Another boy, Ivan predicts

"We're going to have another boy," Ivan told me today when I went to get him after he woke up from his nap and was sitting dazed on the bed, growling for us to come.

"Allen's growing up. He's not a baby," Ivan continued as we started descending the stairs.

"We're going to have another baby," he said.

He totally spooked me. I guess he dreamed about it, but still, it sounded so prophetic.

Haemin's last day

This past Wednesday was Haemin's last day at preschool. They had a party for her to send her off.

"We had a ce-le-bra-tion, not a party," Ivan corrected me, when I asked about it.

Haemin is moving back to Korea with her parents.

Beyond saying it was a celebration, Ivan didn't seem to react much. We'll see.

When Maddie left in December, he kept talking about it. He even brought it up in the last few weeks, when we were playing waterfall mountain and sailed to Taiwan. "Why to Taiwan," I asked. "Because Maddie is there. Maddie is no longer at preschool," Ivan said.

In February, when we were looking at his school picture to see which kids he'd invite to the party, he systematically went child by child, and then when he came to Maddie he paused. "Maddie can't come to my party," he said. "Maddie's in Taiwan." The way he did that, it was also as if he were angry and upset.

And now Haemin is leaving, too. Maddie and Haemin were the first two kids he befriended in preschool. And Maddie and Haemin were really close too.

Haemin's dad told me in the fall that every time he picks her up from preschool that she's on the playground chasing Ivan.

I know he has other friends now and seems to be playing a lot with David and Noah, Akiva and Andre.

So maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Maybe he's not concerned nor upset about it. Maybe it's me. What are the odds that two kids he gets close to end up leaving.

Ivan, Haemin and Maddie in December at the art gallery day.

Mother's Day Card



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I got a handmade Mother's Day card. It was a collaborative effort between Ivan and Allen, initiated and supervised by Andy.

 Ivan drew "corn and baby ostrich"--Andy and I are clueless where he got those references--while Allen scribbled.

Reconstruction of dialogue, as narrated by Andy:

"Allen, do you want a crayon?," Andy asked.

"Dah."

He scribbled.

"Do you want another crayon?," Andy asked.

"Dah."

He scribbled.

"Do you want another crayon?"

"Dah."

"No, Allen, that's my side!" Ivan yelled. "You can't come to my side."

"OK. Ivan. I'll put my hand to block him," Andy mediated.

"That's corn and baby ostrich," Ivan explained.

What did we do today: I slept in, and then we had a busy non-mother's day day. First, the boys went to Leila's birthday party at the Wheaton train, where they had a blast, while I attended Kris's baby naming ceremony for Lola at WES. Then I picked them up and we went to Kris's for lunch. By the end of the day, the boys were exhausted, but they had a blast. 

Cheese and Cake Concerns

"Then, we'll go and get cheesecake," Andy said yesterday while we were driving back from swim class and planning my birthday.

Silence in the backseat. A few seconds later.

"Dada, I don't want to have cheese on my cake. That be yucky," Ivan said.

In the morning, when we woke up, Andy told Ivan that it's my birthday.

"Happy birthday, mama," he said as he approached my bed.

"I don't want cheese on my cake. I like chocolate cake."

Ivan's existentialist question

As we were getting in the elevator after swim class today, two students got in with us at the last minute.

Ivan looked at them quizzically. They nodded to him, acknowledging him.

"Why are you here," he asked looking at one of them.

The student, stumped for an answer, started smiling. "Because I work here," he answered.

Ivan continued looking at them as if he wasn't convinced. Then the elevator doors opened and we all got out.

I could still hear the guys laughing about Ivan's unexpected question as they walked away.

Ivan tells stories

Ivan has become quite a story teller over the last few weeks. I've noticed that he takes tidbits of info from stories, songs and random things he heard and then spins them into a story of his own.

The stories always seem to revolve around giants, giant things, him running away from things, things trying to eat him up or eating something, etc.

Tonight, at bed time, after we read a story--a really cute book he had to read for his preschool book club, Dinner at the Panda Palace, and turned off the lights--he asked me to tell him a story. This was the first time he asked me to tell him a story. I introduced that concept a while ago in an effort to cut down on reading multiple stories and trying to get him to sleep. But he always refused to listen to me tell him a story, and insisted on reading another one. Then tonight, after I cuddled him and Medic, he asked for a story, and then insisted to tell it to him "now." Since my want-to-be-creative-but isn't-so-on-demand-brain couldn't think fast, I pasted together a story based on us finding a tropical turtle in our back yard (which by the way would make a good picture book, if I can get around to writing it). He liked it.

