Ezra: 5 years

It is birthday season here, and Ezra recently turned five, so forgive me for another in-depth look at my sweetie boy.

• Ezra is a thinker.  He is very much his father's son, and I can already see the engineer brain in him.  He loves reading books and learning new things.  He loves asking questions, and consulting the "ok Google" function on my phone.  He is a knowledge sponge; he has this insatiable need to know, and processes information with remarkable efficiency.  I can almost see the neat rows of boxes in his brain; I can imagine him filing away tidbits in carefully organized compartments for later recall.  Ezra also has a memory like a steel trap.  On a number of occasions he has said, "But Mom, don't you remember when..." and he will recall with great accuracy some random comment I made about this or that several months earlier.  Yea, that is my Ezra boy.  
• Ezra loves the truth.  Almost as much as he needs to know facts, he needs to know the reality of things.  The classic example is our heart-to-heart conversation last Christmas--when he was just four--about the reality of Santa Claus.  He had some disconcertingly intelligent questions about his modus operandi, and came to the conclusion after examining the facts, that Santa Claus was in fact, not real.  Often when we read a book or watch a movie, he will ask, "Did that really happen?"  "Is that really true?"  He asked that question after watching the animated movie Anastasia recently.  In basic terms, we discussed the real story of the Romanov family, the Bolshevik police, the Russian Revolution, and Communism.  He was fascinated.
• Ezra is confident in his interests.  At his five-year well check, the pediatrician asked him a number of questions.  Among them she asked, "Do you have friends at school?"  He immediately responded, "No I don't need friends, I like to do what I like by myself."  She was quite surprised, and said that most children at this age crave friends, and assume that everyone likes them.  Nearly all his school peers and church associates are enamored with super heroes and sports; Ezra hardly gives those genres a second glance.  He is the budding scientist, and continues to be fascinated with all things animal.  One of his favorite pastimes is studying the animal encyclopedia.  
• Ezra has serious focus.  Ezra can sit for an hour or more engrossed in a stack of books.  He will studiously fill whole notebooks of letters and drawings in a day.  And, when he is in the mood, he is neat, tidy, and organized; his bed and box of things is a favorite area to fix up and set right.  Today, for example, he filled a pint Mason jar with numbers written on miniature sticky notes.  He explained that the numbers represented money saved for the temple in China.  He was saving it up to give to the bishop so China could have its own temple, "And a church building too," he added, if there was enough left over.
• Ezra struggles with new or challenging tasks.  Ezra tends to shut down when things get too hard.  He has done that since he was a baby.  I think it is a control issue.  He likes to feel confident, and capable, and anything new or challenging tends to unravel him.  He is not driven by competition.  He will not dive into a new activity if he senses it is not safe or doable.  He is not a dare devil.  Better safe than sorry is how he likes to operate.  Maren tends to try new things before him.    
• Ezra is growing into the big brother role.  Recently, I saw a touching example of Ezra being the protecting older brother.  We went to a park, Ezra and Maren were having a lovely time playing together, and then two boys maybe seven and four showed up, and proceeded to claim all park property as their own, refuse access to various play structures, and yell, chase, and generally bully Ezra and Maren.  I was impressed with Ezra's calm reasoning.  From a distance I could hear him addressing the boys, "I think playing together is more fun than fighting.  I choose to walk away," and then he carefully led Maren away, who was cradled under his arm.  At another tense moment, Ezra rescued Maren and hugged her tightly, and said, "This is my best sister, and you can't scare her."  Yesterday while I was in the shower, Ezra took initiative and cleared the breakfast dishes, wiped the table, tidied the living room, and stacked all the library books.  Later, he gave me a little tour of his work, and said matter-of-factly, "Mommy, you can't do all the jobs anymore, I need to do them.  You have a big belly."  Cute boy!               

  

  His b'day request: pumpkin muffins with whipped cream & chocolate bunnies 

Maren: 3 years old

Maren turned three in August, and her birthday is a great time to record some thoughts about her.

