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A Little Party For Ezra

June 13, 2011 by 2 Comments

I know it’s cliche….but sometimes it’s really hard to believe that Ezra is already three years old! The kid has continued to become an amazing individual, that lights up our days moment by moment. He is so smart, so funny, so playful, so interested, so fun, so strong, and so darn good looking.

We had a few folks over for a small gathering of some of his friends and some of our friends. I’m not sure of the social norm, but I think that this might have been the last year that the party guest list was dictated by us. It was a really fun morning, and it was really neat to see Ezra and the other kids all playing together and playing well together (this has become one of our great joys: watching Ezra play on his own with other kids).

The party was a slightly themed Cars (the movie) event, highlighted by an amazing cake that Ahna put together (with a little help from me). We spent the better part of four hours (ending at almost 130am) cutting, carving, and decorating the cake to look like Lightning McQueen…and if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty awesome.

Thank you to everyone for the cards, gifts, and thoughts. We passed them all along to Ezra (except the ones with money stayed with me).

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The Three Year Doctor Visit

June 10, 2011 by 1 Comment

ed note: family in town, Ezra’s birthday, Ahna’s birthday, our anniversary, Oren testing at work, end of the school year…all have lead to slower postings. There are stories about each, and we’ll get them to you as soon as feasible. Thanks for sticking with us!

Since we have moved on to the once-a-year doctor’s visits (sickness excluded), we don’t really get to report to frequently about Ezra’s health and stats – which I suppose is a good thing. This morning brought us the three year visit and a morning filled with Ezra having to be poked and prodded. He passed his first vision test with flying colors, looked very healthy, and responded well to the progress questionnaire that we had to fill out. He did end up with two shots today (we are following a version of the Dr. Sears schedule): his first MMR and a Chickenpox one; both in anticipation of his upcoming enrollment in pre-school. We also spoke with the Dr. about the fact that Ezra has been mostly nasally congested for the better part of the spring, and as a rule-out/potential identifier, we went for a blood screen for allergies. So, on top of two shots, Ezra had to donate some blood for research. He, of course, cried at each of the intrusions, but nearly immediately was back to his normal cheerful self. So now we wait for the results to see if we can’t figure out why the long-term congestion.

Here’s the stats: Height: 39.25″ (90%), Weight: 33.2 lbs (75%), Vision: great.

 

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36 Months (ie: 3 YEARS)!

June 7, 2011 by 3 Comments

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And….We’re Back

May 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Wow, it’s been a while! Thanks for the break, and for not knocking down our digital door demanding more posts while we took some time to slow the typing roll. A few weeks have passed since we last saw each other with fresh stuff, and for that we are somewhat apologetic…but truth be told, it’s been a welcome renewal. We have had lots of up days, lots of down days, and a few sideways days; but as things go, we are dealing with each day as it comes.

This is going to serve as a catch-up post, then we’ll hopefully be back to regularly spaced updates…so let’s go:

Ezra had his last day at Peggy’s house (as detailed in the last post). It was a day of a lot of fun and a lot of tears, that for us quickly led to a near immediate need to refocus on his first day at his new joint. The new place is even closer to school, and is also an in-home center that a couple of kids from Peggy’s transferred to as well. So there is a new home, new friends, and a few familiar faces. So far Ezra has been there a few days and seems to be adjusting really well and having a great time. It’s a big relief to know that he’s in a good place and is having fun.

Just a few days after the emotional last day at Peggy’s was the emotional day that was Mother’s Day. I’ve debated how much to write about this day, and eventually decided on just including a few words here. We tried really hard to focus on good/positive things, but there was simply no way possible to go more than 15 seconds without thinking about Liam. It was a really hard day for us both, although we were able to have a good time spending the day as the three of us. We went that morning to Breakfast at the Zoo, which was a lot of fun. We had a good meal, and were able walk around the place without too many other people around. Without going into everything that Ezra and I wrote in Ahna’s card, it has to be said and repeated here that Ahna is an amazing Mother of two beautiful children. Ezra, Liam, and I have been so lucky to have her in our lives.

