Apr 24

Hunker Down: Week 4 and 5

Week four and five of isolation…can you believe it’s been so long? While I constantly forget what day it is, haven’t worn makeup or jewelry in forever, keep losing my shoes when I want to go places and am starting to forget life exists outside the little bubble I reside in, I try to keep mental reminders of the good things that happen each day and not dwell on the things we can’t do or are missing out on. For example, the backyard went from completely snow (and poop) covered to grass (and no poop!) in less than a week! Nothing is sprouting green yet…but it’s coming! The girls maybe have grumpy mornings, or afternoons, or less than notable nap times, but they are also continually picking up new words and learning new things and I’m beyond blessed to be here to witness it. We are in the colors, counting, and letters stage right now and it’s very fun. Even from the respite of my home “office,” when I’m working upstairs while the girls are down with “nanny”, it is enjoyable to hear their interactions and realizations throughout the day. When Harper and Emerie wake up from a nap first, they are so greatly concerned with Reagan’s missing presence that they constant call to her, Ray Ray, over and over, until she gets up. It’s one of the most adorable things to listen to while out of sight!

Made them sit for a snack. One second of minimal movement.

Reagan now hums the ABC and twinkle twinkle little star song randomly throughout the day. Sometimes she will string together a few letters before she goes back to humming and will hum it along with you. The girls infancy giggles were some of the best music my ears have ever heard…but hearing them sing? That might even be better! Harper has started humming the closing theme to Glee (we’ve been slowly marathoning it…no judgment!) and she gets so excited to sing “do do do“. Reagan and Emerie now join her on it and the room is filled with three happy tones of do do dos! All three sing a few bars of Baby Shark and while Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off is still the top requested song in the household, none of them will sing any of it. It is specifically reserved for the dance party portion of the program.

In addition to singing, we are now getting longer blocks of specific activities. Rare, calmer moments in the day allow the girls to sit for five minutes and each look at a book. This doesn’t last long but every once in a while they will relax and “read” their books. Current favorites are still the farmyard animal sounds book, counting lady bugs, and Alaskan animals one. I guess we are on an animal kick. Speaking of that, we’ve are also working on sound association. Everyone knows the sounds of a cow, horse, duck (kak!), and cat (sounds like mow)! We are still working on chickens and monkeys, which are just so darn hilarious that they just laugh instead of mimic. They’ve also recently discovered birds in the air, not to be confused with the random airplane! shouts, and enthusiastically yell bird bird!

We are working on color comprehension now as well. My favorite vocabulary word so far, other than “peekaboo” is Emerie’s pronunciation of yellow. Not going to lie, it’s probably one of the cutest sounds in the history of the world. It comes out as a lu-lo and she repeats it constantly. Yesterday on our walk she pointed up and said sunshine! Lulo! I have no idea where she learned sunshine but here we are.

I individually asked the girls what their favorite color was the other night. Emerie responded her favorite colors were lu-lo and Harper (which is pink in triplet talk). Harper’s answer was her usual, uncooperative response of “no,” and Reagan said purple. So it looks like everyone will be liking each other’s colors, and no one seems to like their own… Also, can I just say, Harper answers no to every question I ask her, but when I inquire if she knows the word yes, she gives me a silent stare.

Playing with water in >40 degree weather. Yep. Alaskan babies.

Other longer activities include playing with blocks and building towers, with the mini pots and pans, and water table time. I picked up poop in the backyard for forty minutes the other day while they all played nicely with the water table. The plastic Easter eggs make perfect cups; the tiny air holes on the bottom make such a mess but deliver so much excitement. My opportunity to clean up the yard ended with everyone needing new outfits, but at least they had fun! I tried to repeat this success the next day, and they managed to pick up the entire water table, flip it over and empty it out, and then prop it back up and stand in it. Creative, yes. Safe? No!

Emerie really enjoys constructing towers, Reagan likes to build them and then steal them, and Harper likes to steal anything made by her sisters and destroy it. So that should be a fun combination as they get older. Emerie’s towers are getting taller and taller now. She will sit for fifteen minutes and build with blocks, especially if you sit on the floor with her!

