Dancing, Singing Ivan

Back in spring, Ms. Yvonne told us that Ivan likes to dance at daycare. We were shocked. He never wanted to dance at home, and if I tried to dance, I'd get a big, "no, mamma, no," in return. He also absolutely hated the music class we took him to last fall. He kept wanting to leave the room.

Then a month ago, when Ivan and I drove my mother, who had just returned from Croatia, back to her house, the first thing Ivan did at the house was to run to the radio to turn it on. Then he disappeared into the kitchen. He returned with mardi gras beads strung around his neck (they hang on the pantry door). He went up to my mom to dance with her. Apparently, that's what the two of them do when he sleeps at their house. They get the newspaper "nonine, nonine," he watches my mom make coffee (who puts "secer" in the coffee) and then they dance.

Over the summer, I have noticed that he'll sometimes kind of bounce around to the music, but didn't make much of it. But the last few days, he's been holding Medic by its arms, jumping around, singing "dance, dance, dance, dance." It's hysterical.

He's also apparently really taken by music. There was the time at my parents' house when he was mesmerized by the Josh Groban concert.

Then about a month ago, at Andy's parents house, while Andy took of for his float-down-the-river-drinking-beer trip to Maine and I went to a quilt show with Andy's mother, Andy's dad and Ivan had quite a nice little morning to themselves. They got some crackers, sat in Pappi's den, and listened to nine tracks of Enya's Christmas album. Ivan was apparently mesmerized.

My parents said that the other week when we woke up at their house, he first turned on the radio to listen to some Dalmatian klapa music. He sat quietly on the sofa, with his hands crossed in his lap, enjoying the music for some 10-15 minutes, my mother reported.

Today, he insisted we put on some children's music. The spent the whole morning singing "people, up and down, up and down" while we was trying to stand up and squat down. Finally, I realized he was singing "the Wheels on the Bus."

I, however, am not really allowed to sing. He says "no, mamma, no." Now, I'm not sure whether it's because my voice is so bad that even toddler's ears are jarred by the sound of my off-singing, or whether he just doesn't like it because it's not something that mamma does.