PITTS TRIP'S: the Pittsenbarger identical triplets saga

Oh Crap! #52-60

2013-05-15T15:19:00.002-07:00

These go way back, as you can see by the long hair! Cozy up it's a long one... : )

Oh Crap! moment #52

I hate when they climb on to tables and for the most part I keep it under control. On a mental lapse I let it slide since it looked harmless and they were having so much fun jumping into the bounce thing. As soon as this happened I had to shut it down!

No one was hurt but really annoyed and lots of crying ensued until his brother got off of him!

Oh Crap! moment #53

This corner met Caleb's face

And that's after we warned him to stop driving his car so closely to the corner!

Oh Crap! moment #54

More random crap I've found in their mouths! It's a piece of a porcelain type lamp they broke and I guess I missed a piece when cleaning up the mess. Look at those sharp corners!

Oh Crap! moment #55

The dangerous stance we found T in. We quickly removed him from there but while we were doing that Caleb was on the other side doing something similar and fell.

And there is Caleb post fall

Oh Crap! moment #56

Caleb would like to demonstrate why you should never trust a 2 year old with a bungy cord.

I smelled a freak accident coming so I quickly took it away!

Oh Crap! moment #57

Here is evidence that Eli knows his lowercase alphabet, I mean how else could he bite such a perfectly marked 'e'!

Oh Crap! moment #58

We had just arrived in California on our last trip and the boys were busy playing in my mom's backyard. At one point Eli approaches me to tell me he had an accident of the poopy kind. Ok so I take him to the bathroom to clean him up, and it's a bad one. The kind that takes about 10 baby wipes and you still don't feel good about the clean up job. So I get the water going to give him a quick bath when I hear some commotion outside. As I finish up the job I walk out to find out the "little mess" the other two made as they were unattended a few minutes. Caleb and Thomas had gotten into the laundry room and poured out an entire bottle of bleach onto the floor. Their shoes and the lower part of their pants got covered in bleach and some sprinkled onto their shirts. They were caught just seconds after they had dumped it out and it was assessed that, THANK GOD no one had drank any! I didn't bother taking a picture or trying to salvage their pants, they were toast. But the shoes I quickly threw in the wash to try and stop the bleach from doing further damage. The other two also got impromptu baths. Naturally I was very upset that they had ruined perfectly good shoes that I really liked! After my cousin suggested it, I went out an bought a fabric marker and colored the bleach spots. I did a pretty good job because you can't hardly tell what happened to them : )

the before picture (sorry no after picture, just trust me, they look good)

Oh Crap! moment #59

So the park around the corner from Phil's parents house has a really big concrete slide. When I lived in Davis and was dating Phil he'd once or twice suggested we go down it. I always thought ok maybe but then when I'd get to the top I quickly would chicken out because I hate thrill rides. My whole childhood I was tormented by the fact that I hated any type roller coaster or ride that drops. Ugh I hate that feeling! Field trips to Great America or Knotts Berry Farms were always a downer as my friends happily rode on them and I'd be at the bottom waiting for them and not having a very fun time. Years later as an adult I've come to terms with my fear or maybe you can say I've embraced it. "So what if I don't like those stupid things and I'm not going to torture myself over it anymore!" Meaning I'm not going to try and muster up the courage and go on one every 5 years and scare the crap out of myself so badly that it takes another 5 years get myself to try it again.

Ok so back to the park, Phil gets a piece of cardboard and down he goes as the boys watch him from below. Of course they all want to go on it. I'm naturally very apprehensive about it but eventually I give in because it doesn't seem too dangerous and after all I'm the scaredy cat so I figure most people would think it's safe. Phil starts giving everyone turns and they are loving it but he can't keep up with the demands so he urges me to try it so I too can give the boys rides on it. Curses! I'm pressured yet again and since I do everything I can to please my children I say, "ok let me try it first so I'm comfortable and then I'll take a kid with me." I get up there and quickly I say, "no never mind I don't want to do it!" But Phil is down there egging me on and I'm thinking it looks too scary. Then Phil's aunt, who was with us, tells me the words of comfort I needed to hear "it looks steep but when you are on it it really doesn't feel like you are going that fast." Since it's concrete I figure yeah there's probably lots of friction so you must not be able to go that fast. So I let go and down I go. It's fine the first 1.5 seconds and then it picks up a notch and I'm going down faster than ever. I start screaming at the top of my lungs and want to bail sooooo bad but I know it will be much much worse if I do. I'm wearing short sleeves, shorts and flipflops so I think of all the scabbed up flesh and possible broken bones if I bail so I just hold on tighter than ever and keep screaming till I get to the bottom. Which took approximately 10 minutes!

NEVER AGAIN!!! Oh crap!!! I can't believe my little boys were on such a frightful thing. NEVER AGAIN will they ride that thing until they are like 12 years old!!!

The view from the bottom, not so menacing right?

The view from the top, scary right!? And Phil used to ride his bike down it as a kid!!!

My precious boys, they look terrified but believe me, they couldn't get enough!

Oh Crap! moment #60

Thomas has had a death wish lately. The boy has had so many falls and injury's lately that I wonder if he isn't going through a growth spurt that's making him more clumsy or something (which I've heard could happen?).

here he got his first scraped chin

his first bloody nose when he fell off the couch face first

Then there's the time he fell off of a bench at the indoor park, bam right on his head!

Just two nights ago, I realized he had crawled into bed with us when we heard a crash proceeded by crying because he had fallen off the bed!

And this one takes the cake. So you know the boys love cutting paper with scissors, possibly one of their favorite activities. On this particular day we failed to put the scissors away after they were done cutting paper. Later that day we were all outside preparing a plot of dirt while Phil went to Lowe's to pick up some sod to lay on that plot. The back door was wide open and Thomas snuck off back into the house, after about a minute I hear him crying and I look into the house. Thomas is holding his hand and has blood running down his hand and onto the floor. I run over and apply pressure to his finger while I ask him what happened. He tell's me the scissors did it. I hadn't gotten a good look at the cut because of the blood so after a solid 2 minutes I take the tissue off of it to see if the bleeding had stopped. It looked like someone had scooped a chunk of skin out of the tip of his finger. And no, the bleeding had not stopped so I continue to apply pressure. I wait another 2 minutes and check again. Nope still bleeding, where the heck is Phil, he should be back already! I'm getting nervous because I can't let go of Thomas' finger and the other two are still outside unattended. As best I could I pick up Thomas and we walk outside so I can get my phone and tell the other two to get inside. As I'm calling Phil I see him pull up. I tell him to call the pediatrician and ask them what we should do. They tell us to take a picture of it and email it to them so they can better know what's going on. I can't get a good picture of it because the bleeding distorts the view of the wound. But whatever, I proceed to try and email it when Phil announces that the bleeding has stopped. Huge sigh of relief! I rinse off the cut and put some Neosporin on it and a band aid. The nurse calls us back and we tell her the bleeding has stopped and she tells us they start to worry if the bleeding doesn't stop after 10 minutes and I'm pretty sure we were very close to 10 minutes!

