows along with Esperanza or I when we are counting something. I'll say five, six, then he'll chime in and say seven, eight, nine.

Ezra is wearing mostly size 24 month/2T clothes and size 6 toddler shoes. Most 18 month clothing is too small, but a lot of 2T is still too big. He weighs about 27 pounds. His 2 year molars I think are close to coming in. He has been putting finger pressure on his gums back there for awhile now.

Ezra has fear where Esperanza has none, and is brave and confident in areas where Esperanza is scared or cautious. One example are the stairs to the play house in our backyard. They are steep. And spaced far apart. Even slippery when wet. Esperanza wouldn't attempt to climb up those stairs until she was about 3 years old. I wanted to block them off so no one could use them! Ezra started climbing them when he was about 19 months old though. Now, I let him walk out the back door to the play house by himself without me even watching him. He's good. That's not to say accidents can't happen. But he's just as coordinated and confident in his climbing skills as Esperanza is. They are spending a lot of time in and around the play house this Spring.

He screams if he's put on a swing but will climb stairs to the highest slide at the park and slide down without hesitation or waiting to make sure someone is below to catch him. He won't go into a pool or pet a dog (my moms dogs being the exception) without putting up a good fight and is scared of snakes and spiders. Esperanza lives to swing, would jump into the deep end of a pool if I wasn't there to stop her, hunts snakes and spiders and wishes she owned a dog. These kids are so different!

Ezra loves his big sister. She reads to him, plays chase and ring around the rosies with him, shares her favorite toys, holds his hand, helps him put his shoes on or reach things that are too high for him. She also pushes him off of chairs, screams at him, is quick to put blame on him and hides things from him. In retaliation, he hits, spits and screams at her. But usually he just wants to give her hugs and kisses when she doesn't want them. Sibling love.

If our one year old baby boy could have his perfect day, he'd spend it going for a walk with his daddy then coming home to dig in dirt, dump containers of water everywhere, eat baby oranges, nurse often and spit on his sister. He's growing up so quickly, his baby talk is disappearing and his independence is taking over. I just love this kid so much. It's sad to see him get older, but I seriously look forward to just as much fun and excitement in his two's...my favorite age!