Ezri used google eyes for this dog drawing. Her drawings have gotten much more representational.
I said I liked the five fingers he had on each hand.
She informed me those are his sharp, sharp claws.
I was told this morning by Ezri that she is wearing her fuzzy dress which is a stretch velveteen so that I will give her lots of hugs because she loves me. Later I was told that no parents should be allowed in this house and she could make her own lunch and did not need parents. We’re running hot and cold here.
Here are a couple photos of Ezri and her friends who are off to spend over a year in New Zealand later this month. We’re gonna miss these girls. Ezri and C are making their heads into a balloon and a toy picnic basket respectively in the one photo.
Another collection of quotes from Ezri:
“You parents are waitresses. You bring us our food every night.”
By this sort of logic, we are also chefs, valets, chauffeurs, teachers, and personal shoppers. Parents are a lot of things.
“I can set the table like a grand master.”
She is increasingly helpful in getting ready for meals, but realistically more of a yellow belt.
“Kitty is witty. Witty kitty. I am making poetry.”
“Manchi is the goodest cat. . .and Ellie and Sushi too.” I love that we still get grammatical errors by overusing the rule. Also, she may not yet understand superlatives.
“It’s no problem.” Ezri has started using this phrase when asked to do things like pick up or get something for her brother. It is accompanied by a little hand wave that makes it truly adorable. Also, it is said brightly when she is in a helpful mood and that makes it attractive.
Ezri and her friend, Sean, disappeared into a mini corn maze and repeatedly ran through emerging on the other side. Until that one time they did not emerge. Sean’s father and I finally went in each from one end to look for the kids. When I caught up to her this was the explanation.
Me: Why didn’t you come out?
Ezri: I was a power ranger.
“I am making a pink disaster.” Said while using her bath paints to wildly pink the wall. Pink Disaster would make a good band name in future.
“No grown-ups and no dinosaurs and no bad guys allowed in Kidland.” She declared her room to be Kidland.
Better late than never, here’s a round-up of our favorite holiday reads of the past year.
Santa Duck by David Milgrim
with the refrain “Jingle quack Jingle quack Jingle all the quack” this was a winner about a duck who while wearing a Santa hat is mistaken for the man himself and collects other animals’ Christmas wishes taking them to Santa. He forgets to tell Santa what he wants himself, but discovers helping Santa was a great gift in itself. He’s still pretty pleased with a ride-around jeep that appears for him on Christmas morning.
Bad Kitty Christmas by Nick Bruel
Bad Kitty destroys an alphabet of Christmas decor and preparations. Bad Kitty runs away and meets an old woman who tells Bad Kitty about an alphabet of family. Bad Kitty reunites with his family and brings a guest to share the Christmas joy.
Christmas Daddy and Hanukkah Mama by Selina Alko
Sadie describes two holiday traditions one from each side of her family. I think it is obvious why Ezri responded to this one.
Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas by Jane O’Connell
A treasured holiday decorations is destroyed in an accident and a homemade one takes it place. Fancy Nancy and her Fancy words continue to enthrall Ezri.
We enjoyed both How do Dinosaurs say Happy Chanukah? and How do Dinosaurs say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen
And lastly my favorite that was appreciated by Ezri: Dinosaur versus Santa by Bob Shea
Roar! Roar! Dinosaur tackles Christmas prep in style always coming out on top. He also wears some great holiday sweaters.
Book Angels –
Again this year we picked book presents to be given to less book-gifted people than us.
Ivan pointed and said, “BEE-bo!” which I took to mean he had selected a large edition of The Belly Button Book for a 1 year-old boy.
I selected two paperbacks for a 15 year-old girl being Papertowns by John Green and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I could not pick just one without knowing her genre preference.
Here is Ezri on her 4th birthday on her new pink&purple quilt with monkey monkey for scale.
If you ask your Grandma Liz for a pink&purple quilt a couple weeks before your 4th birthday and you are as lucky as my girl, you get one.
