The Petersen Post: Post quick, before I forget: Changing Boy

Ezra is changing SO much! It seems almost daily he does something he couldn't do the day before. I just wanted to post some of the things he is doing.

Walking: He has been doing this for awhile now but I've never posted about it. Ezra took a very gradual approach to walking. He started walking around the furniture MONTHS ago. Then came some steps here and there. He really has been able to walk on his own for quite a while but preferred to crawl. Then one day he just decided he like to walk more and has been toddling around ever since!

Copy Cat: He has been copying almost everything we do! It all started one day when I was blowing my nose. Ezra looked at me, took a piece of toilet paper and started blowing his nose. Whenever he sees someone blow their nose he does too....using whatever he has to do it on! Ryan had food poisoning and I had the flu. As Ezra is always bursting into the bathroom on us he witnessed us well........lets just say, "losing our lunch." Now Ezra goes into the bathroom lifts up the toilet seat and coughs/ gags. It is really funny!!! Ryan says we've created a bulimic boy. These are just a couple of the many thing he has been copying.

Signing: He signs milk, more, food, all done, please and Thank you.

Words: He says Mom/ mama, Dad/ da da, hi, pees (please), mo (more), baby, Ivy, thank you (this is one of the cutest things I've EVER heard), water (wa wa wink... he got this from Ivy), NO (:(), and many, many more we are still trying to understand. He walks around babbling most of the day!

Combo: He combines signing with speaking. When Ezra is whining at me for something I say, "What do you say?" He will instantly sign and say PLEASE (he signs with much vigor). He also usually signs and says thank you at the same time. Many times he signs thank you with both hands. Sometimes he makes it a SUPER sign by adding kisses as well.

Sweet things: Ezra gives us kisses! Sometime I hear him making the kissing sound and I look at him and there he is with little fish lips ready for a kiss. A couple of days ago when I was nursing him he stopped and stared making the kissing sound, I gave him a kiss and he continued on with his breakfast (he did this two or three times during his short feeding). Whenever he gives us a kiss we always say thank you. So now Ezra says thank you almost ever time we kiss him, it is the sweetest thing! He is a love bug!!! If Ryan or I are sitting on the floor he will climb into our lap and give us hugs.

FOOD: He LOVES to eat........what he chooses! I have been having a really hard time lately tying to get him to eat his vegetables!!!! Now that he is eating other foods he wants nothing to do with them. This has been frustrating! In our home vegetables are mandatory.....so I guess he will learn to eat them when he is older or starve........hahaha. So we have been trying everything to get him to eat his veggies. I will put them on a fork with pasta and he will spit out the veggies and eat the pasta. I was watching Ivy the other day and she was eating some organic macaroni, so I gave Ezra a little which he GOBBLED down! And then it came to me........Mix in some butternut squash. It worked like a charm and by the next day I had him eating the plain squash! A small but very rewarding victory!!!! So I've been using this trick with other foods and we are doing ok. He loves MEAT!!! He must need the iron for his little growing body. One night we were feeding him some chicken and he was so excited to just kept signing/saying MORE, PLEASE, THANK YOU, & KISSES, over and over. We are still not giving him sugar. We really want to give him a love for healthy foods before we give him hummm, well, CRAP! If you want some good reading try, The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood by Dr. Sears. It is a fantastic book to read even if you don't have kids. I will teach YOU to eat healthy. I really think everyone should read it! Every time I read from it I am built up and I know that what we are doing for Ezra will be such a blessing to him. I am SO thankful my parents taught me to eat healthy!!!