Little late on this one! This post, and other posts like it, are mostly for my own benefit, so that I can look back on them and read about what Ivan was like when he was little.

Ivan has his check up next Monday so we will see how much he has grown then (20lb) , but I’m sure that he is catching up to his brother very quickly. He wears 12-18 month shirts depending on the brand but I think its time to clean out the 12 month things. Pants is a different story. He is short legged so 12 month (even some 9 month) pants fit him better lengthwise, but he needs 18 month in the waist.

Some of Ivan’s favorites include musical movies and anything to do with animals. The Secret Life of Pets is his favorite movie – he will sit and watch the whole thing in awe. Curious George is probably his favorite cartoon. He loves all of brothers toys because brother is usually playing with them. He is really wanting to play with Sylas but Sylas just isn’t good at sharing. Ivan loves cars and tractors and the like. He also likes to cook in the mini kitchen and feed me plastic ice cream. He loves bath time and runs to the bathroom if he can hear the water running, trying to hop in before he even gets his clothes off. He is a pro at making messes –  quickly – and can turn the house upside down in the time it takes me to pee. He is a climber and takes some falls fairly often. I don’t know what else I can do to prevent that, but most of his falls are easily dusted off himself and he gets back to playing without a fuss. He loves to play in my water glass to fish out the ice cubes which drives me insane. I don’t trust his dirty hands so I find myself getting a fresh glass often. He likes to pack around one of my old baby dolls (he’s in big brother training, ya know) and gives baby hugs and says “aww” which is super cute.

Ivan eats just about anything. I can usually feed him what I make for dinner unless its steak or whole chicken breast (Sylas never cared for “adult” food). Ivan does love macaroni and cheese though. He likes sliced cheese for a snack and he loves marshmallows and anything chocolate.

Ivan is finally talking some, but it takes a tot translator to understand what he is saying if you’re not around him much. A few of his words are: see that (ee-da) hot (ot), kitty cat (key kak), stop (top), down (dowm), off (aaf), on (ahm), and shoes (soos). He understands about everything you say and can answer yes or no questions with a shake or nod of his head. Sometimes a yes nod is accompanied by mm-hm and no with um-uh. It’s hard to know the extent of the things he knows (animals, colors, numbers) because of his lack of words but I know that he listens to everything and understands it. For instance, he sees a cow and knows that cows go moo but he doesn’t say cow so I don’t know if he thinks they’re called moo or called cows. 

He is busy, that’s for sure and I’m in for a really big handful when baby sister joins the brood. He is ornery with a dash of sweet and a little feisty too, but I like him that way.