Mostly he wants Captain Underpants books, but other recent book loves include:

Big, MEAN Mike by Michelle Knudson
Big mean Mike is being followed by cute bunnies and is worried about his tough image, but it turns out bunnies can be a lot of fun at a monster truck rally. So many appeals for Ivan! This one was his prize from summer reading at the DGPL.

Shake to Assemble – Tap the Hulk to Start the Action by Calliope Glass finally a book that invites the reader to tickle Bruce Banner and roar at him to piss him off enough to become the HULK.

Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin
Each grey monster asks to be made a new color which means mixing and scribbling and dibbling paints all over the page. This one harkens back to Ivan’s love of Color Crew videos that featured crayons coloring in a scene in the incorrect colors which got sorted out by Mr. Eraser.

Anton and the Battle by Ole Konnecke
Anton wants his friend Luke to know that whatever he can do Anton can do it bigger, louder and more destructively until they are both scared up into a tree by a puppy.

Froggy Goes Out by Jonathan London
First encountered as a read aloud in the library at school, Ivan has become a fan of the Froggy books especially this one about looking for all the things one needs to go out on a bike ride. Particularly funny is dad is looking for the backpack and Froggy points out it is already on his back.

And here is Ivan the day of his big sister’s birthday party which he spent sick. Note that our friend buckety is behind him just in case.

Ivan is excited to receive his own copy of this literary marvel.
Smiling he says, “We don’t even have to return this one to the library.”

Miss Susan reading Artist Ted!

Ivan came home from camp talking about a book they had read called Firefighter Ted. So, I checked it out of the library for him.

He is smitten with the fire fighting bear. He likes to pretend to be Firefighter Ted.

Reading Firefighter Ted together on the futon.
His own fuzzy bear playing the role of Firefighter Ted and riding a firetruck.

Ivan artistic interpretation of Firefighter Ted. Ted is down in the bottom left corner. The red scribble is fire. Ivan at almost 4 has done very little representational art, so the stick figure is quite a break through in inspiration for him.

Ezri art inspired by Firefighter Ted. His big sister has always claimed to be an artist.

These two super kids plan to SMASH summer reading at the library this year.

Ivan was the first kid entered in the library’s database of kid readers this past Sunday. Ezri was number two.

The library had a kickoff event and the kids wore their capes.

Some books Ivan is loving these days:

Shh! We have a Plan by Chris Haughton which had him spending all day exclaiming, “Hi, Birdie!” at intervals.
Little Owl Lost by the same author which Ezri has been reading to him.

Ivan the Terrier by Catalanotto has made a resurgence after a months long break from reading it.

3,2,1 Liftoff: A Lego City Book is being read daily. Ivan likes especially the picture of the green lego alien outside the space station window and chanting, “five, four, three, two , one. KA-BOOM!”

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett. I accidentally read “animal cookie” as “animal cracker.” Ivan corrected me. He has this one memorized. It has also entered the word “spectacular” into his active vocabulary.

Ivan’s been cooking in the play kitchen and made this culinary creation. I assume he’s invited Gargamel over to dine.

On a couple of recent weekend mornings, the kids have gotten up and gotten out of their room and played for a few minutes before coming to wake us in hopes of breakfast. I am hoping for a larger trend here and may be leaving them some sort of breakfast on the table and crossing my fingers they let us sleep in.

Ivan has become harder to get out the door on time and much pickier about his food. He mostly wants to eat bread, cheese, pasta, and chicken nuggets. He is wary of trying new things to the point of complete refusal. I am hoping these are phases that will pass soon.

He likes to count in both English and Spanish and loves imaginative play with his big sister. They are playing for longer stretches together without screams of, “No, Ezri, no!” or “Ivan, get off of me! GET OFF OF ME!” Ezri is also choosing to play with Ivan in settings with other kids available like the park or the indoor play yard. It’s nice to see the sibling love.

The books of the week for Ivan are:
The Very Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
Ten Minutes Till Bedtime by Peggy Rathmann
Hello Mommy! Zooborns by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland
Bear’s Song by Benjamin Chaud
Roaring Rivals: Monsters University

We are listening to the audiobooks from the series of Mrs. Pigglewiggle, Nate the Great, and Roscoe Riley Rules at bedtime.

We went to our last library storytime at DGPL for the next 6 months this morning. They are remodeling the building. After five years of spending most Saturday mornings at the library, this will be an adjustment for the kids.