Things I Really, Finally Have to Learn...

While reading books about spiders with Karin on Thursday at Caves, Ivo called himself a spider and referred to the class of kids from washington english school as "my food." When their teacher corralled the kids out, Ivo said "Oh no! All my food are going away!"

Ivo is sooo curious and eager to KNOW stuff. Anytime he hears a new word - he repeats it several times, talking about the thing/concept - and then he's got it. It's like his world gets bigger every time he gains command of a new word. He's not satisfied, being told something is a flower or simply the name of an insect. He asks what they do/make/say. Often I don't know - so we look it up online. Apparently giraffes don't make many sounds but they do sneeze...

On the way to the book store with Karin, she called dead flowers on the ground,"cotton flowers" - Ivo breathed it in and has employed this ever since.

Last night after some scalp-scraping and a hair wash, we blow-dried Ivo's hair. It came out bright-blond and puffy. His curls turned into waves. When Ivo saw himself he said, "My ha-ir look like a nest!" A net or a nest? - I asked. "A nest. Where da birds live. Maybe 3 birds." He was so pleased!

Here is a partial list of things I refuse to fake my way through... things about which Ivo already knows everything I do...

• Flower anatomy and basic botany


• Cloud types and formation


• Primate differentiation


• Also I need an encyclopedic knowledge of the names of tropical fish, birds and flowers

I'm thinking a nice mneumonic device...