Buy One Get Two Free!: 18 months!

We are one and a half!

The last few weeks have been filled with ups and downs. Sammy cut a molar, so that was a week of fevers, drool, and misery. Danny has a big lump on his gums, so looking forward to a repeat event in the days ahead. Also, we are in full swing with stranger danger, so any visitors encounter three crying toddlers grabbing and pulling at their mother's legs for the first 15 minutes.

After that 15 minutes, the kids love to show off all their new skills, pointing to different body parts when you ask (in English and Portuguese), dancing on command, participating in songs like Wheels on the Bus, and giving everyone kisses. They even give each other kisses, which is absolutely heart melting to watch! I regularly tickle them to make them laugh, and Danny has been tickling his siblings while they lay on the floor to get their diapers change...and he laughs as much as they do. Of course, sometimes they follow up these nice, sweet things by hitting the recipient on the head with whatever toy they are holding. This is their new thing, hitting in the head, and I've initiated a plethora of strategies to stop it to no avail. Now, as if to prove that it is no big deal, the perpetrator will hit the victim, then turn to me and smack themselves in the head with aforementioned toy to show me it doesn't really hurt. Ay yi yi. Looking forward to this stage passing.

The kids have recently learned to navigate the stairs, and they love the freedom of going up to bath time on their own, and coming down when they wake up in the morning. They are using these new climbing skills to climb up on the coffee table and bang on the buffet, as well as climb on objects that make them taller than the gates. They even climb into their own swings, which is an accident waiting to happen. I have also experimented with letting them walk out to the car, which requires 2 sets of steps. I want them to get used to walking next to me since I can't carry them everywhere and I want to be able to go some places without triplet strollers. I won't lie it is pretty nerve racking just getting to the car, because they move quick, we live on a busy road, and corralling three is no easy task. But I refuse to let this small challenge alter my big plans of going out and about with three toddlers. I've accomplished bigger feats! Ok maybe not.

We've managed to get in a few walks on the milder days. The kids LOVE the wagon, because they get to interact and touch each other. So far it's been all giggles, which makes the walk even more enjoyable. Excited to have the weather break so we can try our first go at the playground on our walk. I love doing all these new things with them.

There are some other notable feats to mention. The kids have completely mastered the sippy cup. I started trying last summer and they wouldn't have it. They would drink a sip or two, but nothing substantial, so we couldn't abandon bottles and sacrifice hydration. Every month since then I've tried reintroducing the sippy, and in January they started catching on, but still only polishing off maybe 4 ounces of water all day with them. About a month ago I decided to just leave 3 sippy cups out in the living room throughout the day and let them experiment and use them on their own accord. Success! I noticed them more and more picking up the cup to have a sip, and within the last 2 weeks I've had to refill the cups at least twice throughout the day to keep up with them. Yay! They have also mastered the pouches. Whereas I make most of their food, they would eat pouches here and there, but not daily, so they were content just letting me hold it and squeeze it into their mouths. About a week ago I decided to teach them how to hold and squeeze to get out the last drop, and they were all over it. They are really into eating related activities right now.

We had a great St. Patrick's Day, and got some cute pics in our green attire. Enjoy the pics and videos!

Trying to get a group picture on St. Patrick's Day was challenging. They are just so mobile but not at a stage where they really follow directions. So just hold down the button on the camera and hope for the best. Here is some good ones, and some good outtakes :)