Ezra slept a bunch as he has been fighting a cold/temp/laryngitis….

And the ladder truck has been on a few fires…although I wasn’t on this one. I’ve gotten to attend, but this one was done while I was at training so I didn’t get to go. It gets a place here on the blog because a) it’s a good picture, and b) there is a great story about what is happening at this exact minute that will have to be shared face to face.

Oh, and here is a closing random photo.

Filed Under: Ezra!, Liam!, Life in General, Photos Included

An Ending And An Opportunity

May 5, 2011 by 8 Comments

Today marks the last day that Ezra will go to Peggy’s house for daycare. You see, a few weeks ago, Peggy let us know that an opportunity had popped up for her that would take her into a full-time position and away from doing daycare any longer (she’s been at it for a really long time – like almost two decades).

This is a really sad moment for us for two reasons. The first is because Ezra is again faced with a major change to his life that he has absolutely no control over. It’s tough to think that the one thing that has been stable for him over the past 2.5 years is now going to be different…but we’re hopeful that he will be able to cope with the change and the new place as well as he has coped with everything else over the past few months. The second reason that this is really sad is because Peggy is an amazing person, and we are bummed that she won’t be part of our daily lives in the ways that she has been.

It’s an interesting dynamic to hand your child over to someone else, then walk away and feel completely safe and comfortable with it….and that’s something that we felt from day one with Peggy. For two years, we would take Ezra to her house twice a week and he would return rested (mostly) and happy as can be. Way more mornings than not, once we arrived at Peggy’s house Ezra would go running towards her with little regard for those of us dropping him off – that’s a really good thing. And on lots of occasions, I would inquire with Ezra about what he wanted to do for the day that we were together and he would reply with ‘go to Peggy’s house.’ She was flexible to our needs, worked with our schedules, and always greeted us with a hug smile. As a parent, there are few things in life that can make you happier than your child being happy…and Peggy has had a lot to do with that.

So that brings us to a few months ago when Liam was born. As we found ourselves living in the hospital and our parents now in charge of Ezra each day, we looked to Peggy to be able to provide some relief; and she did a whole lot more than that (I am actually tearing up as I write this thinking about how wonderful she has been to us). She contacted us almost immediately to let us know that she was ready and willing to do anything for us and anything for Ezra that we needed. We could bring him to her house every day if we wanted – and she wasn’t going to charge us a dime while we were still in the hospital. She wanted us to be able to focus on being there and not to have to worry about Ezra: which is an amazing gift. She sent a few care packages our way (with a lot of help from the other daycare parents), filled with things that would help us pass the time, filled with things that would taste a lot better than the cafeteria food, and filled with things for Ezra. Once we got home from the hospital, she had another care package that she and the parents put together filled with things for us to do as a family. Ezra went to her house once or twice a week for more than two months while we were with Liam, and those were days that we never had to worry one second about what he was up to.

So now Peggy gets to clean out her house of many years of toys, and she gets to paint the house with no worry that a bunch of kids are going to scuff it all up, and she gets to go to work with a bunch of people that are more her age than they are not (I guarantee nothing about maturity level, though). Ezra now has the opportunity to meet some new friends and hang out at a new house…and Ahna and I get the opportunity to say “Thank you Peggy! We love you for everything that you are and for everything that you have done for us. We will miss you!”

Filed Under: Ezra!, Liam!, Life in General

What A Gift

April 28, 2011 by 11 Comments

At 2.5 (almost 3) years old, Ezra has seen a lot and been through a lot and shown great maturity through it all. But despite all of the ups and downs that life has offered to him, it’s still hard for me to imagine that he is already doing the same thing that I am doing – and he was able to start doing it some 28 years sooner….he is now driving his own ladder truck.

A few nights ago while at work, Ahna and Ezra stopped by on their way home from the airport. It was a nice visit and certainly gave me my family fix in the middle of the long shift at work; then things got interesting. In a pre-arranged surprise, a great friend and fellow firefighter – CJ – showed up and shocked us with an amazing gift for Ezra. It seems that over the past several months, CJ and a few others have been conspiring behind closed doors to create a fire truck that Ezra will be able to have and to play with; built in memory of Liam.