• Maren loves to ride.  Maren got a three-wheeled scooter from her Grandma Denise as an early birthday present.  She loves her scooter like Ezra loves his bear, and that is really saying something.  Maren is off like a shot on her scooter as soon as the garage door opens.  She is her very happiest on her scooter.  Truly, the best part of her day is scooter riding.  She has absolutely no fear, flying here, there, and everywhere at lightening speed.  Maren has mastered the hip lean in order to turn, and looks like a real pro at parks.  She really turns heads: wavy blonde hair flying, princess helmet, often a big poofy skirt, pink clogs, and an Olympic smile as she whizzes up ramps, and through people, around obstacles, and back again to where I watch.  Again, and again she make loops, and comes back to me just long enough to say, "Mommy, this is the best fun ever!"  I love that she has found a true love, and can feel so free and happy in an activity.  Thank you Grandma!
• Maren is feisty.  It is her personality.  She is no push-over, and she doesn't have a passive, or even passive-aggressive response to anything.  If she has been slighted, she will make it known.  It is just a matter of course that my three-year old yells at me quite a bit in the course of a day.  I pick my battles carefully, because she is a fighter.    
• Maren is emotions-focused.  When Ezra and Maren get into a skiff, no matter the type of insult from her brother (pinch, push, bite, kick, mean words, stolen toy, etc.), Maren comes running with great sobs (because she is also quite theatrical), and exclaims, almost without exception, "Ezra hurt my feelings!"  I find this rather fascinating.  She has been using this expression for a good three months.  There may be pain involved, but it is always a feelings issue with her.  Her feelings have been damaged, and her emotional psyche is wounded.  I am intrigued that she has made that connection, and needs balm for injured feelings.  Ezra, as verbally adept as he is, just doesn't communicate about emotional injury.
• Maren is kind of dreamy, and lost-in-a cloud sometimes.  Schedule?  Time constraint?  Follow-through?  What?  Maren Marie, darling, darling girl that she is, has a really hard time with task completion.  "Maren, find your shoes," for example, can be a 20-minute endeavor because she forgets and/or gets distracted by more enticing activities.  Unless the task is directly related to going on a scooter ride, she has little motivation for things like "find clothes", "brush teeth", "clean room", etc.  Lately, her favorite things are princesses and ballerinas, and at times she spends hours doing mostly nothing with her princess things and singing to herself, very much absorbed in her own little world.                   
• Maren is very compassionate and tender.  Nearly every time I threw up during this current pregnancy, if Maren was in ear-shot, she would come running, rub my back, and bring me tissues.  "It's ok mommy, it's ok mommy," she would repeat again and again, staying with me until it was over.  At other random moments, at least once at day, Maren will come running and squeeze me in a tight hug and say with real conviction, "You're my best mommy ever!!"  Or "I just love you, you're my sweetie-heart."  
• Maren is strong.  Recently, at Ezra and Maren's well-child exams for their birthdays, they both needed a shot.  Ezra declared bravely, "I'll go first."  But, as soon as the needle came into view, however, he dissolved into violent sobs, and pleaded not to have to undergo such torture.  The nurse proceeded, Ezra howled and ranted.  Ezra was shaky, teary, and clingy for the next 30 minutes.  Maren, who was in the room to witness what her brother had just undergone, watched silently.  When it was her turn, she sat on my lap, squeezed my hand, and didn't make a peep.  Needle went in, not a whimper, not even a flinch.  In fact, the nurse paused, looked, and blinked mid-syringe in surprise.  Bandage was applied, and Maren, calm as ever, hopped off my lap, as if nothing whatsoever had happened, and then comforted Ezra in his pain.  She often gets up from scooter crashes without a sound and goes again.  When she does fall and skin a knee, she needs a kiss, a smile, a little squeeze, and then she is back to riding.
  

Well hello there...

After a three-month hiatus, I am getting back to the blogging.