"I have a story," he then said. I wish I had a camera to record him. He talked about a giant cat, and a small cat, and the giant cat trying to eat him, but he "runned" fast past the cars, and the cat was slow, somehow then jack and jill went up to mountain...(he talked about that yesterday too, but he modified it from the song)....

"I have another story," he then said and basically proceeded to tell me a similar tale of fantastical animals and events, but this time featuring a giant turtle.

Then he finally quieted down and after some serious tossing and turning fell asleep.

He seems to have really missed me over the few days he was away. He told Andy several times today that "I want mama," he told me on the phone from Florida "mama, I want you," and my mom said he told her that a few times as well. So tonight, Ivan had a special time with mama. We ate, and then we built a bridge out of blocks, and then I tucked him to bed.)

Allen and the Modified Sleep Routine

For the last six months or so, I had been happy because it had become rather simple to put Allen to bed. While he'd still scream and uncooperative to get dressed for bed, once he'd settle down to nurse, he'd calm down. When he was done nursing, he'd unlatch, I'd get up and carry him to the crib. He would fuss and clutch onto me, but once I'd plop him in bed he'd roll over and fall asleep. However, something changed last week. Now, when he starts nursing he won't unlatch, but will suckle for half an hour or more. I don't think he's actually nursing, I think he's just suckling and has figured out that as long as he doesn't unlatch that I won't let go of him. I've tried giving him milk instead but he wants me. I also don't want to get him into the habit of nursing himself to sleep with a bottle in his mouth (I'm still haunted by my irrational and unwarranted anxiety of Ivan's rotten teeth). So after 30 or more minutes of nursing, I have been unlatching him and taking him to his crib. He hates it. He clings and clutches onto me with all his might. After I put him down, sometimes he cries a few minutes and falls asleep (or at least quiets down--it's tricky to go into his room to check because if he's awake it will restart the entire cycle) other times he cries for a long time. That's when we've tried the milk bottle (Andy, not me), or I pick him up and nurse him some more. I don't know what happened this past week that triggered this change. Maybe he's somehow sensing that his babyhood is ending and toddlerhood is beginning (not that babies are capable of such self-reflection), or maybe he's just smartened up about it, or it's a side-effect of him being overall more interactive, talkative and also afraid. Unlike before, he's now afraid of strangers, of unexpected noises, etc. It's also making it more difficult to try to stop nursing him. Not that I have really tried yet. I don't want him to stop, like Ivan did, rather than me stopping it for him. Personally, I also don't want to stop nursing him because then my baby will be all "grown up," and those baby moments will be behind me forever.

Ivan Returns from Florida

Ivan spent the last five days in Orlando with my parents. They left on Saturday morning and returned today. My mother was going to a conference, so my parents decided to take Ivan along, so my dad and Ivan to go to Disneyland, etc.

It was a successful trip. And a big trip. Among other things, it was Ivan's first time on a plane. While in Florida he wouldn't talk to us on the phone, expect for an occasional and coerced "say hi to mama."

So today, when they returned, both Andy and I were in shock: Over these five days that we hadn't seen Ivan, he seems to have grown and matured. "A preschooler left and a kindergardener returned," Andy remarked. Ivan was very happy to see us and be home, but he was very important and serious.

"Yeah, you don't like shoes in the house, mama," he said when he returned and I helped him take off his shoes. "Fl'rida is warm. You don't wear socks," he then explained to me.

Over dinner, for which he had "risotto," not rice and meso, he announced after a quick potty run, ("Quickly, go peepee," I said. This stopped him in his tracks. "Why do I have to go quickly, mama?" "So you don't pee your pants." "Oh.") "There is a problem!," and lifted his eyebrows. "A problem," we asked. "There are monsters in our walls!" "Monsters?!" "There is a lion in that wall there. If we open the wall, water will come out. And there is another monster in that wall, a tiger." Andy and I were amused and laughing. Also, for the first time, he remarked "That's not fair!" over something, but I forget what was at stake.

Finally, when it was time to go to bed ("But I'm not tired, mama), we reverted to our usual routine: jammies, teethbrushing, one and then another book, lights out, hug Medic ("but Medic wants to play"), and "I'm thirsty mama. I want water." Since I was expecting that I was ready with the water. "Thank you," he said off the cuff yet very seriously, when I handed it to him. Although he's polite and uses thank you regularly and appropriately, he had never thanked me for the water. He must have picked it up on the trip. Our little world traveler.

Ivan Corrects Allen

"Dadda," Allen said to Ivan, when he and Andy returned home. Dadda and da are all Allen says. Everyone and everything is Dadda, including Dadda. "Allen, I'm not Dadda. I'm E E," Ivan corrected him.