CJ, Tony, Brett, Ron, Carl, Ryan, Scott, Jenn, Sabrina, Stacey, Emily, John, and Amy all contributed to this amazing project. They started with a toy-pedal fire truck, and left the ‘stock’ world from there. The truck was disassembled and rebuilt using complete custom parts – all meticulously thought out and crafted. And as an amazing tribute to the fire service family, a lot of the people involved don’t even know us, they just know of us. According to CJ, once word spread about the project, people immediately offered their expertise and time to help create the truck. Wow.

For a tour of the customization (starting at the front, driver’s side): all of the paint is hand done and completely custom, including copper leaf and pin striping. The paint on the hood air vents is designed to resemble a pike pole. Then the bell was a complete custom job and added to the truck (the original came on top of the hood and was not brass). The wooden backboard was hand made and includes custom engraving (the logo-ed backboard is a Denver FD tradition that I love on this truck because it is a great reminder of who helped with the truck). On the back of the truck are two special made metal etched/cut outs that speak directly to what the truck is all about: Brotherhood and Never Forget. In the back of the truck, you will find some examples of tools on every ladder company like a salvage cover, a hall runner, and some rope. The extension ladder was completely hand made and is fully functioning, as is the pike pole directly above it. The original truck didn’t have a siren on it, so the guys made sure to fix that by finding, ordering, and adding an electronic siren that is wired to work from the dash. Also from the dash, you will find the control for the working lights. The final touch is the most striking: ghost images on the hood. You can only see these in certain lights and only from certain angles, but there are hod-rod style flames, and Liam’s name.

It is obvious from the moment that you set eyes on this truck that it is an extremely unique gift that was made with a tremendous amount of love – which is why I was speechless when we were surprised by it, and I get teary eyed when I share about it with other people.

There is one additional chapter to this amazing story…the photos that you see below. Before the truck was turned over to Ezra to play with (which is what the folks that built it asked for – because I wanted to put it in a display case), I wanted to take some good pictures of it. So I contacted a photography studio that is here in Castle Rock and they were receptive to the idea. Ezra and I went there this morning and had an amazing experience with them, and ended up with some amazing photos. The folks at Forever Yours Photography not only opened up their space to us, they walked me through a studio photo session step-by-step….all as a donation to someone in their community.

So here are the photos that despite how awesome they actually are (joke), could never show how awesome the truck actually is. This is another gift that we have no way of ever being able to say thank you enough, so we will instead smile and think of Liam every time that Ezra drives his very own custom ladder truck.

Filed Under: Ezra!, Liam!, Life in General, Photos Included

Easter Egg Hunt – Helicopter Style

April 16, 2011 by 2 Comments

We went to one of the two annual open-to-the-community Easter egg mad dashes hunts this morning. This one is sponsored by a local community church and it’s claim to fame is that there is a helicopter that comes and drops eggs for the kids to go and get (last year the helicopter was cancelled due to weather). As Ezra is a year older this time around (last year he just took off running and didn’t bother to pick up any eggs until we prompted him) he was much more into it. We have to give him a ton of credit….once he got about 10 eggs in his basket, he calmly walked away and let others pick up their share of eggs – no Extreme Hoarding TV shows in his immediate future.

PS – there is also a playground at the park where the event took place…thus, pictures from there too.

Filed Under: Ezra!, Photos Included

The Next Step In Potty Training

April 15, 2011 by 3 Comments

Well, the patience has returned to our lives. Mostly due to the fact that we have seriously put the brakes on the furosity of the potty training. We quickly realized that Ezra was neither interested nor bribe-able when it came to spending some time on the toilet, and that we really needed to focus a lot on growing his interest in the event. Point of disclosure: Ezra has never been willing to take a bribe to do something….he will gladly turn down just about any offer that you can think of if he doesn’t want to do the underlying request. This is both positive (strong willed and knows what he wants) and negative (we can’t convince him to do anything he doesn’t want).