I later found the scissors along with his skin, how do you cut off such a big chunk!
The boy must have a delayed sense of pain!

close up, you can see the fingerprints!

The picture I took to send to the nurse

One day later, the hole has filled out.

Post four days and it's just a tiny little scab, kids sure do heal fast! Thomas has been really careful with his wounded finger. The first day he didn't use that hand at all and the next he used it very gingerly. By day three he was totally fine but still had a band aid on it. Yesterday I noticed his band aid was missing and he was playing with some gravel just fine. I grabbed his hand to look at it and thought maybe he could go on now with out a band aid but then that's when he noticed it was gone and could do nothing else until he had one on again. My poor baby, I hope this accident prone streak is over!

Train museum

2013-05-10T15:58:00.001-07:00

These are the last pics from our Cali Trip, we are at Phil's parents house in Davis...

Piano pictures never get old!

Eli makin muzak!

CET, pretty guys!

Story time with cousin Korina : )

Is that Thomas under there?!

Train museum with papa Ed and mama Sue

I can get them to hold hands again!

Can you tell he likes trains?

The boys promised to be good at meetings if we got them each a brief case like this.
I don't believe it for a second!

In heaven!

Thomas and papa Ed

Of course Caleb found the firetruck train : )

It's tradition to get candy when in Old Sac (especially bc we can validate parking with it).
Eli here picked some random chocolate candy that I've never heard of.

Thomas picked a watermelon slice.
Can't remember what Caleb got but I think he was disappointed.

So tired after ogling all those trains!

snuggles

Mr. T looking as handsome as ever next to dad's old new bike
that we hauled all the way back to PDX on the roof of our car, yikes!

We didn't have a lot of time in Davis on this trip but I made sure to take the boys to the train museum in Sacramento. It is really impressive and the boys really loved it! I'm sure if we lived in town we'd have a membership there : )

We are settling back into our old routines and I'm especially glad we are back to our old potty routines. Not gonna lie, it probably wasn't a good idea to take such a big trip with THREE freshly potty trained boys (they are about two months out). Initially there were lots of pee accidents but those quickly went away to almost less than back at home. Disgustingly enough we had way too many poop accidents on this trip from Eli and Thomas. Caleb surprisingly had maybe one if any at all and in fact he surprised us on the way home when he started complaining and saying 'caca caca' so we pulled over at the nearest exist and sat him on his potty. Sure enough, he made a big ol' poop! Impressive, especially if you remember that he was the last one to potty train and that they aren't that great at telling me when they need to go (at home they just go on their own when the need to). Anyways looking forward to the weekend with service and lots and lots of much needed yard work! It's been beautiful here and it already feels like summer, hope it's nice were you are. Have a fun weekend everyone! : )

Home Again!

2013-05-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

Last day in the south bay, we tried to do a little photo shoot but it was just too sunny...

with mama Elda

With my sister, B-I-L, and mom

gotta love Caleb's (blue) expression, "are we done yet?"

Eli walking with uncle "Mikey!" and "tia yeya"

Doesn't Eli look like such a big kid here? Like he could be 10 years old!

Please, can I watch dis?

Next we moved on to the east bay to visit Phil's brother and family...

At the water fountains.
If I had known the temps in Cali were going to be 15-20 degrees above normal I would have packed swim trunks!

Thomas got cold, how sweet!

Caleb

When Caleb went missing it was no surprise that we found him with the chickens trying to hug and kiss them!

If all you saw was this sweet smile you'd never know what whippersnapper Eli is!

So handsome : )

Getting in some more bike riding

6 out of 7 Pitts grand-kids!

Even though I easily could have stayed another two weeks, it's good to be home! Every time we roll back into town after a long trip I get this warm fuzzy feeling at the sight of a beautiful city nestled in the green hills with lots and lots of green trees (and not to mention a snow caped Mt Hood in the not too far distance). It always reminds me that I LOVE living in Portland : )

We got back home Saturday evening after 12 hours on the road (9 driving hours + 3hrs of stopping). The boys did exceptionally well on the drive to Cali but not so great on the way home. Two weeks prior to our trip I had been getting them all excited and filling their heads with what was going to happen soon and all the fun we would have in Cali. So naturally they were bursting at the seams with excitement when I woke them up at 3:30 am in the morning and found my mom and sister sleeping on the couch. We ended up leaving at 4:30am and arrived at about 5:30pm (11 driving hours + 2 stopping hrs). I was nervous enough that I splurged for a portable DVD player just in case they were terrors in the car but honestly they didn't really need it. We turned it on just to try it out and let them watch bob the builder. On the way home it was a different story, even though the drive up is 2hrs closer the DVD player was essential! They watched a movie, then charged it up again and played another full length movie. Getting it was a good call : )

As I mentioned the temps in Cali were well above normal, which was fine by me since I enjoy 80-90 degree weather (I draw the line at 95 though) but I just wish I had known it was coming so I could pack accordingly! I packed half light sweater weather clothes and half summer clothes, so of course, we pretty much only used our summer clothes. The last 5 days or so were super windy, boo!, which I blame for the terrible allergies I had, at least I didn't have them the whole time.

We miss everyone a lot and had so much fun. I've made up my mind that next year I can do this trip alone with the boys and will stay longer!

I still have a bunch more pictures from the rest of our trip to look through, so more coming up!

Happy Hallow 2013

2013-05-01T15:17:00.001-07:00

Caleb and T (bellow) were not scared to ride the carousel like last year, yay!

T and my mom, E chose a bench seat with my sister tightly hugging him, what a scaredy cat!

C is such an animal lover, it's so obvious too!

E brushing a goat

After playing in the crooked house for more than an hour, and by play I mean going up the stairs and down the slide like a million times!

Lady bug ride!

Can you tell who is who? Look for the clue : )

woohoo!

This place is called Happy Hallow Park & Zoo but admittedly we skipped all the animals, except the goats of course. We took advantage of the free kiddie rides since we go the the zoo quite regularly in Portland. Now that the boys are a little older they enjoyed the park so much more, I can imagine next year will be even funner!

2 yrs + 7 mo !

2013-04-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves a blog post with lots of pictures, so here you go!

2 years and 7 months old
My only requirement for their monthly picture is that I can see every ones faces, check!
(and they have to be in birth order of course)

my sister and the boys

Eli at the San Jose Flea Market

weeeeeee!!!

the boys got some prezee's : )

I hope Caleb's cat obsession doesn't have him thinking he's one too!

This would have been their monthly picture only someone, of course, had their hands in their mouth!

CTE

Even though C has dirt all over his face, isn't he the cutest!?

biking to the park

A casual picture of Sam and one of the boys, in the back Phil is getting cozy with my brother, haha!

Sadly I had to turn the boys forward facing because with all the crap in our car it would have been impossible to get them out of the car from the back. I wanted to at least make it to three, oh well : ( Of course they like it way better but I don't have peace of mind anymore that they are WAAAY safer rear facing (this is me feeling guilty).

The boys getting the full Ikea shopping experience with breakfast and all, they actually had a blast!