Ivan on spring break

This past week, Ivan was on spring break. So was Andy, who stayed home with the boys.

The fact that Ivan's preshool works on a school schedule with spring and summer breaks, is making me more aware of time passsing by and him growing. And his childhood slipping away.
I wish more and more that I had the option of staying at home with him (and Allen), and keeping him at home longer. Because after next year of preschool, it's real public school time!

And Allen seems to be maturing even faster! My baby is now a rambuctious, naughty, super-busy and physical, "chatty" toddler.

I wish I could stay home more, or work part time, but I guess since neither is really a financially-feasible option and considering that my job gives me enough flexibility to attend to home things I need to do and to work from home when I need to, I really shouldn't be complaining.

Ivan and Medic: BB Again

Over the last few months, Ivan has gotten really re-attached to Medic. It's not that the attachment was ever gone, but he didn't need him as much for a while. For example, he didn't need him to sleep. But now Medic goes with Ivan to preshool , sleeps with him, plays with him during the day. I guess it's a combination of him being on the threshold from being a baby to becoming a big boy. Recently, he's often tells us that he's a big boy and that Allen is a baby. It's also probably a reaction to Allen. They love each other and play really well, but we've noticed that Ivan has been vying for attention with Allen. For example, if I say "Allen didn't eat his lunch." Ivan will respond "Mama, I ateed my lunch."

As I was going to bed now, I heard rustling in the bathroom. At first I though it was Andy, but then I realized it was Ivan. I went to see if he needed help. All in the dark, my big boy lifted the seat up, unzipped his sleepsack, peed, zipped himself up and returned to bed -- all while carrrying Medic.

It's been at least six months that he's been waking up at night to go potty on his own, which I think it's impressive, since it's been exactly a year that he's been potty trained.

On a rare occasion he wets himself or call us to help him unzip his sleepsack, but overall we are both impressed with his nighttime pottying.

What Did Ivan and Noah Play at Preschool

"We were playing firemen. We were bad guys," Ivan told us over dinner. "You were bad firemen?" "No, just bad guys." This is what Ivan and Noah were playing on the playground.

Ivan's Bedtime Routine

"Ivan close your eyes," I said after I noticed he's eyes were open some 10-15 minutes after we turned the light off to fall asleep. "I don't want to . I have a dream in my head. I'll sleep with my eyes open." Andy later told me that Ivan told him when he picked him up from preschool that he dreamed about dogcars at naptime.

Santa's a Night Owl

"Santa belongs in the nigthtime," Ivan said this evening. "Christmas belongs in the nighttime."

Ivan utters a sentence in Croatian

"Didi, Medic daj me," Ivan asked Didi this morning. It was a first time he's used a Croatian sentence since he's started talking and became English dominant.

I was thrilled. I have been asking him on and off, why he doesn't respond to me in Croatian, when I always speak Croatian to him. "That's why, I don't know how," he always says.

He fully understands me, and knows all words, but he's never tried to actually say a sentence in Croatian, until this morning.

I also have to admit that English is a much easier language for a child to master: the words are shorter and easier to pronounce and the grammar is easier than in Croatian.

Allen's Starting to Climb

Allen has started scaling furninture. Two days ago he started climbing on Ivan's red chair. He stands up straight on it and waits for our reaction. Or he holds onto it while on it and shakes it back and forth. He likes it. It's funny. We freak out because he can topple over. He did topple over for me, and fell onto his face. But he was unfazed. He got up and resumed climbing on the chair. He's also using the chair to climb onto other furniture. Today he climbed on the blue stool near the porch door. It's funny because at 14months Ivan was just beginning to walk unsupported and had stopped cruising along furniture. Allen meanwhile he scaling new heights.

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

Ivan's potty humor

It all started a few months ago in the fall. Ivan woke up one morning and potty humor and potty references explored.

Suddenly, everything started being about poop and potty, more so poop.  Every song he sings, anything he talks about, any story he tells us somehow ends with a line about poop. And all that is really funny.

Apparently, this poop humor is more prevalent about boys than girls, and lasts for a few years, other moms of boys have warned me.

And it was only last April that he actually got potty trained.

Allen is walking

Allen has started walking. He makes five sure steps and then sits down. I think he'll be  fully walking within a week. He's so eager.

Two weeks ago he discovered the stairs. Then he also figured out how  to go back down.

Today, my dad said he climbed on the train table: he brought over  the matchbox car box to use as a step .

Rather ingenous I must say.

He's so much more physical than Ivan was at this age.

I mean just the fact that Allen chipped a tooth within a month of getting it sums it up.