This idea of ‘building interest’ in a 2.5 year old is a difficult thing to do to say the least. Sure, you can manufacture excited expectation about all sorts of things for a short period of time; but to create that in something that will be more long term sustainable is proving to be an interesting assignment. We thought we were on to something when all of a sudden Ezra started going to the toilet, moving his steps in front of it, and pretending to pee (while keeping his pants up)…but that lasted a day. We thought that we had something when he would wear underwear and feel uncomfortable when he peed in them…but that lasted for a week (now he’s just good hanging out in wet clothes). We have, however, been able to get him to sit on the potty for pretty long periods of time – which is good.

His conversations about going to the bathroom have increased and his apparent interest is on the uptick. We aren’t anywhere near close to being able to drop the pedal to the floor and go for broke, but we are on the way. It’s like being in a car that has the potential to do 150mph, but it takes 2000 miles of doing 35mph before you are able to achieve that speed.

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34 Months!

April 5, 2011 by 5 Comments

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Potty Training

April 3, 2011 by 11 Comments

Let the games begin. After a successful removal of the pacifier from all daily life (except sleeping), we decided to embark on attempting to get Ezra out of diapers. Now before I go any further, a bit of full disclosure has to happen: I hate, and I mean hate, poop. For each and every diaper that I have changed on Ezra and Liam, there is some sort of massive displeasure and gagging that occurs. Liam didn’t seem to care about my reaction too much, but Ezra laughed at me each and every time. With this background, you can imagine that venturing into a world where I would have to do more than just throw away a poopy diaper…and actually clean something has proven to be rather daunting. The full disclosure part of this posting closes as I say that due to what you have now learned, Ahna has taken the lead on this project.

This all started out with some attempts at introducing the idea of going to use the toilet to Ezra. You see, for the nearly three years of his life, he has shown approximately zero interest in going to the bathroom anywhere specifically. As a matter of fact, he cares so little about it that he’ll just go wherever and whenever he needs to…so when he doesn’t have a diaper on, it doesn’t phase him one little bit (a good example a little later). So the concept of generating his interest in using the potty has been something that thus far has been the sticking point – we haven’t even gotten to all of the other normal sticking points to potty training (the sounds, the flush, sitting still, wiping, the responsibility, etc).

how the counter adornments have changed...

The one thing that Ezra does seem mostly interested in doing is wearing underwear. The simple summary of our methodology for the training is this (adopted from Peggy): skip pull-ups and go straight to underwear. Spend a few days doing nearly nothing but sitting on the potty every 15-20 minutes. By having underwear on, it will create the discomfort and they will at some point want to avoid being wet or otherwise. After three accidents in one day, go back to diapers and don’t make a big deal out of it. Sounds logical, caring, and something that we can handle. The only hiccup to the entire program is if/when the child doesn’t have any care to sit still or any interest to continue….enter Ezra. We know that we can push, but the last thing that we want to do is to create a negative vibe surrounding going to the bathroom.

Ahna began training Ezra late last week (10 days ago-ish) and it went fairly well for the first couple of days. Ezra would enjoy the Toy Story or Cars themed garments, and if he peed he would look up from playing and say ‘uh-oh’ before immediately returning to playing. Although there wasn’t any use of the potty, the two of them were able to work out a way that Ezra would wear underwear while they were home and sit on the potty for always increasing amounts of time. There was no revelation made, but there was steady progress. Until one day when Ezra realized that he was in fact 2.5 years old, and the testing began. Following a massive meltdown by both child (Ezra) and parent (me), we have made a few concessions: we will slow it down a little. We will try to hang out in underwear for a few hours each day or night and not push the issue too hard. We will work on gaining momentum in the ‘interest’ phase of this process. And finally, two of us will work on our patience a little bit (I’m not going to say who those two are, but Ahna is not one of them).

So it slowly continues. Some days are better than others, and some days we just don’t even try a little. In order to try to stay calm, I keep telling myself another piece of advice that Peggy passed along (after someone gave it to her many years ago): he’s not going to go to prom in diapers. Now if there was only a simple piece of advice that I could remember to get through dealing with the poop….

Filed Under: Ezra!, Photos Included
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