Wednesday, October 29, 2014

World Series

In 2010, the children were born and the Giants moved into first place the next day, moving on to the playoffs and to their first San Francisco World Series victory.  This, obviously, was thanks to what we soon dubbed "Salvateenie Mojo".  The Giants returned to the World Series in 2012 with another championship and then, unexpectedly, they were back in the Series this year.  Obviously, it was time for them to win a third trophy so that there was one per Salvateenie.

The Giants came back to San Francisco having one win and one loss.  People were feeling pretty confident for Game 3 and then the Royals shocked everyone and took the Series lead 2-1.

All the pre-game pomp for Game 3


As I went to work at the ballpark for Game 4, I stopped by the commemorative brick we'd bought in 2010 to invoke some of that Salvateenie Mojo.


Game 4

The mojo worked!  The Series is tied 2-2

Game 5

The Mojo held for Game 5!
The Giants headed to Kansas City with a 3-2 lead in the Series.  After a brief hiccup being shut out in Game 6, the kids reminded them who they were rooting for in the deciding Game 7.


And there it was - another Giants World Series Victory - three times in their tiny young lives.  Amazing!

Friday, October 24, 2014

School Pictures, 2014


A brief comparison of 2014 and 2013.  

Daniel, age 4

Daniel, age 3

Max, age 4

Max, age 3

Caroline, age 4

Caroline, age 3

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

More random anecdotes

July - When we arrived at the kids' friend Brianna's birthday party, their mother introduced us to another parent as "party in a box!"

August - Caroline: Tomorrow, I'm going to work
Me: Oh? Where do you work?
Caroline: On the sand, next to the beach
Me: What do you do at work?
Caroline: Just watch people play baseball. It's very hard work. 
Then the three of them discussed the various baseball games they were going to. 
Daniel: Where's your baseball game, Caroline?
Caroline: I just TOLD you - it's next to the MUSEUM!
I want a map of this town with the beachside ballpark next door to the museum!

September - 
Caroline to Max: Poof! I turned you into a girl!
Max: Caroline, I a boy! I don't want to be a girl. 
Caroline: OK, to change you back from a girl, I have to change you into Two Boys. 
Mommy: Why is that?
Caroline: Because girls are cooler than boys so it takes two boys to be as good as a girl. Like how I have two brothers and there's only me for girls.

The children have discovered Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman on YouTube. As they say, my work here is done.  They also can sing the theme songs to Wonder Woman, Spider Man, and Iron Man: Animated Adventures.

October - 
When the kids want to be left alone on the potty, they say, "I need my pribacies!" I just told Daniel that and he responded, "NO! I don't want you to have pribacies!" Story of my life!

I asked Caroline what she wanted to eat and she said she wanted something cold, like ice cream or a popsicle.  I tried to point out that she needed some REAL food first and she responded, matter-of-factly, "Ice cream or popsicle - those are the two things you can pick from to get for me, ok, Mommy?"  Hilariously, I posted that to Facebook, and Grandma read it and texted me to say she was busy at the moment but she'd check in later, then she called later and asked what kind of ice cream I wanted. Thanks, Mommy!

Caroline was tooling around on YouTube and found BatKid…
"Mommy! Come here! There's a little boy and he is BATMAN!"

I want to be happy to...

Sometimes, the kids get their mind set on something specific - being the first to wake up or get dressed or something banal like that, or maybe they just wake up in a bad mood.  Upon seeing that they haven't gotten their way, they wail like pint-sized banshees.

As much as I want to take the time when they're this upset to sit down with them and find out what the issue is and calm their little toddler nerves, it's just not always possible with the other two running around.  When we finally get a moment to address the whining, the refrain is the same, "I want to be happy to..."  whatever it is - "I want to be happy to get out of the car."  "I want to be happy to go up the stairs."  "I want to be happy to wake up." "I want to be happy to get dressed."

