Hi Everyone,
Sorry it's been over a month since we have updated the website. We have been busy as you can guess. It's actually a good thing, because we have gotten to do some fun social things, like watch the SuperBowl with some friends and today we had a fun playdate. We haven't had too much of that the last two years, but people have actually been brave enough to invite us over lately! So anyway, here are some much overdue updates on the kiddos.
Alyssa is enjoying preschool and especially loves the weekly assembly of the classes in the chapel to sing. The snacks are a big hit with her, too. She is learning how to trace letters, what sounds letters make, and thinks she can read already (we call it memorizing). She has just started really playing with baby dolls a lot lately, too. One day she walked up to me with 3 baby dolls in her arms and said, "Look Mommy, I have triplets." She has been a huge help with the babies, most of the time without being asked. She often takes their coats and shoes off when we get home from somewhere and during bathtime she even takes off diapers and shampoos heads. Alyssa continues to be immersed in pretend play. Sometimes she chooses to playact rather than read bedtime stories. Dave doesn't do it her way, though, and sometimes that frustrates her. She loves princesses and dress up. Cinderella is her favorite movie right now, too, especially since she got a Cinderella doll and the movie for her birthday. Now that she is a 4, we have moved her up to the "big girl" class at church, and she seems to really enjoy playing with the big kids. (She didn't want to leave the nursery at first, because all her siblings were in there together.) She is already talking about how she wants to have a princess themed party for her next birthday (not until December). She told me the other day, "On my next birthday I will be 5. Can you believe it?" Then a few minutes later she declared, "When I'm 5, I'll get to drive the car."
Lauren has turned into the sweetest little thing and is so mellow and easy going these days. She loves to be held and often says "up" so I pick her up. She loves getting dressed and will bring coats and shoes to me. Sometimes she gets mad when I dress Alyssa first in the mornings, because she likes it so much. A couple of weeks ago in the church nursery they had to keep her coat on her, because they said she got so upset when they took it off. She loves to talk and learn new words and point to things in books to show what she knows. She also gets the cutest smile on her face when I can understand what she is trying to tell me. When she gets upset sometimes, she gets so distraught the she just lays her forehead on the floor. She is a tiny little thing, but still holds her own and bites when needed. But she will also share, like the other day when she had a ball that Drew wanted and she gave it to him (not right away, but she did willingly give it to him). She is also getting pretty good at feeding herself yogurt on a spoon. She is still fearless and I have yet to see her afraid of anything. She is my adventurous wanderer who likes to go off and explore new things. She is starting to show some motherly instincts with her brothers and seems to like routine. She is very social and always seems to be checking on what everyone else is up.
Jack still loves to figure out how things work. His favorite right now is the safety gates mounted to the wall. Yesterday, he even figured out how to latch it on one side. He also loves closing doors, but was mystified recently as to what happened when I stuck a foam block in the way to keep it from closing. He has the funnest squeals when he is excited about something and often says "ut oh" when something drops on the floor. He enjoys books a lot, too, and before bedtime and naptime he sits down in his crib with his arm around his teddy bear and "reads" books. He is definitely going to be a red head and throws the full tantrums by flinging his body back and usually hitting his head on the floor (which just makes him madder). We have been trying wheat occasionally with the kids and they still don't tolerate it that well. Jack seems to have the hardest time with it. But he has also put on weight well now that it is out of his diet and his appetite has really come back. He also snuck up on the table and ate his big sister's peanut butter sandwich one day and got hives. Peanut allergies can be serious, so now we have an epi pen in the diaper bag in case he has trouble breathing. Yikes! He is very aware of everything going on at mealtime, and keeps score to make sure he has gotten the same food as everyone else. Jack also loves to talk on the phone, it doesn't matter if he has a pear slice or a piece of foam in his hand. Whenever the urge hits him, he just babbles away and asks Mom and Dad to talk on the "phone", too.