The toddler trampoline from Papa Cliff made it’s first appearance this week and all three jumped and giggled and smiled and then started to fight over it. While three little bodies can fit on it simultaneously, two is much preferred and they think one at a time, much to the dismay of other two. We are working on this, but I can tell this will be a great way to burn energy until the local jump park reopens.

Clothing continues to be another bain in our existence. While no one wants to wear clothes (we are still using those 24 month bodysuits!), they all have explicit opinions on what they should wear and when. This includes hats, coats, boots and the occasional set of mittens that no one would wear when it was cold out! We cannot go outside without everyone requesting their hats and digging them out of the hat drawer, the same goes for coats. It is so wonderful that they now grab coats, hats, and boots without us having to get them. Whoever gets to the bins first will bring their sisters their things and hand deliver parents’ clothing as well! Now if we could just get them to keep all of that on when outside…I think this summer will consist of minimal clothing during backyard time. We also broke out the new sandals (trying to make summer get here); everyone can put them on and mostly unbuckle the Velcro.

The disciplinary side of things is getting more interesting. You can see them trying to not only push our buttons but each other’s as well. Hanging out with multiple toddlers all day is NOT for the faint of heart! Not only that, but they are starting to get more snarky about things. The other night Craig started counting to three for Harper to stop throwing her food. Emerie interrupted him and helped him count…apparently counting to three isn’t that scary sounding! The hitting and kicking of each other results in a lot of time outs throughout the day; they all seem to rotate on who is doing what to one another and I assume this will get worse before it gets better. On a plus side, they do give kisses to each other after inflicting the pain…so that’s improvement…right?

At some point we will again be out and about in society. To prepare for this monumental day, that will happen eventually although maybe not soon, we have introduced hand holding. They will not, under any circumstance, hold each others’ hands yet, but they are learning the benefits of holding onto an adult. It allows more freedom to explore and go places they ordinarily aren’t allowed to go. This includes going out the front door and down the steps to the driveway, upstairs, and out into the woods for adventure! Harper dislikes the control the most, but will begrudgingly do it with some insistence. Emerie loves it all the time and especially when going down any type of stairs or out into the world. She also commands you with hand! and then grabs yours and pulls you where she wants to go. Reagan mostly enjoys hand holding while playing or when in a new place. And that leads us to our first hike of the season.

Last weekend we took the girls to one of our favorite spots up the mountainside in town, a place we used to consistently hike every week before kiddos and have visited less than a handful of times since. My assumption that the trail would be back to dirt was incorrect; the snow was very slushy and incredibly difficult to push a stroller through. We didn’t go as far as we planned to; we planned to free them to play in the creek but we didn’t make it that far. Instead, we turned around early and found a good spot to let everyone roam free in the less snowy areas. The girls climbed over logs, splashed in puddles, and checked out rocks, sticks and leaves. They did very well but definitely wanted parents to stay closeby and hold hands. I can already tell they will be outdoorsy, like their parents, and definitely plan to do a lot more hiking now that they are bigger. It’s also the perfect activity during a quarantine. Social distancing by miles!

I’m ready to tackle the next week of this and try to find some fun activities for this weekend! Spring is right around the corner, the backyard is clear of snow and dog poop, and the trees will sprout into bloom any day now (hopefully!). Until then, I’ll be the one you can hear down the street, yelling at the toddlers to put their boots back on because we are outside and it’s only 40 degrees out and raining.

❤

Apr 14

Egging Us On

Typical Easter routines this year are changed for many families across the country (and world), due to quarantining at home. We spent this time last year at home almost exactly as this year will play out, doing a basic egg hunt for our (then) just starting to walk toddlers, and of course munching on some candies and doing crafts! This year is far more exciting to me, because egg hunting will be a much more exciting experience for the girls.

I purchased Easter basket goodies the same time I bought all the birthday decorations, not suspecting all events would be canceled shortly after. The best part about the girls having a March birthday? All the Easter and spring inspired decorations and cute spring clothing are pink, purple, and teal pastels. Finding things for each color is very easy, including perfect dresses party favors, and gifts for their baskets.

Week three of quarantine slanted toward the calmer side of week one…thankfully. Feeling a little more like my pre-kiddo self- for those of you that don’t know me that means a little more cooking and crafting than I’ve done the past two years- and trying to come up with fun things to do while also accomplishing things around the house (my life goal each day is to stay caught up with laundry and go to bed with an empty kitchen sink). This included fancy brownies (that means with icing), a few new crafts to try, actual cooked meals (usually I defer to Craig, he’s better at it), and getting small household things like vacuuming under the cribs and cleaning up the moose poop in the front yard.

