Saturday, November 30, 2013

3 yrs 2 mo!

At 3 years and 2 months looking like such big kids!
A whole new world has just opened up to the boys now that they've realized that if they just don't fight as much they can have soooo much fun together!
"Reading" together in their living room fort, had to keep checking in on them bc they were so quiet!
The boys made cupcakes and after taking them out of the oven with oven mitts and all, they now are eating them with spoons, hahaha! Silly boys : )
I don't care if it is cheesy but there is nothing cuter than your little boy loving the fact that he looks just like his papi!
Post meeting donut for being such a good boy!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Oh Crap! moment #61-67

Oh Crap! moment #61

Oh crap do you see what he fell asleep with in his mouth!
Oh Crap! moment #62

I found the boys dumping anything and everything down the stairwell!
Cupfuls of gravel everywhere!
The stuff that made it to the bottom
Oh Crap! moment #63

What happens when you stop your bike with your big toes bc you refuse to wear shoes
Oh Crap! moment #64

See boy in background, hahaha!
Oh Crap! moment #65

That's half a weeks worth of cheese!
Oh Crap! moment #66

The mess I had to clean up after the boys dumped out a dozen or more puzzles onto the floor of the dinning room, living room....
and bedroom
Oh Crap! moment #66

Thanks boys for giving me another project to do (insert sarcasm)
Ta da! Blinds are too expensive to replace so curtains it'll be!
Oh Crap! moment #67

I guess telling them to jump before sliding down was a bad idea....parental fail, oops!

Friday, November 22, 2013

Idiosyncrasies Of A Three Year Old

On A Good Streak! But Still...

A couple of months prior to and after turning 3 the boys were, to say the least, challenging! They were throwing the book at me so to speak and I kept wondering when they'd grow out of this seemingly never ending phase. I hadn't changed anything I was doing yet still they were becoming so difficult, all I could really think to do was stay consistent and hope it would pass soon. In retrospect, the boys have always cycled through good and bad phases, just when I didn't think I can't take it much longer the cycle would switch just like that. Well for the last few weeks we've been on a good streak! I must add, this last bad cycle was by far the longest! Although it's been much much better with less fighting and more agreeableness, I still agree with the consensus, that three is much more challenging than two. For personal reassurance, I ask everyone that has small children which they think is harder, 2 or 3, and not a single person has yet to tell me that 2 is harder. Who ever came up with the 'terrible two's' saying must have taken a year long vacation when each of their kids turned 3.

Some of idiosyncrasies of age three started at age two but they really really revved up at three (or close to three in our case). At times, lately, I consider going back to work sooner, just so I don't have to put up with all this hullabaloo! The following is why I believe going back to work would be MUCH easier for me! When people find out I'm a SAHM they say how nice it must be to be able to do so and in my mind I just roll my eyes and think "if only they knew," of course they think this until they find out I have triplets, ha! The next thing they are likely to say is "don't they drive you crazy!?"

The answer is NO, not as long as they continue napping....

+Things that make them Freak Out

-when their banana, granola bar, fruit bar, etc breaks in half

-when their snack falls out of the wrapper, or vice a versa

-when their legos don't want to do what they want them to

-when their trains don't stay on the tracks

-when their people figurines don't stay up right in their cars and trucks

-when they drop their spoons

-when one of their brothers gets the sippy cup color they wanted

-when their dad pours them more milk but they wanted mom to pour it

-telling them they can't have a snack because we are 5 minutes away from eating dinner

-having to share

-when we don't understand what they're saying

-dumping and flushing their poop down the toilet when they haven't wanted to do it the last 20 times

-not acknowledging them when they see something while I'm driving, example: "Choo choo, choo choo!"...silence, "CHOO CHOO! MAMI CHOO CHOO!"..."Yes I see the choo choo, now quit yelling at me, you're going to distract me and make me crash!" 

-when food doesn't stay on their fork or spoon

-turning the light off before they've completely exited the room

-trying to help them

+Mind Games 

-Recreating the past in order to avoid a tantrum. Example: Issue at hand, child didn't want help getting out of the car. Solution, letting him slowly walk back to the car, get in and letting him get out unassisted. Sometimes Phil asks why we took so long doing something and usually my answer is "we were recreating the past" or "Thomas had to recreate the past" (In case you are wondering, Thomas is the worst of all three). 

-Dear god let Eli pick first! You must let Thomas pick second. Thank goodness for Caleb for not caring. 

-Thomas likes me to take his first shoe off but if I dare take off the second shoe, beware! He must take off the second one himself, of course!

-If we are ever in a hurry, their mind games will get worse and we will be late. No matter what.

-Car rules to remember and keep straight: Thomas and Eli must buckle the top buckle in their car-seats and don't assist Thomas into his car-seat. Caleb is spur of the moment sometimes he wants to do the top buckle and other times he doesn't and asking him doesn't necessarily give you the right answer. 

-No one will pee before leaving the house unless I threaten to leave them at home. Jingling the keys and heading for the door seems to get them all to scramble really fast. 

