Monday, October 29, 2012

Playing in the Park


Beckett walking Mindy's dog, Roxy.

 Beckett and Theo on the slide at Upper Onondaga Park.


Beckett and Theo reading with Mindy's son Jared. 


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Comparisons

In a quiet moment, leading Mama to wonder what trouble he has gotten into, Theo is most likely to... be sticking his finger in a socket, examining the fine motor workings of a gadget, or climbing into or onto something dangerous. Beckett is most likely to... be sitting amidst a pile of books, carefully poring over each page.

When frustrated and maybe overtired, Beckett is most likely to... be screaming, crying big tears, stomping his feet, and following behind Mama or Daddy too closely. Theo is most likely to ... bite. The twin books we have concur that in a set of multiples, one is likely to be a biter. Theo is that biter. Sometimes it's not out of frustration or anything other than seeming curiosity about what might occur, but often Theo seems to not know what else to do, and so he lights into the soft fleshy part of Beck's arm.

At mealtimes, Theo is most likely to... try everything on his plate, vegetables included. Once he has decided he does not want some particular food item, he will do anything to avoid it crossing his lips. Theo will also eat as many blueberries or blackberries as are put in front of him, with no ill digestive consequences as yet (just like his Mama!). Beckett is most likely to... eat carbs first, then protein, then, maybe, blueberries or blackberries. His first instinct is always to avoid a new food but he can be convinced to crack his mouth with repeated attempts.

On a walk around the neighborhood, Beckett is most likely to... forge on ahead, pushing a lawn mower or just marching along, looking at the sidewalk in front of him. Theo is most likely to... stop and smell the roses (or Russian sage), play with the pinwheels at Corrine's house on the corner, examining the lawn ornaments in Meg's garden along the way, and watching the big boys bike, run, and ride storage bins on their skateboards.

Upon waking in the morning, Theo is most likely to... start crying immediately upon realizing he is awake and alone. Beckett is most likely to... roll around in his crib, sing to himself (current favorite is "Baa baa black sheep"--he is getting good at the different notes), and practice words and sounds.

Monday, October 22, 2012

weekend recap

Theo: one ear infection
Beckett: two ear infections
Mama: monster cold
Daddy: in Philadelphia for his LLM

Supporting cast: Tara T, Uncle Jon, and the Grandparents Leibowitz for stepping in to help out.

Since getting back from Philly, Daddy Lovebo has been double extra hands-on, doing nighttime duty with two sick kids so Mama could sleep last night. I'm finally on an antibiotic which I really hope will help. 




A nice day on the back deck. The boys really enjoyed having their snack sitting up like big boys on the bench.


An interesting new development: the boys have been taking naps gradually later in the morning/afternoon. This has led to a conundrum of whether to feed them a heavy snack at their usual snack time, 10:30 or 11am, or to bump lunch to pre-nap. We were waiting until after nap, but then they're too groggy to eat much, and then they're not hungry enough to eat much dinner, especially on the epic nap days when they sleep til 3:30. Today was the first day of implementing pre-nap lunch. I was too sick to work and Mindy was planning to work anyway, so she and her son Jared took care of the boys. They ate a small but not unusually small lunch, then a good nap (1.5 hours--Theo, and 2 hours--Beck), then played outside for much of the afternoon (including a nice visit from Mindy's other son Jalen and neighbors Will and Ollie). Then they ate the most monster dinner ever. We're hoping that translates to good sleep tonight!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

It turns out Theo had an ear infection and a bad sore throat, which is probably why he was so upset. Maybe for a couple days. Luckily Mindy was on to it and the pediatrician confirmed an ear infection and put him on antibiotics. She also thought he had a painful sore throat that was probably contributing to him being unable to sleep. Beck's not feeling super-great but so far he's been in better spirits and sleeping better than Theo. Though last night was better than the past two. I'm still working on not much sleep in the last week and nursing my own nasty cold but I am really hopeful that a weekend of down time will help us all feel better. This morning they both woke up pretty happy and had a great day with Mindy. We had been planning a trip to Philadelphia this weekend for Jeff's LLM program and to see friends Laura, John, Henry and Aaron, but I'm just too exhausted to imagine wrangling the boys by myself while Jeff's at school. So we'll have a quiet weekend at home and try to rest up. I hope Jeff will be home in time to enjoy some time with us Sunday.

One of my favorite things now is putting the boys to bed and having them pick out books and crawl into my lap to read them. They each get one thigh and I think we all fit pretty well together.


Theo's starting to throw and catch things with some accuracy. Beck's not as advanced in the throwing/catching realm but he has quite the windup on his throw. Here's Theo with Daddy Lovebo playing their first game of "catch."


Sunday, October 14, 2012

It has been eight days since the last Team Lovebo post. Why, you ask?

WE NO GET NO SLEEP UP IN HERE.

Example: last night. We had a great evening at our neighbors' across the street who have three little boys, a four year old named Ollie and twins, Luke and Jake, one year older than Theo and Beckett. Because we have been exhausted from so little sleep the last many nights, we were in bed at 8:30, and asleep at 9. Theo and Beck went to bed at 7:45, a little later than usual because we were at Will and Kristina's until about 7:30. At 9:45, Theo was up screaming. And again at midnight. And 2:30. That time Theo woke Beckett up, who then asked for a diaper change. At 4:30 Beckett woke up to nurse. I couldn't bear to wake Theo up, like I would usually do, because he was finally sleeping soundly. Twenty minutes after I went back to bed, Theo was up to nurse. When they got up at 7:20, Daddy Lovebo got up and let me sleep a little later. But geez, Theo, what the heck??

That's all I have to say. We need to get some sleep up in here. Here are some pictures to appease the masses.

This morning the boys and I made lasagna. Theo was in charge of mozzarella, and Beck was in charge of parm.



Beck spent some time after dinner playing floor hockey with a mixing spoon and plastic balls.


Bathtime has become way fun lately. The boys love drinking out of their cups and splashing each other and grabbing each other's feet and laughing and giggling. Bathtime sometimes lasts close to half an hour with all the fun.


Beck's been drooling a ton lately. The front of all his shirts are drenched most of the day. He must have some teeth coming in.






Both boys love walking around in shoes they find around the house. Here's Theo in Daddy Lovebo's slippers.



Saturday, October 6, 2012


On a recent trip to the playground at the park, we saw a friend with two little girls who had brought their own strollers to push around the playground. Beck and Theo borrowed them while the girls were on the swings. Gosh, they love a push toy!


This is our neighbor Christine's house. She has the lion cat, Simba, and, more importantly, keeps a broom on her porch. Hence it is Theo's favorite porch. 


Last weekend at Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu's house everyone was pretty tuckered out after re-elasticizing the diapers and a long morning at Iron Kettle Farm, so Grandpa, Daddy and Theo took to their respective couches to relax.