Ezra handed a penny to his babysitter and said, "It's money. You can't stick it in your nose."

Ezra was playing with his alphabet blocks, mostly building towers and knocking them down, he held up one and said, "It's a W!" Then he held up another and said, "It's a double Q!"

Every time we go in for a check up Ezra's doctor she and I reminisce about how tiny he was when he was born, and how freaked out I was. And then, after a minute of talking about how tiny he was, she tells me how great he is doing. (Needless to say, I really like his doctor.)

At his 2 year check up he was in the 99th percentile for length and 75 for weight with a giant head. And this is a baby who wasn't even on the baby growth chart when he was born! (except his giant head. He looked like a lollipop.)

The doctor asked the routine questions, "does he eat his vegetables?" yes. "does he brush his teeth?" yes. "How is he sleeping?" pretty well, most of the time. Etc, etc.

And then she asked: "Does he go to school?"
Me: "Not yet."
Dr: "That's good. He'd just make all the other kids look bad."

Love that doctor.

Ezra: "I want to do it all by myself with you."

The way you crinkle your nose when you really laugh.

The way you say, "Make a painting!" and spread things around when you spill something on the table.

The way you say, "Mmmm mmm!" and shake your head with happiness when you put a piece or roasted eggplant in your mouth.

We went to the visit a bird sanctuary the other day to see the owls, hawks, falcons and eagles.

When the eagle squawked Ezra said, "He's licking his lips."

I have no idea.

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If you'd rather not listen to "The Motorcycle Song" 24 times in a row, do not let your 1 year 360 day old son know it exists.

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Ezra sat down at a piano for the first time a couple days ago and after a few minutes of playing he said, "It's just like the Beatles!"

The next day I was fiddling around trying to figure out how to play "Happy Birthday" and even though I only got the first 6 notes he said, "It's like Happy Birthday!"

While riding on my bicycle past a parking lot:
Ezra: It's a car yard.
Me: What?
Ezra: It's a car yard!

While washing his hands in the kitchen sink:
Ezra: It's like the ocean!
Me: What's like the ocean?
Ezra: That's just like the ocean!
I figured out he was talking about the blue baking dish that was filled with soapy water.
Me: It does look like the ocean.

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I told Ezra we were going to go visit Chiara in Brooklyn and he wanted to talk about it.
Ezra: What are we gonna do in Brooklyn?
Me: We'll see Chiara in Brooklyn.
Ezra: And Jackson in Brooklyn.
Me: Yup.
Ezra: And Cade in Brooklyn.
Me: Yes!
Ezra: And Jon in Brooklyn.
Me: Aren't you excited? What else do you want to see in Brooklyn?
Ezra: Wanna see.... ahhh.... ummmm..... Freight train?

(we listen to that song a LOT.)

When Ezra is sad, bored or mad, I ask him if he wants to talk about something. We talk about the farm we visited in Tivoli, the puppy he got to pet in the park, and lots of other things. He often wants to talk about the conservatory we went to 3 times a week this past winter so we chat about it for awhile.

Ezra calls the big fish that eats all the little fish in Leo Leoni's book Swimmy "Ollie" (as in our dog) and likes to pet him.
Not sure how to feel about that....


Actual Ollie.
Hmm, I kinda see it.

After he'd been looking for his rubber duck for 10 minutes, our incredibly wonderful babysitter (who I hope and pray never leaves us) found it.
Babysitter: Look what I found!
Ezra (turning around with a big grin on his face): Mommy!
Babysitter: No buddy, Mommy's working. I found your duck.
Ezra (scowling): Not mommy.
And then he turned and stomped away.

It's horrible how much I love my babysitter and love this conversation. It's just really nice to know that even though he's so very well cared for, he still misses me as much as I miss him. Especially because in a few years he probably won't. Which is a good thing, but also a heartbreaking thing.

Forgive my mopiness, 23 months is almost not a baby anymore and it's just going way too fast.

Ezra: Wanna go, wanna go!
Me: Where do you want to go, buddy?
Ezra (with his hand on his chin, looking off to the side): Wanna gooooo, ahhhhhh...... ummmm....)

(he's been doing this a lot lately. Ask him what song he wants to sing, he looks off into space and ponders- like he's a cartoon character trying to figure something out.)

After dumping a cup of water on himself:
Ezra: It's just like the ocean!
Me: Oh dear.

Ezra: It's a lawn mower! (pronounced It's a lawn doe herd)
Me: It is a lawn mower.
Ezra: It's mowing. It's loud.
Me: Yup.
Ezra: It's louding.

Me: I love you sooooo much!
Ezra: Let's hug.

Ezra likes to talk himself to sleep saying, "Gus is sleeping, Ollie is sleeping, the road is sleeping, the motorcycles are sleeping, the garbage trucks are sleeping, Calvin is sleeping, Lilah is sleeping, the flowers are sleeping, the trees are sleeping, Mommy is sleeping...." He goes on for 5 minutes or so before he passes out.