Out side of my sisters work, the boys got to meet some of her co-workers, one of which is a really big fan of them : )

We are still in Cali having a blast and we get to spend another week here. Phil flew in a couple of days ago to join us. Today we left my mom's house after 1.5 weeks which seems like a long time but it always goes too fast! I'm way backed up on pictures so you'll see more South Bay pics later. We are currently in the East Bay with Phil's brother, I'll check in later : )

Cali Trip pt 1

2013-04-24T16:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the brief hiatus, I haven't had any down time (which is a good thing!) and am just today opening up my laptop to dump all the pictures from my phone and camera. There are a ton already so here are a few cute ones from the first couple of days.

Superhero Caleb

Super hero Thomas

Super hero Eli

Got to meet the latest addition to the family.
Me, my sister, my cousin, and my cousin's 3 week old baby.
Not the best picture of us but at least we are all together!

My aunt came over and made 90 empanadas, I probably gained 5lbs that day!
And probably 10lbs so far, we've been eating sooo good : )

Eli

Caleb

Cool dude Caleb or Thomas
(I'm not sure the exact identity, I remember this being Thomas but the orange bike is Caleb's)

Eli making hotwheel ice cubes!

WARNING: Eating apple sauce out of the lid with a straw can be dangerous, helmets are recommended.

You'll notice an abundance of pictures of the boys on their bikes over the next few posts. Bringing them was the best idea I've had since deciding to buy them, all they want to do is ride them! The weather down here is perfect right now and I'm so glad we came this time of year. We're having a blast and hopefully I can post again in a couple of days : )

Historic Fire Station Tour

2013-04-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

C found the ax

T is the standing firefighter

I could not get Caleb out of the Firetruck cabin, you'll see why in the next pic

The windows are actually screens showing real footage of firefighters responding to calls in Portland
(anyone recognize the turnabout?)

This is when I finally convinced Caleb to get out after spending most of the time inside

See Caleb, there are other fun things to see and do!

all the boys were pro's at sliding down the pole

me and my boys!

Mr. T looking like a little man : )

My mom and sister flew in yesterday to help me with the drive down to Cali (yes I know they are crazy and I told them so). Phil will join us next week since he can't take too much time off because of his new job. We are hoping to make the drive down all in one go, I'm very nervous about it since the boys are newly potty trained and aren't good car travelers! Perhaps as you are reading this we might be somewhere along I-5 right now or better yet at our final destination! The car is loaded mostly with the boys stuff and I packed all my light sweaters so I think we're all set, SF Bay Area here we come!

Will report back in a couple of days : )

Pretend Scenes

2013-04-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

Unbeknownst to me, Thomas was hungry so he went to the fridge pulled out his milk and yogurt and grabbed himself a spoon. He sat down and so he started eating. I turn around thinking where is Thomas? This boy isn't gonna starve anytime soon!

Caleb's pretend scene #1 (shall we start a new series???). I wonder what the cats where doing? Are they putting out the fire or are they being saved from the fire?

Pretend scene #2. All the boys have an understanding, the pig lives in the tow truck of course!
He's been in there for several days even after each boy has played with it.

Took the boys to the train museum, we were fortunate enough to see some construction equipment before going in!

I thought it was so cute how Thomas kept his hands in his pockets!

It's so hard to keep pants on these kids, so 1 out of 3 ain't bad!

These are serious push ups considering that's 50 lbs on Phil's back!

It's spring! Blueberry bushes, strawberry patch, mini apple tree, and raspberry vines are all in bloom!
Here to hoping the boys don't eat everything the minute it's visible like last year!

It's crunch time at the Pittsenbarger house, in just a couple of days we'll be heading out to Cali! We are so excited to see everyone again and enjoy warmer weather filled with the glorious SUN!

But I'm starting to panic because I suddenly remember how bad my allergies get down there in the spring time. Oh no, is my plan to avoid the scorching summer heat backfiring on me?!? We shall see I guess...

Together or Apart?

2013-04-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Best Friends Forever!

I ran into this very informative article that shows an infographic about the latest research on how multiples do in school when either in the same class room or in separate class rooms. This is a very hot topic among parents of multiples and for a while now I've been feeling guilty that I cared so little about the topic even though I think a lot about life after the boys go off to school. The reason I felt guilty is because I want to keep my boys together as long as possible so that I don't have to deal with three different teachers and three different sets of homework packets each night. Yes I'm selfish and want to take the easy road (see, sometimes it is easier to have multiples!). Over and over again I hear the argument about multiples needing to be separated in school so that they become individuals and less co-dependent. It makes sense but still, I don't want to deal with three different sets of homework every night!

So, along comes this article Twins in the Classroom and now I feel like I have a clearer view of things. If you don't feel like reading it, I will summarize the main points:

1. Multiples separated early had more anxiety and emotional distress than those kept in the same classroom. And that this is especially true of IDENTICAL multiples. (red flag for me!)

2. Multiples separated had LOWER reading scores than those kept in the same classroom.

Fraternal vs Identical

1. Identical multiples separated in school showed higher levels of depression, anxiety, social withdrawal and other internalizing problems.

2. Identical multiples when separated at age 7 had poorer reading abilities.

3. Fraternal multiples separated after one year in school together worked harder in school than those kept together

It just goes to show what a special and unique bond identical multiples have and that it is a different kind of bond than those seen in fraternal multiples (and of course frat multiples share a unique bond that is different from fraternal siblings).

I read all of the sources that were used to write this article and found an insightful quote about the argument of separating multiples so they become individuals,

…”Many people may think this might be micro-parenting . . . but this idea that twins won’t be individuals if they stay in the same classroom is so misguided and not based on research,” said Nancy L. Segal, a psychology professor and director of the Twins Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton. (taken from here)

This argument has always bothered me a little since the same thing can be said about sharing the same room. Are your children doomed for life because you can't afford a house with more rooms? Or what of kids who are home schooled, are they doomed too? I'm very glad to hear it has no real basis and is contrary to what research has found.

And another one of the sources argues this:

"There's research that suggests that when friends are in the same class, they're more exploratory, they cling to the teacher less,"..."So if we're worried about individuality, why do we let best friends go to school together?"(taken from here)

At least for me that seals the deal and I feel better about feeling the way I felt before. I want to keep my boys in the same classroom at least until they are old enough to tell me they want to be separated or when they start middle school, whichever comes first. At the moment I don't feel like my guys are overly co-dependent of each other and love to go places with mom and dad one on one. Of course I can't see into the future so if there are issues that need to be addressed that would be solved by separating them I would definitely consider it, we all know our children the best so it's certainly up to the parents to make the decisions that they feel are right regardless of what research shows.

Imaginary M&M's

2013-04-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Didn't I tell you that Caleb loves his kitties : )
I must add, what a handsome boy I have!

KH basement play time to get our wiggles out!

What we caught Eli doing while doing his business in the bathroom.
The boy has the Bible out!

Caleb came to see what all the fuss is about

I thought it a shame that we can't do something out side when it's raining and not too cold.
So I made a little porch sandbox/mini construction site!

