When they are all the same age, that third child is a game changer. It changes all plans and strategies you might think will work, because the third decides many things throughout the week. For example, all it takes is one

• not taking a nap to ruin an evening for the other two
• to start a play fest during bed time
• getting sick to cause it to sweep through the entire house and make a good night’s sleep a fantasy
• to start a food fight
• to scream at the top of their lungs before the other two follow suit

We’ve seen ours run in 3 different directions. It’s crazy. And in our household, what may work for one mother and one child doesn’t usually work with three. They have 3 different personalities, expectations, etc. And lately the competition for our attention is fierce. The storm before the calm is between 5 and 5:30pm, right before I get home at 6pm. They go nuts, and it’s difficult to keep them calm.

When they are in play mode, we are outnumbered. We can only hope they run out of gas before something crazy happens. Michaela and Christopher like to hang off of the curtains.

Going out in public can be challenging. Emma is our wanderer, so you have to keep an eye on her.

They seem to sleep through each other’s meltdowns for the most part. Lots of tantrums from Michaela lately and some from Christopher. He’s cutting the last of his teeth and they are molars, poor little big guy.

Swimming is tough with all three and just two sets of hands. When we dropped Christopher off for his day with grandma and grandpa, it was not difficult to manage just two. Three different comfort levels with the water is too much. So without an extra set of hands, forget it moving forward 🙂

They’ve been doing good sleeping in the room on the megabed by themselves. Emma has figured out how to be stealth and join us early in the morning. She doesn’t like it when the others touch her, so maybe that’s her excuse for joining us some nights. Christopher is a violent sleeper and is all over the place.

When I get home from work, I can’t field all of the pony ride requests at once. They have to take turns, and believe me, they each want to go first. Now they also want us to hold them under their arm pits and swing them, or for me to pick them up and help them fly like an airplane. These are high priority demands for them. The girls like to climb up my back and sit on my shoulders. I can’t do it too long because the girls are now approaching 30 lbs and getting heavier.

And they are getting good at forcing the issue. When they want to go outside, they make it happen, one way or another. They like to go for walks with grandma and grandpa during their visit before they leave.

The desire to share comes and goes, but mostly goes. Christopher is very particular about his cars (so many cars), and he has to be playing with all of them. Michaela wants whatever her other siblings have – it’s her right as the oldest as she would tell it.

On play dates, they outnumber their play partner KloeBella. They rain down on all of the toys and it’s gotta be overpowering for her; however, it’s a tough lesson learning how to share when you’re not around other kids. The internal hierarchy is Michaela at the top, but that changes around other kids. It might swing back to how it is internally on the outside once she’s able to talk more and works out dynamics with other kids.

Christopher needs a boy playmate around his age to rough and tumble with – the girls can’t hang…NO that doesn’t mean we’ll have another kid…LOL.

M.