Friday, July 16, 2010

Life moves pretty fast

Griffin cleaning up the mess

Julia taking a break from dancing. Look how long her hair is!
Braddock driving his car!

















Here we are less than a month away from turning two, and it's more and more evident every day that we don't have anything even close to babies anymore. Some of these pictures are of them eating with their forks-- one of their very favorite words. Forkie, forkie, forkie is what we commonly hear during mealtime-- by themselves. I hesitated way too long to start this because the thought of the mess three toddlers can make in seconds with food overwhelmed me. But it was time. I won't show up at high school with the forkies and feed them. I suppose that would embarrass them. This week, I gave them their food, their forks, held my breath, and let the eggs and spinach fall where they may. Amazingly, they did beautifully. I suppose they'd been begging me to do it themselves for awhile now. So sue me... I drag my feet because I don't want my kids to grow up quiet so fast. I may use this strategy for potty training, too. They'll be six and I'll just take their diapers off and it will be done in a day because I waited. I think this is a perfect solution to what will otherwise be a tough time in our house.
Words are flying out of their mouths fast and furious. Every single day, there's a couple new words they add to their vocabulary, and they use little sentences now which is a constant source of laughter. I took them shopping on Tuesday morning, and as we left the store it was pouring. Luckily it wasn't cold because it wasn't as if I could leave them and pull the car up. I just said, "Oh no, it's raining. Sorry guys, we're going to get a little wet." Well, as I'm pushing Julia in the shopping cart and pulling the boys in their stroller, all three are screeching, Oh no, raining. oh no, raining. Oh no, wet! By the time we got to the car, they were so excited they just couldn't stop telling me what they knew. They told me the entire way home and for a good portion of the day. I was laughing so hard my sides hurt.
Yesterday, Griffin unsnapped his diaper-- unbeknownst to me-- as I was getting Braddock dressed. I heard a sound of rushing water and as I turned to see what I was hearing, there he was peeing on the floor. Hands up in the air, just peeing and smiling. He'd asked me to take his diaper off earlier. I explained that I couldn't do that for him, he needed it and I was sorry. He showed me!
We send a lot of time at the beach which is a place they love. At the Wyckoff Y there's a spring-fed, chlorinated lake and it's really a great place for kids. It's exhausting for the adults who bring them. They have absolutely no fear of the water so we do a lot of cringing as they take off towards the bouncer/float in the middle of the lake. This is a really cool float with a climbing wall and it's for kids much older, but they don't seem to get it. They all wear life jackets and Julia enjoys floating on her back, letting the life jacket do its work. She just floats with a giant smile on her face. She also thinks she can swim which is somewhat alarming as she sticks her face in the water and wildly kicks her feet and moves her hands as if she has no control of them. She stops, screams-- and I mean really uses her lungs-- to tell us she's Sweeemming, sweeemming. She delights in this. And other than the fact that my heart jumps in my throat because it appears she's drowning herself, as I grab the strap on her life jacket, I can't help but smile. She also does this in the tub and that's funnier because she has less fear and becomes more wild.
Griffin is a complete rocker. He loves music-- loves it-- and can't help but dance when he hears a good song. We went to a first birthday party last weekend and he spotted the iPod in its dock, so he made his way to it, stood with his ear as close as I'd let him get to it and showed off his moves. You just can't hide that kind of rhythm, folks! I say all the time that it's just in his bones. He also loves words and letters. Any word I ask him to say, he's on it, repeating it, enjoying its sound. I hear him often throughout the day calling out the alphabet the best way he knows how: A, O, D, D, D, O, I, E....
Braddock loves climbing up on everything and if he can knocking it over. They all climb but he's the leader. He climbed up on the bench in the basement yesterday and jumped off before I could stop him. He had that sparkle in his eye that tells me that won't be the last time he jumps that way. He's very physical, likes kicking ball, opening and closing things, building the castle of blocks and smashing it!
Julia calls Braddock Brackie still but she's changed Kiki for Feeky for Griffin, not sure why but that's his name to her. Braddock says Griffin and Griffin does too. Julia just likes Feeky. She can say her own name now, that was the last one she learn. Braddock calls her Juda and Griff says Ju-ya. They do a lot of hugging and kissing. For a mother, there's no happier sight.
All in all, our house is a place of controlled chaos -- most of the time controlled, sometimes just outright chaos. A day in the life of triplet toddlers flies by and is exhausting, but they are growing beautifully, learning rapidly, and keeping a smile on our faces. We'll talk about the tantrums another time....