Updates

So Caleb if you all remember was the only one I had to bribe to get him to use the potty. Well it's been over 2 weeks since I weaned him off of it and so now every time he uses the bathroom he gives himself imaginary m&m's. It's too funny to see him say "m&m" and then grab at the air and put the imaginary m&m in his mouth!

I've been noticing Caleb's pretend play lasting longer and longer these days. He's been playing with his wooden fire truck a lot and he'll move the firemen up and down the ladder and have them put out fires. It's so cute to watch and I think more intense pretend play is just around the corner for these guys. I can't wait and can even see myself joining in on their fun!

As you saw in the pictures above Eli has been "reading" books as he does his morning business in the bathroom. He likes refiling though our bookshelf that's near the bathroom and picks out something to "read." I must adds that this bookshelf is filled with either Bible literature or Phil and I's old college textbooks (which I'm not sure why we still keep around we surely need the space!). He'll go back and forth several times getting different stuff before he's said and done in the bathroom. He's been spending almost 20 minutes in the bathroom some days!

Recently I filled out a 30 month (2.5yrs) ASQ to track the boys development since it was mandatory for the boys nursery school program. In almost every category, except speech of course, the boys scored ahead of the curve! In fact one of the questions asks "can your child point to at least 7 different body parts?" I immediately marked off 'yes' but then I thought about it and said to my self "they can do it in both Spanish and English!" I have some smart boys, most American adults can't do that!

Friday Flashback!

2013-04-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

This video depicts why the boys, who were born at exactly 34 weeks, could not come home right away. This is day two of life and the boys had only had an iv in to keep them hydrated so it was time to get them eating. For the first few days once feedings had commenced the boys were fed 20 ml (that a little more than half and ounce) every three hours. And as you will see it kind of went like this most days and wouldn't even finish half their bottles! I question the term 'learning how to eat' as is often used and think the time in the NICU was spent catching up developmentally so they could nourish them selves sufficiently via a bottle (as we all know the breast came much later). They came home drinking 30 ml every three hours and it took them 20 minutes to drink it and hence why we got such little time to sleep! At this age you could not feed all three at once if one person was doing the feedings : (

So anyways prepare for some serious cuteness as mama Sue attempts to give Caleb his first bottle (sadly I had to miss this since I was too weak to get out of bed that day). WARNING: Those with feeble health need not watch, it may induce a cuteness over load!

Tulip Festival 2013

2013-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

CET

group shots weren't going to be coming easy today...well are they ever?

with my three little ducks : )

E clogging it up!

Best grin of the day goes to Eli!

the guys

I love this picture, wish I had thought to take my sunglasses off, it would have been a framer!

Dith? (this)

my three lovelys : )

so beautiful!

up they go

final group shot try, they are waiting for me to hand them mints.
Bribery, it sort of works : (

Cute little video of Caleb with a lady bug he found. Translation for what he says, "spider spider, WOW"

The boys let out a weeks worth of energy out in a matter of 3 hours! They were moving so fast we couldn't hardly keep up with them. Last year at the tulip fest we got much better pictures of them since they weren't nearly as fast! It was a beautiful day at 75 degrees and not a single cloud in the sky (not the best for pictures though). Till next year!

Exactly 2.5 Years Old!

2013-03-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

They are getting so BIG and quickly shedding the remaining remnants of baby-hood : (

More pics from last weekend...

Caleb and I on a very chilly Saturday

Eli and dad

C and E

In case anyone wonders how we leave the park without kicking and screaming...bribery!
I always come prepared with graham crackers : )

Little feet

Phil took Monday off because he was starting a new job on Tuesday. It was a beautiful day to spend outside as a family so glad he had the day off! The boys got to dust off their bikes and spent several hours riding them!

Thomas is getting really good on his bike and can balance on it for really long stretches!

The boys love riding up and over the pitchers mound

Getting coffee after the park

Updates

I think Caleb has been swatted at enough times by our crazy cat that now he blames all injuries on the cat. One day Phil came out after shaving and was bleeding because he cut himself and Caleb quickly points to it and says 'diddle diddle?' (kitty). Same thing when he gets hurt, he points to where he bumped himself and says 'diddle diddle' and makes me kiss the boo boo. He is certainly not afraid of cats in fact he is crazy about them (definitely more than his brothers)! He is always trying to pick them up and give them kisses. Whenever we are out we look for neighborhood cats and pet them. I'm giving my self a 'well done' for turning my boys into cat people. It's not a first, I did the same thing with my brother, with my sister's help of course : )

So like I mentioned in their 2.5 year picture the boys are quickly shedding all remaining baby like qualities. Along with diapers we also just ditched their high chairs and traded them in for booster seats. We could have done it sooner but I wanted to protect my table a little longer (it may just be the only nice thing left in my house). Now that throwing while eating isn't as big of an issue, it should be a little safer but I just need to be careful not to give them real silverware so they don't scratch or dent it. Here's to hoping. The next if not last baby thing to ditch is cribs. Phil has one more test to take before getting his licence so after that and our trip to Cali next month he'll get cracking on building their super cool toddler beds. I intended on keeping them in cribs till at least 3 (it's triplet policy to milk the crib thing as long as possible, if you have triplets you know what I mean) but I think once we see the beds built it will be too tempting not to try them out!

Oaks Park

2013-03-26T14:01:00.001-07:00

It felt like we hadn't done anything new or fun with the boys in a while so after brainstorming ideas we decided to take the boys to Oaks Park. It's basically a permanent carnival but it has a small train that's pretty cool. I normally don't like carnival's but for some reason it's permanence makes this one a little less creepy. We thought the boys would really like the train but would be scared of the kiddie rides. Let's see how they did...

loving the train...ate their lunch while gawking at it

Caleb and dad riding on the train

It was supposed to be sunny and a lot warmer but they got it wrong and I was freezing!

Eli and I were watching from down below

C&T, the brave boys that rode this scary ride!

Eli finally got brave enough to try a ride, this might have been their favorite!

The bouncy boat scared the crap out of Caleb!

CET, not wanting to leave the park!

Thomas gets the bravery award since he rode each ride and liked them all! Caleb was just scared by the last ride and Eli didn't get on two out of the 5 rides. Each time they were on a ride I couldn't help but think that someone would try to jump out and wished it was over faster. I have to keep telling myself to let go and not be so over protective! It was our little splurge for the boys, not realizing they would like the rides so much we bought individual tickets : ( Next time we'll do wrist bands for unlimited rides even though it's still very pricey : )

Here is a video of the boys on rides, it's not that interesting so this is mostly for grandparents and aunties : ) If you watch it notice how after the little car ride is over Thomas (red) and Caleb (dark blue) say 'mas mas mas' (more). And you may not see Caleb but you'll hear him yelling in the background while riding the boat ride!

I Deem Thee...

