A Whole Week Worth of Thanks

Ezekiel *finally* got to meet Grandaddy Jack, Angie, and Chase.  It was awesome.

Monday night, Jack, Angie, and Chase came over to meet Ezekiel for the first time.  I think the only one NOT nervous about the meeting was Ezekiel.  We explained to him that we were having visitors and who they were and that we would really appreciate if he would be a good boy, but I think the only thing that he took away from the conversation was that someone was coming to see him special.  (He loves to be special and the center of attention).  When they got here, they had brought Ezekiel a Hippo mama and her baby Hippo stuffed animal.  The funny thing about the hippos was they were the Natures HD toys - which is Ezekiel's new most favorite things and there was no possible way they could have known that when they picked the gift out!  So the gift was a hit (as a matter of fact, he now sleeps with both of them every night.  The bed is getting more crowded between Marty, Ezekiel, Boo-Boo Kitty, Baby Jaguar, Mama & Baby Hippo, and me).

Anyway - Ezekiel took an immediate attachment to Chase.  I think he figured that they were buds.  He harassed Chase endlessly but Chase was awesome with Ezekiel.  Keeping him occupied and entertained.  When they left Marty kept saying "I can't believe Chase is only 16; he is such an adult".

Ezekiel showed no shyness with them (which is pretty unusual with him).  He kept running up to them and giving them quick hugs and then running off to go do something else.  He couldn't decide what he wanted to get his sweaty-little-hands on more:  Jack's cell phone, or Angie's camera.  He finally decided to just alternate between the two.  

When everyone was getting ready to leave, Ezekiel ran up to Jack, hugged his legs and said "love you!" and then ran away.  I love child-love because it is so unconditional and honest.

I didn't get any pics the first night, which was really unfortunate.  I really thought my cam was broken (apparently it just needed batteries).

Yesterday, we had Thanksgiving here!!  It was so cool to have that many people for dinner and to hang out together.  Marty and I cleaned out our livingroom and put the tables in there, so we all fit at one table.  It was really great having that much family all here with us.  We definitely missed the family that we couldn't be with this Thanksgiving but it was such a treat to do it this way.  

Ezekiel LOVED Shamus.  He was so amazed that there was a baby in the house.  Since Ezekiel is still a baby himself (albeit a large baby) he didn't quite understand that he had to be extra gentle at all times with his hands and his huge feet, but you could tell that he was trying to be conscience of it.  Sometimes, his excitement would just get the best of him.



Look, he brought his blankie and his cow!





Going in for the kiss:


Ezekiel also LOVED the chocolate pie.  He must have had 6 pieces by the time dinner was over.  He was my little chocolate man.

Eating it off the floor like a puppy:


What a fine pair of legs!!








Again, dinner was nice, the company was nice, everything was nice.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Random shots of Thanksgiving (/sigh, my cam isn't the Nikon S550 that I wanted - *hint, hint Marty* but it will do)
















I love this one:








We got to say goodbye to Jack and Chase today (we missed you Angie!).  It was incredibly sad.  When Jack was first saying goodbye, I think that Ezekiel kind of thought he was joking.  He sort of waved and said "bye bye" and walked off.  Then, I think it kicked in that this was a little more serious and long term.  He got all serious and whispered "uh-oh buh-bye?" I told him that they were leaving and that they were going home and it might be a long time before we got to see them again.  He hugged them again and he said to Jack "I love you".  We brought him over to the window so he could wave goodbye and he kept saying "uh-oh, uh-oh bye-bye" then his eyes all welled up and he started crying and waving.  It was so incredibly sad that he realized that he was saying goodbye for real and that he cared so much and that he was going to miss them.  

It was really tough to see everyone go but it was so nice to have them all here.  We will certainly miss them.

When we got home tonight, Ezekiel took me by the hand, brought me to the fridge and said "Piece."  I asked him if he wanted a piece of pie.  He proceeded to nod with not only his head, but his entire body.  So I cut him a piece of pie, left the pie uncovered on the table, and went to get him a spoon.  In that short time, he managed to grab a different spoon, climb on the table and take a perfect little spoonful for himself...right down to the crust:




Now that's love.

no pictures in this one

I still don't have a working camera, so I don't have any updated pictures to put up of Ezekiel. It is really unfortunate, but what can you do?

