blankies, binkies and lots of teeth

My poor babies are cutting their molars. I don't know why or how but their back, big teeth are coming in as their next set instead of more little ones. Mikey is cutting all four, top and bottom at the same time and Konrad is cutting the top set. Zachy won't let my hands in their to feel but my guess is that he is too...their bums are red, their moods are grumpy and they are drooling all over the place and eating anything that will fit in their mouth.  Mikey is walking pretty much all of the time now, he is so steady on his feet. Zach is still half and half and Konrad is walking primarily upright on his knees and sometimes on his feet...we don't know why, but its cute.  They are all starting to talk so much more, they are so amazing right now its like you can see their brains expanding and connecting the pieces of the world around them. They are all getting so aware of each other, us and how we all fit in with each other and they are learning to manipulate and test their environments. We are starting to feel the winds of the terrible twos blow our way as they begin to test boundaries and each other, but we are truly in a wonderfully pleasant period of time right now. The past few months has most definitely been the most "easy" so far in our triplet experience...we are told that it gets harder again when they are fully talking, wrestling, fighting and walking, but in the mean time we are thankful and loving this stage. They are reading books and pointing and signing words and saying words and singing and stacking blocks and dancing with each other and clapping for each other's accomplishments and saying "no no no" when one of them does something that the adults usually say no to. They are just incredible at this age. They are becoming truly attached to their pacifiers/binkies in Zach and Konrad's case and blanky in Mikey (aka Linus)'s case. We haven't quite gotten rid of the bottles, but we are closer than we were a few weeks ago. The boys can drink out of the sippy cuos and we could probably cut the cord as it were but...bottles are so much easier for us than sippy cups that right now I think it is more a matter of mommy and daddy not figuring it out than babies not figuring it out any more (she says sheepishly out loud for the first time)...something has to be easy, right?  We are definitely appreciating this time as a good time in our lives and we love watching our boys discover the world around them. They find such joy in the little things.

Mikey reading a book

Konrad reading (and eating) his book

Zachy stacking blocks

All of their lovies (blankies and binkies all around!)

playing in the pool!

Here they are playing in their pool. Summer is so fun!

we have walkers!

All of the boys started walking over Memorial day weekend. They are truly amazing. Although they all crawled and stood and sat at different times, they all took their first real, independent (not falling forward into parents arms) steps within 24 hours of each other. Mikey and Konrad started talking multiple steps on Saturday. They had been standing and taking one or two steps over the week so we kind of hoped they would start walking over the weekend, but then Zachary surprised us and not only took his first steps but started really walking on Sunday morning.

Konrad is the most daring and he is a definite show off. He has to pull himself up on something but then he walks all the way across the room by himself. He is so proud and his face lights up with such joy when he accomplishes a long walk. Mikey is the steadiest on his feet, but also the most cautious. He can stand up in the middle of the room and then he takes some steps, but he lowers himself to a crawl if he has to go far to get what he wants. Zachary hasn't really committed to the walking yet. That first day it was definitely on purpose because we were doing it so much with his brothers getting them to walk and then clapping. Now he kind of gets distracted and then accidently starts walking around, but he is not doing it with the level of intention or for attention and praise like the other two are.  They are all teething again, and its the mean ones, the big ones. Konrad is still working on tooth number eight, but Mikey and Zachary are cutting nine and ten and it looks like it hurts. They are all starting to chatter and make baby conversation. Sometimes they just talk and talk and who knows what they are saying but it is really funny. Konrad especially has all of the body language and talks with his hands and shrugs as he talks. It is really funny. Sometimes I think that he is saying real things and he just can't articulate well yet because I will repeat what I think he says and he nods sometimes...other times he repeats what we say and then I know he meant to say it. All three of them sing the ABC's in some form or another and also all three say "ee ii ee ii oh" from Old MacDonald which is pretty darn funny. Mikey is the best with animal sounds and he barks and meows or clucks like a chicken when he sees the animals. They other things that Mikey has started doing is clapping and saying "yaaay" in this low "crowd roar" voice, its pretty funny...Mike and I sometimes look at each other and say "do we sound like that when we say yay", maybe we do. The boys are so interested in each other and they are always playing with each other and of course fighting with each other over toys. They share sometimes, but sometimes they do not. Konrad has started biting to mark his territory with toys...not good. We have considered covering his brothers with vinegar or soap, but we haven't done it yet, lol.  So far we just yell "no bite" across the room and that gets him to stop, but his brothers have gotten some real bad bite marks. Other than that, the boys are doing so great and they are simply amazing and growing up so fast!

Helping with laundry

Hanging out in the pool