2013-03-22T14:52:00.003-07:00

POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CET

We were just waiting on Caleb to catch up to his brothers to make it official, funny he's also the one we were waiting on to leave the NICU, I guess some things never change! Of course potty training is a process and we are still a little rough around the edges but for the most part we are all daytime potty trained! A few days ago Caleb took a turn for the better and has not only been pooping in the potty consistently but he also tells me when he needs to go. And it gets even better, I don't put anything special on Caleb for nap time, he always wakes up dry! I can almost say it for bed time but the problem is that he wakes up crazy early (like 5:45am), and I have to draw the line somewhere, I refuse to get out of bed before 6:15am! He climbs into bed with us and since he's happy to just snuggle till then, I've been taking it! The times I've gotten up before him he is usually dry, so I think he wakes up dry and then just lets it go after a few minutes because he has now realized that the pull up will not feel wet (curse modern day convenience!). Ok so maybe I need to change and make the effort to take him to the bathroom within minutes of his waking, but it's just sooooo haaard. I need to get over it and experiment with sending him to bed in underwear and get my butt out of bed the minute I hear him wake up...we'll see. The other two are still 50/50 in that department.

Where They Are At

When we are at home they all tell me when they need to use the potty and I always go with them to help (mostly because I'm afraid of someone falling into the toilet, it's happened twice already). If they only have undies on or a soft pair of pants they can pull them down and up themselves but a lot of the time I have to help because the elastic gets all twisted. Eli almost exclusively uses the toilet (not a little potty), which is fine by me, less to clean up! Caleb mostly pee's in the toilet but likes to poop in a little potty. Thomas prefers his little potty for both but when we are out he is fine with using the toilet.

All bets are off when we aren't at home. They get very distracted and forget to tell me when they need to go (they do a lot of the time but can't be trusted just yet), so it's up to me to keep track and just take them to the bathroom without asking them. I don't think they can go more than 2 hrs so ideally I take them every 1.5 hrs when we are out (small bladders run in this family).

Accidents are still happening but each week it feels like there are less and less, at the moment we have one maybe two tops each day (that's between all of them, so each boy has maybe one accident every other or third day). Today no one has had any accidents : )

What I've learned

My patience has gone way up since starting potty training mostly because I wanted to be diaper free more than anything! I really tried to figure out what was upsetting each kid (for unrelated potty matters) and keep them as happy as possible so they would be more cooperative in the bathroom. Instead of giving up after a few seconds or just sending them to time out because they were being unreasonable I worked harder to make everyone happy. Not easy but it payed off!

My Two Cents

Here's what I've concluded after everything I've heard, read and all we've been through. Most kids are developmentally capable of potty training by 18 mo (as can be seen in recent history or in other countries, click here if don't believe me this is actually really interesting). BUT you really do have to start when they are very young, like before they can walk. From what I've read it's not a daunting time consuming process. You just start off by taking them to the potty once a day and making it a fun event. From there you keep building up, twice a day, three times a day. If by coincidence baby goes in the potty give it lots of praise! Babies are VERY smart, they will catch on quickly and you can kiss your diaper bill goodbye before you kid(s) turn 2. WHY OH WHY didn't I know this sooner! I should have registered for potty's not Bumbos!!!

So if you start late (after 2 yrs) like I did, plain and simple, you are at you kids mercy! If you've ever dealt with a kid during the terrible two's (or three's for that matter) you know what I mean! Who know's what's going on in their brains, with all their crazy whims, impulsiveness, and tantrums. Honestly, it's a miracle that any kid potty trains between the ages of 2-4! The term 'potty training readiness' really should be changed to 'does your child want to.' With the little resistance Caleb gave me I realized you cannot make a child do something that they don't want to! I struck gold with my three, yes I'm bragging, I deserve this one after all those sleepless nights, living attached to a pump for 4 months, and sacrificing everything else I've sacrificed since their conception! 'Thank you, thank you my boys for giving me this precious gift!' I just could not imagine another year of diapers! No No No No NO! Even though I was all stressed out, after thinking what it could have been like, it really was a piece of cake! I can't take a lot of credit, it was mostly them, they wanted to and they did. But a lot can be said about being as patient as possible and being as encouraging as you can be while the process is taking place. So that's my two cents and that's probably all it's worth, ha!

And a very special thanks to all that gave me advice, you know who you are! : )

Fall of the Baby Prison!

2013-03-19T16:18:00.001-07:00

Kinda creepy, right?

One kibble for you, one kibble for me!

swinging times

Everyone up the rope ladder!

toddler push ups?

Fall of the baby prison!

My living room has gone through many many changes in the last two and a half years, mostly because we have a small house. We don't have a play room or space for one so the living room has taken that role. The first stage was 'baby carnival,' our living room looked like one with swings, jumpy chairs, bumbo's and the like covering every square inch. Once babies began to crawl we brought out the superyard/fence and created the 'baby prison' stage, yes we caged the babies up but it was for their safety. Once they began to walk the space was simply too small so we opened up most of the living room and used the superyard to keep the boys safe from the fireplace and to protect the laptop, lamp, tv as well as to store toys so the boys didn't dump everything out at once and create monumental messes (helpful for toy rotation too!). We also put up a gate so the boys couldn't go into the kitchen and the rest of the house, thus creating the 'modified baby prison.' It really wasn't much of a prison since they had the living room, dining room and their bedroom to play in but it did keep them out of the kitchen, our bedroom, the bathroom and the basement.

It was long over due since the boys are fairly well behaved now and will listen when we tell them to stop messing with something (they do have their moments of course and must always be supervised). Since potty training began we haven't even been closing the gate that keeps the boys from the kitchen and the rest of the house because the boys need to be able to go to the bathroom (but more because I don't want to open and close that thing 300 times a day). So on a whim we decided to take down the superyard and see what happens. Of course within minutes EVERYTHING was dumped on the ground. The solution was simple, so I don't think we need the superyard any more! Bye bye for good baby prison : )

Baby carnival stage, 0-8mo

baby prison stage, 9-13mo

modified baby prison stage, in case you forgot what my living room, up till recently, looked like. 13mo-2.5yrs

post taking down the fence, monumental mess.
Its a good thing I thought to at least hide the legos!

My simple solution, cornered the couch, plenty of toy storage behind the couch now!
They can still get to stuff but at least it slows them down!

Our house is starting to look more like a house and not a daycare!

Smarty Pants (height corrections)

2013-03-15T16:18:00.001-07:00

These smarty pants can do this ABC puzzle in their sleep!
We need to start working on our lower case letters, so we'll need a new puzzle!

Look at those scissor skills! Need I remind you they are only 2.5!

CET, crappy phone pictures made cute by instagram : )

Eli being his cute self

Updates

So I suspected the last height measurements I reported were a little off. I measure the boys at home and I thought they were all at least 33 inches but when they were measured at a WIC appt they told me they were 32.75, 32.5, 32.25 (CET) but a week later their pre-preschool teacher measured them to be:

Caleb 34 in 12th percentile

Eli 33.5 in 5th percentile

Thomas 33.5 in 5th percentile

* (found a calculator online for the % so who knows how accurate they are)

I think this is closer to the truth because they've had two growth spurts since their 2 yr check up. Since then I not only switched them to 18 mo pants but I also recently stopped having to fold the cuffs of their pants. So anyways, happy Friday everyone!

Three Ring Circus

2013-03-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

At the park, top TC, bottom ETC

having a swinging good time!

