It’s ironic to be talking about giving the girls more freedom at home, when everything going in across society seems to be restricting access to basic amenities we are used to. What an interesting time!
Last weekend we tried opening up the living room “play jail” and freeing the girls to explore the rest of the room and main floor, and be less supervised than in prior months. Of course this meant blocking off the stairs, rearranging some furniture and baby proofing newfound opportunities to get into stuff.
The first thing requiring baby proofing was the fireplace. That took t-minus five seconds before Emerie tried to open it up and test out the charred wood. She, of course, shared this new find with both sisters. Needless to say, it now has a child proof lock on it.
The diaper changing area is full of fun things to play with that are not for kiddos. A favorite is the temperature taker and ear checker. These moved up higher until we put things back. The sock and diaper drawers seem to be quite the messy hit as well.
Any surface that can possibly be climbed on was moved out of range. No more end table and lamp. Thankfully it’s more light out now and we can go the summer with less lighting. The wooden bin “bookshelf” is distanced from the reclining chairs, as it was way too easy to reach and resulted in three children constantly climbing on it. It’s also easier for the girls to access the bins, which is actually a time saver because they will put boots on and their coats (with some help).
Because the front living room windows are now within acceptable toddler range, the girls appear to understand the concept of outside versus inside. They will tell us when they see something outside, and especially like four legged visitors (moose) that creep right up to the window and when Mom and Dad get home and come in the front door.
Moose visitor prior to the furniture rearrange
Earlier in the week we finally had warm enough temperatures to walk the neighborhood (yay sunlight!). I asked Emerie to get their hoodies out and she proceeded to get one at a time from the bin and bring them to the corresponding sister- the teal one for Reagan and pink for Harper. Then she grabbed the white one for herself (since we don’t have it in purple and she knows that). She called their names as she delivered them. So stinkin’ cute.
Harper
Emerie
Reagan
After the weekend we put the baby jail back for the nanny. She ended up just blocking off the fireplace and hearth and opening up the rest of the living room all day. Big step! So far everyone is still going strong…the kids AND the nanny!
Now if we can just get them to stop standing on the chairs, licking the windows and screens, and pushing each other off the furniture. Oh and running out the front door, which Harper did the other day. Apparently she wanted to spend the night with my favorite “nanny”.
Fingers crossed if we have a two week quarantine (however that actually plays out), that it will start feeling like spring outside and be warm enough for outdoor kiddo adventures. Please please please!
A new phase is on its way and it is color related.
The other night, for the first time ever, Emerie color associated all on her own. Because we often dress the girls in their colors, although we do so less often than we used to, it was just a matter of time until they started to picked up on it. While we don’t stress learning their colors too much (although we tried at Christmas and too soon), most days center around pink/purple/teal in regards to their outfits.
Tiny color coordinating
Pink / Purple / Teal
In case you can’t remember, Harper is pink, Emerie is purple, Reagan is teal. Each theme color means a set of clothing that matches those colors, or triple matching outfits I’ve found that include all three and are great for causing confusion when friends come over (small perk) or we go out to an event. The older they get, the more we dress them in matching outfits; far more than during infancy, probably due to the fact that Craig and I can easily tell them apart now through sounds, facial expressions, and actions. Their plump, little baby faces were much less distinguishable!
My mind is blank on how we originally decided who received what color when they were in the NICU. What I do remember is how helpful the color coordinating was for people who didn’t see them daily as well as for the overtired parents. Looking back at pictures of the first year, I’m not completely sure who is who other than through labels or colors.
Getting Emerie ready after bath time earlier this week, I had three footie pajamas laying next to the diaper changer. As I put her lotion on, she picked up the pink striped one, looked at me and said “Harpa;” I held up the teal with sheep one and she said “Ray Ray.” Holding up the pink and purple one with flowers, intended for her, the response was again “Harpa” and she pushed it away from her. So she ended up with wearing a whale themed one as she refused the partial pink one on her!
The next night I asked Harper the same questions after her bath. She looked at me as I held up the teal themed one and said “Daddy” (lol). When I held up the pink one she did say “Harpa”, but would not respond for the purple one. I fully support Craig wearing 2T footie pajamas to bed; after all, he is in a house of all girls!
Lastly, Reagan provided no participation in my questionnaire. As I held each outfit up, she just stared at me and tried to escape. The light switch at the other end of the dresser means she can play with the lights and turn the ceiling fan on and off. That was definitely a much higher priority in her playbook.
Everyone still does a bottle at bedtime (a habit we are hoping to break soon). Routine is much easier now than last year. One of us says “bottle time” while the other finishes prepping them; they all run downstairs and lay down on the couch cushion, against the pillows that are propped to limit jumping injuries. They often holler a few “babas!” at us until each is hand delivered. Sometimes they will down a whole bottle in one setting, sometimes it takes a good hour of play and bottles.
I’ve been letting them make random decisions lately, hopefully making my little toddlers feel empowered on some of the tiny stuff, like choosing which of the three bottles they want to drink, or which spoon they want with dinner, or which Bog boots to wear when we run an errand. One night this week I attempted to hand Reagan a purple rimmed bottle and she refused it, insisting she had to have the white capped one (since no bottles are teal). This is her first time avoiding the pink or purple one, and later in the evening it didn’t seem to matter anymore.
