“Ivan do it!”

“Me do it” is Ivan’s constant refrain these days. He wants to do everything. Zip his own coat (it’s gonna be a long winter), put on his shoes, clean-up the milk he spilled across the floor, climb into his car seat, get himself out of the bathtub. The independence boost is great, but it’s often hard when there’s time pressure to wait for him to do the things he wants to do himself or to figure out just how much help he will accept without meltdown. Can I give you a small boost into the car and then you can climb up? If I start your jacket zipper, would it count as you doing it? If I hand you the toothpaste, does that mean you will wail about not getting to “brush teeth self” until I replace it on the counter for you to grab? If I close the drawer after you’ve gotten your spoon for cereal, will that be encroaching on your accomplishment of getting your own spoon and earn me your angry face? It’s a daily negotiation.

The one we are working the hardest to end is Ivan’s idea that in order to be “Me walk. Me do it!” Ivan cannot be holding an adult’s hand. This is a deal breaker in parking lots and on busy streets. He often gets carried screaming to a car because he will not accept walking while holding a grown-up’s hand as walking himself and that is what he intends to do!

He is getting to be a pickier eater which is leading to “You eat it” and attempts to pass his food to you. He picked all the broccoli out of his chicken fried rice and declared himself done with dinner. At taco night, he did not eat the beef or the cheese, but devoured three tortillas and a pile of red peppers. Not eating cheese? Who is this child? It is hard to predict what he will eat. But, he is a passionate lover of pancakes. Yesterday’s first request by my children for an activity was that we build a robot. I couldn’t manage that one, but the second request that we make brunch with PANCAKES was in my grasp. Ivan ate 5 pancakes. I think he loves them as much as the detective Nate The Great in his current favorite audiobook. He’s quite the carbavore these days.

“I have an idea!” Ivan says this often. It is a phrase picked up from the book Oh No or How My Science Fair Project Destroyed the World by Mac Barnett which is in heavy story reading rotation. If you ask, “What is your idea?” He will say, “Grapes!” or less often, “Carrots!” and then he will laugh heartily.  This has nothing to do with the book and we suspect comes from his sister somehow. This book has also led him to repeating the phrase, “Oh no! Oh Man! I Knew It” which is what the girl in the book says when her robot goes on a rampage. It is amusing that when he drops something and I say, “Oh no!” He will smile and say, “Oh Man! I Knew It” to complete the phrase.

Ivan is getting quite good at singing along to Froggy Went A’Courtin and I Am My Own Grandpa at bedtime.

When presented with something he likes be it food, toy, book; Ivan will often annouce, “It’s my FAVORITE!”