On most of the trips up the hill, Ivan insisted on walking himself and helping pull the sled along behind him. It took an adult to actually get the sled up that hill, but his persistence was impressive. His first trip up the hill he accepted a ride from Dad.
On your mark, get set. . .
GO!
Who do you think won this sled race?
The other two are getting ready to sled, but Ezri is smiling for the camera.
For New Year’s Eve, Ivan went bowling in the morning. Then he was a “big kid” and laid his sleeping bag out in the room of big kids for half sleepover. He was treated to New Year’s sugar cookies made with wishes for the New Year and he ate the “E” in Hope and had a green-iced smiley face for happiness. He asked for a third cookie, but that was overly optimistic and he was denied. Never hurts to hope.
A good New Year’s Eve!
Ivan’s been building with his new blocks.
We made monsters and they drive duplo cars. Ezri made a diving board and a pool of blue blocks for monster diving.
I think he likes them.
Ivan made a bee line for the Lion on the carousel.
He did not want to ride next to his sister who was on a “wild dog.” He wanted to ride the lion.
He loved the carousel and the holiday lights, but he really loved lemur feeding time. He was so cute up at the front that assorted adults stopped watching the lemurs to watch him bounce in excitement and giggles. That’s a lot of cute to trump lively lemurs.
There was a melt down when it was time to leave the tiger who was awake and pacing and looking mighty impressive. Ivan asked to get in with the tiger and cried when we left wailing, “No, I want TIGER!”
Ezri enjoyed the trip too and especially spending time with Meghan, her grown up friend. She and I were both impressed that the trees lit up pink and purple around the fountain. Ezri suggested that she would like her Rudolf to have a purple nose or maybe pink nose, but not red.
Dribbling a soccer ball, Ivan kept chanting, “I am a soccer monster. ROAR!” The photos above are of my little soccer monster resting between runs.
Ezri and Ivan had an epic debate about whether their breakfast cereal was called Crispix or Cris-books.
i: Crisbooks
e: No, it’s Crispix.
i: CrisBOOKS.
e: Crispix!
i: CrisBOOKS!
e: CRISPIX. Amanda, tell him it’s Crispix.
Amanda: You are using the potty like a big boy.
Ivan: You’re a big boy, Manda.
His logical reasoning works, but falls into a common trap. Big boys use potties. Amanda uses a potty. Amanda is a big boy.
Ivan uses “Why?” as a response to questions where most would use “What?”. I find it endearing.
A: Do you know what this is?
i: Why?
or
A: What do you think we should play now?
i: Why?
After watching the movie Monsters Inc. at Thanksgiving, Ivan has become dedicated to being the green one-eyed monster, Mike Wazowski.
We were playing in the backyard and I was the Head of Monster University, Dean Hardscrabble. Ezri was the big blue monster, Sully, and Ivan liked to say repeatedly, “I am Mike Wazowski.” I said it was time to go inside and get ready for Ezri’s dance class. Ivan said, “No, Sully’s dance class.” I agreed, “Okay, let’s go get ready for Sully’s dance class.” When we got to class I said, “Ezri, it’s time to switch to your dance shoes.” Ivan furrowed his brow and said, “No, Sully’s dance shoes!” His insistence on Ezri being Sully and him being Mike continued for the rest of the afternoon.
Snow Angel below:
When this jolly old elf asked Ivan what he wanted for Christmas, he said, “I’m a dragon!” Still adorably confused about the differences between Christmas and Halloween. Ezri said she wanted a Daisy Duck. The band on her head has reindeer antlers on the sides.
In the last week or two, Ivan has started speaking more often in full sentences. He uses prepositional phrases and even the past tense. Upon picking him up from day care he reported, “I played bad guys with Miguel.” It isn’t a complex sentence, but it’s got past tense and is standard English and I could understand what he was telling me about his day.
He has started calling his sister something very close to “Ezri.” I will miss him calling her “Every.”
me: “Ivan Miller Blau! it is time to get in the car NOW.”
Ivan: “NO! I AM NOT IVAN MILLER BLAU. I am NOT.”
“I stop crying.” He has started announcing when his meltdown has ended with this statement. There’s also, “I stop screaming.” He also likes to tell us, “I happy,” and “I laughing.”
While standing on a white piece of paper, “Hey, YOU, get off of my CLOUD.”
The kids were playing with my Beatles “Yellow Submarine” figurines, so I decided to put some Beatles songs on. Ivan’s reaction: “I like these Beatles singing!”
An old one from our vacation in Montana, Ivan awakens me to sob, “Amanda, it’s dark. It’s dark!” He has two night lights that he has unplugged from the wall – one clutched in each of his hands.
“I pooping. I pooping. It hurts. Kiss it.” Ivan narrates his constipation. The kiss he got was on his head. Ivan had his first poop in the potty this week. The constipation gave him a lot of warning. He also wore underwear afterwards to celebrate. It’s a small step, but he may soon be climbing aboard the potty train.
Ivan’s one and only joke that is currently on infinite repeat is:
Knock Knock!
Who’s there?
Sarah.
Sarah who?
Sarah-mouse-in-the-house. (he runs it together like it is one word which makes it unintelligible to those who aren’t already in the know).