My hiatus is due to a happy reason: I am pregnant with baby # 3 (!!!), which brings unhappy consequences on my normal life: nasty pregnancy nausea.  The good news is, at 18 weeks, I am feeling mostly normal, with the continued help of my nausea medication.

The saving grace of the summer was two awesome family reunions.  If it had not been for those two events, and a brief road-trip to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, my family would have endured the most uneventful, lethargic summer of their lives.  (I was a blob in fetal position for three months, throwing up 3-4 times/day.)  As of about a week and a half ago, I started cooking dinner again, and eating it too!

So, without further ado, here are the highlights of our summer (it really was fantastic, all things considered!):

Family hike in Boulder--one of our most successful, and so beautiful.

Lazy afternoon in Jackson.  Met the locals.

The epitome of summer: homemade ice cream in Jackson park.

Awesome family photo with super awesome Tetons backdrop.

The children were amazing road-trippers!  Hip-hip-hooray!

Plenty of time to enjoy Grandma's new outdoor paradise.

Easy, shady waterfall hike in Utah, so nice!

Camping in Grandma's front yard!

Canyon hike with cousins, and Jared & Sarah (8+ mos. pregnant!)

Fun cousin time with Camryn and Judd.

The best possible cousin hangout: Grandma's Roslyn's hot tub.

Fourth of July: a perfectly wonderful 8 am-10 pm marathon day.

Water park day with cousins--super fun!

Water slide with mom, giggle, repeat!

Dallin was concertmaster at this beautiful outdoor venue...

...and the children frolicked in the grass

We went to the Fort Collins Temple open house as a family--twice!

New Start

This cute boy started preschool today.  He was definitely ready to go, and when it came time to say goodbye at drop-off time, Ezra sat at a table with three classmates he didn't know, and put on a brave face--no tears.  I made a quick exit!  His report when the day was done, "I'm in love with my new preschool Mom.  I want to go there forever."  Two thumbs up!

Maren loves...

One of my Maren challenges has been helping her find a favorite activity.  She dabbles briefly and loosely in dozens of things, but has no particular fancy.  As a mom, I am always in observation mode, hoping to help her find her fit.

She has dolls, and has even named a few of them, but usually gives them a little nod at bedtime, maybe a snuggle or two, and is done with them.  She has a trio of thin swaddling-type blankets that she chews on mercilessly, but only when she is sad and needs comfort.  She is entertained by Ezra's animal collection, but also thinks puzzles, trains, play food, the dollhouse, and books are equally interesting for short spurts of time on most days.

I have recently discovered a few activities she will do everyday: 1) swing 2) listen to music 3) hold a bug.

First, swing.  Maren will sit contentedly in a swing being pushed for at least 30 minutes.  I have on a compassionate day pushed Maren non-stop in a swing for an hour (have I mentioned my nicely formed bicep muscles?)  Sometimes when we go to the park, she will do nothing but swing.  We have a small play set/fort in our backyard, and she seeks every possible opportunity to swing there too. 

Second, music.  She loves when daddy plays the piano or violin, and she loves singing along to music.  Her most favorite Primary song is "Book of Mormon Stories" (p.118).  She knows all eight verses nearly flawless, and quotes the lyrics of the song whenever one of the characters is mentioned during scripture study time.  We have been reading about Ammon lately; any time his name is spoken, Maren spurts out, "...was a missionary serving Lamanites, tending King Lamoni's sheep for several days and nights."   Maren loves music!

Third, bugs.  I was a little surprised by her attraction to creepy-crawlies, but it makes sense.  We spend a great deal of time outside working in the yard, tending the garden, and frolicking in parks and other green spaces--and encounter bugs regularly.  She has no qualms with extracting worms, and cradling them in her hands or grabbing up roly-polys or ladybugs mid-stride.  Unfortunately, she tends to love her bugs to death, and they die a quick, painful death by an accidental young enthusiast.  She recently found an unsuspecting worm, which was quickly--and unintentionally--ripped in two.  She ran up to me grinning and excited, "Mommy, look!  My worm has a family now!"    

