Entries from February 2012 ↓

Another collection of quotes and conversations with the three-year-old.

“It is naked party time!”
If your mind conjured a picture of a dancing, naked Ezri – that’s about right.

Playing with Cinderella flannel board:
Ezri: Why is the stepmama mean?
Me: I don’t know maybe she is jealous. Sometimes people do mean things.
Ezri: Maybe she needs more sleep.

In this same Cinderella play session I got the comment, “Mama, you are like the fairy mama. The fairy mama reads stories and kisses goodnight.” Guess we know what evil stepmothers do NOT do.

While discussing her medicine, “No not FLAVOR, how it tastes.”

Ezri: I want up!
Me: I want a clean house.
Ezri: UP! I want up!
Me: I want a good night’s sleep.
Ezri: Don’t say that. Up!
Me: Ezri, just ask nicely.
Ezri: Please, don’t say that.
And then I picked her up.

“Do monkeys have eyebrows?”

At her three-year well check, the doctor had a picture of a stick person with one eye and one leg. The directions were to ask your child what it was. A response of man, child, person, girl, snowman or the like would earn the child credit for passing some developmental milestone of stick person identification. I asked Ezri what the picture was and she said, “It’s a pirate. He has one eye.” We gave her credit and made the doctor laugh.

“What cheered him down?”
Ezri is a champion at making her little brother smile. She is an expert at cheering him up. After he bumped his head and wailed she asked, “What cheered him down?”

I brought home a lot of birthday related books in the past week leading up to Ezri turning three. Here are some of her favorites.

Shoe-la-la by Karen Beaumont
“Emily, Ashley, Kaitlyn, Claire! Let’s go find the perfect pair!” Four friends shop for party shoes and after trying on every shoe in the store go home and add ribbons and glitter to their old shoes to make perfect party accessories. I feel for the store clerk who waits on this quartet of girls who really do try on everything. The rhyming text is a good romp and Ezri loved saying, “Shoe-la-la!” It is a very girlie book with glitter on the cover. But it isn’t Disney Princess treacle, it’s good accessorizing fun.

Spot Bakes a Cake by Eric Hill
Spot and his mom make a cake for dad’s birthday. Spot loves decorating most of all and adds ALOT of frosting. This has flaps to lift and a mischievous mouse.

The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli
A baby gets a box for his birthday and he finds a stuffed dog in it. But, he knows the box is the present. He tells about the fun he and the dog have with the box. By the end, he and the dog are napping in the box he got for his birthday. He also uses the box to dress up as a robot. Ezri loves pretending to be a robot in a mechanically monotonous voice she will says, “Ezri robot needs snack. Beep. Beep.”

Birdie’s Big Girl Dress by Sujean Rim
Birdie discovers her favorite party dress is too small the day before her party. She doesn’t find a replacement while out shopping that suits her. Then her mother lets her play in the attic where she turns old clothing that belonged to her grandparents into the perfect party ensemble. The artwork is done by an illustrator who has done fashion illustration and it shows.

A Birthday for Bear by Bonnie Becker
Bear does not like birthdays. He does not like parties, presents, cake or balloons. He is very busy cleaning on his birthday. His friend Mouse keeps trying to trick bear into a party by wearing disguises and making birthday related deliveries. Finally, it is a chocolate cake with sprinkles baked by Mouse and Mouse’s company that convince Bear to celebrate. Ezri requested the book multiple times, though she was careful to tell me, “I am not like Bear. I like Birthday parties.”

For those who aren’t on facebook, I thought I’d repost the lovely photos Meghan took at Ezri’s birthday party.

Ivan has a bit of a cough and is off his normally delightful baby mode.

So, Ezri and I were around the house all day.

Hoo-RAY for crafts!

Ezri decorated a photo frame with sequins. We used glue dots to stick them on. Glue dots are a favorite craft supply for any child who is not yet to be trusted with a bottle of glue. I think the resulting frame is pretty sparkle-tastic, not sure if Ezri will let me take it to my office yet.

A friend made Ezri craft kits for her birthday. She chose the necklace kit. I learned she CAN string beads if they are these awesome iridescent chunky ones. Also, I learned that she will spend a long time deciding just when is the right moment to string the orange butterfly bead. She was very clear that this necklace was just for her and she was not making it for mama. Here she is wearing her accessories.

We played with play dough. Ezri made cookies and pizza and sandwiches out of play dough. We made finger puppet fairy cats complete with dough wings. She served me alien pie with a small plastic alien embedded in the dough. Then she decided to be Santa and wrap presents. These presents were small plastic animals wrapped inside dough balls. I would go to my room and pretend to sleep, coming close to actual sleep a couple times. Then I’d wake up and come out and open my presents. Look, a plastic meerkat!!! Thanks, Santa.