T found some hello kitty glasses at the indoor park and wore them the entire time

playing with a cute dog at the park

Updates

So Eli and Thomas are pretty much fully daytime potty trained but I can't take too much credit for it since they pretty much trained themselves. Between the two of them I maybe have one accident every other day, which is not bad considering it has only been 2 weeks! Caleb is a whole different story, not sure why he is choosing to be different on this one since they have done EVERYTHING else the same. He's been frustrating me mostly because the other two boys spoiled me. He hardly never tells me when he has to go, he will always tell me that he doesn't need to go when I ask him, which I can live with so I just take him every 1.5 hrs. He always complains right before he sits down but he always does because he knows he needs to go. This is not so good when it comes to pooping because it's a hard thing to predict, he's gone twice in the pot, a week apart. I have to be patient and keep telling my self it's only been two weeks, it's only been two weeks, he'll get there...

All the boys are doing decent with staying dry through nap time and bed time even. Maybe about half the time they wake up dry, not bad in my opinion. Staying dry while asleep is a bonus in my book!

I have been relishing in all the money we are saving being almost diaper free (2/3rds the cost is now gone! 1/3 goes to pull ups for bedtime). We are going to recycle that money back into the boys for fun classes, like music or swimming. It will help immensely if the boys give up nap time anytime before they start preschool, which won't be for another year and half since they missed the Sept 1st birth date cutoff by 27 days (oh well I'd rather they be a little older for school anyways). No nap = crazy mama = anti anxiety medication.

Three ring circus

There are times when I feel like I'm in a three ring circus, with the advent of potty training those times are at all time high! Taking all three into a public bathroom by myself is stressful to say the least. I have one child on the toilet, one that is flushing the toilet non stop, and a third doing who knows what (eating toilet paper maybe)?! I can yell all the empty threats I want but who am I kidding, I'm at their mercy, if I upset them and they refuse to pee I'm the one that pays for that one! When we finally get out of the stall, I really don't feel like washing their hands. If there are people around I will just to save face but if no one is around I'll wash my own hands and get out as fast as possible! Gross I know but what's the point when by the time I get all their hands washed the first two I washed have already re-touched every square inch of the bathroom, pointless.

Pre-bed/nap time is also a three ring circus time because the boys all get out of bed several times to 'pee' before they are willing to accept it's time to sleep. Oh and I should mention it's the only time Caleb actually says he has to pee! A lot of the times they actually do pee so it's not always a bluff. It's too early to crack down on this.

The other time it's a three ring circus is anytime we are about to leave the house. Why, you ask? Because it's the only time I'm really trying to be productive, make lunches, change clothes, etc. So of course I'm not watching every move they make, fights break out, there is unexplained screaming and I have no idea what's happening and can't be a fair judge, someone wants to be held but I need to do stuff! This is why it's the only time I try to be productive when they are awake with no other adult in the house. And don't get me started about getting them in the car!!!

Flashback Friday!

2013-03-08T15:41:00.001-08:00

Flashback to 33 weeks!

One more brutal week to go!

Flashback to day 1!

wish I could tell you who this is but too hard to tell especially with a hat on!

No time to write anything, huge pile of laundry needs to be folded, happy Friday everyone!

Lots of Updates!

2013-03-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

Sculpting

Caleb as a man of authority

Ice cream!

Potty Training Update

Eli and Thomas are pretty much over achievers and I'm almost ready to declare them potty trained! Eli pooped on day one and was accident free by day 2. He's been pooping consistently in the potty, can pretty much pee on command, is now comfortable with going in the big potty, and has stayed dry several times through nap time (limiting drinks bf naps is really helping everyone with this). Thomas is pretty much like Eli only it took him over a whole week to finally poop in the potty, he's done it twice now and I'm thinking we shouldn't have a problem there anymore. Neither has needed bribing : )

Caleb is still a little challenging, we've been going back in forth with accident free days and then 2/3 accidents on other days. He's finally starting to tell me (more like show me) that he needs to go potty. I can tell because I see him walk towards the bathroom but once he's in there he starts messing with things so I have to direct him towards the potty. He's a little resistant to sit down at home but bribing him with m&m's has really helped (for some reason he's more willing to sit when we are out and about). He actually pooped in the potty yesterday! Funny that it took him less time than Thomas, it must be because we made such a big deal about it with the other two. So relieved they have all pooped! I was really starting to stress out about it because the more I asked and talked to others the more I realize how common it is for kids to have a really hard time with pooping in the potty. I had no idea this was even an issue, I just always figured it was a package deal!

Even though potty training is going super well it's still a very stressful time, I'm willing to say the most stressful time I've been through with these guys! Phil and I took the boys to the children's museum this weekend and then out to ice cream to test the waters. We had one poop accident (Caleb) and Eli peed his pants because I didn't listen to him (I thought he could hold it a little longer). Very stressful, cleaning up accidents, multiple trips to the bathroom, constantly thinking about how long ago each of the boys went to the bathroom and when they'll need to go next in case they don't tell me they need to go. I think I'll need to give it at least another week before I feel comfortable going out by myself again with the boys for extended periods of time. And there goes spending entire mornings at the park, I can hold it for 3 hrs but I don't think the boys can so we'll have to keep it to 1 hr at the park until the bathrooms open up for the summer : (

Other Updates

The boys are talking a ton, I think their language is really blooming at this point and they are adding more and more words to their vocabulary. I wouldn't call it an explosion but slow and steady has been the pattern with everything they have done. It's funny what they choose to say because I honestly have never gotten them to say a word of my choice. I could ask them to try and say, for example, 'frog' all day long for weeks but I'd be wasting my time, these guys DO NOT like to perform. Everything they have ever said has been their choosing and has come as a surprise to me. I pretty much don't worry about their language development anymore, except for the other day when I heard a tiny 18mo old girl speaking in full sentences, what!? How is that possible...we girls are so awesome!

I continue to speak to the boys mostly in Spanish but many of the books I get from the library are in English (Spanish selection is skimpy), we read tons of books everyday. When Phil is home we speak to each other in English. Consequently, about 70% of their vocabulary is English! Oh well, I know it's all being stored in their brains for later so I'm not too worried. They have recently added 'ara~na' (Spanish for spider) to their vocab, yay! Please more Spanish! They pronounce it 'anya', it's so cute! They also call anything with a lid or a cap (including doors) a door only they say 'dooa.' And can't forget duck, which they say as 'guck.' So yes we are still at the stage where I'm probably the only one that understands what they are saying.

I haven't tested them extensively but I'm confident to say that the boys know most, if not all, of their abc's. They ~~can't~~ won't verbalize the letters but can point them out when I ask where such and such letter is. And many times they'll point to a letter of their choice and say a word that starts with that letter. For M they will say m&m, for A they will say 'agua,' etc. They love looking at my iPhone ABC's flashcards (it's our bath time entertainment). We talk about the letter and a word that starts with the letter and especially the sound the letter makes (this should help when we start to sound out words). We do it all in Spanish and sadly I can't seem to consistently sing the abc song in Spanish (the ending is always different) so I guess we'll just have to save that for when they are ready to learn the English abc's (thank goodness they are so similar). The boys amaze me at how easily they learn things, already they know more of their abc's than some kids entering kindergarten!