New Focus

Ezra has turned into a little writing machine lately.  We have starting buying small 5 x 8 lined pads of paper, and Ezra fills them by the armful every week.  During sacrament meeting if he has a pencil, a pad of paper, and words to copy, he sits completely engrossed for nearly the entire hour.

Here are some recent samples of transcription efforts:

"Fourth Book of Nephi"

"Jesus Christ"

"Temple, Lehi, Moroni, Nephi, Mormon"

I am delighted to say that this new obsession has come entirely from him.  I have never prompted him to practice writing, he seemingly all of a sudden had the desire, and has made diligent, independent efforts to improve.

Today he filled ten pages full of animal drawings with prices; it was a sort of pet shop catalog, and I was allowed to peruse the available options and make a selection.  Here is one page from his catalog:

This page features a bat for $100 (top left) or a leopard (bottom) for $110,000 (some other aquatic creatures bled through from the reverse).  For those with less disposable income, he offered more economical options, such as a parrot (left) or a sloth (right) for $10 each.

  I think he is perfectly darling, but most of the children his age aren't quite sure what to make of him.  But oh how we love him, with all his creative energy and love of learning!!

Family Tree

I found this old picture recently and did a double-take.  Tall, thin, high-cheek boned contemplative fellow with crossed arms, and floppy sun hat--a picture of a young Morris Mauss, which has a striking likeness to his grandson, Dallin.  Fascinating.       

Happy Place

On our windy, sleeting, hailing, and/or snowing should-be-spring-but-not kind of days, you are likely to find me and the kids in one of our favorite places--the plant nursery.  We are on the slow warm-up track this month; the weather keeps reverting, and we keep retreating to our pseudo tropical paradise.  I think we have visited six different nurseries this month.  Each nursery offers a great variety of plant material, creative inspiration, and late winter/early spring solace.  When my garden is still buried under snow, I crave the warm sun and humid air of the greenhouse; it really rejuvenates me. 

A visit to a plant nursery is such a wonderfully satisfying sensory experience--for all of us.  We can run our fingers along the rows of ornamental grasses, smell the honeysuckle blossoms and lavender flower spikes, marvel at the brilliant red geraniums and rainbow colors of delicate pansies, and even taste the spearmint, peppermint, and chocolate mint leaves.  

Most of the nurseries have plants, as well as other wonderful add-on features: resident baby ducks, indoor koi pond, working (viewable) bee hive, kid play area with sand box, lounge chairs, and 8' x 8' play house complete with dormer windows and front porch, a cacti collection as large as my family room with several 12' specimen, rows and rows of fairy garden paraphernalia, statuary, and wind chimes from around the world--to name a few.  All in all, our visits are refreshing, entertaining, engaging--and free.

Ezra and his new toad friend.

Koi pond, bee hive, and fascinated children!

Grateful

I'm grateful that I get to be a mom.  And, even more, I am grateful that I get to be a stay-at-home mom.  I had several sweet conversations with my children this week; conversations that made me feel especially grateful for this season in my life.

Ezra, my thinker, said, "Mom, why do we have so many weeds?"

I quickly scanned possible technical science answers, but felt inspired to simply say, "Because we live in a fallen world."  And that led to a lovely talk about the plan of salvation, the creation, Adam and Eve's choice in the Garden of Eden, and the fall of man--and all other living things.

On another day Ezra asked, "Mom, why don't I have just one eye or three eyes?  Why do I have two eyes?"

Again, the answer came instantly to my mind, "Because you are a child of God, you are created in the image of God.  He created your body to look like His.  Heavenly Father has two eyes, and so do you."

Ezra replied, "Thanks Mom, I'm glad I was created like Heavenly Father."

