Snowstorm: Playing with Ivan

What a difference six weeks makes. Instead of freaking out whether I was going to go into labor as I did with the pre-Xmas storm six weeks ago, I was able to enjoy this weekend's storm of the century.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go out and play in the snow like I wanted to do, but rather spent yesterday and today at home with Ivan, Allen and Mariposa. (I also really like the idea of going out and playing in the snow more so than the actual act.) Andy had to work today (some basketball game that apparently counldn't be posptoned) and yesterday, while he was home, he was actually out shoveling the snow most of the day.

I had a blast playing with Ivan. Initially, I was apprehensive that he was going to go house-crazy, be full of energy, and be hard to manage, but he was not. In addition to playing with his collection of "boops" and unraveling the wool around the house, for the first time, we did a whole slew of crafty activities.

Yesterday, he found my watercolor set in a drawer and wanted to paint. I found an old sketchbook, set us up at the table and we colored for a very long time. We made four pictures. We took turns painting.

Then he wanted his little scissors to cut paper. (He's been interested in learning to cut paper since last summer when we took him to the aviation museum where they had a children's arts/crafts station, which included scissors. He's gotten very good at cutting, too.) He cut the paper into many little pieces. Then he took the tape, and put a piece of tape on each side of the cut papers. I told him he was making bookmarks.

Later in the day, he helped me make muffins. He stood on his little red chair to be able to reach the countertop and watch me. He stirred the eggs (myself, I want to do it myself). Then he mixed the flour and the sugar. Then he got a special job, of putting cupcake holders into the pan.

Today, we painted some more at his initiative. Then I got out his coloring book. We got crayons to color. We also cut more paper and made more bookmarks.

He also pulled out two Dr. Zeuss's books, which Kris recently brought over and started flipping through them. "I reading," he told me. He basically flipped through the pages and explained to me what was on each page. (He's been "reading" his "little books" at bed time with me for the last few weeks as well.)

Then he found Scrabble and started opening it. "What that, mamma. A game? Want to play?" he asked me. I couldn't say no, although I really didn't to him to discover and start pulling the letters. When he opened the box, he first saw the four wooden pieces on which players put the letters. I quickly told him that the game is to take those wooden pieces out and put his crayons and chalk, which was on the table, on it. He liked that. And the chalk fit perfectly. I put away the Scrabble box before he could rummage in it and find the bag with letters.

Years ago when I started imagining how it would be to have a child, I would think of doing little artsy/craftsy activities with the child (a girl in my dreams, of course). I also dreamed about taking the child to the arts classes at the Smithsonian. So now that Ivan's has gotten old to want to engage in such artsy activities, I am so thrilled to play with him.

Last week, we also made our first pasta necklaces. I figured he'd like making the necklaces because pulling string (wool, in this case) through macaroni, is just a type of a fine, precise motor skill that he likes to do.

More on the little red chair: (For the last few months, he's been taking that little chair around the house and climbing on it to reach what ever he's after. It's really cute. I like how he's inventive, self-sufficient and taking thing in his own hands. Donna, from work, said that after I recounted some Ivan story to her last year. I think it was him going for seconds at a birthday party. I think the first time he used the red chair to accomplish something was when Andy turned off the light in the kitchen, which was against Ivan's orders. He stormed out of the kitchen. I thought he was going to fling himself on the couch and throw a tempter tantum, but instead he went to get the chair, took it to the kitchen, climbed on it and turned the light switch back on. We cracked up.)