What is Ivan Reading?

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Here he’s enjoying a Babybug Magazine. He crawled out the futon first thing in the morning, hopped up, and opened up his magazine to read.

Ivan will not let me put the books Night, Night, Elmo! or Baa, Baa, Black Sheep by Melissa Everett in the bag to return to the library. I went ahead and placed an amazon order for these two titles because the love of them is not waning.
Night, Night, Elmo has simple flaps and a great ending pop-up where you can turn down a flap to tuck Elmo into his bed.
Baa Baa Black Sheep goes through singing about sheep in all the colors of the rainbow and the whacky things you can make out of their wool. The red sheep’s wool makes a lobster. The yellow sheep’s wool makes a school bus. It’s ridiculous and goes to Ivan’s favorite tune.

We are returning two great hits to the library.
Maisy’s Train by Lucy Cousins which features a page where the train goes down the hill and you say, “Wheee!” that Ivan adores.
and
Say and Play Oink Moo Meow which has photos of about twenty different animals all making their sounds which is perfect for Ivan’s desire to point and make animal noises. I enjoyed that it has some less standard animals like a dove that says “coo coo” and the sea lion saying “art art.” Eric had a moment when pointing at the pig and asking what noise it made, Ivan said “wee wee wee” because he remember playing this little piggy on his toes and the pig going “wee wee wee” all the way home.

Goodnight

Yesterday for the first time ever when I said, “Good night, Ivan,” Ivan said, “goo nigh, mama.”

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Yesterday, he also pointed at my nose said, “boogah” and then tried to remove the booger for me. Tissue is what we need, Ivan, tissue.

He is a kind boy.

Ivan Speaks

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Ivan is speaking – it’s amazing to hear his new words each and every day.

One morning this week he was going through the house pointing at things. “Jacket” he said pointing at his jacket. Then he pointed at Ezri’s coat and said, “Weh-zee Coe” (his word for Ezri and his word for coat). “Robot” he said pointing at one of our wind-up toys. “Nightmah Moo” he said pointing at Ezri’s pony named Nightmare Moon. “Chee” he said pointing at the camera (which he thinks of as the “Cheese!”). “Babybug” he said pointing at his babybug magazine. Not all words sound like what he’s trying to say, but “Babybug” is pretty clearly enunciated. Eric was surprised when Ivan pointed at a picture Ezri had colored of Hello Kitty and said, “Meow Picture.” We did not know he had learned or could say the word picture.

He is learning the power of please which sounds like, “Bees!” So, he will pick up a book which he calls “boo” and toddle towards you saying, “Boo, boo” and then a pause and a very loud “BEES!”

In addition to his emphatic, “YEAH!” for affirmative he also says, “Gokay” for okay. So, if I say “let’s go to the car.” He might say, “gokay.” But if I ask if he wants a bunny snack (his favorite little gummy fruit treat), he will roar, “YEAH!” “Gokay” is agreement. “YEAH!” is enthusiastic positive response.

He’s also making connections. There is a song called Monkey River that Ivan likes to listen to and he asked for it by pointing at the stereo speaker and saying “Oo-oo-ah-ah ivver” which is his monkey sound followed by his approximation of “river.” It took a minute, but we figured out what he was asking for. When you figure out what he wants and give it to him, he will favor you with an enormous smile and the roar of “YEAH!”

Eric was yawning and stretching his arms up to the ceiling one morning and it looked to Ivan like cheering. Ivan smiled lifted his arms up and said, “Hoo-RAY!”

The photo at the top is Ivan and I outside after Thursday’s big flood splashing in our yard. Ivan did multiple slides into the mud which is still on his face there. It was splashtastic.

Ivan is in language explosion mode.

Today at daycare Ivan took me around the room and pointing out people and saying their name. I tried to head out after he’d pointed at each person, but he said, “No!” and marched over to the sofa to point at the sleeping dog there and say her name, “A-See.” She is Lacey.

He has long asked for the song “baa baa” which is baa baa black sheep. Today he asked for “baa baa ool” referencing the wool in the lyric. He also asked for “teeko teeko stah” which until now he had referred to as just “teeko teeko.”

Yesterday at our polling place, the volunteers were charmed by Ivan who was doing his happy walk which looks a little like a less exuberant Snoopy Dance. When we left and I got my sticker, Ivan said “tick-ah” and was gifted with his own “I voted” sticker. Then he pointed at the piano in the room and said, “Piano.” I did not even know he knew the word piano. Polling place volunteers praised his obvious brilliance, but I think it was the happy walk that made them smile.

I am often unsure about what the availability of media and screens in every pocket means for parenting and how best to navigate it. But, my heart melted for the scene in the photos below where Ezri is carefully teaching Ivan how to zap bugs in a game called Bugs and Buttons on the iPad.

She has also worked to teach him to be quiet while hiding. This led to parent terror while Ivan has wedged himself quietly amongst my pajamas in the closet. He gave the biggest smile when found that it was almost worth the terror.

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ipadkids

Driving in my car

After initially rejecting this sweet ride and trying to demand his sister’s bicycle.
“bi-CUL! bi-CUL!”

Ivan eventually warmed up to riding in the “beep beep car” to the park. His sister took the princess scooter.
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We found some fun chalk art at the park.
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And our yard has the first flowers of spring or as Ivan calls them “geeko GEEKO!”
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springflowers
Sure, we are still wearing winter coats, but spring is coming.

Hopping into Spring

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Why would Ivan look at the camera when there’s a guy in a rabbit suit right next to him?

During the egg hunt portion of the park district Bunny Luau, Ivan had a similar moment when in a gym covered with plastic eggs he ran for the middle to look up in awe at the guy in the rabbit suit. Perhaps, no one had made clear to him that those plastic eggs had candy inside, but while all the other kids scrambled for eggs Ivan danced around the bunny.
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Also, Ivan learned to do the chicken dance and did a credible job flapping his little wings.
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Ivan Speaks

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When you figure out what it is that Ivan truly wants he now roars “YEAH!”
Do you want cheese on your pasta? YEAH!
It’s hard to get the cuteness of this across in text, but the “YEAH” comes out with the same ferocity as his dinosaur imitation and a giant grin.

His vocabulary is expanding daily and we sometimes get two word phrases. “No bink” which means “I do not want my pacifier” or “Wehzee go” which means “This is Ezri’s coat.” His word for coat sounds like go.

His pronunciation on “chicken taco” is particularly adorable. It sounds something like “TeekoTaco.”

“Weh-zee” or “Wehbee” is his word for Ezri.
She was away for a night at her grandparents for a Seder during his bedtime and he refused to go to sleep. He would say her name and then sob and scream. He loves his sister.

We also get to have misunderstandings. I asked Ivan if he wanted to go for a walk thinking to put him in his stroller and walk around the neighborhood.
As soon as I picked him up headed towards the stroller, he looked indignant and said, ‘No. WOK! WOK!”
Walk is one of his new words and that was what he wanted to do. So, we did a little walking in the yard and did not take the stroller out for my idea of a walk. He insists on walking more and more as opposed to being carried. This is sometimes convenient and sometimes just the opposite.

He has a favorite song. It is Stompy the Bear by Caspar Babypants. He will ask for it as “Beh” which is his word for bear and then point either at the speaker or at the computer that controls our iTunes. If you play it for him, he will then dance along and stomp trying to sing along at times. He knows the point at which the singer yells, “Go!” and this is his singular favorite moment in the song. Ezri can sing you all the words to Stompy the Bear and will correct you if you sing the bear colors in the wrong order. We’ve heard this song a lot in Blau haus. If you want to share the joy, here’s a youtube video of Stompy.