Twenty-two month old triplets

our little artists...

So our triplets are now 22 months old.  I started this post two weeks ago and am just now getting it up.  I've noticed that over the past couple weeks, when people ask how old they are I say "they'll be two in October." rather than saying they're 22 months.  Maybe it's my own way of mentally preparing myself for that day!?!  Anyway, they are getting so big and doing and saying new things every day.  Michelle's family saw them at fourth of July and then again three weeks later and they were all shocked by how much more they were all talking. It is not at all uncommon now to hear three word sentences coming out of their mouths.  And they love to talk and love to listen to us talk about things we have done and people we know.  Whenever they start to get fussy in the car we try two things, 1) singing songs or 2) talking about people/things we've done.  They are very empathetic kids and whenever anyone is sad they want to talk about it over and over again! They have incredible memories.  And like most almost two year olds, a lot of what they say is pretty hard, if not impossible to understand.  With context we know what they are saying maybe 90% of the time, but without context, like when they are talking about things we did months ago, our understanding drops precipitously!  All three of them have started this cute thing of saying "mommymama, mommymama." And they are starting to talk to each other and play with each other a lot more too.

They have also gotten a lot faster, which can be tricky when they all head different directions!  All three have also learned to jump off the ground with both feet over the past two months, though only Ellie does it every time.  They are much more adventurous on playgrounds now too.  It is fun to watch them try new things.  (Stay tuned for an upcoming post about parenting on the playground!) They like doing more fine motor activities too like painting and coloring and puzzles now too. Over the past month we went "all in" with potty training and they're all doing very well.  It is far from perfect or stress free, but we are out of diapers completely when they are awake.  We still do diapers for naps and overnight, but they sometimes wake up dry, especially Ellie.  I'll have to write a post soon about the experience of potty training triplets! Oh yeah, and they learned to swim this summer.  Be sure to check out the video if you haven't seen it yet!  And I'm posting a new one tonight too!  They've really grown up a ton this summer!

taken 6/4/15

6 weeks later

Ellie

Ellie belle is getting so big!  She is definitely the biggest of the trio.  Ellie does like to eat, but she can get pretty finicky, especially at breakfast!  The girl does NOT like eggs 90% of the time, but then on random mornings she will gobble them up and ask for more.  Oh toddlers and their eating habits! Ellie has cut all four of her canines this month, but they are taking a long time to push through.  As they were emerging she went through a pretty rough period of biting, but that seems to be improving now.  This little girl LOVES her baby dolls and the color pink!  She is particularly obsessed with the "pink baby!"  She loves to push her baby around in the stroller that Grandma Stephen bought for them at a yard sale and put them to bed in a little crib.  The annoying thing is that she constantly asks us to do it for her and as soon as we put the baby in the stroller she takes it out and immediately asks us to do it again!  She likes to "pick" out her own dress/outfit in the morning and rarely chooses anything that isn't pink.  Ellie has a cute little voice and she was the first one to switch from calling Isaiah "Aya" to "A-yay-yah." She has gotten really good at counting to ten and can pretty much do it all by herself though she likes to do it with us.  Ellie LOVES to jump!  She is the best at jumping with two feet and wants to do it all the time, especially in the pool!  Ellie likes to practice things over and over to learn them.  She likes to play catch and worked very hard at learning to catch a ball.  She isn't as much of a water lover as the other two, but she has also learned to swim under water a couple feet by herself in the past couple weeks.

Avery

 

She may be our littlest peanut but it is not for lack of eating.  This girl could eat all day long.  She is definitely a grazer, but at some meals she can really pack away the food and we wonder where she puts it all!  She is also obsessed with nursing lately and gets pretty ticked when it's time to be "all done milk."  Speaking of, in a recent post we talked about how Avery tends to be pretty even keeled, but that is less and less the case lately.  Her tantrums tend to be pretty short, but they are happening pretty frequently when life doesn't go her way.  And let me tell you, this girl has ideas about how things should be and isn't afraid to tell you!  Avery probably has the most unique three word phrases of the bunch.  She really has a knack for words and grammatical structure.  Over the past month she has started using pronouns like "I" and "he" and has added -ing to verbs so now when we're out and about she'll just comment on the world around her and say "he's running."  She loves to "talk" and particularly likes us to talk about her little friend Noah.  Avery is a little fish!  The girl is gutsy and will jump off the bench in the pool and will even jump off the side of the pool.  And she will do it over and over again.  Unlike the other two Avery hasn't cut any new teeth yet. Avery is also our little baby and animal lover.  She spots doggies everywhere and wants to pet every single one. She also likes to pet babies! =)

Isaiah

He is a funny little boy.  Isaiah loves to be silly and watch your reaction.  His new thing is that he likes to jump up and instead of landing on his feet he just lands straight on his butt like he is on a trampoline, only he will do it straight onto the floor!  He loves to do it and just look at us and crack up.  Isaiah was the last one to learn to climb out of his crib, but the sleep sack worked wonders to keep him in the crib.  In fact, a few times he would start climbing out while I was still in the room and I would ask him if he needed his special blanket and he said yes.  So I put it just over his arms and didn't even put his legs in or zip it and he just laid down and went right to sleep!  So cute!  Isaiah's little voice is adorable.  He continues to be our biggest babbler and can go on long tangents with an intelligible word sprinkled in here and there!  He language has really blossomed this summer.  His cutest phrase hands down is "bye bye. see ya!" which he says repeatedly because he likes to to leave a room and then come back. He has a lot to say, but when he is even a little bit upset he has a really hard time using any of them! Isaiah has been in a rut lately of waking up from a great afternoon nap super duper crabby. =(  And sometimes he just wants to cuddle, but other times even when I try to cuddle him he throws a fit.  He has made huge progress with sleeping lately (see this post for more info), which has been a huge relief, though we do still have our occasional early morning snuggles. Isaiah also cut all four of his canines recently though there are just barely through the gums.  Since both of his sisters get to pick dresses hanging up in the closet he wanted to wear dresses too.  So we hung up all of his rompers and so now if you ask him what he wants to wear he will often say "dress." =)  And really, they are mostly like a dress because with this whole potty training gig we rarely snap the snaps!

These three continue to keep us on our toes!  Truly, they are all incredibly funny, loving, and sweet kiddos.  They are also wiley, busy, and testing little toddlers.  So ya know...on our good days, well, in the good moments, they are just a joy to be with and we love watching them interact with each other...and in the not-so-good moments they make us want to pull our hair out and run away.  But we never will, because, really, we can't imagine it any other way.  We are so lucky to have these three amazing almost two year olds in our lives.