We Can’t Keep Up! 🤷🏾‍♂️

The triplets are barreling towards their 3rd birthday on October 23rd. We can’t keep up with all the new things they are doing and saying. So here’s my best summary.

Michaela

She’s speaking in ‘completer’ sentences. She can use possessive (Mommy’s), a few prepositions (on, in, out), and obviously can give her two siblings clear directions (“Emma, put on the dress”, “Ferfer, get out!”). ABCs? No problem? Counting 1-10? Piece of cake. Colors, no problem. Shapes? Check, including Octagon, Cone, Sphere and Rectangle. Potty training is going well. She’ll for sure be the first one fully trained at some point before she’s 3 and a half I’m sure. She is up to about 5 or 6 wardrobe changes a day. She demands not only a kiss on the lips goodbye before I leave for work each morning, but now on the forehead as well. Plus, she rallies the cr3w to ensure that I give them kisses, too. Alrighty, then! Michaela was also the first to ride a bike (with training wheels) recently. She figures things out quickly.

Emma

Emma has great command of words. She can repeat pretty much whatever she hears verbatim, like a parrot. The alphabet and letters are no problem for her, although sometimes she gets a letter wrong now and then. She loves pointing out body parts: head, eyes, lips, mouth, ears, cheeks, chin, eyebrows, toes, shoulders, knees, and even belly button. She loves to jump long distances, and has no fear in that regard. She jumps off the couch often and into the arms of whatever adult is near. She’s got this heart that once was on a necklace that she carries around nearly 24 hours a day and even sleeps with. Not a pretty sight when it goes missing. She and Michaela have cryptic conversations. They seem to be negotiating. I’m not able to translate all of it 🙂

Christopher

Christopher is a rough and tumble boy. The first development evaluation report indicated he was a shy and timid boy. That’s actually true. He’s pretty shy until he warms up to folks, but once he does he is a bundle of energy and quite annoying, actually. He loves to growl, and it’s really annoying. He’s finally talking more, and is able to express himself better. You can usually find him with his troll pool toys (Princess Poppy was missing for weeks but magically reappeared last week), or with his toy cars, lining them up in a straight line in inconvenient locations around the house.

Age 2 wasn’t that terrible. It was 2 and a half when things got wild. They have tested our patience, and we’re sure they are just getting started. When they can really talk, we will see what mischief they concoct. We will be in survival mode until things calm down, which might be as soon as 5 or 6 years old…haha we’ll see.

In the meantime, enjoy some recent pics and videos from below.

M.

Other kids are drawn to our three. They share their stuff pretty good.
I certainly am tired of cleaning up these rocks!
Size 3 is no match for this big boy. He’s got a long torso!
As you can see, Michaela loves to lead the way!
Emma is not so interested yet. Hasn’t figured out peddling.
Michaela got the potty stuck on her head. It took 5 tries to get it off. She won’t be doing that again!
Emma stunned us with her beautiful hair straightened out. You could tell she liked the different look.
These two have their close moments…sometimes.
Michaela rocking a fitted sheet, butterfly wings and a black shirt holding them together as a fashion statement…in a princess dress.
No caption needed! Cute!
Cute and she knows it!
Christopher is the clown of the group. Can you tell?

Independently Particular

Greetings,

The kids know what they want, when they want it and why. Now that they can better articulate what they want, it’s been a comical month are now their active little minds are forming becomes more apparent. Below are some examples mixed in with super cute photos.

Michaela

Fiercely independent. Fiercely Particular.

Will no longer let me help her undo her diaper when it’s time to sit on the potty or help her get on (unless it’s early in the morning and she not awake yet) or off. She pushes my hand away and says “No, I do it”.

Will devour an Uncrustable, but will still leave the outer portion, which already has no crust.

She likes to wear specific accessories with her many wardrobe changes throughout the day. Yes, that includes only certain shoes 👞🤷🏾‍♂️.

