They love to do the motions to the song, "This Little Light of Mine", twirling their fingers around as I sing, hiding their lights under a bushel, and blowing on their finger at the "won't let Satan blow it out" part. Very cute. They still like to give each other kisses and hugs, and when I say "Be nice to sister", they pat each others head and say "niiiii" (nice).
A long time ago, I started saying "no more" and rubbing my hands together when I was out of something or when we were done doing something. Now, they do it ALL the time! They'll cut themselves off in the middle of their milk and say, "no my" (rubbing their hands together), or if I'm doing something they don't like, they'll say "no my"!
They have started helping me pick up their toys (somewhat). They help me pick up all the little pieces and put them in baskets/buckets. They can even follow orders, like when I say, "put this on the zoo" or "this goes in the grocery cart", they'll put it where it goes.
Recently, Matt had a milkshake they were after, so we took it as an opportunity to teach them the word "please". Little Ally picked up on it really quick, and was saying "Pleathe" (with a strong emphasis on the "th") in no time! Izzy and Abby would say something more like, "Plee". I'm pretty sure if they say that to me, I'm going to give them ANYTHING they want.... it's the cutest little sound ever!
They love to play ring around the rosie, and at the "We all fall down" part, they'll sometimes start pushing each other down! I'm going to try to get it on video, because we could probably win thousands of dollars on America's Funniest Home Videos or something, but for now, I just have the video of them playing nicely (see at the end of this post).
They LOVE to play the chase game with daddy. I have a video of this, but I don't think Matt would appreciate me showing it with his rear in the air the whole time! He crawls around and stomps with his hands as he goes after them. The anticipation just kills them as he's heading towards them and they just giggle and giggle and try to run past him. They all love the game, but I'd say Ally loves it the most. If he stops because he's tired, she taunts him or whines until he starts back up. Also, often the babies will play the crawl game chasing each other, and pounding their hands on the ground with each other. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to see them playing nicely together and giggling. It's the sweetest sound I've ever heard!
They've started following directions much better too. Like, giving things to mommy or coming to mommy. You can tell they understand what I'm asking, which is nice. I can't say they always mind, but you can tell they're understanding. One of my major frustrations is, it seems they go for things they're not supposed to THE MOMENT I leave the room. They'll play fine while I'm in there with them, but I leave and they go to open the fence, climb behind the entertainment center, open the drawers of the entertainment center, etc. The frustration is because I know they know they're not supposed to and the do it anyway. I guess this is just a typical toddler thing, right?
Izzy has become more attached to a stuffed animal/blankie, she named Wigga Wigga. She likes to have him with her sometimes during the day, but loves to sleep with him. Abby calls him "Wee Wee". Izzy loves to do animal sounds and will sit and practice with one of her animal sound toys. She quacks, barks, meows, imitates a fish, etc. She often points to pictures and identifies the people in them... she'll stand, pointing, saying "papaw, papaw". Izzy loves to watch tv and dances to music anytime it comes on. As a matter of fact, she's zoned out, watching and dancing to "Jack's Big Music Show" as I blog right now. I don't want Izzer to get a bad rep, because she's really the sweetest thing, but she's started this new thing where she'll put her hands around her sisters neck and kind of choke them! I swear, I have NO IDEA where she could've learned this! Matt says he thinks it must be instinctual. It's not like I'm watching fight scenes on tv or anything... I promise! I know they fight a lot, but it's really tough, because they have to share EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME and they don't quite understand how to do that yet. One of the downfalls to being a triplet, I guess....
Abby has become the biggest daddy's girl! When he's home, she will hardly leave his side and becomes pretty whiney if he's not holding her. It's a little annoying, but you can tell he loves it! She's also become a little more demanding lately... some may refer to it as bratty! She whines and whines if there's something she wants, pointing to it until you get it for her. She's still crazy about Srog the Frog and won't go anywhere without him.
