100 things for 100 days

Today Ezra turns 100 days old. In an incredibly cornball, though earnest, recognition of this milestone, his mom and I have put together the following, a list of 100 things about him that we absolute adore.

1. His Gillespiean cheeks
2. His soft tushie
3. His smooth dome of a belly
4. How he wiggled and pushed and kicked himself into the perfect position to be born
5. How quickly he came out
6. His alertness in his first few hours alive
7. His original blueberry coloring
8. The way he opens his mouth like a fish when he’s really excited
9. His slightly crooked smile, like he’d throw out a “yeah, dude!” if he could speak
10. His lengthy conversations with the ceiling fan
11. His mesmerization with the little plastic sun on his playmat that plays MIDI Bach music for him
12. How, when he was younger, he used to end each feeding by settling into a senior class photo pose, with a hand under his chin, gazing into the future
13. The way his baby socks go about halfway up his feet
14. How when he’s hungry and you touch his cheeks, he will try to eat your finger
15. How much his family and friends adore him
16. The way he falls asleep on Sandy’s stomach on the hammock
17. His bald spot
18. The Superman spit-curl he used to sport, before his hair started falling out
19. How much he LOVES being held up in the air like Superman
20. The single, elegant column of drool hanging from his mouth to your chest while you’re holding him up like that
21. The way he sleeps now that we don’t swaddle him, with his arms and legs flung wide like a starfish
22. The way he devours his fingers, but never the thumb
23. Except for that time he found his thumb
24. The way whenever we think we know something about him, he changes
25. The way he wiggles with delight when you kiss his face, so sometimes you catch his wide open mouth with your lips
26. How cheerful and sociable he is when he wakes up from a good night’s sleep
27. How much he looks like Sarah as a baby
28. He can take a licking and keep on ticking
29. How cross-eyed he gets when he’s focused on something
30. Seeing him naked
31. How much he enjoys bathtime
32. How when he is startled awake, he puts his hands out in front of him as if to say “Hold on, hold on, give me a minute!”
33. How his mom does the exact same thing
34. How he falls asleep while nursing, but if Sarah tries to take the nipple out of his mouth, he starts sucking again
35. How he makes sucking movements with his mouth even when there’s nothing in there
36. How he’s rolling over from from back to tummy, while most kids go tummy to their back first
37. The powerful hips that earned him this skill
38. How he suddenly started holding his head up, even when he’s on his tummy
39. How he can fall asleep in your arms, even in a crowded, noisy place
40. The way perfect strangers tell us how beautiful he is
41. The way everybody thinks he’s twice his actual age
42. The way he cuddles into your neck when he’s tired
43. Or sucks on it when he’s hungry
44. How much he loves having his hair brushed and how it was the first thing that ever made him smile
45. What an easygoing travel companion he’s been
46. How much and how deeply he sleeps
47. How, on those rare occasions when he’s upset about something other than being hungry, he shows it by frowning and pushing his lower lip way out
48. How his mother did the exact same thing
49. How he belches and farts like an old man
50. The skull-crushingly cute way in which he sneezes
51. How he doesn’t mind when Lucy licks him on the head, because he, like she, just likes being petted all the time
52. How much he loves his grandparents, and how well he behaves for them
53. His strong legs
54. How he loves to bounce up and down on them
55. How he puts up with our throwing him in the air
56. How when he’s falling asleep, he keeps trying to open his eyes because he doesn’t want to say goodbye
57. How he uses his feet to scooch back on the changing mat
58. His dancing grooves
59. His enjoyment of his father’s impromptu a capella musical compositions
60. The expressiveness of his tongue
61. How good he looks in overalls
62. How well he fits his name
63. And how it honors four of his great-grandparents
64. How much he likes getting his diaper changed
65. How sometimes he’ll wake up from a nap and just lay there for a while, taking it all in
66. How well he’s adapting to having his picture taken
67. His dark brown eyes
68. The way he flirts with ladies on the train
69. How little he would mind being used as conversation bait for this purpose, should you desire it
70. Each of his tasty little toe-sausages
71. (see #70)
72. (see #70)
73. (see #70)
74. (see #70)
75. (see #70)
76. (see #70)
77. (see #70)
78. (see #70)
79. (see #70)
80. How he can’t be contained by the bouncy chair anymore, and eventually slides down until he’s practically on the floor
81. How he attempts stomach crunches, with moderate success
82. That one stretch of a couple weeks when he was on a poop-strike
83. How he tolerates the ridiculous positions we pose him in
84. His giant ham hock thighs
85. His adorable fall wardrobe
86. His even more adorable upcoming winter wardrobe
87. How he sometimes saves up milk in his cavernous cheeks, only to spit it out later
88. The way he’s gotten all his uncles and his one aunt to visit him in Chicago
89. How he caused us to meet some awesome new friends through our childbirth class
90. How, in the same way, he already has several buddies his own age
91. How he provided a fresh new focus for an aging blog
92. His already massive book collection, despite being months away from wanting stories
93. How he’s already had his first modeling shoot
94. His future as an all-star football player(/model)
95. How he’s been tweeting since he was a four-week-old embryo
96. His nibble-worthy ears
97. How he’s somehow managed to endear even baby-hating Clementine to him
98. The hodge-podgey, fun, uniquely Weiszian decor of his nursery
99. How he’s turned us into a father and a mother, and how much we love saying it
100. How much we’re looking forward to the next 100, and all the ones that come after

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