Burl on 28 July 07 - 5 months old!

The video's dark and it's not all it could be... but here's sweet Baby Burl delivering a portion of his morning lecture: On Completing 5 Months... Burl also plays his head shaking game:) Ryan and Ivo are sleeping nearby... The pics below are from the night of 28 July. We spent a fun and busy day together going to chang Hua for Josie's birthday! Pics to follow.

Lest Ivo n Burl are thought to be all toy stores and motrin

These pics are from the science museum on Tuesday. I am taking the boys out early and coming home for a nap. So far it's working - but I'm keeping in mind that Ivo's been under the weather...

Baby Burl Raises his Glass to a New Comrade

Baby Burl is happy to announce that his friend Alison's baby girl was born around 1pm today! If yr in town, she's at Der An on Mei Cun Road. Details soon fr all you Alison fans:)
Pics are from today at toy store.

Ivo still coughing!!!!!

oh we are sooooooo tired and cranky. Poor Ivo's insistance to do things "by myself" is back firing. The kid can't take his jeans off by himself... Ivo's at the stage where if he wants to do it but didn't get to, he has to recreate the scene so whatever "it" was can be performed again. This time by Ivo. Needless to say, it's not always clear which things are going to attract his attention.

He's been sick - the cold - it's not going away. I gave him motrin for fever last night around 11 and this afternoon around five. He mostly feels good - but when he crashes - like now, with Papa, getting ready for bed -it's hard.

It's good that he doesn't feel/think he's sick. When he coughs a lot or feels warm, I can't help but say, "Poor Guy." Today Ivo scoffed at my pity saying, "I not poor guy. I ok." I LOVE HIM!

We are supposed to go to a 3rd birthday party for Josie tomorrow in Chung Hua. I hope hope hope we can go... This morning I took the boys shopping for presents at the toy store - which, oddly enough, was exactly what Ivo wanted to do!

Ivo Overheard:

When asked if he'd finished pooping, "No. I will poop a little while."

While dialing all sorts of #'s on my cell phone (and getting ahold of Joe Wu), Ivo told Burl, "Dis my phone. No use it. It not a TOY - just a phone."

When speaking of babies, "Baby Burl come out da doctor. Dr Foot" (Fu).

Of The Thing (pictured): "What dat is?"

On playing with the legos at the store: "I building a tall building. Da girl building the ocean."

Of Ryan's whiskers: "You shave the beard? Maybe a-morrow?"

In general: "I yes ok. I no ok."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Oh yea, it has recently come to my attention that not everyone knows who Lightning McQueen (not Mac...my bad) is. I find it charming and quaint, romantic even, that people can NOT know this; my world does not admit of not knowing Lightning McQueen anymore than I could not know Buzz Lightyear... Anyway, Lightning is the cute red car from the eponymous Pixar movie.

Ivo Washes Dishes; Draws an Unwelcome Audience

These pics are from 24 July - Ivo's 2 years and 7 months mark!

Knock on wood, we don't see many of these guys - but this one pretty much says "urban tropics" to me. He got sprayed with ordinary kitchen cleaner, expiring in situ.

We have 2 sinks, both of which drain into a cement gulley that runs behind our house. This sink only has cold water and it's against the wall at the back of our house. We use the space mostly to hold dish drying racks. Ivo's washing at the othe sink, in which I've never seen a cockroach...

Burl plays shake-the-head

Burl can grab both feet and put them in his mouth. It's funny. He smiles a lot. Burl fake coughs -the same way that Ivo used to - when he wants attention. Burl has recently started to "talk" with great volume and authority - like he's giving a lecture. Cute cute cute and FUNNY. This is how he wakes up every morning - and what the rest of us wake up to. Even when we're too tired to get up, waking up with happy chatty Baby Burl is the best!

ivo n burl trying to stay on schedule

Now that Ryan's back to work, we are trying to establish a schedule that involves napping. It's going ok - but Ivo's had a cough/cold - so he may only have agreed to sleep cuz he's under the weather... The doctor said this cold is going around - and it's no big deal unless he gets a fever...

We are excitedly awaiting the impending birth of Alison's baby! Alison went to the hospital yesterday afternoon to be induced... Not much action yet though (11am). But we can't wait!

