We've been getting all kinds of rain lately, which I love. I just want to curl up with a book and a blanket and read the day away. But of course I can't do that because Ez and Declan go insane and start running/crawling in circles and trying to beat each other up so after several days of rain we decided we weren't gonna let that stop us from going to the park.
At first Ez was walking really slow, like he was trying to avoid the rain drops, but as soon as he found his first puddle he perked right up. Declan kept sticking his tongue out, trying to eat the rain. At one point he was trying to eat the rain out of his stroller tray like a little puppy dog.
After lots of stomping and kicking the ball around Ez decided it was his turn to push the stroller. He is definitely entering the "I can do everything myself" phase, which is mostly cute and occasionally super frustrating (and messy). He pushed Declan straight into the dirt and I thought for sure he would need help getting out, but nope! He figured it out, even though he couldn't see over or around the stroller. I was pretty impressed. Then he started pushing the stroller in circles because the front wheels were turned while poor Declan stared helplessly behind him. Of course I caught it all on video before I stepped in and saved Declan.
I didn't take very many pictures but we actually had a pretty eventful weekend. We started off with donut Saturday, as usual. You may have already seen this on Instagram, but Ez checked out If You Give a Dog a Donut from the library earlier this week and then every single evening as soon as Joe walked in the door after work he was greeted with "Hey Daddy, where's my donuts??!" I tried hiding the book from him but he found it and was reading it to himself over and over again. I couldn't understand most of what he was saying, but every time he got to the last page he'd yell "It's a dog and a donut!"
After donuts it was time for Ez's third soccer practice. He's been growing more independent at each practice and it's so fun to watch him branch off and do his thing. He's also been getting a tiny bit more social each practice, and he even put his hand in the group huddle this time. Baby steps.
After soccer we drove straight to Modesto to see my family's new house, which Ez and Declan absolutely loved. It's got a nice circular floor plan, perfect for making the uncles chase them around. Also there was lots more room for Declan to chase their cat around. He'd get his little bulldog look of determination on his face and go sprint crawling after her and then look from the cat to us like he was asking if we were just gonna let this mysterious furry creature wander around the house.
Joe and I left the boys there for a few hours so we could go look at new cars. We got rid of our second car when we moved here and Joe has been taking the train to work, but he wanted a small commuter car. After test driving a Prius he was in love, so we are now proud Prius owners. He immediately read the entire owners manual and can tell you anything you ever wanted to know about how the car works. I still find the whole gas mileage thing confusing, it seems like there are a lot of variables, but it's surprisingly roomy and fits both the car seats with no problem, plus Joe loves it, so that's all that matters.
On Sunday the boys went to a nearby zoo and park and I went out in Berkeley with some friends I met at my writing workshop last month. I know I've mentioned this quite a few times, but I love that town. Such a great atmosphere and so many cool places to explore. We wound up at a crowded little cafe with live bluesy type music. It was such a fun kid-free afternoon. I've been making a point this year to take at least one day per month off from mom duties just to hang out with friends. It's kinda crazy how much effort and fore planning goes into a night out now, but it's so worth the effort to keep in touch with my non-mom self which can easily get lost, especially in that first year after having a baby.
So that was our weekend, hope you had a great one as well!!
I'm not sure who was more excited for Ez's first day of soccer, him or me. This kid has so much energy. Every single day he asks me "want to keep running??" which means he wants us to run laps around the couch. And around and around and around he goes. His endurance is way better than mine. If he sees a sport on TV he'll immediately try to mimic it, whether that's shooting hoops in the kitchen or pretending to be tackled after watching football. So I knew the physical part of a sport would be fun for him. The other reason I signed him up was for the social aspect. Ez is painfully shy around other kids and I'm hoping that by seeing the same kids over and over again he'll warm up to playing with them.
