The Ivers family is on the move! There are little boys scattered everywhere at all hours. You may leave a boy in one place but there is no way he'll stay. Even cribs have become places of wrestling, flipping, attempted swimming and push ups. So I finally thought I had it figured out and what do Liam and Oliver do? They go and change their entire way of being.
The boys are growing and exploring their environment like crazy- they are learning and conquering new tricks daily. This month Oliver has fallen in love with animals. He sees our dog Poppy and our cat Lefty and it's like he's seeing the Second Coming (1st for my Hebrew friends). Or like Poppy is The Beatles and Oliver is a screaming teen-aged girl. He grabs at them, pulls their hair out and giggles hysterically. Luckily, Lefty is very gentle with the boys and Poppy is petrified of them. We visited a nature preserve this month with Tania and her family and there was an aquarium with a turtle. It made Oliver's week. Oliver is not quite crawling yet, but by the end of this month was rolling from one end of the room to another, pushing and pulling himself around with his arms. Every time he sees something new he immediately shoves it in his mouth. Beware of getting your face too close- he is not adverse to grabbing any part of it and eating it. Glasses are the best. Oliver began to say "dada" and "ahTah" at the very beginning of the month. He is going to be a quiet and reserved child it seems, much in the same way his father is the shy and silent type.
Liam also had a great month and is becoming increasingly fascinated by the world around him. Liam is awesome to watch as he makes his way across and around a room. He looks at everything and touches it, talks to it and then shoves it in his mouth. He is also making the "d" and "t" sounds but says them slightly differently. His voice is pitched higher than Oliver's and he brings more of a Slavic-sounding umlaut to his syllables. He says "dyah dyah" and "tyah". I think he's been hanging out with Dina too much. At the very end of the month Liam was up on his hands and knees but is not quite crawling.
Oliver and Liam have started their brotherly interaction in earnest now and are giggling together, rolling on the floor, kicking the others' head, eating parts of the other, and fighting over toys. They have yet to plot together to sell their parents off to the zoo, but I feel it is a matter of days before this happens.
It was a month full of happenings. The Lilac Festival is one of Rochester's biggest, and the boys and I were able to pop up a few times to see the blooms and to eat yummy food (milk for them, junky goo for me). We met up with Scott, Tania and Dominick once, and my parents and Aunt Lu for another. Chris was working both times and was obviously super excited to be the wage earning parent.
Tania's parents came into town and we went on a cool nature walk at the Genesee Country Museum. Also, Tania's mom helped us get in a successful photo shoot at Penny's and you should all be getting some seriously fine photos soon. Instead of screaming and massive quantities of spit-up on expensive equipment, I only let one of my sons fall on his head once. See what a better Mom I am already?
We also got to meet Scott's parents when they came over for a huge BBQ created by Tony Jones and Chris Ivers. We all had a great meal and a ton of fun people came over. But we're proud to be down with the whole Giorgis fam.
When we visited the enormously pregnant Cathleen and Chris Brent, the kids sat in high chairs at a diner for the first time and entertained us all. We also got to see Chris and Cat when Aunt Nancy came to hang out with Ollie and Liam and kicked us out of our house. (We love you Aunt Nancy!)
My parents threw a big family picnic in Buffalo after Memorial Day weekend and we were able to see Reinerts, Brents, Scherers, Millers, McGinleys and Gambills. Joe, Katie, Johnny and Andy came in from Pittsburgh and the cousins were able to play. Katie kept taking babies off my grateful hands and showing us how to make boys smile. Johnny played a funny trick on me and would ask for a sip of my water and then pour the whole bottle out. Most excitingly, we celebrated Andy's first birthday!! Congrats Joe and Katie!
Other exciting news from this month:- Marta and JR Frank had a beautiful baby boy named Kyle this month. Congrats!!
- Happy Birthday Dina and Tony!!
- Lauren completed her first sprint triathlon- Congrats! She is so awesome and amazing it is hard for us to hang out with her any more. The boys even were able to watch her finish the run. You rock!
- Lauren and I ran the Corporate Challenge together.
- Babcia Ivers came for a fun and helpful visit.
- Dan and Laura had a wonderful visit here during their break from PhD and Law School.
- Congrats to Meggoo who finished her first year teaching in Forks (That's right, FORKS) Washington. She will continue on in FORKS for an additional year as she has become smitten with some logger dude.
- I was invited to York Central School's Prom and was fancied up something fierce. Tony Jones quipped lovingly to my boys, "look, Godzuki isn't in sweat pants, boys!"
- I leave you with a joke Lauren Reinert (Scherer) wanted to share: What is the difference between broccoli and boogers? Answer: kids DON'T eat their broccoli.
- Happy Summer!
