The Absolute Best Household Appliance & Physics Lesson



















Ivo loves to vacuum. This weekend he figured out a little bit of physics!

Ivo got a yellow and black Transformer car/robot. By himself, he calls it "my honeybee car."

If Ivo is awake before Papa-and can wait til Papa wakes by himself - Ivo says, "Morning Papa! It nice to see you."

Today Ivo asked to go to Baby World. When we got there his teacher came out to help the boys and their gear get into school, Ivo said "Hi, Teacher!" It was so cute. Ivo says "Bye Mama" really well and it makes me happy and sad. It makes me proud of him -and I tell him I'm proud of him a lot. Ivo tells me, Ryan and Burl "I so pwoud of you." Ivo's teacher wrote that Ivo is now able to "studing" with his class. When they sit, he sits. When they do work, he does too:)

Last night, Ivo woke around midnight saying "Owww!" His teeth were hurting him. Burl woke soon after - he had been quite squirmy, coughing a little and a bit congested. Burl had a big poop at about 1am and then another shortly after he got a new diaper! We all got back to sleep by 2ish.

Ivo Made This!!!!

Ivo brought this home from school on Friday. It's a moon-man!!! I almost cried - and still do when I see it. How COOL!!!

Ivo-Man

I LOVE that Ivo wants to wear his cape all over the place. You gotta respect a guy like that. In these pics Ivo maintains that he's Robin and "dis is my yellow cape."

These pics are from yesterday at D-man's new house. "H for Heather." has been in Ivo's repertoire for months - but Ivo's taken a renewed interest in letters. He's got a set (we got one for Kaia too - come see us Kaia!!!!) on the chalkboard that Kaiababa made him. He spends 20 minutes at a time arranging them and saying which letter is which and, to the best of his knowledge, words that they begin. B for Burl, R for Ryan, S for Sandy, I for Ivo, V for Ivo... He can recognize his name on tags on his school stuff and even when he sees I's elsewhere. Superfun.

Ivo makes accurate analogies and has an excellent memory. Yesterday when we left D-man's he was sad, I asked if he wanted to go to Finga's and he started talking about the one-eyed shark they've got! He hasn't been there for months. I can't think of analogies right now but will write them down next time I hear one.

Today was Ivo and Burl's 6th day of school, the second day that Ivo didn't cry and actually said he wanted to go. It goes like this: he tells us/me I no will go a school today then I remind him that D-man will be there and he tells me I wanna go to Baby World. Ivo hasn't told us much more about what goes down at school but he's willing to talk about it- he doesn't run out of the room when asked about it anymore - and he seems to like it. Ryan says he's happy when/to be picked up.

Ivo at School

So Ivo doesn't like the idea of going to school but, thankfully, he seems to like actually being at school. He gives positive, though sketchy, reports and his communication book, written by the teacher, says he "coordinates" with classmates and with teachers, that he eats snack and his mood is "happily attend."

Yesterday, he really didn't want to go. It was only his 3rd day and the first that we hadn't gone somewhere else first...but he was in an excellent mood when Ryan picked him up. He was all-around happy. Happy to have been there and happy to see Papa.

Last night in bed I asked Ivo about the teacher having changed his pants. Ivo said "yea, that teacher like me so much - that teacher love me." That's all I need to know. I was curious about the why (my guess is cuz they were too big) and how Ivo handled it. From how Ivo characterizes the situation, I'm gonna assume all's well.

More Dora and Boots: Dora is Boots' best friend. Who is Doras' best friend? Boots. Who is Ivo's bf? (pause) Papa. Who is Papa's bf? Ivo. Who is Mama's bf? Burl. Aside from the initial pause, these questions were no-brainers for Ivo.

I think some part of Ivo's not sharing info about school is due to language (school is totally Chinese and Taiwanese). He answers questions with yes and no but without elaboration (excepting the pants episode). Ivo tried to tell me something about school but I couldn't understand and asked him to say again. I think it made him self conscious and he realized he didn't know the word... Something like that. Ivo will use words, having only ever heard them once regardless of never having practiced pronouncing them. Usually when I don't understand, he'll repeat and if still unintelligible, he'll try other words to explain. I think when he tried tried to repeat, he couldn't access that word again and it threw him.

Burl loves to have light finger walking tickles, laughing, talking (still)and looking at himself doing all of these thing in the mirror.

