Ivan decides not to be shy

"I am not going to be shy, mama," Ivan said in the car as we were parking in front of Bella's house to go and play. "I'm going to go in and say 'surprise'." He jumped out of the car and ran to the door to knock. When Daria opened the door, he burst in yelling 'surprise.' He was very chatty with Daria, telling her all about his baby brother. "His name is Allen," he said. Ivan really surprised me that he had such self-awareness that he was shy. It also surprised me because he's usual warm-up behavior is to hide behind my legs and grumble "umh" if someone tried to engage and talked to him Meanwhile, Bella was stunned and not so chatty, because she expected Leila to be at the door, not Ivan.

Cookie logic

"Mama, did you give me a cookie for lunch?" Ivan regularly asks me now that I've packed him cookies for lunch a few times.

***

"Ivan, eat this banana," I said. "But I don't want a cookie," he replied.

***

"Finish this meat and you'll get a cookie," Andy told Ivan to get him to finish his dinner, while Ivan was cruising around on his ice cream truck.

"No, you get a cookie after a banana or apple sauce," Ivan stopped the truck, thought about it and thoughfully responded. He is correct because I always give him an option of a banana or apple sauce, if he wants a cookie.

***

"Can we bake cookies with a flashlight?" Ivan asked me as we were finishing kneading the cookie dough when the power went out due to a snowstorm outside. He even went to get flashlights for us.

Sent from my iPhone