This is Beckett "reading" one of his favorite stories, a book about Superman. This is mostly memorization but he is starting to recognize some words.

Dentist

The big boys went for their dentist checkups last Thursday and did great. Theo has always been pretty easygoing about the hygienist and dentist rooting around in his mouth, but this time Beckett also went along and relaxed through the whole thing. I don't know if it helped that they were able to be in an open area, one on either side of a supply counter, and get their teeth cleaned more or less at the same time, or that the TV playing cartoons was on a wall instead of on the ceiling, or that the show (a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse of some sort) was particularly engaging. They didn't even mind that we didn't have much time to hang out in the waiting room to watch a movie in the cave (yes, they have a walk-in cave with a movie playing inside and a video monitor so parents can see what is going on inside) or play at the train table. All in all, a pretty perfect dentist visit!

To infinity and beyond

This is from a month or so ago when we snuck into Santaro park.

Snow day

Last Tuesday we had our first snow day of the year. We kept very busy inside, making cookies and playing games and building in kinetic sand and reading lots of books, because the boys have colds that I didn't want to make worse by lots of time outside. I also spent a good part of the day dealing with the plumber who was traipsing in and out, plus workers from the City who were here to turn the water off and on.

It was Theo's idea, after using the cookie cutters to cut out shapes in the kinetic sand, to make cutout cookies. They were great helpers making the dough, rolling it out, and using Grandma Grinnell's cookie cutters to make their shapes (a Star of David for Theo, and a bell for Beckett). After they cooled we frosted a few and, predictably, they were too sweet for Beckett but Theo enjoyed every bite.

  

Our city workers, out in the blizzard to turn the water on and off so the plumber could do his work. I wish they'd figured out on Tuesday while they were there at the water valve from the main that it was broken and needed work, instead of waiting until we replaced a part that turned out not to need replacing and then when it didn't solve the problem, the plumber realized it might be a problem with the city's part of the line. Oh well, at least we have water pressure again now.

Skating and skiing

For the next several weeks the boys will be taking skiing lessons and skating lessons every weekend. With that plus a birthday party every weekend for a little while, we have a lot going on! This is a first for the Lovebo household, having scheduled activities to get to on the weekends. So far the boys are having a great time. We're feeling like the weekends are as busy as the weekdays! But it's good to get out of the house, especially in the winter, and it means that when they are in the house, the boys are happy playing with their toys, with each other, and drawing and coloring.

Ski lessons are at Song Mountain. They find skiing easier than skating, plus the lessons include a hot cocoa and cookies break, which makes skiing the obvious favorite.

It feels like we have been so busy, all five of us, that's been hard to keep up with the blog! Where to start? Well, we've had three different plumbers at the house over the last couple of weeks to try to address our low water pressure. We've gotten terrible news (you'll have to replace the entire service from house to water main at the street, there goes your tax refund!) and then great news (nah, replace just this one little pipe inside the house!) and then bad news (worse than before) but then finally the plumbers got the city water dept to come look at the connection between the main and our house and it was determined that it was the city's problem and it would be fixed on the city's dime! This morning we've had the road blocked off so dump trucks and excavators and other various trucks and equipment as well as five or ten city workers can work on the water, and when I just turned on the kitchen faucet, WHOA! Hold on to your hats, we have some water pressure. Which is fantastic. Also not being able to clean or do laundry today means nothing to do during nap except catching up on emails and doing a blog post. So I am hoping this is the end of our water troubles!

Having all the plumbers et al in the house so many times has meant it's been hard to keep up with the daily laundry, cleaning and cooking that I do and catch up with when I'm home, so it's felt a little more overwhelming than usual these last few weeks trying to keep up. On top of it all I feel like I'm drowning in work, when I'm there, which is not often, and next week I'm taking two days off to spend time with my friend Claire who is visiting for the week. So I might--gasp!--have to go into the office this weekend to spend a little time on my cases.

But it's not just Mama Lovebo who has been feeling busy these days. Theo and Beckett are getting into the winter recreation spirit, with weekly skiing trips and lessons with Daddy starting last week, and weekly ice skating lessons starting tomorrow. They also had a fun birthday party last weekend and one each this weekend and next to look forward to, plus a playdate with their friend Walter tomorrow, so managing their schedules is becoming interesting as well.

Reed is continuing to plow through life, eating and grinning through it all. He loves to feed himself so he seems to choose any type of table food that he can grab and jam in his mouth over any type of "baby" food, if given a choice. He ate about a quarter cup of bean and corn chili a few weeks ago, ate lots of penne with red sauce a couple nights ago, and enjoyed a couple of pieces of pork, green beans, and roasted butternut squash last night. He is waking up at night around 4am and then around 6 or 6:30 but it seems like his schedule is shifting a little bit lately. He may be getting ready to take a longer midday nap instead of a morning and an afternoon nap, which I think the boys switched to around a year.

In other news, we're actively investigating kindergarten options for the boys. We have attended an open house for the Syracuse Latin School, a rigorous, application-based school that just started three years ago. Many of our friends and neighbors have kids who attend, and they are universally happy with the experience. It requires an IQ test and then classroom observations as well as consideration of unknown other factors but I think we'll apply and see what happens. There's also a science charter school that we know much less about but seems to have some good programs, so we'll probably apply for that as well since it's just a lottery. It's anxiety-producing to think we already have to be concerned with school options and we're only in kindergarten! But it's also exciting that there are options and that we could find a school that suits the boys.

So that's our family update! One of these days we'll capture some pictures of skiing, skating or playing in the snow and put them up here!

Weekend in New Jersey

This past weekend we visited my cousin Deb and her family-Tom, Scott, and Kelly. We lucked out that Kelly was home from school and Scott is living at home while he works nearby. The big boys had a blast playing on the floor in the basement with Tom with cars and building car garages with blocks, and watching Justice League with Scott, goofing off with Kelly, and drawing and playing on the playground with Deb. Reed didn't sleep well but was in pretty good spirits while we were there. Everyone traveled well--Reed played with toys and slept, the boys looked at books and watched movies, and Mama brought enough food for an army!