Ezri said, “I do not have any pink and purple quilts maybe Grandma Liz will make one for me for my birthday.”
Grandma Tam sent a PINK handknit unicorn with a sparkley yarn mane. Upon opening this present Ezri proclaimed that she loved the unicorn very much. Ezri has had all her plastic My Little Ponies ride on Pink Unicorn (she has creatively named her Pink Unicorn – can I call her P.U.?). Ezri insisted we take P.U. on her first car ride out to dinner on Ezri’s birthday. Ezri announced at bedtime that it would be Pink Unicorn’s first night sleeping in a bed. Yesterday we had Pink Unicorn’s first dance party. We played Classic Queen for the event.
Here is Ezri while her friends all sing happy birthday. I think this is her favorite part of the birthday celebration.
Here she is after eating a cupcake while thinking about eating her red dragon cookie. Dragon cookies were a special request. I don’t know where she got the idea, but I am glad Aunt Amy sent the cookie cutter.
e: Can you peel your eye?
A: Keeping your eyes peeled means keeping them open like this.
e: You should always keep your eyes peeled. . . except at bedtime.
In talking about the plot of the book Extra Yarn which has an evil Archduke, Ezri repeatedly referred to the Archduke as Count Dooku.
These quotes from a happy playing together moment for Ezri and her little brother,
“I tried to pull the monster’s head off, but he wouldn’t let me. It’s just stuck on.
It’s a baby monster. The baby monster is Ivan. Ahhhhhhhh!”
Ezri filled a large box with blankets and stuffed animals then declared it to be her “snuggery because it is snug. I love my snuggery.”
This prompted Eric to say, “Get thee to a snuggery!”
“I always use my vagina when I pee.”
“Bad pictures in my eyes,” is the way Ezri describes nightmares and when they happen she wants Eric. He is her go-to for comfort after the bad pictures have been in her eyes.
We do a lot of talking about whether we want company or privacy when we go to the bathroom, but even I found this question a little forward,
“Do you want a hug while you are pooping?”
Things Ezri prompted her parents to say:
“Making a Foofa sandwich is not the same as putting your shoes on,” explained Eric.
“Do not put your bunny snack in the galaxy putty. The galaxy putty is not that bunny’s ocean,” explained Amanda.
“Do not play footsie with your brother at the dinner table.” This has happened often enough that both parents have uttered it.
Meghan came to play with Ezri in the snow on Saturday. They solved the “not enough snow for a snowman” problem by reducing the scale on their snow people. Thus, there was enough snow for a whole snow family.
Here is Meghan on the outing. I was off at a committee meeting in Bloomington.
“i made the snowballs and ezri explained how tall each one should be. (she even used the word ‘height’. :)) i’m not sure if our minimalist detail comes across here, but the people have stick arms and the cats have stick ears. plus ivan is only two snowballs since he is a baby. 🙂 ezri also provided other details like which people had glasses and how many paws cats had, but i had to draw the line somewhere. :op ”
Meghan again
“we started with an ezri and a meghan and somehow ended up moving on to create the entire extended blau/miller family, including cats. 😀 (if memory serves, from left to right this is uncle tim, aunt amy, grandpa mark, grandma tam, grandpa harvey, grandma liz, meghan, ezri, eric, amanda, ivan, manchi, ellie and sushi.) ”
Here’s a close-up for seeing those details.
Here are the pair hard at work on the snow clan.
Meghan was also gracious enough to pull Ezri on her sled and take her to her pretend house in the shrubbery for a nap cuddled in a blanket of snow.
Here she is at her house under the bushes.
On Friday, we had two smaller friends over for “sledding” AKA moms dragging small girls in circles in the backyard.
We made the play dough so the food coloring bottles were handy to decorate becoming his eyes and nose.
Ezri loved him and promised to keep him safe. Though later we ate his M&Ms and squashed him to make birds, a nest, eggs, a merry-go-round and a bunch of snakes.