While downstairs playing dollhouse, I sewed the wings back onto one of Ezri’s small fairy dolls. She found this amazing and I felt a bit like a superhero.

We had a dance party. You can sing “Raggedy Ann” in place of “Barbara Ann” in The Beach Boys’ classic song. Ezri likes to dance with her Raggedy Ann doll, so this was a hit.

And, yes, Ezri stayed in her P.J. top all day though she did put on two different pairs of daytime pants. The first pair got play dough on them and Ezri declared them no longer fit to wear.

I asked Ezri her favorite thing about her birthday. She said, “EVERYBODY CAME!” There is a song that she listens to where a monkey and a chipmunk throw a party. The lyrics include, “They invited everybody and everybody came.” It was really great that so many of Ezri’s friends could come to our house to celebrate her third birthday. Also excellent was the fact that her ear infection was no longer painful! I enjoy that while she liked all the party hoop-la she recognizes at age three that her favorite thing is the people who love her.

Other things she’s mentioned liking about her birthday included:
dancing with friends
cupcakes that matched (They were orange cake and orange frosting. “Orange and orange – MATCH!” says Ezri.)
everybody singing to her
hide and seek with big friends (Adults who play at her level are priceless.)
decorating the house (We stuck up flowers and butterflies around the house.)
“Now I’m this many!” She starts holding up 2 fingers and then raises a third.

Here she is playing with balloons and awaiting guests.

Here we are sharing some birthday and party stories.

One of our friends enjoying a cupcake!

Friends on the ball in the basement.

Here’s another collection of quotes and comments from our girl.

“When I am the mama we will eat ALOT of chocolate after dinner.”

In a related comment:
Me: That was the last skittle. We’re done with candy.
Ezri: But I am still candyish.
(“Candyish” clearly means I am hungry but only for candy)

I realize I am so not ready for my little girl to navigate the world of playground politics as I overhear this exchange:
Bigger Girl Met At Playground: Why are you following me?
Ezri: Because I want to play with you. I’m Ezri.
BGMAP: No, you’re too little.
Ezri: But I am very nice.
The bigger girl then ran away.
Though later the two were bouncing together and playing.

While in an automatic carwash which I described as a shower for the car, Ezri said, “I helped daddy take the car to the dentist for cars.” I said okay, but was perplexed.
Later, Eric told me he described emission testing as getting the car a check-up like at the dentist.

Ezri: Where’s mom?
Eric: Mom just went to work.
Ezri: I miss mom.
Eric: I miss her too.
Ezri: Let’s go find a new mom.

Ezri is tall for this dress though it fits perfectly around her. It was Amy’s when she was a child.
She decided it was a dancing dress making it almost impossible to take a photo of her wearing it.

Ezri is also showing off her diaper while dancing. She has declared she will wear diapers because she is two and then underwear when she is three. That gives her about five more days for diapers. We will see how that goes. She does use her potty every evening and sometimes during the day, but likes the comfort and security of her diaper.

She got cold, but still wanted to wear the dancing dress. So, we put on an underlayer.

We went outside to play a little game Ezri likes to call “stump chase.”
You are right our stump is not hard to catch.
The game is to run away from the stump and then to run back to the stump. It is not clear that there is a way to win, beyond having fun running outside.

This photo of Ezri and the stump makes her look a bit like a little boy from the late 70s to me.

Ring around the Ezri

Talking to herself

So many clones

Those photos are from our trip to the DuPage Children’s Museum last week.

Here is another collection of conversational wonders with Ezri.

Me: Who do you want to invite to your birthday party?
Ezri: Everybody! Even myself and Ivan. And grandma and grandpa I think.

Ezri: I am the big sister.
Me: Yes, you are.
Ezri: And the I am the ohdest.
Me: The oldest? Well, you are the oldest kid.
Ezri: No, no the ohdest.
Me: The oldest?
Ezri: No, the ohdest.
Me: The oddest?
Ezri: No, no the ohdest.
Me: The ohdest.
Ezri: No, mama, the ohdest.
Me: I am not understanding.
Ezri: I am not talking to you.
Me: I would like to still talk to you.
Ezri: I am very busy with my stickers. I will talk to you later, mama.
Me: Okay, let me know when you have time to talk to me.
(Eric figured out that Ezri was trying to say she was “the artist” because she was coloring and creating with stickers. She is the artist in the family.)

In a related statement:
“Hi, my name is Ezri and my cool trick is mixing colors.”

After a three day trip, upon my homecoming. . .
Me: EZRI! I need a hug. I missed you SO MUCH.
Ezri (inside my hug): You smell like baby spit-up.
Me: Yeah, that’s possible.

“Everybody in my family farts because everybody farts.”