Ezra

We had Ruby and Chapin over for a play date this afternoon and the kids decided they wanted a Kids Club. So they made a sign. Well, Ezra made a sign.

What he was trying to say was:

Members: Ruby, Chapin, Ezra, Finn

Kids Club. No grown-ups allowed. If you come in you will be punched in the butthole.

Lovely. But seeing as he spelled it “panched in the bat hol” I just have to laugh. Needless to say, Cari and I stayed away. Neither of us wanted to be panched in the bat hol.

The little cactus that Ezra picked out at the Cactus Center a few months ago is blooming. It’s very exciting.

Ezra wrote a story in chalk on the patio table this week. I think it was an origin story for his and Finn’s superpowers. I couldn’t get the whole thing in one shot but this was my favorite part.

I love how he sounded out “experiment” to come up with the spelling.

Today he started writing a story on his whiteboard.

It’s patterned after Mo Willems’ The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! and meant to be interactive, so I’ll translate.

The Pigeon Wants a Meatloaf.

Hi, how are you?

Guess what I want?

[A meatloaf]

How did you guess? You are right I want a meatloaf.

[No.]

Why don’t I get anything?

Jerri was in the classroom at Aveson on Monday and sent me these pictures of Ezra’s compound word.

Love it. Especially the change in facial expression from man to manbat.

Ezra’s second top tooth has been hanging by a thread for weeks. He’s been playing with it constantly and as it hung there crookedly, he looked like someone with very poor dental care. Last night at bedtime, he just wouldn’t go to bed — he kept getting up to talk about and fiddle with his tooth. And then finally he came in from the bathroom triumphantly after having finally pulled it out. Once it was safely in an envelope and tucked under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy, he was able to relax and get some sleep.

But first he had to show off the gaping hole.

Ezra started First Grade today. He hadn’t seemed very excited up until this morning. In fact, whenever I would ask him how he felt about school starting, he’d say, “I don’t know.” But this morning, he was jumping with excitement as evidenced by this picture I took on the front porch before we left.

Here he is in line with his classmates and his teacher, Ms. Thea, before walking down to his classroom.

He made a name tag.

And found his place on the carpet.

Ms. Thea did some preliminary stuff about their schedule, the welcome message, the kids who are new to Aveson, etc. Then she asked each child to say their name and tell everyone what their favorite animal is. I caught Ezra’s part on video.

Finn was not in a very cooperative mood this morning, but I did catch him in a rare moment of sitting quietly.

Then the first graders rearranged themselves on the carpet and Ms. Thea read The Kissing Hand.

They were just starting to trace their hands when Finn and I left for the day.

When we picked Ezra up from school, of course I asked him how his first day was. He replied, “It was great! I didn’t expect it would be so good!” And I breathed a sigh of relief.

Day 3 of Ezra’s swim lessons:

Given his druthers, he would still prefer to do a doggy paddle while holding his breath, but this proves he CAN put his face in and swim. By day 4 he was — with his teacher’s help — fishing a toy starfish out from the bottom of the pool. (He says he has trouble getting down to get it because his “body is too floaty.”)

It’s all very encouraging.

We were at the park Tuesday morning, just about ready to head home, when Ezra’s friend Sofia called out to me, “Ezra’s Mom?” (I love it when the kids call me that.) “Look,” she said, “Ezra can ride a bike with two wheels.”

Holy cow! Who knew???

What a fortuitous turn of events that we forgot to bring our own bikes so he borrowed Sofia’s.

We got the official class photo for Ezra’s Kindergarten class yesterday. So cute …

We had family movie night last night to watch Rio, which we’d seen in the theaters but was just released on DVD this week. This movie has changed Ezra’s life; he’s now a HUGE bird fanatic. And he loves samba. As evidenced by this covert video I took of him dancing to one of the songs in the movie last night.

God, I love this boy.

Ezra was having a difficult time this morning — feeling too grown up to play with Finn and clearly needing something. After a little tussle with Finn, he stormed out of the room, feelings clearly hurt, and went up stairs to make a sign. This is what he came up with:

Allow me to translate: “Please do not enter! Or else Ezra will smack your butt.”

Sigh.

Because we always need a little more drama right before we’re set to leave on a trip, it so happened that this week (Tuesday evening to be exact) Ezra swallowed a Goobi ball. We both immediately freaked out — he because he swallowed the small iron ball, and I because he was clutching his throat and until I realized that he was also screaming, I thought he was choking. Ensuing madness: I first thought the ball was magnetic and worried about that quite a bit. Finally I looked up what the balls are actually made of and called the doctor. She assured me it should pass in three days, but if it didn’t we needed to come in.

OK, three days. As days one and two passed, I started to worry that if it didn’t pass on day three we might have to delay our trip. (Could we even get an x-ray on a Saturday?) So I called the doctor’s office again this morning and made an appointment. They sent him for an x-ray (a picture of which I will add once I get it), which showed that the ball was in his colon. OK, more waiting.

Turns out he passed it a couple of hours after the x-ray so all is well and we are headed to Belize on schedule!

Oh, and here’s a before and after picture of what a Goobi ball looks like once it’s traveled through a six-year-old boy. Ezra insisted on keeping the product of his digestive system, and luckily Bruce was on hand to handle its cleanup.

As hard as it is for me to believe, Ezra finished up his Kindergarten year yesterday. The morning started off like all the others — we parked at the bottom of the hill and made the long walk up to the top. Here’s Ezra on the lower level.

Here’s our usual morning scene on the playground.

The mural is a new addition and I asked Ezra to take a picture by the part of the grass he painted.

After Ezra went to class I ran Finn down to Cottage and then ran back up to Aveson for the class potluck. Here he is with his teachers, Ms. Jessica (in purple), Ms. Jennee (in green) and Ms. Vonni (in blue).

The potluck was fun — Ezra and his friend, Jack, hammed it up for the camera before digging in to some delicious food.

Then they did a little ceremony for the kids — each one got a certificate for completing Kindergarten, a class picture and hugs from the teachers.

Then Ms. Jennee read a book about the end of the school year and all the adults — parents and teachers alike — teared up. Such a bittersweet day.