2yrs + 9mo!

2 years and nine months old!

Played the gummy bear song for them and they all started dancing : )

Who says doing your business has to be boring : )

Caleb pointing to the letters on the Altoids tin

Pee/m&m break at our first movie!

Updates

I can't believe the boys will be three in three short months! The time will fly by I'm sure, especially since we'll be so busy soaking up summer. Portland summers are the BEST, stays green and warm, not too hot and not too cold : )

The boys are making leaps and bounds, I must say we might finally be at a real speech explosion. Even though sentences are close you really can have a conversation with them (albeit very primitive). They are sooo much more agreeable to trying to say stuff when you ask them to and new words and phrases are not just appearing out of the blue but rather because we've worked on it. Their articulation is getting better too so I think it's getting easier for others to understand them. And to my chagrin they are adding lots more Spanish too!

On the last rainy day of the season (I'm hoping) I took the boys to $1 movies. It was their very first time going to a movie theater and we saw Ice Age. I wish I could have taken pictures of them because it was so cute, they were just in awe of the huge screen. I took a picture in the lobby when we went on a pee break so that's the only evidence I have of this experience : (

I keep forgetting to write about this but for the last several months Eli and Thomas have had a bad case of mommy-itis, it's that infection where kids ONLY want their moms to do stuff for them! Its their only infection to date, and it's too bad there is not antibiotic for it because it's terribly frustrating! I hope it's over soon because I'm working overtime since Phil is not allowed to get them down from their booster seats or dress them or brush their teeth or buckle them into their car seats or I could go on and on... As we've said for quite some time now, thank goodness for Caleb! He is so easy going and if it wasn't for him I don't know what I'd do.

The boys have been working on real puzzles lately, 12 piece and 24 piece ones. These are pretty challenging but they really like them. They've been needing a little assistance with them but now Caleb can do the 12 piece ones all by himself!

The other day I read of cool new-to-me factiods about multiples that I thought were interesting enough to share. The first one is that identical multiples exhibit almost identical brain wave patterns. I'm not sure exactly what that means but it sure sounds cool!

The other one was that if the boys have children of their own, those kids will be genetically half brothers or sisters! Even though legally they are considered cousins. Or if the boys married another set of identical triplets their kids would be genetically full siblings! Crazy right, but I sure do hope they don't go that route, it's just too much craziness to handle : )

Happy Faces!

Phil's cousin Jonalyn and company came to Portland for the district convention and we had them over for dinner one night. We got to meet baby Jake for the first time too : )

All the kids : )
How do you like my new wall color!?

Bad boys! they shouldn't be on the table!

Dinner time at the little kids table

I told to boys to give Jake a hug

More hugs and Eli looking cute to the side

More snuggles at the convention : )

 Happy Faces!
I have tried to encourage drawing but the end result is always chewed up crayons or broken pencils and very little drawing. I have not wanted to deal with that so not much drawing has been happening around here. A couple of weeks ago I got two doodle pads at a garage sale (the kind with a large drawing area, we have little travel ones and they suck) and they are sooo much better than paper and pencil/crayon! No mess or spent materials! Much of what the boys have drawn up until now has been scribbles, circles and lines but nothing that looks like anything. But look at what they've started drawing!

The boys call these "appy!" and then they clap for themselves

First the circle

Then the eyes and mouth : )

Eli thinks we need new cabinets.
(Phil and I had been measuring the boys room so that Phil could start the blue prints on their toddler beds. We now have a computer drawing of it so I may have to share a sneak peek soon!)

 Updates

Other than drawing happy faces I must report that potty accidents are at an all time low! In the last week I can't think of one single accident that has happened. Even when we go out the boys have been really good about telling that they have to go. I must say it is sooooo nice to be diaper free I can hardly believe that four months ago I was changing diapers full time! So nice to be diaper free, seriously toddler poops past 18 months are no different than man poops. So stinky! After having three little boys I'm extremely desensitized to pee, I don't even fret when it gets on me but I've never gotten over how gross poop is. Knowing it's on me, swells me with panic and I can't think of anything other than 'get it off, get if off, get it off!' until I do. I don't care if they are my kids, it's gross! Even though accidents are at an all time low, laundry is at an all time high. Three little boys with bad aim and lots of dribbles is an equation for lots of underwear changes and lots of pee on our bathroom floors. That and they love changing their underwear just because they want to wear a different pattern so I never know if something is truly dirty. so I just er on the side of caution. You think 35 pairs of underwear would be enough but it only is because I do laundry twice a week!

