A Half a Year Older

Amidst boxes and checklists, Zeke's 18 month pictures took the back burner.  I had intentions and so many ideas to snap some quick photos downtown, but time and the rainy weather were not being supportive of this.  The pictures weren't what I envisioned, but they capture what was important: this special moment of turning 1 1/2 and a little boys sweet face and big dark eyes.  Ezekiel is our full throttle, busy boy.  He is determined, and though that determination may give me gray hairs early and more of them; that same determination just may be his greatest strength later and something that will take him far in life.  Every day he is trying out more and more words and trying his hardest to keep up with his older brother.  Keeping up with Sam he does too well.  We are not sure where the last year and a half went, one thing we know is that it has gone way too fast.

This little boy has taken our big move so well.  The first night in our new house he went right to a twin bed and it hasn't seemed to faze him at all.  I feel like when we left WA we left a lot of his baby-ness behind with the crib, he is now a full fledged toddler.  Ditching his binky is the next big thing, but that we'll wait on a bit longer.  "B", as he affectionately refers to his pacifier, became his main source of comfort in the move and, though he went through withdrawals, we have cut it down once more to only bedtime and naptime.  This is not to say we do not occasionally find him sneaking into his room and discover he has climbed into his bed, grabbed his bink off the shelf, and is having a few moments of cuddle time in his bed.

Mr. Z is a ball of energy and fun.  We love him so, so much.  He's my frequent helper and my domestic man.  The lover of cooking, sweeping, vacuuming (really, he begs us to vacuum with him), and his new favorite, doing dishes.  His latest words are cheetah, pool, sorry, semi, and though he doesn't quite have the words down yet he is in awe of garbage trucks.  My heart strings he has found and knows just how to pull them.  In the middle of a scolding he will look at me and say in his sweet voice "Mommy" and then proceed to do one of his scrunchy cute faces.  Keeping a straight face myself is not a strong suit of mine and boy is it hard when Zeke pulls this trick on me.  In a few months he'll be two, but we are slowing the clock down and not talking about that big day yet! 

soaking up some cuddle time!