Working from home allows me to hear some of the fun, inner workings of a typical day with “nanny.” At one point I heard Emerie playing along with Chris as she sang the ABC song; each time she paused Emerie would say the next letter. Craig tried that later on that night and she wouldn’t do it for us! Reagan will sing along to the song and Harper is starting to hum different theme songs and she’s pretty good at Baby Shark.

We are working on our numbers at bedtime, reading the same book on repeat, that counts from ten to one with animals and stars. Emerie is convinced all numbers are nine, Harper continues to just throw crib toys at me, and Reagan yells nigh night on the last page. They all love page six, which has the monkeys.

The celebrity items for the week are 1) nanny’s truck, 2) stars (on the nightlight projector, 3) the word “no”, 4) Tay Tay music and 5) chalk. Off and on all day you hear nanny truck! with pointing outside.

A few new house rules, according to the girls, are: 1) Craig is the bottle holder during evening routine, 2) I must sit with them as they drink (these days are numbered, as we should already be off that pre-bed time feed), 3) boots can be worn throughout the day and should never require socks, 4) coats/hats must immediately be removed in the house or total, triple meltdowns, 5) every bath time should involve suction cups or crayons, 6) Baby Shark must be played multiple times, and 7) anything visible on the back deck, gross or otherwise, is fair game to taste test. Yes, this included the frozen dog puke, which they all tried to lick and cried when I stopped them!

A few implemented parent rules? 1) Everyone gets to nap, whether they cooperate or not, they are staying in bed for at least an hour, 2) if dinner plates are picked up, the food is taken away, and 3) daily outside time is required. Harper has not napped well the past two weeks, but will begrudgingly stay in her crib while Emerie sleeps through the whining. We are also working on hand holding, especially walking around with them as opposed to carrying them. Harper does not like this unless she’s walking across snow, but the other two are pretty decent with it. Emerie likes to insist you hold hands so she can lead you places.

Harper singing

Another fun thing to note from this week; the girls are starting to understand their singing voices; this includes humming random songs like Twinkle Twinkle and Baby Shark. Harper is really coming in her element and singing along after songs on television, but when we try to sing ABC with her, she literally says no after every. single. letter. A- no! B- no! C- no! and repeat. All three will sing parts of Baby Shark and the do do dos and then demand we play the actual song. They are also starting to pick up on the shark motions and do them.

In the past week, we’ve had two successful nights at potty training. Do not mistake the level of effort on this…in fact, because life is completely centralized at home (100% for me and the girls and just work outside the house for Craig), we are taking no drastic measures to change anything that could disrupt the routine that keeps us functioning. That being said, why not dabble a little here and there with the impending potty chairs and underwear and get comfortable with it without a bunch of pressure? So two nights in a row, after bath time, Harper wowed us by sitting on the potty until she went (five plus minutes each night!). Emerie ran around a bit, sat for a moment and went once! She was very proud to receive the M&M. Reagan was much too busy with the nearby sound machine to sit still and try it, but is still the most vocal of the three about a dirty diaper.

One thing I really wish we could do more of with the kiddos, because we see our singleton friends doing it and I always imagined it with my own kiddos, is cooking and baking. We are a very baking friendly household, both Craig and I grew up making things from scratch. With three, close proximity or sitting on the counter usually results in fighting over things, grabbing something that is breakable or inedible, or making food preparation very difficult when everyone wants to “help.” So we haven’t done this very much. One morning over the weekend Craig put all three small and very messy helpers on the counter while making breakfast. They thoroughly enjoyed watching the pancakes cook on the stove, out of arm’s reach of course, and tried to touch everything on the counter. They loved the new opportunity…until it was time to get down and eat breakfast, that is!

Easter Day x 3

We started off the morning with bright eyed girls who slept in long enough for me to set up the egg hunt for later that morning. I pulled out the fancy toddler table and chair set, the one we can’t leave out because they insist on climbing and standing on it, and prepped the Easter baskets. Not only did the girls actually sit at the table and explore their baskets, but they even ate a small portion of the breakfast we ordered from Southside Grill. There was definitely a great amount of “sit down on your chair” and “get down!” throughout the meal; I still call that progress.