Yesterday after an ugly round of Ezra-Maren fighting, and my own silent prayer, I felt inspired to try a new approach.  We talked about the role of the Holy Ghost, our need for his influence, and how to invite him into our lives.  I quietly explained that fighting and contention pushes him away, and when we are left without his comforting help, we struggle more.   And then we all sat very still for a moment as a sweet, peaceful feeling filled the room.

Ezra said very quietly, "I don't want to be alone.  I like the peaceful feeling better."
Maren followed up, "I love one another.  I love the Holy Ghost."

Happy Easter!

March has been a wonderful spiritual month for our family, and our gospel study efforts have been aided by amazing on-line church resources.  At the end of February, Ezra and I made a goal to read from the Book of Mormon every day in March--and we have!  We were inspired in our effort by a story from the March Friend called Scripture Power.

We have been following the monthly Book of Mormon reading schedules and supplementing with our own additional reading.  What a blessing to study King Benjamin's and Abinadi's prophesies of Jesus Christ in anticipation of Easter!

Ezra and Maren loved the Hallelujah Easter video, and were so excited that the words from Isaiah were included in Abinadi's message (see Mosiah 14).  We watched it together at least 20 times.  After listening to Handel's Messiah, and especially the Hallelujah chorus throughout the month, Maren began to sing bits and pieces during routine daily activities.   Maren watched a full hour, fully-engaged of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir & Orchestra live stream of Handel's Messiah on Friday night.  I imagine she would have stayed for the entire thing, but it ran into her bedtime. 

We also tried many of the Easter activities and lessons recommended in this article 7 Family-Friendly Ideas for a Christ-Centered Easter.  On Good Friday we had a candlelight dinner and read select passages from 3 Nephi 8-10, describing the darkness and destruction, and the hope that came as Christ spoke to the people from heaven.  We ate in complete darkness, and then, as we read 3 Nephi 9:18 ("I am the light and the life of the world"), we lit a candle.  Ezra and Maren loved our special dinner.  

Dallin played in an amazing local production of Rob Gardner's Lamb of God, and I got to attend too.  The music is so deeply moving, and many of the songs have been re-playing through my head for weeks.  Go here (Lamb of God) for a lovely sense of the music, and several short song excerpts.

Our Sunday morning sacrament meeting was filled with music that testified of Christ.  Dallin played two beautiful pieces on violin and sang in the ward choir.  The Easter program definitely touched my heart. 

My little sunbeams were amazing too!  We had our best lesson yet.  All seven of my sunbeams were hanging on every words as we talked about how sweet Jesus had to die, but then rose again.  We made tombs out of salt dough, and re-enacted Jesus' burial, the closing of the tomb (with a small rock), and his glorious resurrection.  Happy Easter!

My cute sunbeam class

      

Spring?

Spring is wonky here. 

Here is a short history of our March weather:

• The first weekend in March we had intense 46 mph winds that blew over our southern neighbor's fence and significantly tilted ours.  
• By the second weekend in March, temperatures were in the 70s.  We noted wasps, flies, and lady bugs flying, and spent many glorious hours in our shorts at the park.  Many of the perennials in my garden were waking up from their winter sleep, and the earliest of the crab-apple trees had leafed out.  Saturday March 12 we hauled in 2 yards of compost to amend our garden beds.  The garden was dry as dust, but the weather was glorious.  
• March 14 we had 49 mph winds again, which dropped the temperatures by 18 degrees in a 24-hour period.  And by the weekend we had nearly seven inches of snow.  I was ecstatic; the garden got a free watering!
• March 19 the daily high was 37 degrees.  March 20 the daily high was 57 degrees.  March 21 the daily high was 72 degrees.  March 22 the daily high was 71 degrees.  Today, March 23, the daily high was 35 degrees, and we got 20" of snow with blizzard-like winds.  Yesterday we were in bare feet in the back yard.  Today (tall man) Dallin was up to his knees in snow.  Wonky, yes?   But actually not too unexpected.

Here's a visual of our "spring" weather.