The boys appetite is way down but I think it's because they just had a little growth spurt and had been eating a lot. They are still shrimps since most people that meet them for the first time usually guess that they aren't even two yet. Today I got 18months, haha! The boys were weighed and measured recently:

Caleb weight 25lbs 6oz, height 32.75 in (2nd percentile)
Eli weight 24lbs 10oz, height 32.5 in (1st percentile)
Thomas 25lbs 6oz, height 32.25in (1st percentile)

For a point of reference, about another half inch and they will be half as tall as their dad (who is 5'7'', mama is 5'2'' )! So we are not expecting them to be tall, nor do I care or think tallness is in anyway a good or bad attribute, unless they end up really wanting to be professional basketball players, ha!

Eli's in! (2yr 5mo)

2013-02-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

CET 2 years and 5 months!

It's a long one so cozy up!

Potty Training Update

Thomas (1 full week into training)
I started him last Thursday evening and for the last several days has been consistently accident free, if he has one it's usually my fault in some way. He hasn't pooped in the potty yet and is still waking up wet from naps, he stayed dry one time so there is hope, I think. Most of the time he tells me when he has to go, I have to help him pull down/up his undies. When we are out he has no fear of the big potties but I can tell he is distracted so he forgets to tell me he has to go, so I have to remember to take him to the bathroom.

Caleb (4 days into training)
I started him Sunday evening and he's been challenging. He pees a lot in the potty but also has lots of accidents and I sometimes have trouble getting him to sit on the potty. I think he needs a little motivation so I started rewarding him with an m&m. I have to be careful with bribery because it back fired on me once. After three consecutive accidents I tried getting him to pee by telling him I'd give him an m&m if he peed and he started crying because I wouldn't give him any after he didn't pee. So I think we just have to establish a pattern of pee then reward and not talk about it until I see he's peed. Today it seems like something has clicked, I'll elaborate more in a sec. He won't tell me when he has to go so I try to take him to the bathroom every hour or so and he can't pull down his undies but can pull them up.

Eli (3 days into training)
I started him Tuesday after he got potty training envy (thank you Thomas for setting such a good example!). I didn't want to do them all at once and felt that Eli would be the hardest to train, but how could I say no to a child that is telling me he wants to try! I'd be crazy right? He has done remarkably well, pretty much accident free starting on day 2. What's more remarkable is that he even pooped the very first day!!! I made a huge deal and called his brothers over to see the awesomeness that had just occurred. And yes I took a picture of it and no I'll save your last meal and not show it to you. I did text the picture to Phil and he replied "nice turd." We all saw Eli flush it down the toilet. Yesterday morning he woke up with a poopy diaper and today he has yet to poop so I'm hoping he does it again. Like Caleb he can't pull down his undies but can pull them up.

Needless to say I'm extremely happy with how fast all the boys have made progress, I was certainly not expecting it. I'm not terribly worried about getting them to sleep through the night dry, honestly Phil and I hardly ever get through a night without waking up to pee once, so when they are a little older we'll probably have to get them up once to pee until they can do it on their own. I am fully committed at getting them to at least wake up dry from their naps and using as few diapers as possible. So for now I'm going to limit their drinks before nap time, they eat lunch at 12pm so no more drinks after that. Nap time is at 2pm and we'll stay in underwear unless I can convince them to put on the cloth training pants with an outer vinyl shell that I bought (they don't seem to be too keen on those). Diapers will only be worn at night for bed time.

The little potty's are great, we have four, two green ones, a red one and one of a different brand that looks like a dinosaur. We also have a toilet ring adjuster which I'm keeping in my car along with a potty. So there are three different potty's in the bathroom, thankfully it's worked to my advantage because the boys like to pick which potty they sit on, this helps to distract them if they seem reluctant to sit down. There hasn't been too much fighting over who gets which, and I just tell them to wait if they want to use an occupied potty. Eventually I do want to be able to travel without towing a potty around. Last night at meeting (the 2nd time leaving the house with Caleb and Eli) I brought the toilet ring adjuster so the boys could use the big potty. We went to the bathroom twice, Caleb and Eli both sat on it ok but didn't pee. After the 2nd time both peed their pants within minutes of getting off the toilet. This tells me they are not very comfortable with the big toilet yet. We'll work on this too, Thomas has no issues with the big potty.

Today when I dropped off the boys at nursery school we also brought along 6 pairs of underwear, 6 pairs of pants, and 3 pairs of socks and one of our potty chairs from home. As you can see I expected the worst. Different environment different people, and remember up to this point Caleb is still having lots of accidents. I tried not to stress during my much needed couple of hours to run errands. When I picked them up their teacher had wonderful news, zero accidents and all peed three times during their time at school! This is one proud mama!

We have been pretty much staying at home due to potty training and I'm starting to get cabin fever (I'm sure the boys are as well). We had been getting out a lot before so now we always have a few hours each day where we just run out of fun stuff to do, so consequently we've also have been watching lots of TV. I'm not apologizing for it, it keeps us sane, I figure after we all get comfortable with this we'll start back with our old routines and way less TV!

Some art work the boys brought home from school, not exactly master pieces : )

Star Pupil (Potty Training Progress)

2013-02-25T16:14:00.002-08:00

Eli has a new trick

Caleb can do it too : )

they look so different in this picture, am I the only one that see's it?

Mr. T my star pupil!

Thomas has totally impressed me, he has made so much progress in just 4 short days. It's going better than I could have ever dreamed of! Day one he went in the potty more times than had accidents. Day two he had maybe two accidents tops and we made it to Target and back without incident. Day three ZERO accidents and he even woke up dry after a three hour nap! That day I took him to the grocery store without a problem and then went to meeting later in the day where he used the big potty with the ring adjuster so he doesn't fall in. Day 4 he had one accident but it was my fault. The boy LOVES peeing in the potty, he sit's down in the red potty to pee, when he's done he gets up to dump his pee in the toilet, then flushes. Many times he'll sit back down again but on the green potty and pee's again! Thomas has some serious bladder control and sometimes I don't even have to tell him it's time to go, he just jumps up and yells 'peepee, peepee' and I run after him to help him pull down his undies.

We are no where from done since he still wakes up wet from a full nights sleep and he has yet to poop in the potty. The biggest challenge right now is waking up before he gets up in the mornings (they wake up crazy early!). If he get's up first he'll most likely poop in his diaper and of course it's our only chance of the day to get him to poop in the potty (I feel he's holding back because they all poop 2-3 times a day). Any advice? Not sure what to expect with this one?

When either Caleb or Eli see's Thomas going they start pulling on their diapers because they want to try too which I never have the heart to say no to. I made a big deal once and told the boys to look at how much peepee Thomas had made and Thomas proudly took his pee over to his brothers to show them before he dumped it in the toilet. Eli several days would just sit there but nothing would come out but today he actually went! Caleb went each time I let him try so yesterday I threw him into the potty training ranks. He is not as easy as Thomas since it's a little challenging getting him to sit on the potty, he's at about 50/50, half of the time in the pot the other half is accidents but still not too bad.