The baskets consisted of little Target knick knacks, color coordinated eggs filled with scented play dough and stencils, a pair of flip flops, and tiny chicks that peep (that they did not find interesting at all!). Everyone immediately hated the flip flops on their feet so those will be saved for later this summer. The play dough was used several times over the course of the day, with everyone enthusiastically watching us cut them into shapes and mashing them together. I’m pretty sure there are bits of dough beaten into the floor all over the living room, but at least they had fun!

After breakfast, everyone received pig tails (refusing the bows I pulled from the baskets) and dressed in their Easter outfits, which remained relaxed since we had no plans to go anywhere and it isn’t actually spring here yet. That means June and January polka dot dresses over warm onesies, purchased so long ago I can’t remember when I did it, and adorable gingham printed capris (from primary.com) and booties.

The egg hunt was quite the success! The emptied Easter baskets were refilled down in the family room, with the girls picking up on the activity pretty quickly and enthusiastically running around the room and climbing under things to find them. Overall the fighting was minimal and only a few times did someone take eggs from another’s basket. No one realized goodies were inside the eggs until all were picked up and we “cracked” open the first one, highlighting a goldfish! The next few minutes were filled with exciting toddlers wanting ALL the eggs opened immediately and stuffing their faces. Since I assumed this is what would happen, eggs only contained a small treat, a goldfish or a marshmallow. All in all, we had very satisfied customers!

The rest of the day progressed pretty uneventfully. We all played and played…with the eggs, the play dough and stencils, around the house and outside. It was nice and relaxed and laid back, despite the dreary weather.

Uncle William came over to enjoy some steak at dinner and the girls happily repeated Uncle for the rest of the evening. They also “showed” him how to use the play dough at their little table and how to mash different colors together. That activity lasted quite a long time; once they started standing on it, back to the garage it went for another day! We all ate at the dinner table like grown ups, although the girls weren’t that into the food. They were, however, very much willing to eat their entire mini chocolate bunny and cover their hands and faces in a full layer of chocolate. Even Harper, who likes sweets the least, went all in and devoured the entire thing.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and cozy Easter, spending time at home with their loved ones!

❤

Apr 09

Tough Calls

Sometimes life throws you little curve balls that aren’t so fun to tackle; and by this, I am not referring to the current pandemic. I’m also not referring to sometimes- realistically it feels like they are a constant, one after the other, set of challenges that you have to climb over and can’t get around.

Craig and I have contemplated re-homing our pups multiple times over the past two years, for one reason or another, and have always managed to talk ourselves out of it or try to be more patient and understanding of different behavior. Going from a family of two to an instant family of five required a life transition for our pets (the two dogs more than the two cats), who didn’t ask for this change but had no choice but to grow and accept it (I guess that’s the same for us too, except we understood what was going on!).

This week we made the difficult decision to re-home our beautiful, brindle greyhound Kalli, for several thought out reasons that are too big to overlook anymore.

First off, Kalli doesn’t mind the kiddos when they are at arms length, but get easily overwhelmed with all three coming at her at once. Her favorite interaction with the girls each day was coming into their room and saying good morning, rubbing up against each crib as they patted her back enthusiastically. Once they were freely roaming? Not a chance.

Secondly, we know her life dramatically changed when three babies came home from the NICU. We no longer went on multiple walks and hikes per week, to the dog park or local lake for swimming, and became around-the-clock focused on the three tiny babies. This also meant that while we were constantly home, she didn’t get near the attention she used to and had to deal with sleep deprived, sometimes less than patient, owners. This change in focus onset extreme boredom, especially for a dog that loves to run and explore and not be cooped up all day. Hiring a dog walker to come twice a week certainly helped over the winter, but didn’t solve all her boredom.

The past few months Kalli and our other dog, Koda, have gotten into a couple unfriendly rough housing matches, one that ended with Koda getting stitches on her head. Last year one ended with Kalli getting stitches under her eye. Now that may convey that they fight all the time, but honestly it is only occasional and usually over in ten seconds. The problem is some of these tiffs happen in close proximity to the girls and that’s not okay. Even the thought of those possibilities gives me major anxiety. So with this consideration, we decided to grasp the adult, parental choice and find another family to love and cherish her for the few years she has left; and to keep Koda, who is fantastic with the girls as they climb, jump and snuggle with her or constantly steal toys/balls out of her mouth to play fetch with her.