Here is our lovely little 7" snowfall

Snowy, but sunny & pleasant--out for a neighborhood walk

Here is our surprise 20" blizzard

Ezra, half buried in 20" of snow, and loving it!

 Dallin, our snow shovel hero, rescued at least three stuck cars, shook the snow out of the neighbors heavily-laden trees, and shoveled our driveway, making a very impressive embankment.  Thank you Dallin, we love you!

What's New

We usually don't have much to report over here.  The "And what's new at your house?" question is often a little difficult to answer.  There is certainly newness--every day is a new adventure--but not always of the sharing kind.  In the last month, though, we have a few noteworthy happenings to document:

• Maren is potty-trained!  And, I should quickly add, I had almost nothing to do with her near instantaneous success!  She was done with diapers, ready to be a big girl in another official way, and essentially handled it all herself.  I shouldn't be too surprised about that either--that is the way my little miss does most things.  I offered the panties, a lot of moral support by way of sticker chart, chocolate chips, and much cheering, and that was all she needed.  She had about four accidents total, and by the end of day five was telling me every time she needed to go to the bathroom.  We are now about one month into it, and she is very confident, and still very motivated all on her own.
• My mom came for 10 days for "no-particular-reason-but-she-does-wonders-anyway" trip.  She did several wonderful little make-my-house-pretty projects that I had nothing to do with, except to be amazed by her many talents.  We found fabric, and she made these pillows and cushion for my living room.  Then we bought flowers, and she made a lovely arrangement over the piano.  And, we talked, and talked, and talked, and talked, which is even more lovely than house projects. 
  
    
• I checked off another bucket list item last month, "Play my clarinet in public."  There are four ladies in our current ward who play the clarinet (including me), so I thought it might be fun to do something with one or some or all of them in our annual late February talent show.  I got brave and initiated the idea, found the music, and then made an official commitment to play.  My embouchure is sad after all the years of non-playing, but after practicing as a group every Wednesday night for six weeks, I had enough endurance to play our two pieces.  I was definitely the weak link in our group; the other two ladies in our trio have played more consistently than me in stake music events.  But, I did alright.  We made it through, and I thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie of group playing.  Huzzah for making a goal, and accomplishing it.
• Currently, we have a resident artist in our ward. She supports her family with the art she makes, and has her work in galleries all over the west, and is starting to be accepted at galleries on the East Coast as well.  She is a fabulous, dynamic, exuberant, deeply compassionate person, and I feel so grateful to be her friend. On Thursday nights when she isn't traveling, she hosts a pastel class with several other art-loving ladies in our area.  We get together and talk, laugh, and make art.  It has been the highlight of my winter, and has given me that much needed creative outlet without children.  We have been following Jackie Simmonds Pastel Workbook: A Complete Course in 10 Lessons.  I must note, that we simply use her step-by-step instructions to recreate what she has already created, so is not original art, but still very instructive and enjoyable.  Here is one of my drawings: 

•  And finally, Ezra swallowed a quarter on Friday.  Why?  I haven't the foggiest.  We never have money out and available, but when Ezra and Maren starting fighting over who got to go in the favorite swing first, I resolved it by flipping a quarter.  Ezra picked the eagle side, Maren was heads.  Later that day, Ezra and Maren helped me wash dishes, got soaked, and had to go change.  In less than two minutes after they went upstairs, Ezra came downstairs sobbing hysterically because he had swallowed the "eagle money" accidentally.  We called the pediatrician, and when Ezra was complaining of his "swallow ball" hurting when he was asked to eat some bread, the nurse advised us to go to urgent care and double check its location.  Wonder of wonders, our children's hospital has a north campus that is an easy 10 minutes north of us.  We were bumped up to the top of the list and were seen very quickly.  Ezra was so, so scared, wouldn't look anyone in the eye, and teared up if anyone asked him questions.  Maren chimed right in several times, and told the whole story!  Eventually, we went to radiology and had two x-rays taken.  The nurses and radiologists were as good as gold, and by the time we got to the x-ray room, Ezra was giggling.  This head profile picture came up first, showing that the quarter was not lodged in his throat, which could have meant immediate emergency surgery (whew!)  When the second picture came up, I had to chuckle--yep, quarter in tummy--we are here for a reason!  The whole afternoon was unexpected, but so, so positive.  I have never seen such a lovely, energetic, sweet group of doctors and nurses.  Ezra is not brave in unfamiliar situations, but they set him at ease, and helped him feel relaxed.  A quarter in a stomach is not ideal, but not problematic; in most cases it passes on its own without any complications.  As we exited, Ezra and Maren were both gifted blue Gatorade, goldfish crackers, and stickers.  They were tickled, and the quarter was all but forgotten.      

