Ivan’s preschool teacher sends home letter writing practice sheets. He is thrilled to have homework just like his sister.
Here he is practicing writing his letters by puffing against the glass and writing in the condensation. It’s a perk of the chilly weather.
Ivan made art with purple leaves and orange pumpkins.
Ivan found the old stash of pull-ups and decided to use one as a hat. It’s been a long time since he was wearing these at night. Probably time to clean out the closet and let them go despite their possible application as headgear.
Ivan was excited that it was school picture day and he wanted to practice.
Here are his practice poses.
Both Blau children agreed what Ivan’s fall school project needed was glitter glue.
The big sister was heard to say, “The glitter just makes it a sparkly land.”
The little brother just kept repeating, “I like glitter glue.”
He was also heard to remark, “I think we need to buy one hundred glitter glues.”
Cooler weather brings the possibility of cocoa which Ivan likes to drink like soup.
Ivan with his artwork from Belle’s 4th birthday party. Full disclosure -Ezri did most of the parts that are pink.
Conversations and quotes from Ivan
i: Can we play Lego Batman?
E: We can play for 10 or 15 minutes.
i: Fifteen! Fifteen!
The Best Day Ever – a few examples
“We played Lego Batman in the basement. Dis is the best day ever”
“I went to a ice cream social AND I got ice cream. Dis is the best day ever.”
Snuggled into my lap watching a movie in someone’s driveway at the annual block party, “Dis is the best day ever.”
Unprompted Gratitude – a few examples
“Thank you bees from Lyman woods. I like this honey.” Ivan’s comment on breakfast.
“Thank you for this dinner.” (Thanking Eric for corn on the cob. The corn is good this time of year)
“Thank you for these shoes.” Eric bought him new sneakers with Ninja turtles on them.
“My foot is blurry.” This is Ivan’s description of how it feels when his foot has fallen asleep.
From showertime, “I like it when you wash my butt. Can you always wash my butt?”
Ezri has always had a hard time pronouncing words with vowels followed by the letter R. Whirlpool, artist, girl
This led to a dispute about whether she was singing about party time or potty time. Ivan was sure she was saying “potty time” in the lyric “You’ll know just where to find him when it’s potty time!”
Walking the 3/4 mile to school to pick-up his sister on a sunny day:
i: Walking is boring. Why can’t we take the black car?
A: I’m not driving on a day this pretty. I’m walking and enjoying the sunshine.
i: When can I get my driver’s license?
Coach Mike explains the 5 rules of class.
1) no hitting, shoving or kicking (isn’t that 3 rules, Coach?)
2) when the whistle blows STOP
3) ???
4) Do not leave class with a stranger only with your family, babysitter
5) have FUN! I have already forgotten a fifth of the rules.
The one for parents was PLEASE have them go to the bathroom before class. We only have 45 minutes and we want to keep them here the whole time.
It’s warm up time. Here’s Ivan in his brand new ninja turtle shoes.
Ivan can’t really dribble or bounce pass, but he had a blast trying.
This shot actually went in the hoop.
Here’s his after class happy dance blurry Ivan.
Ivan really likes this birthday present.
Here he is consulting the instructions.
And creating the robot stack.
What could possibly make these robot stackers cooler?
If you said “putting a small Wookiee on top” you got it right.
We also would’ve accepted the answer, stacking the robots nine tall and chanting, “Here comes the Wookiee walking,” then knocking the whole thing over with a small plastic Wookiee.
Grandma Liz made these *almost* too cute to eat minion marshmallows and a green frosted cake.
Ezri wanted one for breakfast, but I said no.
I am cruel.
Ivan doesn’t like to eat the eyes, but Ezri thinks they are delicious. So, he gives her the eyes off his minion marshmallows.
At school they celebrated making him a crown and letting him put candles on a virtual cake. I got to come into class and read Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett. Ivan did his part repeating lines from the book and declaring that the polka dotted rhinoceroses playing bagpipes with bad breath were his idea!
After school we picked up Ivan’s friend T and went to Chuck E. Cheese to dance with a giant mouse and ride in the monster truck and play “villains” and eat pizza.
The day after his birthday I let Ivan eat cake for breakfast. He was very impressed with this and has declared cake for breakfast one of his favorite things about his birthday.