This was happening. Look, unprompted sibling hugs. I grabbed the camera. They do love each other.

He still doesn’t speak much, but he gets point across.

I knit Ivan a hat. He is averse to all hats and headgear. I put the hat on him. He pulled the hat off immediately, walked over to the box where we keep dress-up clothes, and shoved the hat inside. He pulled out a pair of wings and closed the costume box lid over the hat. He held the wings out and let me help him put them on. He didn’t say it, but I heard, “No, mama, I do not want a hat at all. I’d like to have wings instead.”

At naptime, Ivan was not napping. I had him in my lap and after much rocking and singing I laid down on the bed because the dim light and white noise were making me sleepy. He stood up, threw his leg over me, and began bouncing while saying, “Ee-Oh! ee-oh!” (which is Ivan’s word for horsey). There was no nap this day.