Remember how I once said I'd throw them a party if they potty trained before 3? Well it looks like I better start planning! Can it be done, a cake made to look like a potty anyone?

Potty Training pt 4

2013-02-22T16:46:00.001-08:00

ECT watching a puppet show, and Thomas hugging the puppet afterwards : )

so many little leggys!

Since my last attempt at potty training I've spent a lot of time thinking (aka stressing out) about this matter. I think about my special soap for diaper covers that just ran out, the last tub I bought lasted me 2 years! But what was I to do, I had to buy another tub, no telling when they'll potty train. I also thought about my diaper covers getting very worn out and not wanting to replace them because they are very expensive! I have also been thinking that our onesies are all looking worn out but we must use them because the cloth diapers will fall off otherwise...I don't want to invest in more onesies either! I don't want to start using disposables either because I want them to feel wet and uncomfortable! Ugh, I just don't want to change diapers anymore!!! I'm sick of it, so dang sick of it! Ahhh!

So I got a notice from the library a few days ago that a book I had put on hold was available for pick up. It's called Diaper Free Before 3 (Lekovic), I chose it only from the title, another book I put on hold is Toilet Training in a Day, who knows when I'll get that one! Why is there such a long hold on this one if everyone is done potty training in one day?! HA! Anyways, so I picked up the book yesterday and pretty much read the entire thing (ok I skipped a lot of stuff) while the boys napped. It talks a lot about how you don't have to wait for 'signs of readiness' (which I like) but you have to start at like 6 months (boo, I'm too late)! Potty training was the last thing on my mind at 6 months, I tell you it really is something that is deeply embedded in culture because who in the US starts potty training at 6 months!? I started feeling down that I had missed the boat already, well I still read on and I must say I really like the book even though in our case I may be too late. A lot of good points are made, looking back at recent history MOST kids were potty trained by 18 months!!! Yes can you imagine 18 months!?! What has happened? The disposable diaper, is what happened! Yes, modern day convenience has us all thinking backwards. At one point formula was thought to have liberated women from the laborious nature of breastfeeding, boy was that wrong! Another good point that was made was that if a kid can speak in full sentences, recite his ABC's, drink from a cup or what have you at the age of 3 then why couldn't he also use the potty? She shares lots of scientific data that shows kids are fully aware of their bladders and bowel movements at a very early age and can control them. I almost want to have another kid to try her methods, almost, hahaha!

So I was feeling a little defeated and back to accepting the fact that I have no other choice than to subscribe to the notions of waiting for 'signs of readiness.' However, I was all pumped up after reading this book that I couldn't help myself from trying again. Thomas is my best bet because lately he has been randomly pointing to his diaper and saying 'peepee, caca' I can't say for sure but I could only guess he was telling me when he was going peepee but still not many other 'signs of readiness.' So when Thomas got up from his nap I sprung it on him, 'do you want to wear big boy undies and use the potty?' He gave me a half smile like 'whatever' and I ran to get a pair of undies for him. So a full 24 hrs later and he has peed in the potty more times than had accidents! It is amazing to see him sit down and pee and know it is intentional! Last time I tried potty training he only went once in the potty all day, and I was taking him to the bathroom every 20 minutes. This time I'm not keeping track of time too well and just trying to take him to the bathroom frequently. I find excuses like 'oh we are about to eat, we need to go use the potty,' and Thomas is being really cooperative and is indulging in the extra attention I'm giving him. No power struggles and in my haste to start this time I completely forgot about a reward system so I guess we'll keep it that way unless we hit a road block. Of course it's only been one day, but compared to last time it's a HUGE success! I can't describe the wonderful feelings going through me right now, it's a kin to the day my babies were born! I'm really hoping another diaper never touches T's bum again, I have no idea what challenges might come up but I really don't want to turn back. I LOATH diapers, especially poopy ones!

So far I think it's really nice to just to concentrate on one boy, I don't feel overwhelmed by all the work involved in cleaning accidents and multiple trips to the bathroom with three rascals in tow. It's peaceful, no fighting over potty's, just me and Thomas getting the job done. I even feel him grip my hand tight when it's time to go to the bathroom like he knows it's just me and him. I really feel good about this, I know Thomas can do it but most importantly Thomas knows he can do it! I don't think I had anything to do with it either, other than to keep testing the waters out every couple of months and filling the boys up with potty training propaganda any chance I get. Once I feel comfortable with Thomas' progress I'll start on the next boy maybe in a week or so. No telling how they'll do, so here goes nothing!

the boy who is on his way to be diaper free forever!

Transformed!

2013-02-19T16:51:00.001-08:00

I ended up taking the boys to Spanish story time by myself to let Phil have more time to study. We had to leave a little prematurely on account of not being able to stop coughing, stupid cough. On our way back to the car the boys, out of the blue, decided to pose for me and I was in heaven snapping away!

CET, so happens they lined up in birth order!

I can add another one to my list of 'stupid things people say to me'...notice my reflection in the window, well there is a car behind us that had people in it but I hadn't noticed because I was busy taking pictures of my babies. This guy sticks his head out and says "are those triplets" I say yes they are, then he says "they must be great conversation starters." Yes, that's actually the only reason I keep them around so I can start conversations with creepy guys like you!

On any given day you can find Caleb wearing his Fireman hat and Mr. Potato head glasses. As of recent he has added a tongue and my slippers to his costume...as if he didn't already look ridiculous!

Another creepy lego train by Eli

Transformed! With a #4 on top and #2 on the sides : ) I will miss that beautiful but uncontrollable baby soft hair running through my fingers, but that's the good thing about hair, it grows back!

As if they didn't fight enough already, they have now added 'pushing each others buttons for the shear pleasure of it' to the list of things they do. Notice how T has his foot on the track so as not to let E's train go by!

Gettin cozy with dad

Eli decided wearing his hat normal just wouldn't do : )

Like I mentioned above, Phil had to study for a test so we had a pretty low key weekend. Which was fine by me since I was sick. We gave the boys haircuts and to get them to cooperate this time we put on a cartoon for them to watch and slowly fed them M&M's. It worked pretty well and nobody fussed too bad especially because the boys are now M&M addicts. Not that they get them everyday or anything but they do ask for them a lot. At any mention of them they put their little hands out and very demanding-ly say "M&M!" The power of candy is evident, like nothing else! I will be using this to my advantage, hahaha (insert mad scientist laugh)!

Happy Friday!

2013-02-15T15:09:00.001-08:00

Nothing too exciting to post today, it was a lame week the boys were sick. Nothing terrible just annoying. Now I'm sick too, not feeling great, boo hoo : (

Anyways, happy friday! Hope you all have a great weekend, I think I might give the boys haircuts, other than that nothing planned : )

Thomas

Caleb at the park today. The day was absolutely gorgeous and even though I didn't feel 100% it was great to be outside and soak up some sun : )

On Tuesday the boys got to admire an ambulance and fire truck from the comfort of their living room