Ivo loves shadows.

Today we went to the park to work on Ivo's bike-pedaling.

1st Day of School

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Good Day. Happy Sad Day. Like a Belle & Sebastian song...

So just roughly - cuz all we've got is rough; Ivo's playing his hand close to his vest - Burl's slightly more forthcoming.

Burl cried a lot. When Ryan picked them up, he was doing that tear-free baby breath-catching-breathing that bespeaks hours of cry. Boo hoo. But Burl recovered quickly at home - and except for being TIRED, he was his regular self.

Ivo. When Ryan picked them up, Ivo ran over. Someone asked him who that is and Ivo said "Baba. Bao bao Baba!" When Ryan got there, Ivo was sitting with some kids and a teacher. Ryan asked Ivo if he'd had fun and Ivo said yes. Ryan asked him if he wanted to go again and Ivo said NOPE.

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The boys and I are in bed watching Curious George. Ivo just said, "AGH!" startling Burl. I asked him what's the matter and he said "My teeth hurt." medicine? "NO!"



This morning when we were getting ready to go, I opened the fridge to get the milk I'd pumped and a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce crashed and broke. While cleaning up the mess, I contaminated one bottle of milk. So I had to send formula in case Burl needed more. While I was cleaning, Ivo kept asking me what I was doing and after a few times, I asked him What he was talking about - I'm cleaning up the broken glass. Ivo then started asking me, "What are you talking about?" He also says "What you meeean?"
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OMG! Ivo just said, "George is going away. It Ted fault!" Wow! Ryan and I just told him how Ted was frustrated and wishes he hadn't yelled at George and that he loves George and is going to go get/save him. Ivo says, "It all Ted fault. It just a mistake."

"George is going on the rocket soon.

Ivo n Burl Playing After Lunch

Tomorrow is Ivo and Burl's first day of nursery school. Their friend D-man's going too. We are talking it up super excitedly - but I'm not 100% excited. I don't want to leave Burl. I know I have to. I know I will. I know the time will go fast. Cuz while I think school is good for Ivo - I think, at best, it's just ok for Burl. I also think in a month we'll all be adjusted and happy.

Until 4:30 this afternoon, I was thinking I'd take both boys for 2:00 - I don't have class til 4:30. I figure Ivo could join his class as they wake up from nap - Aiyi told me I can't be in there with him cuz it would unhinge the other kids. So, ok, he may not initially like it, but he talks about wanting to go to school everyday and he loves kids. This plus what I've seen in kindys, he'll probably be fine w/in 30 minutes. So I thought I'd take Burl down the street to starbucks and keep him til the last minute, say 4, but my boss asked me to sub the 2:00 class; so now Ihave to leave both my babies no later than 1:30!!!!

It'll be ok.

This video is Ivo and Burl playing yesterday after lunch.

Ivo n Burl Get Ready for School

Pics from Shi Lin Night Market. Ivo did NOT want to exchange those fish he caught for the crappy party-blower Aiyi wanted to give him. Sad and sucky. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There are tons of puppy stores in the market; selling baby miniature dogs. The shops are small, the cages tiny and metal. One dog we saw was shaking. These dogs are pretty expensive; it's strange to see them in such conditions cuz who would spend so much money on an animal who spent its formative weeks/months in such a cold, unloving environment?+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ivo overheard:

• It ok, Papa/Mama. Don't worry. (Ivo's been saying this for about a month, so he started to express COMPASSION around 31 months. He'd been telling Burl It ok, Burl and saying oh, poor guy for several months - but that was usually at our behest or in direct imitation of what we'd said. Ivo now can sense frustration or sadness and wants/acts to alleviate it. Cool guy.)
• (Lying in bed, waiting to watch Superman this afternoon, Ivo was holding his arm in front of his face to shield his eyes from the sun-thru-the-window) Look at my... Look at...my... Look...my... Your hair? (Ivo appeared happily struck by lightning) YES! Look at my haa-ir! I HAVE HA-IR ON MY ARM!

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I went to the nursery school today to make sure everything is ok for Monday. I got 2 school backpacks and 1 set of dishes and a lunchbag. OMG - so cute! Ivo wore his backpack everywhere we went today. He was quite conscious of it. He knew he looked cool and was super pleased whenever he caught a glimpse of himself!

Burl awake - gotta go.