Halloween 2010

We had a great time trick-or-treating this year. I thought Shane would just go to a few houses, but he was having so much fun walking up to each door, taking the piece of candy, and then dropping it in his bag. Then he would walk back down the driveway and follow his brothers to the next house. He even willing wore the hood of his costume even though it was 80 degrees outside.

Cooper was "Bumblebee" a transformer

Shane was a giraffe.

Ian was "Optimus Prime" a transformer

 

Belt Test

Last weekend the boys took their belt tests for tae kwon do. Ian was testing for his green belt and Cooper for his orange. One of the parts of the ceremony is to break a board. Here is a video of the boys breaking their boards.




Both boys passed their tests.


Ian didn't want his picture taken

Goodbye

We have a morning ritual here that has become my favorite part of the day. I never thought I would look forward to anything in the morning, but watching Shane wave goodbye to the bus puts a smile on my face no matter how tired I am. Then when the bus drives off, Shane walks back inside. Once, Chris tried to stay and talk to our neighbors and Shane walked back and started pushing him towards the house. Here is the video of Shane this morning and hopefully it puts a smile on your face too.

Loose Tooth

Last night Cooper complained that his teeth hurt. I didn't think much of it, but when he continued to complain this morning I decided to investigate. Turns out he has his first loose tooth! He is very, very excited!

Translation: "I loose a tooth. It wiggles a little"

Ian

Ian is now 9 years old and will be in 3rd grade next year. His favorite part of the school day is recess and gym. His favorite academic subject is math and I am often blown away by how quickly he picks up new, difficult subjects. He loves to play and watch sports. His favorite is football, but instead of being a Miami Dolphin fan like his dad, he is a Minnesota Viking fan. It was Atlanta Falcons, but somewhere during the 2009 season he switched. Ian plays flag football, baseball, and tae kwon do.


He is also involved in cub scouts. This year, Ian and Chris got to spend the night on the Lexington. They both had a terrific time looking at all of the planes and seeing the ship.



Ian continues to be enthusiastic about the things he loves. He loves to listen to music and thanks to Band Hero has moved beyond Dog Train. He loves that he can go on my iphone and download songs. I am not sure he really appreciates the joy I had as a child of carrying a walkman around with a case of tapes. Ian can be very helpful now with Shane by watching him and keeping him out of trouble.

Socks

Two weeks ago, Ian took a pair of Chris's socks and decided he needed them to sleep. Soon after Cooper thought it was only fair if he had some of his dad's socks to sleep with. So now before bed each night we have to search around the boys beds for their beloved socks.
It has been a week since I first wrote this post and I am happy to report that the obsession with the socks seems to have worn off although they still do sleep with them at night.

Nine years two months twenty-four days

This is how long it has taken for me to hear the words "I hate you" from one of my children. These words were uttered in anger and frustration. I signed Ian and Cooper up for two weeks of a swim summer camp. Week 1 went fine, but today was day 1 of week 2 and Ian did not want to go. Camps here are usually only one week long so if you sign up for two sessions you probably will have different people in your camp the second week. This was too much for Ian to handle and according to Ian camp "cut into all of his fun time". Little does he know that if he doesn't go to camp tomorrow he will be running errands with Shane and me. I just need to show him that camp is the fun option.

Mr X

Yeah! I finally am able to post videos on the blog! Thanks Claire.

This video is of Cooper who had to dress up as his favorite letter person at the end of kindergarten.

Cooper

Cooper has just completed kindergarten and is so excited to start 1st grade. He loves to play and make people laugh. He is always the first one to give you a hug when you are sad to make you feel better. He is quick to show his emotions, but this also makes him more empathetic to others.

At dinosaur park

Cooper loves to play sports. This past year he has played flag football, tae kwon do, baseball, dance, and swimming. Our backyard has become the football, soccer, or baseball field depending on the season.

Cooper testing for his yellow belt
This year Cooper took a jazz class for the first time and danced in a performance on a stage right before Mother's Day. Below is a video of Cooper dancing:





Cooper is a great big brother to Shane and can always make Shane laugh. The two of them love to chase each other around. Cooper loves to help others espcially Chris and I. He says he wants to be a fireman when he grows up because he likes to help people. Cooper loves animals especialy those found at Sea World.