The girls watched out the window yesterday as she was picked up, repeating Kalli! and it nearly broke our hearts. We hope to be able to follow up on how she is doing and maybe do a doggy date later this summer, but it’s still very hard saying goodbye. For those of you that have them, fur babies are certainly part of the family; loved in a different way than the children, but still resting in a special place in your heart. I anticipate the girls will bounce back from this life change pretty quick, since they are so young, but for Craig and i, the house definitely feels different without her.

It’s a tough decision for sure, but definitely the best in the long run, both for Kalli and for Harper, Emerie and Reagan. Being a parent isn’t always fun; some choices just have to happen and here we are.

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.
unknown

❤

Apr 06

Hunker Down: Week 2

How can those adorable faces be so mischievous?!

This week is all about my toddlers living their best toddler life. And by that, I mean major shenanigans, tiny adventures, learning how to be mischievous, and everything in between.

Harper and Reagan are now talking a lot more and expanding their vocabularies; Emerie continues to mimic all the words you give her. The main word for this week is no and mermaid. Do you a want timeout? No! Do you want more food? No! Do you want to come inside? No! Do you want your diaper changed? No! (but it really means yes but they still want to run from you)

Saying her words!

They now call William Uncle, it’s really cute; and are finally starting to say Grandma after months of coaxing. It has taken much convincing!

Bedtime routine consists of sister chatting, reading the bedtime book while they throw stuff animals at us and then snuggle down in bed, and using the new nightlight from their birthday. It has multiple projector settings with a swirl of colorful stars! Different settings seem to interest them greatly, but we’ve found that settling is more difficult for Reagan when they are shifting around the room in red and blue. White, not-rotating stars seem to be accommodate going to sleep.

I can sum this week up with two words: mischievous and wild. More personality traits are emerging in each and they are maturing into sensitive, high energy, smarty pants toddlers. For example, Emerie is now mischievously sneaking off to places out of sight (like the play castle or caterpillar, and taking the time to pull of her glasses and patch before re-emerging like nothing ever happened. She’s started doing this for just her glasses as well; but is slowly learning if a stern voice threatens her with timeout, she will go find said glasses and try to put them back on. It’s quite a lot of effort to keep track of them (and I don’t mean the kids on this one haha). We’ve also taken to small rewards when she does obey, find the glasses, and put them back on her face. She especially enjoys an M&M or a marshmallow.

On my solo Friday off, mischievous Reagan showed Emerie how to climb out of her crib as I brought Harper downstairs. I found both of them standing on the changing pad area of the crib, looking out the bedroom window and giggling. Luckily she hasn’t tried it again, but I’m sure she’s saving that for another day. On the flip side, a post bath time Reagan climbed back into Emerie’s crib and lost her mind that she was again contained, even when she put herself there. Toddlers…

Mischievous Harper keeps finding the dog food…no matter where we put it! I guess there are some healthy elements in it and, as typical, she goes at it 100%, grabbing full handfuls. On the table, back porch, stairs…she b-lines straight to it at every opportunity.

Other fun mischievous things for the week: climbing out of the bathtub without permission, running out the front door and toward the street, pulling off diapers and running around, and yes, poop… Bolting the front door is now a necessity and we probably need to invest in another lock to add- all three have dashed out the front at one point; luckily a parent was close by or they were running out to welcome Daddy home.

It’s been a while since a poop incident…so I guess we were overdue. While working away on my laptop, upstairs and out of sight of children, I hear some commotion downstairs regarding diapers. Apparently, our almost-ready-to-potty-train Reagan removed her pants and diaper and proceeded to take a nice #2 bathroom break on the floor behind the play castle. The area is out of view and private from most of the room and between the castle and front living room windows, making it the perfect spot to be up to no good! Now, of course, when you have three toddlers and one of them is doing something they shouldn’t, it’s a given that the other two will get in on it. So both Emerie and Harper walked through it; thankfully they had socks on, but gross! Harper also had it all over her hands and kept repeating yucky! And Emerie? Well, she was walking around, repeating oh shit, oh shit later that afternoon. I mean, we knew that would happen eventually…right? I choose to blame that one on Craig. Anyway, it was quite the commotion to get Reagan’s diaper back on. Oh so fun. Poor Nanny.

