The Cheese Factor

Awhile ago, Ivan figured out that when I had the camera out he was expected to say cheese. :) But, what he hasn't gotten down is the smile part. Instead he looks at me says, "Cheese!" and then scrunches his face up in what looks like a grimace. Which is why in a lot of pictures he looks so serious. He's not, he just thinks that's what he's supposed to do when I point a camera in his direction.

My Ivan Boy is more quiet and more reserved than his older brother Lincoln. A lot of people mistakenly think he doesn't like them, or that he doesn't enjoy things as much as Lincoln does. For example, when we're home Ivan talks non-stop about Papa Kerry and Uncle Tanner. He always pretends to call them on the phone, and any time we get in the car he asks if we're going to go see them. But then this weekend, we were down at my mom's, and he was with Tanner and Papa, and he'd barely talk to Tanner, and he sat off to the side and quietly watched Papa and Lincoln be rowdy and noisy. My mom said Kerry had no idea that Ivan liked him so much, because he never says anything when Kerry is around. But trust me Kerry, when we come home all we hear about from Ivan is Papa, Papa, Papa.

Ivan just prefers to be an observer first. And has always been a lot more observant and careful than Lincoln who tends to just dive right in to everything. I wonder if his observing and thoughtful nature is the reason he can play so well by himself. Ivan can entertain himself really well, and seems to have a lot longer attention span for it than Linc does. I frequently find Ivan sitting in a corner by himself quietly and contentedly playing with something. Whereas if Lincoln has been quiet and by himself for too long, I know that he's getting into trouble.

One of Ivan's favorite games lately is "Car Ramp". He takes the drawer we keep his cars in and dumps all the cars out and turns the drawer upside down. Then he takes some of Aaron's extra wood pieces and uses them to make a ramp coming off of the drawer. Then he takes the cars that he dumped out of the drawer and puts them down the ramp, one by one, until they make a big pile at the bottom. Then he takes the pile and starts over. As he picks up each car he holds it up and says what it is. Dump trucks and cement trucks and the elephant with wheels are his favorites. All the Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars he calls "baby cars" and thinks they are so funny.