Ezekiel has been having some rough times - actually, you know, I think Ezekiel has been having loads of fun and just is enjoying giving US a rough time. He is King of Tantrums lately. Really bad, really loud, really long ones. I have at least figured out where they are stemming from though. They are really coming for two reasons. The first is because he is getting all four of his two-year-old molars at the same time. I know the poor baby is in pain; he just wants to make sure that everyone in the neighborhood knows he is in pain. The other reason is because I sincerely believe that he is frustrated that he isn't able to do everything we do. He really thinks that he is a little man. We have always treated him as an equal, and now he is letting us know that he doesn't like it when he isn't treated like an equal. That is proving to be really tough. For example, last weekend I noticed that he was really watching people, then he would pull his Nuk (pacifier) out of his mouth and take a look at it and get this look like "where is everyone else's Nuk?" Well, he must have decided that he didn't want to be the only one with a Nuk because he gave it up cold turkey. Last Sunday while I was putting him to bed I asked him "do you want your Nuk?" and he said yes, he stuck it in his mouth, waited for a couple of minutes and said "noooo. no Nuk-Nuk for mama, no Nuk-Nuk for mine" and he spit it out and refuses to take one now. So now he has to learn how to self-comfort in a different way. It is really, really rough. Last night he woke up at 3am screaming (SCREAMING) and wouldn't go back to bed or calm down until 7:30 this morning. Another thing that he has noticed is that we don't wear diapers. So he doesn't want to wear his diaper to bed. Doesn't want to is putting it nicely - he refuses to wear his diaper to bed. So he pee-pees the bed and it is very frustrating, but we just wait until he is nice and passed out and then we diaper him. He is incredibly strong willed, which I believe will serve him well as an adult, but it is certainly difficult to spar with him.

This year, we didn't bring him trick-or-treating. We actually couldn't find a costume in his size in any of the local stores! It was awesome though, on Halloween day, we got a package from Jack and Angie and inside there was a Halloween shirt and some kitty-cat socks that light up. He wore the shirt all day and was our baby-pumpkin. And the socks? They are really starting to stink ... he has to wear them every day. He likes best when we go for rides at night and he kicks the passenger seat and lights them up.

He's doing quite a bit of talking lately. His favorite word is probably "Helf" which is "Help". He says "helf, helf" all the time. He says "Pee-ZAH" for pizza; "cookie" he says perfectly (we bought him a cookie at Tim Horton's once, so now every time we drive past there he says "Cookie??"). He says "cow", "moon" (Daddy and Ezekiel sneak out sometimes to look at the sky and Ezekiel comes back in all excited and tells me "Moon!! Sky!!!). He says "sheep", "zebra" or "dee-bra" (Marty read him this book that says that the zebra says 'neigh-HAY-HAY' so now Ezekiel tells us that his dee-bra says nay-hay-hay-nay). He still calls Marty 'Marty' when trying to get his attention, or when he is frustrated with him. Pretty much he says any word that you will say. He loves to copy (thusly, I'm still paying for the day when I exclaimed "CRAP" as now that is one of his favorite words). He can tell you "eye" while poking you in the eye...same for hair, forehead, nose (although that is more of a honk of the nose while he says "nos") mouth, teeth, ear, cheek, belly, nipple (he has nipple-eczema so I'd always say "let me put this cream on your nipple..now he knows nipple), toes, feet, legs, and hands. He knows his colors of brown, green, yellow, blue, orange, and red. His favorite books are still by Sandra Boynton (I can recite a few by heart). He loves Dora, Diego, and the Backyardigans. He hates his jacket. He manages to stay a healthy weight without eating (34 pounds!).

And my favorite..when Marty gets home from work, no matter what he is doing he drops it and runs top speed into Marty's arms and gives him the biggest hug and kiss ever. It makes it all awesomely wonderful.