Toddler Prerogatives

On Saturday, for 4th of July, we went over to Beth's for a pot-luck BBQ. There were several kids (Beth's kids and their neighbords) who were a bit older than Ivan. He was intrigued by them and kind of played with them. He observed them playing in the sanbox (but didn't really go in.) He did however fully participate and enjoy catching bubbles generated by the bubble machine. He was in 7th heaven.

"Bubbles."

He also was very intrigued by the bug zapper light that Andy initially pointed to him. He stood there and observed it.

He also mowed the lawn with a toy lawn mower and walked a scooter around.

Sam, Lisa's boy, was there as well. He's two months older than Ivan. He also kind of played with other kids, but not really. He had his own prerogatives, just like Ivan.

Like Ivan, he is a gentle, sweet natured kid. I think they'd get along really well, if they actually played together.

While they didn't play together on Saturday, they did have an interesting toddler run in.

Sam's obsessed with all things Thomas the Train. He likes to pour over the Thomas catalogue and look at different trains. He's on a sticker reward system, where if he sleep until 7 a.m. he gets a sticker. And five stickers get him another train.

Ivan, on the other hand, could not care less about Thomas. He has the train set at home, and occasionally plays with it, but he really couldn't care less. When he plays with the set, he's actually more interested in putting the track together than actually have the train roll by.

He did, however, have a Thomas the Train tattoo on his arm. (We got a bunch of tattoos as party favors at two recent birthday parties.)

Now Ivan, ever since he discovered the meaning my "mine" about a month ago, has gotten really possessive and vocal about these possession (ma car, ma bed, ma house, ma yogurt, ma zica, etc....)

So on Saturday, Sam and Ivan crossed paths. Sam noticed Ivan's tattoo. He tried to get a better look at it by pulling on Ivan's shirt so Ivan would turn around. Ivan, however, was trying to escape, yelling "ma shirt, ma shirt, ma shirt."

Sam couldn't figure out why Ivan was upset. Ivan couldn't figure out why Sam wanted his shirt.

It was really funny.