Ivo n Burl Play

Two recent articles about the importance of free play - not lessons or adult-mediated. The NPR article is the most interesting to me. It talks about how nowadays "play" conjures up images of toys but 50 years ago play meant activity. It talks about the development of executive function which is how people self-regulate, manage their emotions and control their behavior, and how the self-talk of undirected/kid-directed play is a lot about kids making rules up for themselves.

Other good article on play from NYT Mag last week.

Ivo Don't Cotton to Hippies

I have another post almost ready to go... but this is too funny and weird. From today at the park across from the science museum, Ivo is telling Ciro that the barefoot vagrant who's passed out next to a bottle under a tree, "Dat man couldn't walk home, Ciro..." Ivo says this cuz he'd asked Ryan about the guy when we arrived. So Ryan told him he was too sleepy to walk home... LINK TO VIDEO



Then he reckons, on his own, "I think he a hippie." And goes on... AGAIN LINK TO VIDEO





No offense to anyone who considers themselves hippies, but, I consider this further evidence that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Not hippies.

"Oh! Butterfly!"

(I laugh cuz of Ivo - not the guy...)











See how civilized Taiwan is? I've read that homeless people in the states getting beat up and killed is becoming a big enough problem to require hate crime legislation. Here, no one does anything.



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There are a couple guys in our AO who are homeless, indigent &/or derelict in some way, but they're just part of the neighborhood - Ivo doesn't seem sad or scared. There's a guy who hangs out on the benches around our playground park, a guy who walks the streets of our neighborhood constantly - obsessively picking up tissue and other litter - only the kind that can support hepatitis... Anyway, the 1st time Ivo saw a really tragic guy, was up in Taipei at Shi Lin Market. He was severely disabled, prostrate, begging, knocking his head on the ground.

Excellent Weekend

Yesterday, we took 2 computers for repair and my camera. The laptop "N" key is fixed - embarrassingly simple to pop back on - but I wasn't able to do it even after desperate attempts. The desktop is undergoing 5000nt worth of swapping out parts and should be ok for our purposes, limping to July. The camera, no service plan - I have to call the company and get them to come pick up the camera - I don't see why they'll want to pick up a 4-1/2 year, warranty-expired camera... and who are they, anyway?

After our errands, we ate at Chili's. Ivo had a wonderful time, drinking a milkshake with chocolate sprinkles and eating french fries. BURL SLEPT! Ryan and I got to eat, while sitting down, until the natural end of the meal - it was awesome! Afterwards, Ivo and Ryan took a spin on the merry-go-round. Burl woke up and watched. He ate a couple french fries in the car on the way home.

It rained late afternoon and all night - very soothing, clean, not too hot - but you don't need a jacket, I didn't even have long sleeves yesterday.

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Pics/movie of Burl from Ryan's camera... and a little about Little B. He is 100% interactive. He points at stuff, like the light from the child monitor - he searches and finds where it's shining, points and says "oooh." He has a sound, "Deh" (sounds like the ea feather) - it seems to mean "this" - which is a handy word and gets A LOT of play. Burl says a loud "DA" for Ryan and Ivo and yes and go and book. He says "hi" and has said hi for a couple months. He shakes his head and waves his hand(s), when I ask him if he wants booby or wants a cracker... unless he wants, at which time he'll tilt his head down, as if to rest on me (even if I'm not holding him) for "yes."

When he does something he thinks is funny or new, he claps for himself and/or makes a squished up funny face with the sound "eh." He says "ummm"for when he wants something or wants to know whats going on. He has been able to climb all the way up the step for over a month.

Burl loves to be in the kitchen and loves to sweep. We're thinking avout changing his name to "Get Out of the Kitchen" but not sure...

On Friday, Burl wore the tellytubby shirt for the first time. He didn't react until the next day, when he woke up and I put tubbies on tv. When he saw them on the tv, he looked and pointed at his shirt and said, "deh!" Hilarious. I remember when Ivo first wore the tubbies shirt, handed down by his cousins, Ally and Mikey:) Ivo knew immediately what they were and was EXCITED. I think he was older, closer to 1-1/2. Here is a little Ivo-Tubby action.

Ryan's Camera Still Works: Ivo

All Ivo from yesterday!

Here he is singing twinkle twinkle little star in the afternoon. Link cuz it's not embedding:/

We went to school late cuz we felt like playing at home. Ivo spun the parasol like a top "'Member, parasol is umbrella."

Ivo describing the hat he was looking for so he could wear it with my boots (which had atypically made it into the house) and be a cowboy. Link cuz video won't embed!!!

"A black and white haaat, and put it on my head. It round like a circle and I will look like cowboy..."

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Ivo's been eating well. He likes cheddar cheese, chicken or peanut butter on buns. Fish and peas are still favorites. He He will finish his 2nd round of pinworm medicine today. He has been sleeping through the night again once the medicine kicked in - yay!

After Ivo found his hat.

At the park, Ivo's been playing hide-and-seek. He uses the red circle as home-base. He usually only counts to 5 and then says "Ready or not,here I come!!!" and "I found you! I found you!" He's great at being it. When someone else (usually me) is it, Ivo runs and hides but when I call out, "Ready or not..." from his hiding place, Ivo yells out"I here! I right here! I over here!!!"

Ivo n Burl's Computer Troubles

Ahh!

The desktop is toast. Luckily I updated the external hard drive with photos last week. We don't know what to do, it's tricky not having a computer downstairs. It means we can't listen to NPR and such, we can't read newspapers etc or communicate with the outside world. And what of the blog???

The N-key has pooped off my laptop and I realize I have to protect it more from Burl than I had been. He's rough and strong and he loves using computers; mice and keyboards.

Oh well.

On Tues or Wed, the boys' school sent home pic discs of them at school. At the beginning of their first semester, we had to pay 500nt for each kid as a "picture charge." This was in addition to a bunch of other initial registration fees. Let's just say that I was expecting a little bit more than a disc for each guy with 20 pictures on it! However, I can't complain about our daycare because we got in just under the wire - we may be the ones who dragged the wire down - they're not accepting part-time students anymore.

Also, the school pics arrived at a good time since my camera is broken.

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Often before taking his picture, Ivo's hair is combed!!!

The blue jacket with white tabs on the breast pockets was Ivo's until January-ish when it became Burl's. I hope to compose a post with pics of Ivo n Burl wearing the same clothes, highlighting the items that both can get away with during the same period of time; ages - Ivo 3, Burl 1.

It looks like there are only pics from 3 different days - all winter,

plus a couple from their first week back in September.

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TODAY IS 2/22 - THE ANNIVERSARY OF BURL'S DUE DATE!!!!

This time last year.

Last night, Burl ate 1/3 cup of quinoa. He loved it and kept asking for more. It had red lentils, garlic, ginger, yellow pepper, onion and celery - I was a bit surprised he liked it so much. And Burl also ate many many bites of cod.