As we approach the beginning of year TWO, I enjoy monitoring some of the cute, new habits the girls are learning and consistently starting to mimic. There are many everyday activities that an adult doesn’t think much about, but a kid will notice as they are repeated over time. This includes getting ready in the morning, mealtimes, or the mundane activities of laundry or cleaning up, which are constantly requiring effort to complete.

We now have a better routine when we leave the house, which happens far more often than it did a year ago and at a much quicker pace (quicker in triplet terms). Prior to the mobile stage, this routine involved constant preparation while the girls were in their swings or on a blanket- time for us to get the diaper bag ready, prepare milk and bottles, ensure all the essentials were ready, put the proper hats, coats, and booties on the girls, make sure to have a plethora of binkies available, that type of thing. All required things since the girls weren’t big enough to help yet. By the time we toted the infant car seats to the car, we were sweating!

Now, this process is 1000x easier and so wonderful after months of solid effort. If we say we are going “buh-bye” and “go get your shoes,” the girls will go get their Bog boots from the shoe bin by the front door and put them on without assistance! This goes much easier if socks are already on and it’s fun to see how often they put the right shoe on the correct foot. Most of the time each kiddo ends up wearing two different colors of bog boots and it becomes an eclectic triplet style between the three of them.

They will remind us about their coats if we don’t get them out quick enough. Of course, when we put them on too early, they usually remove them before we make it to the car. It’s a total timing game. Someone gave us puffy, red coats that have a bow that snaps and are amazing for fixing this issue. They haven’t figured out how to take them off yet even though they can unzip them. Those designers knew what they were doing!

The diaper bag contains sippy cups, now with water or the occasional juice, and is far quicker to prep. We don’t have to worry about forgetting something vital that will make our outing scale to disastrous; which happened a couple times when they were smaller. Once we forgot bottle parts and couldn’t do a feeding; they didn’t approve of that at all and were oh so vocal about it. Other times we’ve forgotten diapers or the whole diaper bag, but not very often.

If you leave the house, Emerie is very happy to slam the front door behind you. Better watch out though or she will slam it ON your backside or your face! You better move quick as she yells her instructions out at you. She takes no prisoners (haha).

Another routine the girls are picking up on is our shoes. If they know we are going somewhere they will deliver our shoes to us and sometimes try to assist us putting them on. And how dare we expect to wear them on the correct feet if they’ve already laid them out the opposite way!? Other things they see us doing and try themselves relate to hair and teeth brushing and dressing or undressing.

Getting dressed is both improving and getting more difficult. All three are wonderful at helping slide their legs and arms in the clothing (most of the time), especially as you say the body parts out loud (since they know most of the main ones). It makes getting dressed much easier than the infant stage, except you usually have to chase them across the room to start the process, about 100% of the time. The increased difficulty comes with keeping the clothing ON their bodies. Heaven forbid they would have to wear that shirt all day, or wear those pants when it’s zero degrees outside. Reagan is the ring leader of this revolution and generally the one to instigate removal, with the other two always following in step once they see her do it. I feel that with one kiddo this wouldn’t be a big deal, you would continually correct them until they learn to stop it. With three, you can correct and re-correct twenty times between the three and as soon as you walk away from one to fix the next, they are already repeating the process. The nanny suggested we safety pin the bedtime sleepers on and that works great for us; she is not amused by it. It is progressing to the point that Reagan will pull off her pants AND her diaper. The other night she did this with a poopy diaper and Craig chased her across the house to minimize that destruction. Toddlers…you just never know what you are in for, one moment to the next!

Another cute habit picked up from Craig and I involves the car keys. One of the most popular stocking stuffers and Christmas present are three car key fobs. Since auto start is a must in our house, and for living in Alaska, the girls will now “start” their cars using the keys, put them into their purses and bags and then turn around and tell you buh-bye.

They also help with the laundry. Our house floor plan boasts a staircase in connecting the main floor with the up and downstairs. We often throw their clothes over the railings, down to the laundry area, and they’ve picked up on this habit. Not only do they throw their dirty clothes down the stairs and into the pile waiting for washing, they are most insistent on putting that same pile into the washer. It definitely involves adult supervision, otherwise someones hand (or head) gets slammed in the door when the “shut!” discussion starts. I am excited for the day they are old enough to do actual laundry…but yes…that is a LONG time from now.

Remember back in the day when the main obsession in my household was the ceiling fan? Well, the nightlight sound machine is the newest trend worth obsessing over (apparently). Since this is part of bedtime routine every night, they’ve watched us flip it on for months. As we get lotioned and dressed after bath time, all the toddler chatter now relates to that darn machine…the “nigh-nigh” machine. In fact, if I don’t hide it before I bring the first one into the room, I can guarantee a future fight-to-the-death over it once everyone is freed or I’m getting number three ready. This usually involves climbing up the chair and end table to get it, by one or all. When we go down for nap or bedtime, everyone is extremely excited to push the on button and see the stars light up on the ceiling. They promptly remind us to turn it on every afternoon and evening.

A couple entertaining things this week. I caught them scooping water out of the toilet during bath time when we left the room for a moment. They like to slam the toilet lid, which is just reachable from the tub, and throw any and all bath toys in when no one is looking. Thank goodness the flushing concept is still unknown. Craig gives them baths or showers more than I do; I will do a quick scrub of the kitchen post dinner and get bottles warming while he scrubs them down and let’s them play. It is incredibly entertaining to listen to the dialog that occurs from downstairs. It involves a lot of yelling and “no, that’s too hot” or “no, stop turning it all the way cold” or “get down!” over and over again. It also involves Craig showering with them, even if he never gets in the actual water…

The girls’ second Valentine’s Day remained pretty laid back. We packed up and went to one of our favorite spots for dinner, Perfect Cup, with everyone all dressed up in matching dad valentine shirts and their fancy boots. Later in the weekend everyone received their first valentines from one of their friends; he even hand delivered each of them at the play date and signed the backs! While they were intrigued at first, the cards eventually became chew toys before being taken away. I can’t wait until next year when we can do miniature V-Day crafts for family and friends.

One last, entertaining story for your enjoyment this week. Craig and I are learning that all things on the kitchen counter are fair game. Emerie figured out the other day that if she pulls the cloth on the counter toward her, she can access things she couldn’t reach before. It’s not new that they will stand on something to reach new things, but getting even smarter about it is new. I was chasing Harper around the living room to dose her with Tylenol (she is not a fan of new teeth); when I turned around to get the next dose, the bottle was gone! Emerie, that sneaky baby, was attempted to take a big gulp of the medicine behind the veil of the curtain. Luckily she didn’t get much, but it proved to be a good lesson for me to 1) close the bottle each time I walk away or 2) make sure it is very out of reach. These girls are getting craftier!

And as of today, my babies will be TWO in one month!! ❤ ❤ ❤