-When leaving the house someone will always linger on the porch until I threaten to leave them there. Closing the car doors helps and at desperate times I've had to turn the car on.  

-Getting them to all agree on a movie or cartoon to watch...you might as well commit your self to a crazy house. 

-Getting the other two to be ok with who's turn it is to ride in the seat of the the grocery cart. And btw I find the two seater grocery carts more trouble than they're worth because they are a pain to maneuver and it leaves one boy left to sulk in his basket misery instead of getting to sulk along side one of his brothers. 

-Telling them for the thousandth time to say 'no thank you' instead of flinging the thing you tried to give them across the room or freaking out at you for trying to help them

-Telling me when I should stop/go or that I should be going a different direction when I'm driving...three backseat drivers aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!

If only they could stay this sweet and little until they turned four : )

Monday, November 18, 2013

Call The Doc!

Last night the boys were in full pretend mode, they played with an intensity that I'd never seen before. They played together for easily 2 hours straight without a single fight or any parental intervention!

Eli calling the doctor
The patient lays in the hospital bed while the two doctors converse about the best treatment options.
"A band-aid will do!"
Thomas applying the band-aid to the area of injury
Eli explaining that Caleb's eyes were hurt
The patient feels well enough to get out of bed
Thomas calling the doctor after wiping off the patient's injury with a huge wad of baby wipes
Careful application of band-aids
Further examination of the patient determines he will be alright!
Busy Bags
Making busy bags has been on my to do list for a long time now but I finally got around to doing two of the several hundred busy bag ideas that are on my list. The first one I did was color wheels (not pictured) and the second one I did was making little scenes out of felt and having the boys put them together, kind of like a puzzle. I seriously spent about 2 hours making each set and of course it only holds their attention for 15 minutes! Still worth it because I can tell they really enjoy them : )

Monster truck
Rocket
Robot
The other day when Caleb was not feeling good.
Even the chocolate cupcake he had just eaten did not give him a sugar high and he fell asleep right then and there : (
Forgot to post this a few weeks ago but the boys passed their swimming class.
They can now move on to the penguin class : )
United in their love for locomotives
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer," says Thomas.


You may have noticed but the boys got fresh haircuts and it was the first time one of them didn't freak out! Full cooperation on this round. After going through several long hair, short hair phases I've come to the conclusion that if I have to comb their hair before leaving the house then it's time for a haircut! Ah, the joys of having boys : )

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Visitors From Down Under

Phil's sister and company came all the way from Australia to see family and this was their first time to see us in Portland. All the other times that they've been out we've gone down to Cali to see them, so this was an extra special treat!
Sam, Amber and Stuart at the Columbia river gorge
Cousins! We have quite the multi-cultural family : )
Mama Sue and Papa Ed also came up
Family picture!
Eli with "tio Tu" and cousin "Sham"
Just the boys
Watching Dinosaurs Alive!
At the Children's Museum Caleb becomes a vet!
Our little mountain climber
Thomas
This is the look that Caleb's face gets when he is tormenting his cousin
Eli
Sam
Sam taking the boys for a ride
Oooops!
Making glutten free cookies
We had a great time despite a nasty little 2-day stomach bug that went through each and every one of us. The boys seemed the least affected by it and only got a runny nose...the rest of us got a combination of 2-3 of the following symptoms: fever, body aches, diarrhea, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting. Sounds awful right? Somehow we still managed to do everything we planned except our visitors didn't get to leave on the day planned. At least we got an extra day with everyone!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

It's a Tough Name

The boys can finally say their ridiculously long last name...well I should also add that it never occurred to me to ask them to say it sooner...anyways this is Caleb in the video, I love their cute baby accents!

 

Monday, November 4, 2013

Good Dental Hygiene

First some pictures of our morning at the bluff...
Caleb
Thomas
With pops
Running wild and free!
Eli
Thomas
Classic Thomas face : )
The chase is on!
Our First Dental Check Up!

Eli
Caleb
Thomas
Top left Eli is getting pretend x-rays since he didn't need them
Top right is Thomas looking cute
Bottom, the boys checking out their goodie bags on the way out!
At home, they must have carried around those goodie bags for the next three days!
A funny picture of Thomas and how he sleeps, he is in love with that helicopter he even fell asleep holding onto it!

The boys pre-preschool program required that they get a dentist check up. When I was first informed of this I rolled my eyes (in my mind) and then I immediately figured it would be a complete waste of time. I brush their teeth at home and they don't seem to mind but I don't get any more than 5 seconds to do it. After that they just won't open their mouths anymore. I figured the dentist would be lucky to get a good look at their teeth, let alone all the other stuff they need to do. Honestly if it wasn't a requirement I probably wouldn't have taken them until they were like 5 or whatever! 

So I was very surprised when all the boys cooperated 150% at their dental appoint! They got the works: the exam, cleaning, fluoride application, and pretend x-rays. I think they liked all the one on one attention they got. The dentist said they all had great healthy looking teeth!