We are taking it easy this morning. We are scheduled to go to Story Class at the mama baby center. We'll see how Ivo's cough is. I hope we can go...

Burl diggin' it

Burl LOVES Ivo. His face lights up, he turns to find his brother when he hears him. I think Burl even gets fussy trying to tell me he wants to go find Ivo when he's playing in another room!

Ivo: No! I know you no yike dat!

When Ivo's comfortable - he happily chats with any/everyone. Because of all his alter-egos, not to mention language, no one really knows what Ivo's talking about, but he tries, seemingly compelled to correct adults who mis-address him.

First, he usually has to tell people he's a boy, not a girl, NOT a mei-mei. Then he gets into names. So far, he seems oblivious that a large amount of what he says is incomprehensible to the uninitiated. People nod and smile. Ivo too. It's funny, though, cuz Ivo immediately can tell when people he knows don't follow. If I don't understand "fider" he will give me more information, "bwack fider" = black spider. Of course. In the video from WHEELS BROKEN post, Ivo tells me "2 astronauts going to da space." I was so charmed by his inclusion of Burl in his play, that I mis-heard and thought he said "...going to da base" which made sense and further impressed me that he knows about bases in space. But then he clarified cuz I hadn't repeated back to him what he had said, he told me "going a moon." So I realized he'd said "space" not base.

A couple nights ago, Ryan carried Ivo up and away from me, Burl and the tv with a baseball game on. Among Ivo's last ditch pleas to stay downstairs was that he wanted to watch cartoons. Ryan and I told him I was gonna just continue to watch the baseball game. Fat chance - and Ivo knew it, protesting, "No, no! I know you no like dat!"

With kids, Ivo tends to get down to nitty-gritty, dispensing with titles and names altogether. In this video, Ivo tells the girl, "This my side. I like blue. You no like blue. You like..." Burl has the hiccoughs.

Ivo: Wheels broken

Ivo's now Lightning MacQueen; dubbing Ryan "Big Lightning aQueen," Burl "Little Lightning aQueen" and me "Girl Lightning aQueen."

If you address Ivo as anything other than "Lightning MacQueen" he will tell you he is "Lightening MacQueen." You must then re-address him and start over. Same if you refer to anyone else as anything other than their Ivo-given-names. This applies if you call Ivo MacQueen or Lightning, rather than the 2 together in the right order. This applies in urgent situations; ie: "Ivo, don't drop that on Burl!" "I Lightning aQueen. " "Lightning MacQueen, don't drop that on Burl!" "Dat no Burl, dat Little Lightning aQueen." Simple things like asking, "You ok?" "I Lightning aQueen." Re-ask with proper address.

Ivo's been this way about his alter-identities since he started adopting them. But, let's face it, "Lightning MacQueen" is not easy to say. It takes too long. It hardly rolls off the tongue while it curls Ivo's tongue up! The last few days he's professed solidarity with Burl and Ryan in the best way he knows how - by sharing his favorite character's (of-the-moment) identity, adding "Little/Baby" for Burl and "Big" for Ryan. Very sweet and very silly. Due to our carefully contained media library, when Ivo plays astronaut, he adopts the nom de jeux "Homer-baba" from Simpsons season 4 disc 3 episode 3 or 4. At various times yesterday and today, I've been "Lisa" surrounded by Big Homer-baba, Homer-baba and Little Homer-baba. And the 3 bears.

Concurrently, Ivo has, a few times over the last couple days, announced that he's Ivo. I tell him Ivo's my favorite. While I love the imagination (however verging on schizo it may be) and playfulness, constantly having to call and refer to everyone by some role (no "he" allowed) can be exhausting. Especially Lightning MacQueen.

Sometimes I can see Ivo pause to remember who's who while he's talking. Tonight going up to bed with Ryan, he came over to the computer where I'm nursing Burl while typing this and said, "Night, night... Night Girl..." Furrowed brow, squinched lips, "Umm, Night, Girl... What you name?"

Ivo, Burl & Ryan get clean

First bath together!

Ivo at Taichung Science Museum

From today. Ryan finished painting - yay! House looks great!

