Conversations with Ian

Me: "Can I have a kiss, Ian?"
Ian: "OK." (kisses me)
Me: "Hey, Ian."
Ian: "Yes?"
(I pucker up my lips.)
Ian: "What you want, Mommy? Anudder kiss? I already give you a kiss."
Me: "Can I have another one?"
Ian: "Sure."

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Ian's teachers told me that he was hitting other kids on the playground. He would run by them and swat them, sometimes pushing them off-balance. Tiffany thinks he's trying to figure out how to socialize with some of the bigger kids, especially the boys. Gina mentioned it to me again when I went to pick him up last Friday. Ian heard the whole conversation, of course. He rolled his eyes at Gina while she was telling me about it. He didn't say anything until I got him into the car and we started driving. Then he launched into this:

Ian: "When I outside, I hitting all my friends. The teachers say don't hit, but I don't listen. No. I don't listen to the teachers talking. I hitting my friends and I say sorry."
Me: "Why didn't you listen to the teachers?"
Ian: "I not hitting my friends."
Me: "But you said you hit your friends. Did you hit your friends?"
Ian: "Yes."
Me: "That's not nice. When you hit your friends, you get a time out."
Ian: "I hitting my friends and I not listening to the teachers because I want a time out."
Me: "You want a time out?"
Ian: "Yah."

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On the way home in the car:
Ian: "I play with all my friends today."
Me: "Who did you play with?"
Ian: "Ben and Archana and Madison and Taylor and Danielle. Brian is not here today. And little Tiffany. And I love Gina and I love big Tiffany. [pause] I love pizza."
Me: "You love pizza?"
Ian: "Yah. I need to eat pizza, Mommy. I need to. I think maybe I need to eat pizza."

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Ian also "needs" to eat popcorn or he "needs" to get a sticker or he "needs" to draw a stegosaurus. He doesn't distinguish between "need" and "want".

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Looking at Ian's latest dinosaur sticker:
Me: "Is that an allosaurus?"
Ian: "No, it's not. Daddy says it's a brachyosaurus."

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Ian: "Babies go poopy and peepee in their diaper. Big boys go poopy and peepee in the potty. I not a baby."
Me: "Do you want to go peepee in the potty?"
Ian: "No, I already go peepee in my diaper."

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One afternoon, post-nap:
Ian: "I don't like Daddy."
Me: "You don't like Daddy? Daddy will be very sad."
Ian: "No, I don't like Daddy. But I like you."

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After a long day without a nap:
Ian: "I don't want Daddy. I don't like Daddy."
Me: "Why don't you like Daddy?"
Ian: "Because Daddy is gross."

I think he learned the word "gross" at school. Every now and then he will declare, "That's gross!" It's usually not used correctly.

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In the middle of one of his monologues in the backseat of the car:
Ian: "I like to move it move it, Mommy."
Me: "What?"
Ian: "I like to move it move it."

(In case you don't know the reference, it's from a dance song from the 1990's.)

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Lately, Ian has been speaking more English. When Daddy asks him to speak in Spanish, he usually complies. When I ask him to speak in Chinese, he doesn't always comply, and when I asked him the other day to speak in Chinese he replied: "No, I don't speak in Chinese. It's too hard."

WHAT?!?

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Negotiating more dino-nuggets (after having eaten 8 already):
Ian: "I want three."
Me: "How about two?"
Ian: "No, I want three."
Me: "Two."
Ian: "Three!"
Me: "One."
Ian: "Four!"

He wound up with three more, I believe. I need him to negotiate for me at work.