This was very confusing for quite some time, until we determined that they simply wanted a do-over. They want us to put them back in the car, take them back down the stairs, let them lie down under the blankets and pretend to snore, undress them, at which point they stop crying, smile big smiles, and jump into the activity.  It's like they have their own little reset buttons that take them back to their happy place.

The more frustrating thing, honestly, is when they fixate on something one of the other kids has done.  For example, when Max screamed for twenty-five minutes that, "NO! I want to be happy for Caroline to put on her pajamas!"  This requires the sibling to become complicit in the delusion, agreeing to go back to the arbitrary happy moment in the past when things went so horribly wrong.  In some cases, it's fine.  Daniel's OK taking his shoes off so that Caroline can be happy for him to put them on.  Max will go back to bed so that Daniel can be happy for him to get up.  But sometimes, they don't want to.

And other times, I don't want them to.  I don't want to set up expectations that if you scream and cry enough, people will do what you want them to.  I don't want Caroline to think she has to take her PJs off because somebody is crying because she won't.  So that continues to be a struggle for balance.

And I continue to struggle not to answer their, "I want to be happy to..." pleas with, "and I want a child who doesn't whine!"  So far, so good.

Max's addendum to this behavior is "My tummy hurts to…" when he doesn't want to do something.  "Come on, Max, let's go get dressed for school." "NO! Mommy!  My tummy hurts about going to school! My tummy really, really hurts to go to school!"  Of course, it doesn't hurt enough to go back to bed or see the doctor...

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Pre-Halloween Festivities

A few weeks before Halloween, the Parents of Multiples club had a party, complete with a baloon-animal-making magician.  The kids were BEYOND excited - they've seen magicians portrayed on TV before, but they'd never seen one in person.

While the group waited for more families to assemble, the magician set about making some balloon animals.  As the line grew, he noticed Daniel, Max, and Caroline sitting patiently in the front row, waiting for the show to begin.  He called over to them and asked if they'd like to be his assistants when the show started.  They could not have been more thrilled.

The magic show was exactly at a 4-year-old's level.  The kids giggled uncontrollably at each bad joke he told and squealed at every trick's "reveal".

Daniel got called up first to assist, testing out some lengths of rope that magically united into one long rope.

He was a little too fast for the flash!

Then Max was called on to assist with the big balloon trick.  He was supposed to select a design from a book that we had all seen ONLY had pictures of balloon dogs in it.  So the magician asked him to pick a page, then asked if the animal on that page would make a good pet, affirmative head shake from Max, and if you might take it on a walk, another nod, and finally what color it was.  The last answer was "purple".  But the dogs we'd seen were all red!  What was going on?  Max showed us the book, and it was a purple octopus!  And there just happened to be a purple balloon octopus hiding in the box on stage!








Caroline didn't actually get called on to help, but after a little pouting she decided she was OK with that.  They lined up after the show to get their own balloon toys -


Daniel got an alien - complete with blaster!

Caroline got a Wonder Woman tiara



and Max got a dinosaur to go with his octopus


After all that excitement, we went outside to burn off some energy on the playground, where Caroline tried out her spider-man skills.






After that, we rushed home for potty breaks and smoothies and then headed back out to the library to see the kids' singing class teacher and her band perform.  Their friends Mose and Jisu came to the show as well and they all went to the playground and then to get ice cream afterwards for a full day of outings and excitement.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Another Busy Saturday!

Sadly, it was time for hair cuts again, so we sailed down to San Mateo to get the locks shorn off.

Caroline got her ends trimmed and got a fancy braid


Daniel sitting for his trim

Max

Daniel


Then we were ready to go get some snacks - cookies and smoothies - and head up to Ocean Beach to see the sand castle that Wendy had been working on with her group, the Funky Lobsters!












Then back home briefly to take a bath (sand and hair clippings away!) and do a quick costume change into PJs to head to the playground clubhouse for a showing of Little Nemo.

PJs, sleeping bags, pillows, and toys!


rare chance to play on the structure in our PJs!




Everyone get comfy for the movie!