Ivo pleasantly insisted this is a rocket... Plus he got to run from a meteor shower and give Jupiter a spin!

Burl at Science Museum Taichung

Lighthearted Burl and Serious Burl

We spent 3 hours - had a GREAT time - sooooo tired now.

Ryan asked Ivo what Burl dreamt about. Without hesitation, Ivo answered, "Dream bout Mama, bout Papa."

Who's in a position to know better?

Ivo is my sonshine!

Ivo assigns all of us roles all of the time. Sometimes he runs into a paradox which gives us an opportunity to learn something - or just be confused. If Ivo's Mr. Incredible and Burl's Jack-Jack, then Ivo is Burl's Papa. Come to think of it, this might be what got Ivo so upset this morning...

Later this afternoon, Ivo was asking me if I'm his mama, the mama, a mama. Yes, yes, yes:) I told him he's my son. He thought this was just too silly - but he liked it!

Ivo cheering up

Ivo is transitioning. He's getting so big - growing up. Happy and sad. The molar teething has changed the shape of his face! He may be having bone pain as he's taller every day. He has one or two episodes like the DAMMIT video everyday, but he is an excellent kid. The best kind of roommate we could wish for.

He loves cooking. He can crack eggs and grate cheese. He can stir stuff with forks and the whisk. He can pour measuring cups into mixing bowls. He can grind coffee beans and plunge the french press. If he hasn't been informed that coffee's on the agenda (something he usually can intuit) he comes running into the kitchen, proclaiming, "I will make coffee!!!!" the second he hears beans clinking into the grinder. He can open/close and turn on/off the microwave. He can operate the blender, turning it on/off to make juice and peanut butter. He's interested in seasonings (he says spicey) and is getting to know the difference between raw and cooked. He smells/"wen wen kan" the ingredients of what we're making before we cut, after we cut, while we cook and after we cook. He loves washing dishes. He helps set the table; carrying out napkins and silverware and anything plastic. He's just started to be able to very carefully, with 2 hands, slowly carry juice out to Papa. Also, he can get beer or soda out of the fridge for Papa!

So the CAKE DAMMIT is from today, the morning after the evening we made cake. He had been super happy from the time he woke but...suddenly he was ANGRY and INDIGNANT. In the litany of offers to see how mad he was, Ryan offered him ice cream, he sad "NO!" Ryan asked if he wanted to go to the toy store, he said "NO!"

About 3 minutes later, Ivo said, "I ok now. I wanna go toy story." These pics are from the ensuing trip to the toy store. Ivo also knows about "running errands" and can say it. He's super patient; even tho he saw the "toy story" we had to pass it on the way to the bank... He accepts/understands and trusts us when we tell him we're doing this thing and then we'll do that exciting thing you really wanna do.
Ivo got a spiderman mask - which is something he had been pretending he had before (along with red boots. When he takes the mask off, he says, "I Peter Parker." He also got an astroboy. In the pics he's flying astroboy-style.

Ivo: Cake, Dammit!

Ivo is Buzz Lightyear

Burl is "da pig." Ivo greeted Ryan this morning; "Good morning, Zurg." I was Woody. Ivo reassigns Woody to Ryan when he figures he's gonna be playing with Ryan more than with me. Then, I'm Zurg.

Cuz of the discombobulation, Ivo had ready access to the vacuum. He wielded it like a laser launcher saying, "I space ranger! I Buzz Lightyear! I have fire! Pew...Pew..."

I asked Ivo if he was in space. He said, "No, I out of space." Evidently out of is how Ivo understands outer. So there's space and out of space. And just like in/out, they're mutually exclusive.

Ivo has been talking a lot about "when I bigger..." He's been carrying a book, notebook or marker around saying, "Bye, I going a school."

Ivo n Burl home repair

Ryan has been scraping, sealing and painting flakey, moldy cement walls for the last 3 days. Ivo, Burl and I have been making ourselves scarce around here; going to Carrefour to play, going to playgroup, going, going, going.

Today we returned the toys and furniture to the toy room. It's exciting but not straightened out. We traded the blue and white foam mats for tatamis which look much better. Pics of that soon.