fifteen months

Size: Ezra is in size 5 diapers,  wearing 12-18 month and some 18-24 month clothes and size 5 shoe. A week after turning one, I took Ezra into her 12 month well check appointment - 20 pounds, in the 73%ile for weight and 28 inches, in the 31%ile for height. (Her head circumference was somewhere in the 90th percentile) While in weight, she was still above average, she had actually lost weight from her previous check up (at 9 months) and hadn't grown in height - her growth charts took a dive. The only explanation we could think of was that she had previously been sick - wanting to eat less solids, nurse more and had more poopy diapers than normal. But to lose weight? To not grow in height? The doctor recommended that we adjust her diet and bring her back in a few weeks to be weighed and measured again. Three weeks later, at 13 months, Ezra had gained those two pounds back, with an additional three pounds (!!!) and had grown almost a couple inches in height, as well, and was back on her growth charts. She has yet to be weighed at 15 months, but if I had to guess (and using Uriah's weight at 18 months for a reference - 28 pounds) she's somewhere around 26 pounds and is 2.5 feet tall. 

Eat: Just after turning 15 months old, Ezra weaned. Not because I was ready to, but because my body was ready, and I'm slowly starting to accept and be ok with that. Mostly, I'm grateful to have been able to breastfeed at all, and that both of us were able to have enjoyed it as long as we did. So, Ezra is no longer nursing, nor is she drinking whole milk. It's not that she doesn't like it, because I do think we've given it to her a handful of times before, we just don't typically serve it, to Uriah, either. She is getting healthy fats from many other sources of food, so water is her only drink. She loves oatmeal, Cheerios, yogurt, all fruit - though oranges, strawberries, bananas and blueberries seem to be her favorites - string cheese, grahm and Ritz crackers, pretzels, sweet potatoes, ice cream!, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza - the girl loves pizza! - black and garbanzo beans, pancakes, smoothies, quesadillas... Basically, she lives off bread, cheese and fruit ;) She will not eat applesauce, quinoa or avocado. Which is odd because she used to love those! Oh well... Seems like we're raising another picky eater! Ezra is on the same eating schedule as Uriah, now, eating three meals and 1-2 snacks a day. 

Teeth: There are 12 teeth in that big smile of hers! It seems she's been teething for awhile, now - red gums, chewing fingers - but luckily she hasn't been too bothered by it. All four canine teeth are right at the surface, so I'm sure she's going through her own little hell, but she is thankfully taking it like a champ! - Strong girl! One of her favorite things to do before bed is brush those pearly whites! She gets so excited and sits right down on the bathroom floor (because I sit down to get to her level and she just copies me!) and would let me brush them for minutes, trying to do it herself when I'm all done. 

Sleep: Miss E is still sleeping through the night and I don't expect this to change anytime soon...?! She goes down for bed around 7 and is up for the day shortly after 6. We are in the long and slow transition of getting rid of morning nap, which used to be around 8. Ideally, I think she'd still take a morning nap around 9 or 10, and another one around 2, but that would leave me home bound all day with Uriah's nap right in the middle, and I'm just not up for that! If we're out and about, which we usually are around 9-10, she can push through 'til afternoon nap or grab a quick snooze in the car and be good to go, but if we're home in the morning she'll crawl up into my lap with blankey in hand and I'll put her down for about an hour. Afternoon nap is still in place, though, with both kiddos going down after lunch around 1 and Ezra will sleep for about 2 hours. 