The Tree Lady

Reading children's books is one of my great loves.  I am interested in all sorts of genres, but I recently found one at the public library especially suited for my particular interests.  The Tree Lady is a non-fiction book about a determined young woman named Kate Sessions who broke the mold of her time, earned a degree is science in 1881, and then pioneered the effort to transform dry, desert San Diego into a lush garden oasis.  

Katherine Sessions was a horticulturist, a naturalist, a landscape architect, an educator, a green-thumb, a tree-lover, a pioneer, and a wonderfully inspiring person.  Her most notable accomplishment, as the book details, is her creation of Balboa Park in San Diego.  She is lovingly remembered as the "Mother of Balboa Park".  (Now I have one more reason to get to Southern California!)

The Tree Lady gives a lovely glimpse into Kate Sessions life, but also encourages its readers to pursue their own dreams, and to be driven, courageous, and determined.  I appreciate that message!  My personal green-thumb dreams are not as lofty or public, but dreams nonetheless, and I love the encouragement from a children's book to be true to them.  I resonate with Kate's underlying desire to make the world a more beautiful place; I have that dream too.

p.s.--Jill McElmurry's illustrations are fantastic, sort of folk art in style and reminiscent of Barbara Cooney, another fantastic children's book author/illustrator.

      

Maren Funnies

My little Miss Maren is lovely, except when she is not well-rested, and then she can be an emotional roller coaster at best and a screaming terror at worst.  She is very open about expressing precisely how she feels, which is a good thing--I like honesty--but sometimes her honesty can be a little startling. 

For example, she doesn't always love all the children her age in nursery.  Often, when their names are mentioned, I get this response:

"I no like [fill-in-the-blank].  I knock her.  I push her.  I bite her.  I put her in prison" (angry eyebrows and growler voice included).

Play with me and my little friends= best daddy ever!

So, we change the subject and talk about her other friends of the inanimate sort.  She is very attentive to them.  They are all regularly fed and swaddled and put down for naps and invited to picnic parties.  They join us at the breakfast table, at story-time, on errands, and bedtime.  She likes to report their status to me on a regular basis:

"Mommy, bunny had a nightmare.  I love her."
"Mommy, Cora (baby-doll) pushed me.  I put her in time-out right now."
"Mommy, baby Emma is crying.  I comfort her."
"Mommy, Kanga needs a drink.  I help her."

Last week I was invited to one of Maren's picnic parties.  We very carefully laid out several large blankets on the floor and then assembled every stuffed animal we could find.  When all the friends had arrived, Maren invited the group to sing "Happy Birthday" to every attendee in turn, and eat celebratory ice cream after each verse.  I think we sang about 20 renditions of the song, and Maren was positively tickled.

Maren's new bed, with bumper pad so she doesn't fall out

Maren recently graduated to a big-girl bed.  She now has a twin mattress and box spring (on the floor) just like Ezra, and she LOVES her new bed.  But, when the crib left, so did her remaining nap.  She absolutely, positively, refuses to sleep.  Apparently, some children her age will go to bed and stay in bed at a parent's request without door locks or crib-cages to keep them in place.  I do not have that type of child.  Interestingly enough, she makes her friends all take naps every day!