Drew continues to be our physical guy with the jolly temperament. He can throw a ball about 7 feet and is pretty good at playing mini hoop in the bathtub. The kid LOVES balls and the fastest way to make him smile is to give him one. He also loves to tackle his siblings, even Alyssa. She agitated him today and he responded with a pretty good take down. Usually, it seems like he is just bored and needs something to do, but putting the coats on the kids seems to trigger his instinct to tackle, too, for some odd reason. He also loves to cuddle, too, and loves to be held like Lauren. The kid has a very high pain threshold. If he gets hurt or has to have his hand smacked to stay away from something dangerous, sometimes he laughs. He also cues us off to when he is going to do something mischievous by giving a deep laugh on his way to his next mission. He often trips on the walk over, because he gets so focused on what he is doing. He still loves to eat and has learned to tell us the sign (from sign language) for eat when he is hungry. When he cries, it is just this sad pathetic cry that makes you almost feel sorry for him. But overall, he is a pretty tough kid that I predict will play football someday. Drew has also really gotten attached to his teddy bear, which he calls "Ba ba." Often at night when we check on him, he is sleeping on Ba ba as a pillow or has his arm around it.
Overall, as a family, life is seeming more normal, whatever normal is for us. Maybe I should say it's more balanced, as we are getting out a bit more, like taking the kids to the grocery to get out of the house for a while. We tried feeding the trio off of plates for a brief period, but that got too messy when they figured out how to make them projectiles. Once a day we give them a bowl and spoon. They are starting to get the hang of it. We are also very thankful for some suction cup bowls that we found to make this much neater of an event (thanks Munchkin!). Our kids are starting to play together now during the after dinner sugar rush. It's fun to watch them chase each other around and laugh and play. Alyssa also likes to walk one of her siblings around by the hand or arm around the shoulder and pretend they are walking through the forest. The kids also like to play ring around the rosy and sometimes we can get the little guys to play hide and seek (or sometimes it turns into "Hide the Lauren.")
Climbing continues to be a huge issue for us. First we tried putting the kitchen table chairs underneath the table, intertwined with the legs. Well, now they are smarter and stronger and that doesn't work. So we have to keep the chairs in the dining room (on the other side of the baby gate) to keep them from climbing and messing with the TV and tearing pictures off the walls (lucky they haven't figured out how to climb the kitchen counters yet). The only furniture we have left where they play most of the time is the couch. It is a full time job trying to train them to sit and not stand or jump on it, but they are slowly getting the message (or maybe sick of hearing about it). I am told by other triplet moms that they will soon start climbing out of their cribs. So now we need to get some crib tents to keep them from hurting themselves, because we are NOT ready for big kid beds yet. We put books and stuffed animals in the their cribs to distract them, but usually Drew and Lauren throw all of theirs on the floor or pass them to Jack (who's crib is in the middle). We also got bad cabin fever a couple of weeks ago when we were all sick and couldn't go to storytime, preschool and Bible study. So I cashed in some gift cards and we got a bounce house. That has been a huge blessing. Jack was terrified of it at first, and would only play with the box it came in. Now they all bounce happily away in it, and I am looking forward to burning off lots of energy with it the next few months.
The trio is also learning like crazy right now. We are teaching them the parts of the body, and it's cute to line them up and watch them point all over. We are also doing animal sounds. They know what sheep, snakes, cows, owls, and ducks say. However, somewhere along the way they got convinced that doggies say "kak kak" (quack quack). We are trying to undo this with little success. So now everytime my mom's dog comes over, they point to him and say "kak kak." The also know how to say a few other things like "ni ni" (night night) "appasaw" (applesauce) "ba" (ball) and "bus" comes out pretty clearly (we say bye bye to the bus every morning as it goes by during breakfast). They are learning each other's names and can point to the right person when asked. They have been doing sign language for a while, and do the sign for "more" all the time when they are eating. The cutest of all, is that they can now blow kisses, too!
Well, that's about all for now. Hopefully soon I will find some time to post some pictures. I need to write some Christmas/December thank you notes first, though! Oh and do my taxes while the weather is crummy. First, I need to wrap the presents for the birthday party this weekend. Oh, I also need to get out some bigger clothes for the boys. And I've gotten way behind on laundry. I also really want to put the pictures that we took last spring in frames. Oh, and I probably should go through the stack of Christmas letters on our mantle and update our address book. But first I should probably get some crib tents soon before we need them. And I also need to hook up the printer that hopefully works with our new computer that we had to buy when our other one crashed before I print the taxes paperwork. Oh, and I forgot to decorate with Alyssa for Valentine's Day......................
God bless,
Amanda
