Sharing, Caring and Cleaning.

As we approach the 2 year mark my trio has definitely grown.  One of the things I’m most proud of is the fact that my triplets (usually) love to share.  They find happiness in the receivers delight when they give them something – now that can be an empty sippy cup, lovey, or even a booger but the fact is my kids like to give.

The other day, Cam was having a little melt down and Calder came over with his lovey and gave it to him to try to make him feel better.  Another example – Cam pushed Evie, after a short time out he went back to her and tried to give her a hug and kiss. But the best is at the dining table when they share food – I think this is just a tactic for Calder not to eat his vegetables but it’s definitely a “barter and trade” sharing moment.

The other nice benefit to having almost two year olds – they are eager to please and love copying.  I don’t mind that they love to copy my cleaning lady, because let’s face it – with triplets, the house constantly needs cleaning and I am the worst….  Calder is the cleaning champion and each day after every meal he likes to wipe down the little kitchen table and chairs.  When he spills, he say “oh-oh, tissue” and after receiving a tissue or pice of paper bowl proceeds to get on all fours and clean. He takes such pride in wiping up messes – it’s ridiculous!

Would love to hear what other mommies love about this age.  What silly or sweet things do your toddlers do to put a smile on your face?

Sharing and Cleaning video

Full Fledged Toddlerhood – sippy cups, high chairs and a potty.

Oh my goodness – my munchkins are growing up way too fast. So much has happened this month it is incredible. I’ll try to break it down briefly…

cups, sippy, kids, table, chairs, breakfast, triplets

Triplets at their new IKEA table with Take n’ Toss cups

Milk Bottles to Sippy Cups
We finally got rid of milk bottles. Ok, ok, I know you’re supposed to stop the whole bottle thing after kids hit a year but they just liked them so much and sucked them down in 1 min flat. Over the course of the last 20 months or so I have tried literally every single fancy sippy spout and straw cup available. I’m sure I’ve spent well over a couple of hundred dollars total. I was able to get them to take the Playtex Lil’ Gripper Straw Cups for water but they just refused to drink from them if it was milk. Finally a fellow triplet mom asked if I ever tried the Tomy Take n’ Toss – the cheapest and only one I hadn’t tried to date. I think I viewed them as being disposable and too flimsy? She said the flow was pretty fast so it might work since they seemed frustrated with not getting the milk quick enough from other zippy cups we had tried. Low and behold after 2 days they loved them and I love them because they are easy to clean and cheap. Only drawback is that sometimes my kids will pull the lid off (happens about 1x per week).

High Chairs
My kids are getting big (even Evie) and lifting them into their highchairs 3-4 times per day was just becoming backbreaking especially if they decided they didn’t want to sit in their high chair. So, after an impromptu trip to IKEA one weekend I came back with a large, rectangular kid sized table and 6 chairs – 3 for them and 3 for their friends of course! I was a little worried that they wouldn’t stay seated at the table but low and behold after a few days of making sure we removed their plate if they left the table they were “big kid” eating champs! Now, every morning when I say breakfast-time they go running to the table and sit down, patiently waiting for their breakfast. Love, love love!

Potty Time?
So Calder and Evie like to strip. Luckily Campbell has no interest in stripping…yet. This issue came to a head when (luckily?) I was at work. During nap time Calder decided to take off his pants and diaper (of course after having gone #2). Our au pair, Anna hears “uh-oh, poo poo, bunny” at least five times in a row and decides to check out the situ. Poop everywhere. Fortunately Tim was home sick so Anna called him in for reinforcement. Tim reaches down to get Calder – gets poop all over himself. According to Anna, Tim screamed like a girl and immediately ran to the bathroom to strip in a total panic. We are now gently easing Calder into the idea of the potty (we’ve had the Baby Bjorn potty chairs since Christmas) and watching Elmo’s Potty Time video daily. Any tips on potty training and keeping clothes on toddlers are welcome and needed!