Supervising her friend's nap-time, but she doesn't sleep!

Earlier this week I invited Ezra and Maren to make stain glass pictures with me.  We found lots of fun paper scraps and string and laid the bits on contact paper.  Ezra loved the idea and jumped right in.  Maren, who is very much Miss Independence, would have nothing of our craft.  Mostly, I think because it was my idea, and not her idea.  So, she pouted, fussed, and observed from afar, and then, she had an idea.  She found her partially eaten container of yogurt from breakfast, and started painting the window with yogurt.  I saw her, and almost said something, but then, in a moment of inspiration, shut my mouth.  She didn't know I was watching her; she was so free and expressive--she had found her way of creating!

Our creative window art!

Maren's favorite book this week was I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen.  I read it to her at least twice a day every day, and then she "read" it to herself at least twice a day every day.  She is also in love with several Maurice Sendak classics, and was often found in quiet corners reading aloud to a stuffed friend or two.

Maren loves doing laundry, eating cuties, wearing mommy lotion and chap-stick, singing, and playing hide-and-seek.  Oh, and she loves to do things without my interference!

Ezra Funnies

Ezra is about 4.5 years old, and I really like his age and stage.  He is bursting with ideas and scenarios, and new twists on the normal.  He seems very genuinely happy with life and content with his little world.  Everyday he comes up with a new version of his favorite theme: the life and times of sea creatures.

One day, four of Ezra's toughest creatures (horseshoe crab, polar bear, Ankylosaurus, and great white shark) were generals in an army battling against one horrible foe--Tyrannosaurus rex.  When I checked back later, the generals had amassed a battalion and they were all in formation in neat rows and blocks advancing toward the enemy aggressor.  

Marching into battle

Another day he built several aquarium tanks out of building blocks.  In the first aquarium he assembled all his sharks; the menu of the day was a good chunk of meat--the poor T-rex.  In the second aquarium he assembled all his whales (the non-carnivorous types) and they were gorging themselves on a several different types of vegetables from Maren's play food collection.

The vegetarian tank

This week the building blocks were put in many groups of short lines as life-boats after pirates capsized the dinosaur cruise ship.  Each little block life-boat held one or two dinosaurs, and each little life boat was being pushed along to shore by a friendly local whale.

Sometimes the train station is managed by aquatic life.  Other times the used car lot of Matchbox cars has been over-run by sharks eager to acquire a set of wheels.  Almost always there are towers, creatures, and a story to tell.  I love that he is so entertained by such simple things.

Ezra also loves art projects.  This love didn't just drop out of the sky; I love to create, and I make artistic projects available most every day.  He has definitely taken to that freedom of expression.  Sometimes, the first thing he says in the morning is, "Mom, I need to draw.  I need paper."  As you may have guessed, most often he is author and illustrator of his own sea creature adventure series.  "Mom, this narwhal got trapped in the fisherman's net and all these dots are the mice coming to save him."  Only on a very rare occasion does he draw people, and most often, his drawings don't really look like much to me, but they are so very real to him!  

My favorite Ezra drawing--a portrait of the beloved Bear!

Ezra loves trying to sound out words and group like letters.

He is also in love with letters, books, and pasta.  And speaking of pasta, here is a darling little Ezra conversation from last week:

I was making dinner, and Ezra discovered it was pasta.  He approached with a troubled look on his face, "Mom, I was thinking that I needed to learn some words, but now I can't."
"Oh, really?  Why is that?"
"Because pasta is too distracting!"

Last week Ezra came to me all distraught with a bundle of papers covered in neat little rows of chicken-scratch.

"Mom, I have a big problem.  I need someone to say the prayer at church, but the only one who said he would do it is Bear!"  (Dallin is executive secretary in the ward, and he has to find people to say prayers every Sunday for sacrament...it can sometimes be a difficult responsibility.)