The girls now try to participate during diaper changes and often point at their sister and repeat yucky. They wish to help facilitate the change, grabbing diapers, any and all accessible wipes, pulling on sisters’ clothes, climbing on the parent, all of it. That help also means taking a diaper, opening it and holding it up to their sister, and giggling. With the changing area open to the whole room now, the girls try to beat on the sister that’s momentarily immobile…or the occasional rare moment where I can convince all three to give kisses. That’s only happened once and I wish I had captured it on film, but I didn’t have my phone handy.

To continue the potty theme, after coloring in the shower for a few that evening, on a whim I put everyone on potty chairs. Knowing ahead of time this usually ends messily, we let them run around in the nursery before pajama time. Two successfully peed on/next to the potty (well kinda- missed mostly but they were sitting on it!) and one went right on the floor…her trend for the day (and I’m sure you can guess who). So yes, enough if that. And I didn’t take any photos…you’re welcome.

We attempted this again another night and had one success! Harper got an M&M for it, wowed her audience (Emerie and Reagan), AND to commemorate the joyous achievement, threw the chair full of pee at Craig. So funny.

For the wild portion of the week, we make it a point to burn as much energy as physically possible during awake hours, especially being at home all the time. This has improved napping for the most part. Reagan has been sleeping on the guest room bed and we’re finding she takes a two hour nap when no one interrupts her in the middle of it. This means she actually likes sleep as long as it’s steady; something that’s been questioned the past year. It’s almost as if she’s flipped with Harper, who is having a harder time settling herself this month, waking up multiple times during a nap and having a hard time going back down. Emerie is a rock star, napping through Harper’s insistence to get up, AND for the most part sleeping all night! If she does awake in the midst of the night, she easily settles with a snuggle and sometimes a bottle, going right back to sleep after. The other night she even laid back down by instruction when we snagged the other (screaming) two.

Finding more ways to enjoy magnets!

My solo Friday went decently and the girls were in jolly moods- we played outside twice in the morning with the fresh, wet (April) snow. They made snowballs, played in their snow covered cars and “helped” me shovel the deck.

For the most part, the day went without a hitch until the mailman rang the doorbell twice, smack in the middle of nap time, waking up Harper. Emerie didn’t nap at all but was in her crib almost an hour and a half, with the doorbell going off the last straw. Very frustrating, since we have a sign that reminds visitors not to wake sleeping babies or ring the doorbell. Our typical mailman (mailwoman?) is great and never wakes the kids. It’s the small things that can have such a big impact on the day, you know? Ruining a nap may seem small, but it’s the only hour of sanity I get in the 12+ hours everyone is awake.

As most moms are, I’ve been scanning the internet for creative crafts and new activities to keep the kids interested and engaged throughout the day. I cooked mac and cheese again with all three colors this time and the girls liked to point out the differences. Emerie commented Harper for the pink noodles, and everyone is improving on repeating the real colors back to you.

I also attempted a Facebook craft video using empty rolls of toilet paper. It lasted all of five minutes before little hands tore it to shreds, but they were definitely entertained well into the afternoon just playing with the ping pong balls and toilet paper rolls. I think we will find a way to reinforce it so they can’t tear it down- that will provide a great deal more entertainment. Who knew gravity was so exciting?!

Other WILD traits for the week including running around the house with doll strollers and the driveway with chalk, riding tricycles, and dragging me around the main floor by my hands, which prompted a good twenty minutes of laughs and lots of steps for me. A few nights consisted of very grumpy toddlers, even after good naps and overall days, and overnight sleep is about the same.

All in all, this week was more chaotic than our first seven days in “hunker down” mode, which went pretty smoothly in terms of triplets, Here’s to hoping week three is calmer than this one; and if not, a few more glasses of wine and batches of no bake cookies should do the trick. We finished off the week with 30+ hours of triple grumpy toddlers, for no major reason that we could tell. Even with decent naps and some decent meals, they were all GRUMPS. So please, let spring show up so we can start spending hours outside in the sun and heat (warmth?!) to burn that energy and have some happier children.

