Ezekiel reads his ABC book

One of Ezekiel's favorite books to read is his Star Wars ABC book. Our friend, Jamey, gave it to Ezekiel for his 1st birthday. It's a book he tends to pull off the shelf daily, plop on our lap, and request we read it with him. He's had all the letters down for awhile but finally got it on video the other night. And yes, he reads them out of order too :) He likes to point out letters he sees other than in the book too. Like when we're on a walk he'll name the letters in the STOP sign, for example. The teacher in me is very proud of this accomplishment :)

Trick or Treat

This video is of Ezekiel trick or treating for the first time on Halloween! His favorite part seemed to be taking the candy and putting it in his bag.  He seemed to really enjoy it.  He was a trooper and went to quite a few houses that night!

Oh Gosh

I didn't realize how often I said the phrase "oh gosh".  A week ago I didn't even think I said it very often at all.

Today alone Ezekiel probably said "oh gosh" a good 10 times.

Hmmm....

It's cute though, how he chooses when to say it.
Hear daddy cough in the other room? Oh gosh.
Accidentally drop what I was carrying? Oh gosh.
Can't quite reach that book sitting just a little too far from me? Oh gosh.

The little imitator in our son is blossoming...

Hi Daddy

I was trying to make a video for Micah since he's out of town for work right now.
I got Ezekiel to say "hi daddy" :)

Words @ 18 Months

So the other day I compiled a list of words that Ezekiel can say just for fun.  I knew his list had been growing but was amazed at the amount once I sat down and got a running count going.  Granted, only a small handful are actual full words.  Some don't even sound like the word he is trying to say but over time, within context, we have learned what word he is trying to say when he makes that certain sound.  For example, "ba" is shoe.  Even after months of conversations such as...

E: "ba"
Me: "Yes, Mommy is putting on her shoes."
E: "Ba!"
Me: "Yes, shhhhoe!"
E: "Baa!"
Me: "Yes, can you say shhhhhoe?"
E: "Baaaaaa"

he still calls shoes "ba", ha :)

Ezekiel Dictionary (1st edition)
sock - ock
hat - at
shoe - ba
bye bye - bubyes
squash - oo-ash
banana - nanuh
peach - each
help - ep
no - no
please - ees
quack - ack
dada - dada
pasta - asta
all done - uh dun
more - ema
chalk - alk
car - ck
ball - ba
phone - dada (maybe because we talk to daddy on it?)
eyes - eyes
mouth - mo
diaper - dipur
moo - moo
baa - baa
maa - maa
oink - k k 
woof - oof
squirrel - goul
uh oh - uh oh
stuck - uck
keys - eez
out - ot
hot - ot
fruit - oot
rock - rock

Please

This video is a good example of him signing and saying "please".  The ASL sign for please is a circle over your heart, and this is Ezekiel's version of it.  This video is also a good example of some of his expressions and mannerisms. He keeps staring off to the right because the TV was on.  I know, bad mommy.  Also, just so you know, "ba" usually means shoe or ball...

Patty Cake

Tried to get a video of us doing patty cake.  When he's in the mood, he'll do the motions with you like rolling your arms (his best attempt at least) and "marking" his hand, which he kind of did the first time around in this video just not at the right time in the song.  He also likes to run away when it's the end of the song where we normally hug. Stinker.

Playing in the sand

Playing in the sand at the park on August 19, 2011.
He finds the word "yucky" funny :)

Noisy Farm

Ezekiel can say all the sounds in his Noisy Farm book!  This was recorded on Aug. 18, 2011 (just before his first hair cut).

Splash Pad

This past weekend we made our first visit to the splash pad at the zoo.  Ezekiel loved it, but that was no surprise.  It was fun to watch him run around laugh with glee at the water shooting out of the ground.

Box on his head

Ezekiel being silly with daddy.  For whatever reason, Ezekiel thought it was fun to run around with a box on his head!

Ezekiel Pulling Toy

So this video is a bit long, and there's nothing crazy in it, but it's a good example of some things Ezekiel is doing these days...like walking!  He's also into pull toys now, but is still getting the hang of holding onto the string.  At the end of the video you see him run to the fridge when I ask him if he's hungry and wants lunch.  Every meal time I ask him if he's hungry and he wants breakfast/lunch/dinner and EVERY time he runs to the fridge in response.  It's one example of things he understands that just amaze me!