She prefers to drink the purple box of Costco apple grape juice. If available, no, it has to be the purple box, and she’s told me so a few time.

When she wants water, she say “Drink of water?” no, unless she asks specifically, she prefers it out of mommy’s big cup. Alrighty!

And let’s not forget, the milk must have the right amount of chocolate Ovaltine mixed in. If not, she will inspect in the light and give me back.

She likes to administer vitamins and medicine herself via the syringe.

When she and/or Emma are going potty and Christopher wanders in, she says “Privacy!” and he leaves. He’s just being nosy, as he’s not really too interested yet.

And in true girly girl fashion, she knows when she wants her finger nails and toe nails painted and which color.

Emma

Emma parades around most days with an enigmatic expression on her face. It’s like she knows something none of us no. We still catch her staring at us and then she will smile and those oddly space dimples high on her cheek will pop out. She is totally content doing her own thing away from the high energy play of Michaela and Christopher. That tends to be a moving danger zone – best to stay clear of that!

She likes her privacy, much like I did growing up. She also likes to hold on to small items. Her latest fascination is this little red plastic key. Now she asks for it specifically (“Where’s my key?”).

She likes, well loves, the new Amazon Echo. She is always wishing Alexa a good morning and asking her to tell a joke. She also likes for us to ask her to play the Trolls soundtrack so she can dance in the kitchen.

She loves vegetables such as green beans, black olives (sliced) and vanilla bean yogurt, which has to be in a bowl, apparently.

Emma can nod yes and no when she wants or doesn’t want something. Lots of nodding no lately to sitting on the potty. So we are in a bit of regression period with her. It happens after they are getting over being sick, and it’s not surprising. At least this cold only lasted a week.

Christopher

Cars. Cars. Cars. He is particular about his cars. He usually carries several around with him and lines them up and piles them in my lap as gift offerings. And he has a lot of them. Michaela has been known to grab one and chuck it behind the couch just to piss him off.

He also is into these troll water toys. He can usually be seen carrying Princess Poppy and Branch around. Guy Diamond is usually missing. I don’t know why he likes to lose that particular troll. He’s currently missing.

One day it is clear that I will be looking up to this little man as he will be tall. I will teach him the finer points of the game of basketball if he’s interested. He has a long torso. He’s got a swimmer’s build currently with the chub long gone. He might be left handed or ambidextrous like me. He’s been eating and throwing stuff with his left hand recently. I’m left handed but eat and write win my right. When I played baseball I threw with my left but batted right. Weird!

Anyway, on to the rest of the recent cute pics.

Lastly, none of them want help brushing their teeth.

The kids really enjoyed my mom’s visit. We all went to a real beach in Pacifica, their first beach experience. The drive is too long though. We will have to wait until they are older to venture that far again.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

M

Cavelet Firsts, Leasts and Mosts

First to implant in the uterus:

Michaela (she was always measuring a week ahead of Emma)

First born:

Michaela (followed by Emma and Christopher)

First off bubble CPAP:

Michaela  after 1 day (breathed on her own from then on)

First out of isolette:

 Michaela

First out of the NICU:

Michaela at 6 weeks and 1 day (followed by Emma and Christopher 13 days later on the same day with a total stay of 7 weeks and 6 days)

First to cut teeth (Surprise!):

Emma (two on the bottom)

Most teeth so far (at 14 months and 1 day):

Michaela (8: 4 on top and 4 on the bottom)

First to sleep thru the night:

Emma (12 hours)

First to roll over:

Michaela

First to crawl:

Christopher

First to stand up:

Christopher

First to Babble:

Emma

First to take steps:

Christopher

First to walk:

Michaela

Weighs the most:

Christopher (28 lbs)

Weighs the least:

Michaela (21 lbs)

First to clap hands:

Michaela

Most Talkative (Surprise!):

Emma

Most Sensitive:

Emma

Least Interested in playing  hard:

Emma

First to shake their head “No, no, no”:

Christopher