Ally has the most infectious giggle I've ever heard in my life! I love love to hear her giggle, and luckily, it happens often. In one of the videos I'm posting, you can hear her belly laugh, as she plays with her sisters. She's also becoming a very picky eater! Argh! Abigail will eat almost anything I give her, Izzy is iffy, but Ally will turn her nose up to many many things! It is so FRUSTRATING! Eventually, I'll just let her go hungry and she'll learn she needs to eat what's on her plate, but at this point, I feel like she's still too young to do that. Ally still loves her pacifier, but only gets it at night while she sleeps. I just tell her, "we only get pacis at night night" and she seems to understand. She loves to play a game where me and Matt pick her up and have her be our "baby" as we rock her. We do this with the other babies too, but Ally really likes it. She'll come up to us and say "baby" because she wants to be our baby. It's so sweet. Ally also has this precious little voice.... it's hard to describe, but it's kind of deep and raspy, but still sweet and high at the same time. I just love her voice for some reason.
Here are a few recent pics of the girls....
I came in one morning to find Izzy sleeping like this.... I thought it was so cute, so I grabbed the camera!
The girls' toy basket is broken, so I put all their little toys in a laundry basket. They love to take all the toys out and climb in the basket themselves. They fight and fight over the basket, so I usually have to take it out within 5 minutes before someone gets bitten. I have enough laundry baskets for each baby to have one, but they still find a way to fight over them, so they get "no more" very quickly.
If the weather is nice, we'll go play in our backyard. Here's a pic of Ally getting ready to slide and Abby swinging.
Izzy on the left, Ally on the right running around and looking at the dogs next door.
Izzy loves to explore the backyard and run around everywhere!
Izzy also likes to push Abby in the swing!
Ally doesn't really like to share her slide... she is really good about climbing up the ladder by herself and sliding down. The other 2 can climb up and slide down, but aren't nearly as coordinated at it as Ally. She gets a lot of practice though!
I pulled out the wagon, so they could push it around the backyard. Here's a pic of Izzy pushing it. Ally LOVES to push things around and would push all day if I'd let her!
Playing is serious business for Abigail...
Babies riding in wagon around backyard...
Here's a video of Ally hiding in the hole between the couch and the fence. Abby and Izzy are making her laugh!
And here's a video of the girls playing ring around the rosie:
Every now and then, I like to post a schedule of our typical day. Not sure how much it's changed since my last schedule post, but here it is:
8:30/9:00 Wake up. Change diapers and eat breakfast. The babies usually eat a cut-up pancake and banana with milk.
9:30 - Noon Play in the living room with toys. All babies usually poop during this time. They get juice at about 10:30. Sometimes we'll go outside and play during this time too.
12:00 Eat lunch. Typical lunch is: Scrambled eggs w/ toast and fruit or vienna sausage wieners with green beans and fruit, pb&j or grilled cheese. The girls drink ice water with their lunch.
12:30-1:00 Mommy cleans up, babies play in living room. The babies usually help me pick up their toys before they go down for a nap. Mommy changes diapers yet again.
1:00-4:00 Babies nap. I still put them in zip up sleepers that kind of look like snuggies. I really like them because their blanket stays on them while they sleep and won't get up around their faces. Also, at this point, it's kind of a que for them that it's time to go to sleep. One more advantage: I really think it keeps them from climbing our of their cribs, since it's kind of hard to walk in (like you're in a sleeping bag or something).
4:00 Change diapers, come into living room and have a snack and juice. A lot of times I'll open up the play area and let them run around the house at this time.
5:30/6:00 Babies eat dinner. A typical dinner includes mac & cheese, chicken and rice, pudding, cereal bars, etc. I usually feed them things I can spoon feed them, so I don't have a ton to clean up. I get frustrated, because a lot of times I try to give them what we're eating, but they don't want it. I gave them some cut up pork roast with potatoes and carrots the other day, and they just threw it everywhere. After that, I gave them some chicken weiner stick things and they gobbled them up! I would SO much rather have a pork roast over mushy wiener sticks any day!!!
7:30 Baths every other night
8:00 Milk (and sometimes a snack).
8:30 Brush teeth, change diapers and go night night.
By the way, if you have any ideas on what I could feed them, I'm very open to suggestions...
We have a Dr's appointment for the girls' 18 month check-up on Monday, so I'll post updates on weights, heights, etc. after the appointment.