Ez climbing a hill

Walked down to the playground area yesterday. We thought putting Ezekiel in the grass would motivate him to walk. There is an area of grass that has some incline to it that Ezekiel was crawling up.  Once he got up to the top he surprisingly turned and went feet first back down! He will head dive off the couch, but will go feet first down a hill??? Not sure where and how he picked that up but we were impressed!  Once he was back down the hill, he kept going up and down.  This is when we took out our phones and started to record.  Micah got a better video, hopefully he will be able to upload his onto facebook soon!

He knows where his head is!

For MONTHS now I've been trying to teach him names of body parts.  This morning I was changing him, and I did my usual, "Ezekiel, where's your head?" and he actually touched his head! I got so excited that I kept asking him just to make sure it wasn't a fluke.  It's fun to see him pick something up like that.

The original intent of this video was to show you how he can say "ball". Ball and Nana (banana) are two pretty consistent words now. Him saying ball isn't super obvious on this video but I got him to show me where his head is!

Rings on A Peg

Before you watch please see my apologies below

1) This was taken on my phone.  I had my Toddler radio station playing on my phone, and didn't think to turn it off before I started to record.  I can't turn off the music or change the volume while recording.  Wasn't thinking!

2) Ignore my annoying voice, ha. I cheered for him at first since it was so impressive then I kept on doing it because he kept looking back at my every time he got a ring on.  Too cute.

Love that he waves his arms as he cheers for himself.  As he turns to look at me you can also notice his "wings".  His hair sticks out on the sides from time to time, which we call wings.  My hair did the same thing when I was little.

I have no idea if it is completely normal for kids his age to be able to do this, I'm sure it is, I just thought it was pretty cool :)

Stacking Cups

Walking with basket

Ezekiel still hasn't quite grasped either the confidence or motivation to walk on his own yet.  Despite that, he loves to walk behind baskets, especially the big laundry basket.  He was doing this for a good 10 minutes today, just back and forth.  I apologize for the annoying fuzzy sound every once in awhile.  I was near an oscillating fan, and didn't realize it would create that sound on the video.  Also, you can pause the music playing on our blog by pressing the pause button on the player which is at the bottom of this page.

Ez welcoming daddy

Every day when Ezekiel hears Micah unlocking the front door, he makes a scurry to greet his daddy.  Decided to finally get it on video because it's too cute!

1 year!

And 6 months later, an update!

We have chosen to not have internet at our house so it's been a little harder as of late to get to updating this blog.

Since the last update we have moved into a house!!! We are beyond thrilled to finally be settled and for Ezekiel to have his own room.



On March 5th, we celebrated Ezekiel's first birthday.

 

We celebrated with lots of friends and family at our house.  Ezekiel was apathetic about the cake, surprisingly!  It was the first time I had let him have pure sugar practically so I thought he would be shoving it in.  I'm sure a crowd of people staring at him may have thrown him off a little though.  We were blessed to have so many people show their support and excitement for our little guy.

His budding personality is coming out more every day.  He loves to flip through books, and open and close doors.  He has learned how to use his pointer finger to push buttons.  Some buttons on a few of his toys turn on music.  It's beyond adorable to look over and see him push a button, wait for the music, and then proceed to start clapping along.  Not sure where he picked up on clapping with music but it is just too cute.

He stood for the first time the other day at the park.  We plopped him on the grass and thought he would just crawl around.  Something got in him, and he decided to try his hardest to stand!  He got up like he was going to do a bear crawl, but would stay still and try to put his weight on his back legs.  We couldn't believe what we were seeing.  Thankfully I had my camera with me that day and was able to snap this.

 

Micah decided to help him out a little and got Ezekiel up on his feet.  He let go, and there he stood for a few seconds on his own!  We couldn't believe it!  Ezekiel cried afterwards.  I think the sensation freaked him out a little and maybe he wasn't expecting it either!

Since that day he has started to let go of things he was standing on for a few seconds again.  I have a feeling not long from now he will be walking running!