Just another CarleSpawn weblog

Ezri now wants to climb everything.
It keeps her parents on their toes and has lead to a few bumps and bruises.
Here she is climbing on into the fridge.

It’s been awhile, but don’t fear Ezri and I have been reading.

Lately, she’s been looking through Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman and we read it together. I point at the gorilla on each page and say “gorilla.” Ezri turns the pages for me and she will sit for the whole book which is a testament to its coolness as Ezri’s attentions have been known to wander. Goodnight, Gorilla is a charming almost wordless book that follows a zoo keeper who says goodnight to the zoo and the gorilla who poaches his keys and lets out the animals. The animals all follow the zookeeper back to his bedroom and then the zookeeper’s wife leads them all back to the zoo. Ezri particularly likes the almost entirely black pages when the lights are out. As she gets older she’ll be able to find the balloon and small mouse who also appear on each page.

Ezri is also enjoying books from the series Usborne Touchy-Feely books. We have two of this series of books out from the library:
1) Kittens by Fiona Watt and illustrated by Rachel Wells. This book has a variety of fabric textures inside and many fuzzy bits which Ezri finds delightful.
2) We also have That’s Not My Monster in the same series from the same author/illustrator duo.
On the first page a big pink monster smiles and the text reads, “That’s not my monster. Its eyebrows are too hairy.” Then there are spikes that are too fuzzy, paws that are too bumpy, and horns that are too rough. On the final page the reader finds MY monster whose ears are so fluffy. Again, petting the book is clearly the highlight. There are other titles. I’m sure we will be checking out other titles like That’s Not My Frog or That’s Not My Snowman or That’s Not My Train or That’s not My Dinosaur or That’s Not My Penguin. You get the idea and they are pretty much all the same. But, the concept works and Ezri enjoys touching the books, so bring them on.

Ezri and I went for a walk in the snow.

These photos are of her walking in the driveway.

Actual walking on snow required active parental supervision, lest she topple into the cold wet.  That meant my camera hand was not free for photos of the tiny bootprints in the snow.  She really liked crunching snow. crunch! crunch! crunch!

Ezri has found a natural wonder, a dirty wet leaf.  Isn’t it  cool?  Oh, plus she will not leave her mittens on.  Nope, they are off and in the snowbank just like that.  She does then complain that her hands are cold, so just short forrays into the snow for us.

Darwin, father of evolutionary biology, was very good at sitting in chairs. I’ve seen photos. Ezri’s Darwin doll is also good at modeling the proper way to sit in a chair. Ezri is struggling with sitting in chairs. She wants to stand, kneel, or climb. But, she will put Darwin in her chair the proper way when I ask her to, “Make Darwin sit.”  I am hoping she follows his example.

Ezri picked up her dad’s hat where he had conveniently left it on the floor and put it on her head. She knows the purpose of a hat! Then she walked all around.
I took this photo.

Ezri then let me know she was tired of her mother’s paparazzi-esque photo taking.

In honor of Coral doing a half-marathon this weekend, Ezri and I thought she could use a little cheering on. Coral says this may be our only chance to cheer for her in an athletic endeavor and Ezri could not miss out.

I thought I would mention 3 books today.
The first two were birthday presents. Everybody needs books on their birthday and Ezri is no exception.
1) Nursery Rhymes made by Louise Shrigley published by Priddy Books
This comes with a CD, but mostly what Ezri likes is the size. It is a BIG board book which makes turning pages more fun. It is filled with classic rhymes which are classics for a reason – nice rhythm and rhyme to them. It is illustrated with reproductions of fabric appliques that have texture where the stitches would be which makes the book both bright and touchable.
2.Noisy Peekaboo! Vroom! Vroom! written by Dawn Sirett designed by Rachael Parfitt published by DK
Ezri already had a love of lift the flap books and DK makes good sturdy baby-friendly flap books. But, now they have added SOUND. When you open the right flap and find the vehicle, you get a “chug-chug-chug” for the tractor or a “beep beep” for the car. Ezri has learned which flaps make noise and her favorite flap is the one that is lifted to make the fire engine’s siren go. I don’t know if this is because she loves red (fire engine color) or the siren sound, but it is certainly a fun page.
The book is well-implemented with color photos of babies and toys on each spread. The noisy peekaboo book is a nice addition by DK to its winning peekaboo flap book line.
3.Quack! by Phyllis Root illustrated by Holly Meade from Candlewick Press.
Many is the board book where the text is underwhelming and seems to be added as an afterthought to a visually stimulating book. This one puts those to shame proving even a very simple text can be wonderfully written. “Baby ducklings nip and nibble. Duckling tails go wobble, wibble.” It’s fun to read and the sounds keep Ezri interested. She also enjoys it when I point at each duckling on the page and say, “duck, duck, duck.” This one is a joy to read aloud.

I said, “Ezri, show me your belly button.”

And Ezri did.

Ezri is obsessed with belly buttons. She enjoys a two piece outfit like the one she wore today because then she can find her belly button. She also likes to hunt for the belly buttons of others as the grandparents have learned. There’s just something about that spot in the middle of the tummy that fascinates her.

It looks to me like Ezri is wondering who all these adoring people are.
Grandparents! That’s who.

It was great to have all 4 grandcritters together to celebrate a year of Ezri Blau.