The Ivers boys have conquered daycare! These past two months have been a whirlwind of crazy changes in our home and the boys have handled everything their parents are putting them through with grace and dignity. And fevers. And puke. And a lot of poop.I've heard that once kids go to daycare they get sick. Now people are telling me the whole truth- they MAY possibly be healthy again by kindergarten. My poor sick Liam and Ollibear!
Aside from the sickness, the boys have taken to daycare very well- they love their teachers and adore the big red fire engine (the first few days I had to wrestle to extract them from this toy.) They generally get along with the other students and fight amongst themselves if they are really troubled. Although, last week when I was checking their progress, one teacher told me that Liam was instigating fights with several children and then Oliver was running around yelling at the kids who fought with Liam. Should we be proud?
Liam and Oliver are big talkers. They have a myriad words in their collective arsenal, although many of the words sound exactly the same as the others. For example, "MMMAAAAAA" means milk, mom, and more, among other things. "BBBAAAAA" can be the sound a sheep makes, the first part of Poppy's name, and the word ball. They play fetch with balls- running around the house screaming "BAAAw, BAAAw." They also hate to lose sight of Poppy and if they see her out of the back door, they pound on the glass screaming "BABA" and will not relax until someone lets the dog in.
Our boys still have an avid social calender despite their Mother's return to full time work. We've had a number of exciting visits and parties over the last few months. Babcia and Grampy Ivers showed up for the inauguration, although the boys were sad to have slept through all of the exciting parts. As soon as the Ivers returned from their vacation to Florida, Liam and Oliver were excited to see their grandparents again for a break from daycare and some special brownies.
Gammy and Grandpa Scherer had a few visits despite Gammy's surgery, which she is recovering nicely from. Gammy also showed up with
sweets for the boys.
Aunt Nancy has come for some very exciting visits as well. Usually, Aunt Nancy and I sit around gabbing for hours until I'm dragged away for a date with Chris while Nancy watches the boys.
You may notice the fancy vests the boys wear constantly these days. Katie Scherer bought them for Oliver and Liam and evidently they are the best things that ever happened to little boys. They will scream "BYE-BYE" at the door until we dress them in the vests- even when we don't leave the house all day. I'm so glad they're cute!
Oliver and Liam have been excited to attend a new grouping of potlucks with the Giorgises, Bailey-Jonses, and a bunch of new friends in the area. There have been two potlucks so far that have been wildly successful, and all of our kids are happy to play along with their parents and fall asleep upstairs when the party gets too rowdy for them. I love this age!
Another exciting party our family attended this month was Tia Lu's 30th Birthday Celebration! Boy Laur, you are getting OH-ELL-DEE! Lauren insisted that we all go rollerskating at the local disco rink, eat Indian food a la Erik (Drunkle Ick) and then stay up too late for having small children. I must say that it is odd how much Liam and Oliver love spicy Indian food. Perhaps there is something to that reincarnation thing...We were able to hang out with our favorite out-of-towners Lipa and Chris Perry, and Keith Jones and Shelly. Great to see you friends!
Liam and Oliver have also been party to their Mother's political bent while attending negotiation strategy sessions with the York Teachers' Association. Luckily, the negotiators are child friendly folk, and Chris is a great babysitter of children of all ages- who knew?? (We just sort of dropped all of our children into his care and he happily took up the cause. You'd think he likes kids or something.)
Liam and Oliver's best buds Dominick and Lena are growing wonderfully and visiting a lot. Dominick and the boys sometimes even show signs of playing together (instead of parallel play in the same room), and the boys love to stand around and poke at Lena. They try their best to say "Lena" but usually it just comes out "LLLn". Even though Tania has found new candidates for stay-at-home BFF moms, I'd like to publicly say she's still tops with me.
Liam and Oliver graduated to the big kid tub this month and have an amazing time splashing around in the water, getting the dog, cat and their dad soaking wet.In other family news, I have had to give up my weekday yoga club, but have posted a beautiful photo of Sara Kelly doing one last morning back bend in our back room. You also may have noticed the photo of some very happy women in a hot tub at the top. This was at Maggie Cashman's birthday celebration at Mirbeau Spa in Skinneatles. It was such a wonderful treat to get away with my friends Jean, Sara and Maggie to celebrate. It was my first night away from the boys and it was heaven. Happy Birthday Maggie!
Chris and Tony are working on beer again and will have new batches of some seriously decent beverages soon. You may want to come visit for this.
I leave for a trip to the Bahamas with the York Senior Class this Thursday (I know, I'm a moron.) Send happy thoughts to motherless Liam and Oliver while I attempt to leave them for my first extended time. It will be good practice for a parent trip this summer.
If you're wondering how the return to work is progressing- well, shockingly, it is just fine. I forgot how much I love teaching. It is not a sexy job, nor a high paying one, but it is rewarding work and sometimes when I'm sitting talking History with 9th graders, I feel exceedingly lucky that I get paid for something that is so much fun. Now I just need to quit some of the other 18 million things I was doing while I didn't have a full time job.
Finally, happy birthday to Lauren, Sarah, Karrie, Rachel, David, Dan Repinski and Poppy. Have a great year!
Enjoy spring everyone!