Sure enough he loved all the running around, especially since Daddy was on the field with him (and yes, Joe kicked him in the face in one of those pictures below - apparently Ez is too tall to run under Dad's leg anymore and Mom has excellent photographic timing). It was all fun and games until he had to interact with other kids, then he'd practically run off the field. I'm not really sure what to do about that other than just keep going and hope the shyness wears off.
The class is for 2.5 - 3.5 year olds and the first part was lots of running back and forth and learning to listen to directions, like Red Light, Green Light. Then they worked on more technical stuff like setting a cone upright using their foot and kicking a ball between the cones. Around this point Ez had a major sugar crash and sat down on the floor saying he couldn't do it anymore (I get melodramatic when I'm hungry too). I gave him a larabar and he was back up and running around.
Afterward he was so proud of himself and kept telling us he'd played soccer. On the way home he talked rapidly to himself in the backseat and all I could understand was the word soccer every now and then.
The first half of the season a parent is supposed to be on the field with them and by the second half the kids are supposed to be independent enough to listen to the coach while the parents sit on the sidelines. It's kinda hard picturing Ez growing up that much in a few short weeks, but he's constantly surprising me with his intelligence and maturity so it'll be interesting to see how he grows from this process. And in case you were wondering what Declan was up to while all this was going on, he was staring entranced at his brother the entire time, silently rooting him on, I'm sure. We are so proud of our #5!
We've been having lots of gloomy rainy weather lately (which I love) but we did manage to get out this weekend for Ez's first soccer practice, which was thankfully indoors, and for a trip to the aviation museum. I took enough soccer pictures to make a full length feature flip book film, so I'll save that for its own post, but I will say that he absolutely loved it.
On Sunday there was a break in the rain so we jumped at the chance to get outdoors for a bit. We asked Ez if he wanted to see some airplanes and he grabbed his toy Skipper and jet (from Planes) and ran out the door yelling See airPLANES! On the way there we asked if he wanted to see jets and he stated several times: NO! I want to see biplanes! Ohhh! Ok then, mister aviation expert. Thankfully there were plenty of biplanes. The museum was right next to a tiny airport, and there was a platform to watch the planes take off and land. We literally couldn't drag Ez away from there. Every time a plane took off he'd get all tense and start jumping up and down and then he'd mimic it with his own planes. Eventually we had to bribe him off the platform with the promise of a new toy plane from the gift shop just so we could go get lunch. The rest of the day and all day yesterday he kept asking, "Go outside and watch planes?" So far I've told him that planes don't fly at night because they're sleeping, and they also don't fly in the rain because it's dangerous. I'm running out of excuses though. Next time we're gonna skip the museum and just go sit by the airport for free, since that's all Ez cares about anyway.
Ez really likes crafting but I usually forget about it until a holiday rolls around. Then I realize I've been slacking and binge on Pinterest-inspired ideas, most of which are way too complex for me, let alone a toddler. So after many a late night nursing session spent scrolling through ideas by moms way more creative than me, here are a few of my favorites that seem doable for an almost three year old. I'm most excited to try the bunny and carrot footprints, using Ez's foot for the bunny and Declan's for the carrot, but if I'm being honest here footprint crafts are way more complicated when there are two sets of feet involved. Declan likes to curl his toes and slide his little painted foot all over the floor, and Ez isn't a huge fan of getting paint on his foot in the first place. So if those fail, we'll move on to the fingerprint bunny and chicks, which are so cute we may do them regardless. The other artwork would be perfect to hang on Ez's playroom window.
The last time I did a brotherly update, Declan was only two months old. Obviously a lot has changed in the past half year (??!) so we're overdue for a little update on their relationship. As I type this, Ez is screaming NOOO! at Declan, trying to protect his monster trucks, while Declan is attempting to climb over Ez, feet in the air, determined little bulldog look on his face. Something tells me this will be our lives for the next sixteen years or so ;)
The evolution of their relationship to this point has been so much fun to watch. The first few weeks after we brought Declan home, Ez was pretty petrified of his loud, attention-grabbing baby brother. Eventually Ez stopped crying whenever Declan cried, and started trying to console him, which was the sweetest thing ever. He'd get right in Declan's face and give him a big smile and a few pats on the back. This almost never stopped Declan from crying, but Ez's protective big brother instincts had fully kicked in, and he became fascinated with his baby brother.