Daddy's Day

Our daddy, our hero. Chris proved what a great dad he was this year. He woke up to me saying "you need to get out of bed because there is something wrong with Shane". Nothing like those words to get your blood pumping. We still aren't sure what was wrong with Shane, but he was crying and nothing was comforting him. It all started when I wouldn't give him the TV remote. Usually he stops after a few minutes, but 10 minutes later he was still going strong and that is when I decided Chris needed to get up. Chris is Shane's favorite person in the whole world. Shane cries when Chris leaves the room. Shane follows Chris around the house. Shane wants to be carried by Chris and Shane wants to eat anything that Chris is eating. So, I figured if anyone could make Shane feel better, it would be Chris. But, Chris couldn't get Shane to stop crying either. After about 5 minutes of this, while we were getting dressed and making plans for taking him to the clinic he finally stopped and was happy for the rest of the day.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out around the house and then decided to go swimming. At one point, I was in the bathroom with Shane and Chris was in the pool with the boys. Cooper told Chris to "look" and pointed at a little girl (about 2 or 3 years old) who appeared to be doing the backstroke. Luckily, Chris was paying attention and realized that this little girl wasn't doing the backstroke, but that she was underneath the surface of the water and was trying to come up for air. He pulled her up and found her parents who were sitting by the baby pool with their other two children. There were adults all around and no one noticed that this little girl had fallen into the pool. No one that is except for Cooper and Chris.

I'm baaaack!

Well after a very long break, I finally am back to fill everyone in on the adventures of the Livingston trio.





Let me catch you up to date on our littlest member, Shane. Shane is now 15 months old. We went to the doctor and found out that he is average for height and weight. He weighed 24lbs 13oz (50%) and was 31 in. tall (50%). Even his head was in the 50th percentile. Since he has been off the charts with his weight since he was 4 months I was very surprised to find out that he was middle of the pack.

Shane is a very curious and active boy. He loves to play with his brothers and imitate everything they do. Ian was playing a game a lot that involved him patting his lap. Shane picked up on it and now pats his lap all the time and then runs into your arms. He loves to be outside and has just discovered the slide. He can't climb or go down it by himself though. Shane loves to practice going up and down stairs and his favorite toys are anything in the kitchen. He can open the cabinets and will often pull out bowls, spoons, and placemats.



Shane will eat just about anything we give him, but his favorite foods are anything on daddy's plate. Shane is a daddy's boy and cries whenever Chris leaves the room, so it is only natural that he would want to eat what Chris is. (Note: Shane does not cry when I leave the room) Fruits and vegetables are his absolute favorites along with Eggo Blueberry Waffles and Veggie Booty. The child is addicted to Veggie Booty.



Shane is sleeping through the night and takes one really long nap (2-3 hours). I love it b/c I have time to rest and get stuff done. He doesn't talk that much yet. He will wave hi and by and make a sound. He says "that" and "da" which sound a lot alike to me. He used to say "All done", but I haven't heard it in a while.



I am sure there is a lot more going on with Shane now, but I am having a hard time thinking of it all right now.

Just getting it for dad, I promise:

10 months

Shane is 10 months today. It is hard to believe that in 2 short months he is going to be a year. This month Shane has become a much faster crawler. He can be crawling along real slow and then he will see an open door and zoom! through it he will go. He seems to find every small piece of paper or plastic on the floor. We really have to watch him because he puts everything into his mouth.



He also is pulling up to standing and cruising along the furniture.



Shane's favorite words right now are ohhhh and dadadada... I have heard him say mama but it is rare.



Shane isn't sleeping through the night yet. Some nights he is up once and others three times. This past Christmas we went to visit Gommy and Grandad in New Jersey. Shane was sick when we arrived and decided he didn't want to sleep anywhere but in my arms. In fact, he was up every 1-2 hours every night for the weeklong trip. He wanted nothing to do with the pack-n-play and would wake up soon after being put in it for the night.