There’s plenty for a little guy to do when his sister celebrates turning 4.
There’s rocking out with a friend.
There’s trying out the tricycles.
And there was baby’s first time in a bouncy house. Ivan liked the bouncing.
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.
I start singing “They say it’s your BATHTIME duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh well happy bathtime to ya'”
Ivan promptly sits down and pulls off his socks then stands up and walks over to the bathroom.
He was ready tonight.
Ivan was a mostly delightful host though he did have a couple temper tantrums and may have pulled hair once.
He shared his books and discovered a love of Mongolian lamb when we all had Chinese take-out.
By the end of the visit he was pretty sure these college friends of his parents were his people too and he definitely wanted bye-bye hugs.
Ezri has the words to this simple book memorized, so she can “read” Ivan one of his favorite books.
While his big sister loves getting out in the snow, Ivan gets cold quickly and has a dislike of mittens and hats that means he only does brief forays into the winter wonderland.
Here are some of the words we get from Ivan.
Ee-oh Ee-oh – Horse, rocking horse, stroller, carousel horse
Wah-ah – Water
Bah – Bowl
Bah – Ball
Baby
Bee-BEE YEAH – chorus of Baby, You Can Drive My Car “beep, beep, beep, beep, beep YEAH!”
Eh-EE – Ezri
Meow – Cat
Bah-uh – bottle
Yo – Yo Gabba Gabba character
eYo or Yo – video
Gro-gah – grover
Boo – said when he sees a ghost or a white creature
Chee or Ghee – cheers or cheese (said when trying to clink his sippy cup or when he sees a camera)
Mama
Tee-ko – twinkle said when pointing to pictures of stars (or flowers or snowflakes)
La-la – Elmo due to Elmo’s song. You’d be amazed how many pictures of Elmo Ivan can spot in the grocery store – at Jewel the total was eleven.
Mahmee – Edamame
Beebo – Belly button
Now that Ivan can tell us things we get hilarious moments like the following.
Ivan approaching the largest of our cats, Mancato, raises one leg and says, “Ee-oh! ee-oh!”
Don’t worry Manchi got out of there before he was used as a rocking horse.
Ivan loves his Maisy books by Lucy Cousins. Other current book faves include Star Wars ABC, Star Wars 123, a book called simply Nursery Rhymes from Priddy Books, Moo Moo Goes to the City by Jo Lodge, Sandra Boynton’s books especially Hey! Wake Up! and a number of board books featuring Sesame Street muppets.
Here is Ivan reading Maisy wearing a felt bowl that belongs in the play kitchen on his head.
Ivan’s not the only one to discover the bowl’s hat-like qualities. Here’s a friend at our holiday party rocking the look.
Also, while this photo is not the best in terms of focus, I love the spirit of the duo in this one chilling together with hats on their heads.
