Theo and Mama go to a play

Last Friday I drove Beckett to Grandpa Stu's to spend the night. Theo and I went to the Tompkins County library for the first time, had ice cream, and then went to a play together, just us, that night. I had been thinking that Theo especially loves singing and dancing and I thought he might enjoy a play.

We saw "Elephant and Piggie: We are in a play!" at LeMoyne, and it was pretty boring and nonsensical but Theo seemed to enjoy it, at least a little bit. Afterward there was a cast meet-and-greet and he really wanted to get a picture with Piggie (the girl character). You can tell from the picture that he was very excited to meet her, and felt a little shy.

Little helpers

This is last week, when the boys eagerly helped me clean the toilet and tub. Theo was so focused on scrubbing the grout with a toothbrush that it was hard to get him to take off his clothes and get in the bath afterwards. They have been super helpful lately, from mopping to vacuuming to sweeping. They also empty the bottom rack of the dishwasher and water the plants. Their teacher, Miss Mo, says that they have matured so much this year, and that they are her little helpers in the classroom. When I was there Monday to pick them up, she was talking with them about the thinking time out chair in her room (the naughty chair, I gather), and then realized that they have never been in the thinking chair this year. Again last night, I told Beck I was going to sweep and mop the floor, and asked if he would like to help. He said yes, and we decided together that it wouldn't be fair for him to all of it, so I swept and then he mopped. He kept coming to me and asking for a new wet wipe (he swiffer mopped) because the one he was using was dirty. He did a super great job! Then Theo got jealous and wanted to help too, so I asked him what chore he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to clean a toilet. So he cleaned the toilet upstairs, and Beckett wanted to clean something upstairs too, so they both ended up cleaning out the tub with the spray cleaner and sponges. I hope this lasts! They're doing great work!

Belated birthday

When you have a baby brother born just three weeks before your birthday, sometimes your birthday gets a little delayed. We finally had a party for Theo and Beckett on Saturday afternoon and bought a small bounce house for the occasion. I invited some of the kids from the boys' class at Most Holy Rosary but only one ended up coming. My friend Kelly (mother of Addy, the redhead) says it's because we asked parents to come as well, and many parents would rather just drop their kids off at a party. But we had a nice time with Preston, Addy, and Aria. Mostly Preston and the boys ran around wrestling and chasing each other like puppies, and Aria and Addy played by themselves. Everyone ate really well, though, and when it came time for cake, everyone got to blow out candles and then ate their cake heartily.

Just one baby!

It is pretty amazing all the ways that having one baby is different than having two. There's only one baby to feed, one baby to comfort, one baby to diaper, one baby to bathe, one baby to wake up for in the night, one baby to load into and out of the car, one baby to carry. It's also incredible to me the number of times I pick Reed up, like in the night, and immediately think, when will the other one wake up, and how will I comfort him too? And then I realize, there IS no other one! It's just this little baby, and I can devote all my attention to just him! I remember that I used to have dreams, when the twins were very tiny, that there were more and more babies who needed my help and that I had to get through to helping them all. Just one baby seems so much more manageable! I can always wear one baby in a carrier pretty easily and go about the rest of my day with the boys or doing things around the house. It does not involve connecting two tiny infants to carriers or trying to settle them in bouncers or swings. Reed does get held and carried a lot, probably a lot more than Theo and Beckett did, and it seems like he insists upon it more than they did. The most amazing thing is that when Reed falls asleep, and it's either a time during the day when I don't have the older boys just with me, or if it's at night, I can just GO TO SLEEP! The hardest thing about twin babies was that when one fell asleep, the clock started ticking on when that one would wake up again, and I would want to get the other one to go to sleep as soon as possible so that the window when they were both sleeping was long enough for me to get some sleep. Now, I get to just settle in wherever I am and go to sleep! Amazing!

Reed has had a couple of really grumpy times, but it seems like they have mostly preceded giant poops, so maybe it's his way of telling us he is uncomfortable and wants to get some poops out. It's honestly hard to remember any particular moments of Theo and Beckett's small babyhood, probably because we were exhausted and felt like all hands were on deck at all times. Reed doesn't tend to sleep much more than three hours at a time but he doesn't mind being put down right after eating and  getting a new diaper. Even if he grunts and settles in for a few moments while he's still awake, he will just close his eyes and go to sleep on his own, at least so far.

Fun times with Preston

We've been doing almost weekly play dates with the boys' friend Preston and his mama, Sara. It's great fun for the boys, who mostly chase each other with sticks and create games involving fishing, sticks, and running around, and even more wonderful for the mamas, at least for me.

Last week on a particularly hot day we went to Santaro Park in Camillus so the boys could frolic in the stream and play on the playground and run around the large open spaces. We brought lunch and ended up staying for five hours. The boys had a great time and got SUPER-DIRTY and wet from jumping and falling in the stream and in the mud and from playing in the dirt on the baseball field.

One of the highlights of the day came when a man came with a machine to paint the chalk lines on the field, presumably for a game later. The boys then had a fantastic time scuffing up the beautifully painted lines, and then throwing chalk in each other's faces and all over the place (mostly my boys, and mostly Beckett, since Preston is generally an extremely well-behaved little guy and often watches my boys and their mayhem with an incredulous look).

I took off all their clothes to go home because they were so muddy and wet and generally disgusting. On the way home they started off reading books and quickly fell asleep. Note the white around Beck's eye, from one of the chalk-throwing incidents.

Memorial Day Parade

On Memorial Day we went to the parade in Manlius, mostly because it didn't occur to us to go until we had already missed most of the other ones and the Manlius one didn't start until 11am. The boys liked many of the elements of the parade, such as 1) candy throwing, 2) fire trucks, 3) waving flags, and 4) life-size Lego guys (I can't explain that last part, or why it was in the parade).

Sprinkler action

Coach Karen Parkes and son Andy picked out this sprinkler for the older boys. They LOVE it and were in it almost every day last week, when it was summer, before it turned into fall or winter again.