Milestones: Ezra is incredibly active - gaining speed chasing after Uriah and making us actually work to catch up with her - and climbing on and around everything! She has great hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills - occasionally putting Uriah's Legos together by herself, stacking block towers, using a fork and spoon, opening and closing screen doors... She clearly has a solid level of understanding - doing everything we ask of her or responding in the appropriate way to something we say - so much of it learned from following Uriah's example, I think. She isn't one for words, though. We can understand most of what she "says" because we're around to have learned what each sound and "word" really is and we can tell what she wants by her actions - pointing or demonstrating it for us - but her only actual word, is "dada". Though I guess she can tell us what animals say - do those count for words?! ("meow", "moo", "baa", "blub blub" (for fish), "raw raw raw" (for crocodile and shark), "roar" (for any big cat and dinosaur)) She used to say "momma", "i-uh" and "doll", but stopped somewhere around 11 months. She still can, because she'll say them every once in a while, "Nana", "Papa", "down" and "buh bye", too, but it's pretty rare. She does sign, though - more, all done, help, please and thank you, as well as some signs for animals, adapted from one of her favorite books, From Head to Toe - penguin, giraffe, monkey, seal, gorilla, elephant, donkey and buffalo. She'll "sing" along to Pat-a-Cake, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus and The More We Get Together, humming the tune and signing the words/doing the motions. She kisses, blows kisses, high fives, waves and gives loves. She can kick a soccer ball and throw balls with pretty accurate aim, but we're still working on catching ;) Oh, and! binki free! 

Likes: Ezra loves her dada :) And her brother! Always lighting up when dad comes through the door at night and always following Uriah around trying to play with him or copy him... She adores them! She loves her blankey, who comes every where with us and is present for every nap and bed time. She loves balls and balloons (another word of hers to add to her short list!), her baby dolls, "making" food with her toy kitchen things, playing with Legos (aka, taking the hats off the little men and trying to put them back on until she gets frustrated enough to ask for help), playing with Uriah's superheroes (she can hum the Iron Man theme song and loooves dressing up in Uriah's Iron Man Halloween costume) and pushing around their toy vacuum. She loves a good dance party (her squat and twist is my favorite!), bath time (she could spend hours in the tub! - water babe!), swimming, eating!, reading books (though she doesn't always like being read to, she'll sit flipping through the pages herself for a long time!) and playing hide-and-seek. She's a busy body and loves to play chase with Uriah around the house or outside - she loves being outside! She never has and still doesn't protest to the Ergo and I love that I can sneak in some snuggles while we're out on a walk or I'm making dinner. She loves dogs and cats (she'll chase after any dog in sight and could watch Nana's cat on FaceTime all day!) and playing with their animal figurines, as well as snuggling any and all stuffed animals. Basically, she's almost always happy, smiling, laughing, content and loving life! 

Dislikes: Ezra doesn't like being told "no". Her response is so sad and sweet and fake that it's comical! She shrinks away, lowers her head, pouts her bottom lip and looks at you through these beautiful blue puppy dog eyes before starting to cry...! Girl knows how to play us. She doesn't like toys getting taken out of her hand, rightfully so, and she has a hard time sharing things she thinks are hers or that she was recently playing with. Luckily, we have Uriah around to help teach her these things ;) 

Things I want to remember: Her perfect, soft skin. Her fuzzy white blonde hair. Her laugh when she's been caught and tickled after a game of chase. Her determination when signing "more". The way she flops her lips with her fingers to make noise, and then leans in to do it to mine. Her kisses - those perfectly puckered lips and the way she grabs my face with both hands. The way she heavily breathes through her mouth when she's running or excited. The way she sits in her walker with her feet dangling over the edge. The way people are always pointing her out and stopping me in the stores to tell me how beautiful she is. Her squinty eyed smile. The way she points her finger almost aside her nose and purses her lips when she's pointing something out. The way she is always showing everyone her belly! The way she shrieks with excitement and comes running when I say lunch is ready or pull out a snack from my bag. The way her head feels on my shoulder. Her contentedness. Her constant and contagious joy. 

Miss Ezra Lee, you are our little spit fire. Content and happy with contagious and palpable joy, but such a determined and sassy free spirit. You are perfectly you. You have brought so much happiness into our home - to think we ever felt complete without you. You are so beautiful and sweet, so incredibly smart, so silly and fun, so independent and strong... We are forever blessed to be the ones you call family. We love you, baby girl!