Berry Picking

For the last two weeks or so each day we go outside to the yard and the boys pick and eat all the berries they can reach. Then I pick the ones I can reach and let the boys go at those too. We have a big patch of raspberries, which grow like weeds here. And two blueberry bushes that are on the small side but produce miraculous amounts of berries. If I had to guess I would say my yard produces about $200 worth of berries each summer and we get to eat them ALL! Note to self: plant two more blueberry bushes : ) So I had thought of taking the boys berry picking at the farms nearby but now I'm thinking "what for?!" we do it everyday in the comfort of our back yard... and it's free!

Thomas

the gang

thought it was funny the way they are lined up : )

Eli

T's second cup

Earlier this week we went on a little organized hike for kids at some gardens in town. They point out cool plants, let the kids water stuff and plant seeds. Then they do a little craft project, we had never done it before, it was fun!

The boys invited their friend Oz to come along

It sure is handy to have Oz along, it's like having a big brother without the commitment, ha!

The craft project was necklaces, the medallions are plant leaves and flowers they picked, sandwiched in sticky clear paper (sounds like I'm describing tape! it's a little different)

After the hike we meandered through the gardens and stopped for a snack : )

Caleb is so proud of his necklace that he hasn't taken it off in three days!

Little Trail Blazers!

Since the boys have really good stamina for walking we thought it wasn't too soon to get those little legs on a trail. Phil and I liked to hike before we had the boys but all the hikes we know and used to do have big drop off's and big elevation changes so not very kid friendly and especially not toddler friendly. After asking around someone recommended this book (see pic below) so we could find some safer places to take the kids hiking. So on Saturday we tested the waters and did a 2 mile hike and the boys loved it! We picked salmon berries, looked at slugs, examined animal poop and found cool sticks. The last quarter mile we were at almost a standstill and we kept having to poke the boys with sticks (yes literally) to keep them moving. They didn't seem too tired but kept getting side tracked by sticks and various stuff they saw along the way. But all things considered they did pretty good in my book!

Lots of the hikes in here are within minutes of us so I'm really glad we got it!

EPC: The boys always pull their hats too low : )

T and dad

Blazing up the trail!

Eli 

Checking out horse poop after getting to meet and pet a horse along the trail!

ETC: The boys would greet other hikers by yelling "iking!"

Forest hugs

Here we were so close to the parking lot but the boys all wanted turns in the tree stump : )

After a nap at home we went out for pizza again

T, Phil and our friend R

Cuttin the rug like they like to do

Playing outside of the Re-building Center after pizza

On Sunday we went over to our friend K's house for dinner where the boys had a blast playing with all of Oscar's cool toys.
What a fun weekend!

Play Time!

Fighting is all too common among siblings and as any MOM would agree, it's worse among multiples. The fights started as soon as they could crawl, one boy would take something from the other resulting in one bawling his eyes out. A little older, the victim would try to take it back. And then a little older the victim would hit the offender and the offender would hit back as well! All day long I break up fights, I guess that's my job, among other things. Being the same age, same sex, and sharing the same interests is a recipe for lots of fights but that can also be a recipe for best friends. As a side note, for three little people who don't have the most extensive vocabulary they sure do argue a lot with eachother! Back and forth they jibber jabber, 'no go' 'no stop' 'no (insert word).' To some extent the boys have always played with each other, just maybe not in the way I thought they would or would like them too. Well lately the boys have been playing REALLY well. It feels like the gap between fights is getting longer and longer. Although the fights are more intense and take longer to blow over but this seems better to me than endless little conflict after little conflict. It used to be that Phil would come home and assume duties as referee so I could cook dinner. Well for what ever reason post nap has become their best "playing together" time. The last few days Phil and I have sat on the couch observing them chase each other back and forth or pretend being a train by running around in a single file and yelling "choo-choo." They even make each other laugh all the time. It's very cute and feel like I'm reaping the rewards of having multiples since they provide entertainment for each other. They are also much better at taking turns and sharing too (but there is plenty of room for improvement). 

I was doing some stuff online (like paying bills) and all I could hear was their chitter chatter and giggling coming from their bedroom. Well after several minutes I checked in on them and this is what I saw, it continued for approximately 45 minutes without a single fight!

T backwards "reading" elephabet (very weird book but also really awesome!)

Eli looking like he's contemplating a major life decision

C

Eli telling me that the sea turtle sculpture has two eyes

Thomas got to go with dad to the store since his brothers were still asleep. I can't help but get excited for them when they go on mini parent dates : )

The silly faces of Caleb (he just had to ride in the backpack after he saw Thomas on it when they got back from the store)

he's such a sweet boy!

C

The boys look like they are straight out of the movie The Sandlot with their chucks, jeans, t-shirt and baseball cap. I like the "all American" boy look on them : )

Up a steep hill (I can barely do it)

pot belly : )