Monday, November 16, 2009

figuring out family


Ivan asked me the other day:

"do grandpa Ian and grandma Ruth have kids?" I said yes. Then he specified, "Not GRANDkids, but do they have kids?" "Yes", I replied again. "They have 3 and I'm one of them" Ivan's eyes got big. "Who are the other two?" "Guess" I said. "Auntie Jenn?" "Yes, and uncle...?" He thought... "uncle John?" "no uncle Andrew". "oh!" I could tell that he was disappointed that grandpa and grandma don't have any "real" kids.
I took out an album to show him pictures of us as a family when I was younger. He was very excited to figure out which one I was. Of course he recognized grandma and grandpa, but the three kids were not as easily discernible.
These amazing portraits of the kids were off the kid's camera, which is why I had to sift through the nearly 1000 shots. Either Ivan or Dominique took these.

We made marionettes for fun. The kids are not very creative when naming their figurines or toys. Ivan named his "Ivan". Dominique named hers "baby", to add to her collection which include "naked baby" and "pink baby". The world revolves around them at this point. Every book they read or movie they see, they pick the main characters to represent them. Then they say "Ivan did this" or "Dominique did that" as was seen in the video or book. If there are adults, they are mom and dad and any baby is Emora.

3 comments:

GMS said...

Sometimes I think we all retain a little of that egocentricity. Isn't that the greatest sin any way?
Love, Love, Love the pictures. It makes it worth sifting, right?

Ian said...

Pretty soon Ivan will be figuring out what a second cousin once removed is. It is pretty amazing what young minds can learn in a short time.
Sometimes, I have to repeat something 20, 30 or 40 times before I remember.

Nana said...

Great craft! Ivan I recognize that "red scarf". Does a "bear" sometimes wear it? We can't have to many babies can we Dominique.