Life Lately-- mostly about the kids

This stage of life with three little kids is a circus.  More than once this past month I've strapped my kids in the car and drived around just because I couldn't handle them crawling on me any longer.  The girls seem to be in competition with who can get more of my attention.  They both got a new tooth (oddly, on the top left, not one of the center 2) and were extra whiney/clingy.  But definitely making it clear how much they like me.  They would like me to hold them all day, if at all possible.  Unfortunately, it's not.

It's not uncommon, while the girls are shoving at each other, for Tiago to throw a fit, too, and push them over, so then all three are screaming.  He has moments where he loves the girls, and does everything to make them laugh, which makes him laugh.  And other moments where he's mad and takes it out on them.  Swinging his fist in their face.  Pushing them over as hard as he can.  Throwing things at them.  Who do you comfort first when all three are mad/screaming/crying?

Bad behavior aside, Tiago has changed quite a bit in the last month or two.  He seems so grown up, and makes great effort to communicate with us.  Sometimes it's actual words, and sometimes it's "nanana Bike... nanana outside...."  Occasionally I put him in the baby carrier on my back (if both girls are in the stroller) and he just talks my ear off, being so close to my head.  He also entered a phase of doing goofy things, like hitting himself in the head, spinning in circles until he falls on the ground, and walking into furniture.  He's becoming quite a little boy, by digging in the dirt any chance he gets.  And he's learning a lot through what some might call excessive viewings of Sesame Street and Blues Clues, which he calls "Blue blues".  He can count in English and Spanish, although in Spanish it always goes: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.   So maybe we have room for improvement...

Since moving to Colorado, Tiago got new bedding for his bed.  His bedroom is now 100% done.  He sleeps well in the regular bed, although he wakes up regularly in the middle of the night with requests, like changing his diaper, or more often than not, bringing him hot chocolate.  Hyrum is good enough to usually get up with him, and most of the time I don't even hear Tiago wake up.  I think I've trained myself to not wake up easily by my kids noises.  [The girls, however, are great sleepers and never wake us up! Thank goodness.]

Speaking of the girls... they're difficult to tell apart sometimes.  About a month ago, I was really struggling to tell them apart if they were dressed alike.  (Clarification: I can always tell them apart if I have time to watch them for a minute, or look for defining marks.  But in the situation that Hyrum puts them both in high chairs, and they're dressed alike, and I want to know in a split second who is who, that's when I struggled.)  So I haven't dressed them a like in a while.  It's easier for me to tell them apart with a glance.  Generally, if one of the two has on pink, it's Mila.  I hope that looking at pictures 20 years from now that kind of helps remember who is who.  This twin thing is kind of complicated.

At the girls 1-year check up (at 14 months) I told the doctor, in casual conversation, that lately I have a hard time telling the girls apart.  He started the formal part of the appointment asking me questions about Mila-- feedings, bowel movements, etc.  Then he said, "Can I assume answers are the same for Siena?  After all, you can't differentiate between them."  Touche.

That doctors appointment in general was crazy. As soon as we signed in, the receptionist handed me a whole stack of papers to fill out.  The brought us to the back office to wait, and I started filling out forms while trying to keep all three kids happy and safe.  (Read: stop the screaming and keep them from hurting each other.) Not surprisingly, I didn't make it far before the nurse came in to start the screening.  She seemed annoyed I wasn't done.  Then I got handed another stack of papers before being sent down to the vaccination area to wait.  Tiago insisted on going to the bathroom, so all four of us fit into a bathroom with the double stroller and took care of them.  Then 16 vaccinations between the two girls!  That's a lot of needles and a lot of crying.  Next we waited in line at the pharmacy to get 13 medications (not urgent, but we were there, and it was free...)  And finally we walked the quarter mile back to our car because the parking lot is enormous, and inconveniently completely full.  Can't there be closer parking for moms who already have enough insanity in their lives to not park so far away??  Rant over. Glad we don't have to do that for another... 3 months.

These are both pictures of Siena

(Siena is crying)

Mila is the smiling one... who sat on Siena after Siena tried to take over the chair.

Tiago and Mila

Mila

Siena still has me convinced she's a crazy child.  She's fearless and not easily startled.  Even when Tiago pushes her, she doesn't usually cry, and often just laughs.  She babbles all day long and is really good at walking now.  Too bad Mila shows no interest yet in walking!  The funniest thing Siena does at this age is hoard pacifiers.  We usually keep the pacifiers in their cribs for them to use just when they sleep.  But the second Siena is out of her crib, she starts looking for pacifiers.  It's not unusual to see her walking around with one in her mouth, and one in each hand.  She'll even walk up to Mila and pull the pacifier right out of her mouth.  She'll begin sucking on it, even if it's attached to Mila's shirt.  So like I said, she's a little crazy.  Mila isn't quite as aggressive, although she has her moments.  She observes more, doesn't make nearly as much noise, and smiles a lot.  They're both starting to show more interest in books, and sometimes just sit and look at pictures on their own.

Mila is sensative to people telling her no,  One night at dinner, Hyrum told her sternly, "No Mila-- don't throw food on the floor."  There was a 2-second delay, and then she started crying the biggest alligator tears and was practically inconsolable.

Their napping situation is frustrating.  Usually, when a baby starts to outgrow two naps, you just switch to one.  But they're not really switching at the same time.  There have been many days when I put them both down to sleep in the morning, but only one actually sleeps.  So by the time the morning napper wakes up, the other one needs to go to sleep.  Then they're on opposite schedules, and I have at least one of them sleeping from about 9:30 am until 4 pm.  Which means we never get to leave the house.  I dislike not being able to plan ahead for when we'll be available to do stuff, but keep telling myself within a few months they should have it all worked out.

Siena on right

I just remembered some funny things Tiago has said recently.

--I was pretending to take a nap on Tiago's bed, because I wanted him to take a nap.  He came over and started tapping me, and I said, 'Tiago, I'm sleeping.'  A light bulb went off in his head, and he went and flipped on the light switch.  Then the tapping resumed.  If he could talk better, I'm sure he would have said, "Oh yeah? You think you're sleeping?  Think again."

--One afternoon he was laying on my lap and I saw a small bump on the back of his leg.  In Spanish, I said "Mira, una marquita (look, a little mark)".  Immediately he jumped up and tried to see his legs.  "Una mariquita?? Where? Where?"  (Mariquita is ladybug.)

--Another day we were looking at pictures in a book.  He pointed to the chickens ('gallinas') and called them 'galletas' (cookies.)  Really close, but not quite.

It's fun to hear him learn new words.  And pretty amazing how quickly they catch on.  Tiago's vocabulary is growing rapidly, although he still struggles with complete sentences.  That makes it even more funny to make when he says full phrases.  The other day I heard him drop something down the stairs and then say, "What the heck!"  Another day I called him in to help me, and he yelled back, "ya voy!" (I'm coming.)

It's a fun age, even if it's accompanied by crazy tantrums and some frustration.  And next year, I'll have two this age!!!!!

Siena on right, Mila on left.  A very dapper Tiago in the center.