two point five

Ezra turned two and a half this week.

These last six months have been a doozy for him (and the rest of us who live in close proximity with him).

Here is a brief synopsis of his little two and a half year old life.

He still loves fruit. Fruit, fruit, and nothing but the fruit. He basically likes everything else too, with the odd exception of pizza. The kid won't eat more than one bite of it. He still has this habit of turning over his spoon at the last second before it enters his mouth and losing most of the contents.

He sleeps about twelve hours at night...usually from 8pm till 8am. He takes one nap from about 2-4:30. He seems to have developed this "window of opportunity" in regards to his nap, where if we put him down after 2pm he won't go to sleep, but if we put him down before 1:30 he won't go to sleep either. The upside of this is that if he misses his nap he is not quite as cranky as he used to be and will go to bed a lot earlier for us.

His vocabulary has exploded ever since we booted the paci several months ago. He can talk in 4-5 word sentences and even strangers can understand him at times. He no longer says car-cars or car-yays...they are just cars now. And you had better not confuse a car with a motorcycle, bus, van, or truck. He will let you know the difference.

His favorite things remain Daddy, Ella, and anything with wheels. He has also added quite the attachment to balloons recently. He sleeps with one, carries one around with him the majority of the time, and we often even run our errands with one. If anyone knows me and my love of balloons (dripping with sarcastic tone) you will understand that the Lord really has a sense of humor on this one. He loves being outside, fishing (with a hook-less barbie pole), playing in the sandbox, fighting with sticks, and jumping on the trampoline. He loves the library and has really developed a longer attention span for books. Sometimes during the day if he has gotten a little wild I will send him to his bed (not as a punishment) for some book time and he will happily look through 5-6 books...and calm down to a manageable level for me =) He also loves to "fix" his cars and especially loves helping Daddy with any project.















Oh man here comes the discipline paragraph. Where to start? Where to end? I am going to be honest and admit that the last six months has been my toughest stage with him. He is wide open. He tests. He retests. He pushes limits. He is so incredibly active. And his skill set is incredible. He can scale a dresser in 0.3 seconds. We set limits. We consistently enforce those boundaries. He tests again. It is sometimes hard not to feel a sense of defeat after a series of difficult days.

Impulsiveness trumps self control in this stage of his life.

Because of this I do have to focus on the behaviors and look for those teachable moments to address the deeper heart issues. He is super quick to apologize and make things right after wrong choices. He is also super quick to flash his dimples at me in hopes I will be won over by his cuteness.

(i admit, sometimes he gets me)

He loves all people with the exclusion of white haired ones at the moment. He attempts to go home with other families at parks and stores on a weekly basis. He loves his friends at church and playdate. He is super affectionate and insists on a series of hugs and kisses (big hug, little hug, fishy kiss, caterpillar kiss, big hug...) at goodbyes and bedtimes.

He loves to do school with Ella and has surprised me with how long he will give his attention to it. He knows all his shapes, and his colors 50% of the time =) He can recognize at least a dozen letters and even tell you the letter sounds for a few. He loves puzzles (or fuzzles as he calls them).

He brings so much energy to our family...
So much laughter...
So much stretching of our spirit...
and so much joy...

Ezra James, despite the difficulty of the stage you are in, I love you completely and unconditionally and I have (still) loved every moment of being your Momma.

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