Eventually Declan grew aware enough of his surroundings to realize there was a tiny little person running around screaming like a madman most of the day, and he decided this was his most favorite person in the world. Before he was mobile he loved watching Ez's every move. If I happened to be holding him he'd strain his head around me so he could keep big bro within view. You could tell just by looking at him that he was recording and memorizing every little thing Ez did, so that one day he could do it too. I'm convinced this is the reason why Declan was such a loud baby, always yelling to let us know whether he was happy or upset.
Fast forward to now, with Declan crawling and standing up, and their relationship has reached full on love-hate status. Ez loves goofing off for his brother, he loves the blatant adoration Declan has for him, but sharing his toys? Not his favorite thing. Many a fight has already been broken up over this matter. Before you go feeling too sorry for poor little helpless Declan, let me tell you, that kid already knows how to fight back. Since he's a baby, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he's not consciously stirring up trouble, but I think he probably is. If Ez tries to swat him away, Declan will grab Ez by the hair with his little iron grip and stare at me with the biggest smile on his face while Ez screams in pain. If Ez pushes him down, away from his toys, Declan stands right back up and grabs two toys while staring him down. And I'm fairly sure that when Declan sounds the alarm to let us know that Ez is assaulting him, he does it a little too loudly and too quickly, because he's already figured out how to manipulate his baby status to get his way.
I can only imagine what these two are going to get into, and the heart attacks they'll give me over the next few years, but I love that they have each other. I can already tell a difference in Ez being a little less shy and a little more assertive toward other kids. And something tells me Declan wouldn't be nearly this mobile at this age if he didn't have his big brother to keep up with. I love these two so much, and while I know they'll have plenty of sibling squabbles I hope that they'll always have each other's back and be each other's biggest supporters when it really matters.
Here's a little look back at the first 8 months of their relationship, as well as a short video. My favorite is around 2:45 when Joe is helping Declan walk, and then Ez insists he needs help walking too. Whatever one of them has, the other one wants. Always.
I know pretty much every weekend is all about the kids, but this weekend we went all out and visited the children's museum and the zoo, which just so happens to have a giant play area. I guess we were trying to make up for last weekend when Joe was out of town and I was lying low with my chipmunk face, recovering from getting my wisdom teeth removed. There were also donuts, milkshakes, and Monster Jam on repeat. So basically, it was toddler heaven. (Declan missed out on all the sugary goodness.)
The children's museum was a huge hit. I thought Ez would be really into the emergency vehicles that you could climb around in, but apparently it was just too much to handle to be able to touch all these trucks that he's admired from afar for all this time. He loved this contraption where you put a ball through a chute and a gust of air blows it through a crazy maze-type thing. Usually he's shy when other kids are around, but with that thing he was actually pushing his way through and making sure he got his turn. Declan was a fan of the crawl room, which was pretty empty and gave him a chance to burn off all kinds of energy. Afterward he sat dazed and sleepy in the stroller, nodding off then shaking himself awake every few minutes.
On Sunday we went to the small zoo near our house and gave Ez the choice between animals or playground first. I was pleasantly surprised that he picked animals, and he especially loved all the cat like creatures. He even made friends with the meerkats who came right up to the window to say hello.
Afterward we went to the playground, which was packed, but Ez didn't let that deter him. He jumped right into the madness and climbed rocks, crossed a rope bridge, and slid down the tallest tunnel slide it ever seen. After all that you'd think we'd get a nice long nap out of him, but nope. He was a trooper and stayed up till bedtime.
Definitely a weekend well spent and I hope yours was too!