❤

Mar 31

Hunker Down: Week 1

Last week was my first week teleworking, at least since I was six months pregnant with the girls. My prior at-home working experience consisted of a quiet house, comfy armchair, minimal movement and my laptop and was a great two months, minus the lack of comfort of carrying three babies.

My work goal was to stay out of sight of the kiddos while the nanny kept them entertained and alive. All in all, that part went pretty great and was a nice break for me, since I could focus on work from the comfort of my own house!

With a few days warming up over forty degrees, we handled the cabin fever with afternoon walks and a couple stops at one of the hidden gem parks in our neighborhood. It was great to get out of the house and enjoy the sun while letting the girls burn some energy climbing the equipment and digging out the rocks that weren’t frozen. Even with the nice weather, the park was mostly empty of kids, which was great!

I was hopeful the warmth would continue for the weekend, but nope! The girls last about ten minutes outside on Saturday, having insisted they wanted to go by donning their boots and hats and trying unassisted to put on their coats before screaming in frustration. The cold wind won quickly, but not before this ADORABLE video of what I assume will be how Harper drives at age 16. I mean, after all, she is the sprinter of the house.

Other random things from our first week of solitude included toddler crafting, exploring new parts of the house and outside, and continuing to learn new life skills. Everyone is enthusiastically learning to put socks and pants on without help, but until the skill is mastered the frustrated rage continues. The girls saw their first house fly- a big one- and that meant several minutes watching it buzz against the window, with everyone trying to climb the armchair and catch it. Impressively enough, Harper eventually managed to catch grasp it in her hand!

With the living room no longer under toddler blockade, the front windows are now accessible and a whole new world of “ouwsi” (outside) is available to view. This includes the random moose visits, flocks of birds in the trees, people watching and hollering about any and all dog walking. It also apparently includes watching dinosaurs walk by- someone was pushing their kid and fully decked out as a t-Rex. The girls didn’t know how to feel about that one, but encouraged the dogs to whine and bark as it “danced” by.

More outdoor toys warmed up in the house, such as the dormant tricycles from the garage and the play castle from the back porch. With the rug pulled up and the furniture out of the way, the main level gives a decent amount of space for movement. The pedal concept isn’t there quite yet (Emerie is close), but the scooting around and ringing the bells is providing much entertainment. For a while Reagan would only ride them backwards.

The play castle provides hours of entertainment; it has become an enclosed fort, a climbing tool and tower, an area to hide with stuffed animals, and of course contributed to the cycle “run, climb, slide, run, climb, slide.” Queen of the slide is quite the game, with some not-so-nice kicking if one is indeed at the top and defending their territory and kingdom. We are working on courtesy and nicely opening the castle door and letting a sister come in. This still results in the occasional door slamming on fingers and faces, creating total meltdowns; but in the kind moments one will knock on the door, another will open it and they both say “hellloooo!?” with a big smile. It’s ridiculously adorable.

In addition to creative play activities, we continue to rotate the common toys, bringing out unused items for a day or two, or even hour or two, and putting them out of sight. Building blocks sustain interest for a while and then become yet another toy you don’t want to step on in the midst of the mess. The girls took a turns building block towers over the weekend; Emerie putting in some solid effort unassisted, Harper and Reagan took turns sitting in my lap and designing. I can already tell as they grow, Emerie will be building the masterpieces and Harper and Reagan will try to steal them or knock them down.

The doll strollers and baby dolls are brought out for a bit and then re-hidden. There is great enthusiasm in pushing each other around in them, but are starting to get too big for it! In addition, the pushing becomes a way to go as fast as possible and slam straight into a table, or cabinet, or each other. Luckily it is mostly in good fun, and the rider doesn’t seem to mind the bruised knees. Sometimes it’s too girly to simply push the stuffed, singing animals around in the strollers (they are appropriately named Bear, Puppy, and Monkey, according to the girls). Harper started it and Emerie and Reagan followed suite- to push their soccer balls, strapped in mind you (safety first), around the main floor. I’m happy to see the love of soccer starting, even if it’s balls strapped into strollers.