This is a brief look into what I believe is just around the corner on our toddler development roadmap. I’ve heard other triplet parents who color associated saying all kinds of wild, new things are on the way as they continue to mature, such as:
their kids will only wear their specific color and no one else’s
their kids become super possessive and don’t like their siblings to wear their colors
toys in those colors become more of a battleground when sharing
their kiddos grow up and hate the color they were given and want nothing to do with it
a combination of each kid acting one of these ways (seems like the hardest one to me)
Luckily I doubt we will stick to their colors forever, simply because they are easily recognizable to us at this point…you know…most of the time…
So…more multiple fun to look forward to.
One more lovely new issue that’s really taken off this week- the anti-clothing movement. The cold outdoor temperatures do not help, with our house feeling warm in comparison; but our main level, with vaulted ceilings, is still a little chilly to run around without clothes on.
Pantless!
Harper & Emerie
Reagan & Harper
Reagan, as the ringleader, now inspires her sisters to remove their shirts and pants on a frequent basis. How are we solving this? Well, everyone is wearing short sleeves in February, because long sleeves get pulled off at some point during the day and involves so much effort and time-outing to fix. We are also back to onesie shirts that are now snapped over the pants like leotards. Thank goodness the girls are skinny and have some time before they outgrow 24 month bodysuits or we’d be in trouble! Bigger sizes don’t make them and I’m not dressing them in swimsuits all day long.
We tried out overalls and they were unimpressed…I will try to tackle this one again this weekend because they would be so adorable in them. Ultimately I can’t blame the soft clothing preference, such as the jeggings, leggings, and stretchy tights they’ve worn most of their life, to the corduroy and jean type material. It’s much less comfortable! We also tried putting big-girl underwear over their pants. Hilarious…yes. Successful…somewhat! Plan to go out in public dressed this way? Not quite… Throw an 80s themed toddler party? Maybe.
New 3T sleepers (sob)
Rocking out the 80s leotard look
The typical two-piece pajamas are on hold for a bit and we are back to one-piece footy pajamas and one-piece sleepers with feet free. Harper and Emerie don’t try to pull theirs off, but Reagan will easily unsnap the snap within two minutes, unzip the rest, and be running around entirely free to tackle the next step in her plan, diaper removal. This is currently solved by safety pinning the two sides of the zipper together, creating a less than thrilled toddler.
So for now, we’ll be over here hall monitoring the clothing situation until they LISTEN and leave them on. And who knows, maybe their clothing colors will be a mute point this summer…you know…IF NO ONE WILL WEAR THEIR CLOTHES.
This weeks adult lesson is patience. The girls’ shenanigans appear to be an attempt to drive the parentals crazy. It’s almost as if the witching hour from infant hood has returned and lasts a couple hours every evening this week. If that isn’t it, then I blame the four incisors slowly pushing through the girls’ gums, making them very grumpy, short tempered, anti-food and soooo whiny.
Appropriate face representation for this week
In addition to the grumpiness, they are on a path to testing the limits on EVERYTHING.
On Friday I walked out of the living room to grab a towel out of the closet upstairs. In that twenty seconds, Emerie pulled the singleton high chair into the middle of the room, climbed it (tray and all), and was standing and jumping on it when I walked back in. Thank goodness she didn’t knock it over (and yes, I’m hollering and running at her as I took the picture).
Impressively done with non-grippy tights on.
That same morning the triple escape plan went into effect. On my solo Friday, I usually leave the girls in the playpen for twenty minutes or so while I get breakfast going and the kitchen cleaned up. They typically play and wake up while watching Little Baby Bum music, generally staying happy enough and not yet starting the MMA portion of their day. It was quiet for a moment, quiet enough to be out of the ordinary, and peeking out confirmed my suspicion. One of them moved their sofa chair over, used the back the hoist their leg up onto the hearth, and off they went, one at a time. Reagan made it up the stairs before I noticed, meaning she was probably the instigator, Emerie was going through the diaper changing station stuff, and Harper was in the process of climbing. It’s only a matter of time before their playpen is going to be completely empty so they can’t climb anything and get out. We are close to opening up the whole room, but not quite ready to commit to that level of freedom yet!
Rooms with confined walls and doors, like our family room, leave opportunity. Reagan started it, but now Emerie and Harper both follow in suit, to climb one of the kitchen sets (already anchored to the wall) and stand up in the sink. They are attempting to reach the wall thermometer that is quite a ways up from the floor! We almost had a repeat of my water before I realized that was again reachable. Funny thing is, they are willing to climb up but all three insist they cannot get back down themselves…
A little more icing on the cake for this week’s toddler life- Harper managed to grab my water container off the counter last night. You know, the big one the hospital gives new moms to encourage more water intake post baby. I rounded the corner into the kitchen to see her causing a rainstorm, furiously shaking it and thrilled to see water flowing out in every direction. Emerie and Reagan managed to pull their prepped bedtime bottles off the counter too; Reagan was drinking hers and watching the chaos approvingly while Emerie added hers to the growing water puddle.
As Craig grabbed towels and new pajamas upstairs, everyone tried to lay down and “swim” in the mess. Awesome.
So yes, this is what #realtime looks like with triplet toddlers. Life is not calm, relaxed or rosy. It’s been a long week; teeth still aren’t completely in and NO ONE wants to sleep, especially last night.
If you need me, I’ll be over here chugging down another cup of coffee.
These pictures are cute, but definitely don’t represent the bulk of time right now…
The Douglets 