Car racing is another new event. The girls are starting to understand some activities can be done with each other and not necessarily with parents. The wind-up cars provide this type of entertainment and they are starting to sit across from each other, legs spread out, and shoot the cars back and forth at one another. It’s very cute and creates a few minutes of giggles. A couple of times the cars are pointed toward the toddler trying to fling it away, resulting in it constantly returning to them. This is hilarious to watch; they think it’s hilarious.

Working from home results in minimal daily movement so walking in the afternoon is vital to ensuring some exercise. This pushes dinner behind the typical 5 PM the girls are accustomed to. Eating later and unassisted, with spoons/forks (as opposed to hands), seems to greatly improve moods and results in less food thrown on the floor. This week’s obsession is sautéed mushrooms, mac and cheese shapes (colored pasta was a hit!), and heaps of broccoli (it would be blueberries too if the stores had any!). The girls exclaim “all-da” (all done) when they are finished. If the unfinished plate isn’t immediately removed, it usually flies to the floor for the dogs; but sometimes they will nicely hand it to you. Emerie seems to think saying the phrase means she should be allowed to get down and play without delay, and will impatiently yell it at you.

Other random craft activities throughout the week included coloring and trying out play dough again. I’m hoping to get more creative on some crafts over the next week, but am waiting until I have a full list for the store before picking up a few miscellaneous things needed. This time they didn’t spend the whole time eating the play dough (other than a few exploratory licks) and were equally awed that it could transform from a heap of nothing into a ball to play with. We colored with markers in the bath tub, played with water cups in the shower, sat at the kitchen table with crayons and chalked up the driveway (they still suck on the chalk though…yuck). Reagan tried to make Craig’s car more beautiful in that moment, while Harper went for the garage door and Emerie the actual driveway! Harper also enjoyed some wind sprints, up and down the driveway, running at full force.

Everyone wanted to help Dad replace his spark plugs, including shouting at him out the window and running around the garage. That lasted a whopping five minutes before shattered glass ended the fun and herded everyone back inside.

A few cute moments have occurred throughout the week as well- Emerie accidentally smacked me right in the face with a book, stopped, and with a concerned look, gave me a kiss right where she hit me. So sweet! Harper has given a melting-down Reagan several hugs this week, and Emerie kisses the top of her sisters’ heads. In the nice moments they share toys and will bring an extra toy or snack to an upset sibling. Progress.

For the first time ever in the Douglas household, we had a nap time REQUEST. Miss Harper asked the nanny for early nap time with a “nigh night” and pointing upstairs. Crazy thing is, she and Emerie immediate went to sleep after going down a few minutes early. Now that is a first and it only happened once.

The color coding comprehension continues to expand. Harper brought the correct color boots to Reagan and Emerie several times this week while Emerie brought everyone their coats. Last summer’s plastic Adirondack chairs were intensely fought over because Harper took the teal one from Reagan, and then Reagan took the purple one from Emerie. So it seems the color battles are beginning…that should be interesting.

We even had a day with happy, post-nap babies. Typically, as in 100% of the time, all wake up in full rage from their nap and it takes several minutes snuggling to calm the masses. We had one day happy and chill, after TWO hours (for all three at once that’s highly uncommon), giving me time to prep dinner and get it in the oven before they awoke. Pretty amazing and productive! Productive for Craig too…who accidentally took a nice, long nap with Reagan.

We ended the week with a broken kitchen faucet. Craig ran to Lowe’s to grab a new one (it’s essential in this house!) and in the 20 minutes he was gone, all three babies were screaming, trying to strip their poopy diapers, AND I managed to get the faucet stuck turned on, creating a steady stream of water underneath the sink and across the countertop. Well, we survived. And now have a new faucet thanks to our plumber buddy down the street!

I will sum up this week of toddlerhood adventure and quarantine with Craig asking Emerie what color she learned over the weekend. Her response? “Taco!” Okay, so that is a great answer as an adult too…but she was actually trying to say “yellow.”

It feels like a lot happened in the past seven days, when really staying home is pretty normal in this household. We tried to avoid the flu and colds most of the winter, only going out strategically and hoping for the best. Hopefully we can cruise through another week in the same style…which would mean decent naps, busy busy days, lots of fighting and loving… also many requests for “Tay Tay” (Taylor Swift), dance parties, food fights, face-time calls with the grandparents, and everything in between.

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

Author: akreba