Fun with Toys

The kids do hilarious things with their toys.  They are very creative and come up with lots of great situations for them to interact, including one time that all of Caroline's princesses went on dates with all the superheroes and ninja turtles at the Bat Cave.  Elsa went to the dance with TWO Batmen.  Snow White went stag.  It was adorable.

Daniel was playing with the BatCave a different day and I heard him say, "Hello.  Welcome to the Batman meeting - this is the meeting of all the Batmans."  Then he picked up a random penguin Xmas tree decoration that was found after we stored the tree and as one Batman stated, "OK, so we're going to climb some walls," another responded, "Guys, is it ok if I bring my penguin? It's my special mountain climbing penguin."

Another time, they lined them all up by size.  Another time, they had a lemonade and rootbeer party and passed out in the hall.

And then there was the time they took the toys on a play date with their friend Madeline.

Madeline is a girl and has girl toys at her house.  But that did not deter our superheroes - they promptly dressed up in American Girl doll clothes and did a fashion show!

Fun with Fingernails

I bought Caroline some really cute nail polish pens to do decorations on her nails.  I made a joke that I had some green polish too and I could do Ninja Turtle nails and instantly Daniel was on board.

Michaelangelo on the right hand

Donatello on the left

Leonardo on the right foot

Rafael on the right

A couple of weeks later, he had me do Spiderman on one hand and Captain America on the other.

The Paci Fairy

The kids used pacifiers from day one (their only one) in the NICU.  Early on, their dentist mentioned that the paci was causing a gap in Caroline's teeth, but didn't seem to be affecting the boys' teeth at all.  She also mentioned that Caroline would likely be needing braces regardless so we should do what we needed to do in terms of getting them to sleep.

I know a lot of parents agonize over getting rid of them, but since they were pretty good at using them only at bed and in the car, I wasn't too concerned.

Daniel tripped at school and banged his teeth into a bookshelf about six months ago.  His front teeth were a little wobbly and hurt and he was advised by the dentist to only chew on the side for the next couple of weeks.  He wisely determined this meant he couldn't use a paci at night.  And from then on, he didn't need it.

A few months later, Max got a cold and his nose was stuffed up.  This meant he couldn't breathe with a paci in his mouth.  And so he stopped using it.

That left just Caroline.  She did not want to give it up.  Eventually, she told me she would give it up when she turned five.  And I was fine with that.  Her Auntie Lee Ann gave up her paci on her fifth birthday and it seemed like something to strive for.  I would ask her occasionally, "when are you going to stop using your paci?" and she would respond, "When I'm five," or "On my birthday."

And then we went to the dentist last week.  I told Caroline the dentist would probably ask if she was still using her paci, because she'd want to see if the "hole" in her teeth was getting worse.  Caroline was apalled at the thought that she was getting a hole in her teeth and she decided she was going to give up.  I liked the decision, but I worried that she would backslide.

And thus I invented (or at least, I thought I invented - it turns out there's a book about it and everything) the Paci Fairy.  I told her Wednesday night after the dentist that I'd sent a text to the Paci Fairy and was waiting to hear back.  On Thursday, I told her that I had heard back and she was booked up on Thursday but had us on her schedule for Friday night.  This gave me time on Friday to purchase Paci Fairy surprises for them to find on Saturday morning.

First, we collected all the pacis (of course, we immediately found five more the next day) and put them outside on the porch.  Then they headed off to bed.  Caroline and Daniel were incredibly anxious.  They asked to see pictures of what the Paci Fairy looked like.  They were on pins and needles at any noise - was that a dog? Does the Paci Fairy have a dog?  How is she going to get in our house?  Is she magic?  Is she going to leave our surprises on the porch?  Caroline kept herself up for an hour and a half excited.

The Pacis on the porch

Finally, all three were asleep and I could set to work making sure the Paci Fairy didn't forget her appointment.  Obviously, we didn't want her to leave the surprises on the porch, but I also didn't want them in the hall because then they'd find them when they woke up in the middle of the night to go potty or relocate to my bed.  The solution was that she would leave the surprises in the living room, but would leave a note for the kids at their room so they'd know where to look.

When they woke up in the morning (in my room), they were alert instantly wanting to know if it was morning and if the Paci Fairy had been there.  They scrambled out of my bed and to their room.  Max was first to see it and call out, "I see a paper! There's a paper on our door!"

They grabbed the letter and then brought it to me to read to them.  When they got to the last sentence, they were off into the living room to find their surprises.  They were very excited to see that the Paci Fairy knew their colors and they thought the gift bags she chose were really cool.

And HOW did she know that the boys liked the Avengers and that they needed Hulk and Thor masks?  And HOW did she know that Caroline's favorite princess (if you don't count Elsa and Anna and Ariel) is Cinderella?  It's a mystery!

The masks "glow in the dark," too

And of course we had to check that the pacis were all gone.

And more important than ANY of those other considerations - in the nights and road trips since the Paci Fairy's visit, we have suffered no ill effects of their absence.  WHEW!

Sleeping Arrangements

When the kids were babies, they shared a room - a sunroom off our bedroom in our old flat.  Only two cribs fit in that room, so Daniel and Caroline doubled-up and Max got a crib to himself because he was a little more active.  By the time they were growing out of that situation, we moved into a house with a room just big enough for three cribs.

A year ago, the sides came off those cribs and the children had instant mobility.  At some point, Daniel decided he preferred to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor of his bedroom and there have been many nights that the three have jockeyed for position in each other's beds.  At this point they also decided that when they wake up in the middle of the night, they should come into my bed.  I have not done my due diligence getting this under control, so I'm a little exhausted on a daily basis.

But this week, something new happened.  While I was washing dishes, the kids were setting up a "sleepover".  They decided they were going to have a boys sleepover in "the triplets room" and Caroline would have a girl night in the office.  She lugged ALL her toys, a stack of clothes, some books, her pillow, and four or five blankets in and set them up on the floor.  I went with it, and since it was Father's Day, Daddy read the boys a book and I read one to Caroline and then we settled in to sleep.

Then Daniel decided he didn't want to share a room.  He wanted to be "separated" too.  And so he dragged his sleeping bag, pillow, blanket, and toys into the hall.  As an added bonus, there's a nightlight there that helps with his night time darkness discomfort.

Daniel, night 1

The plan originally was for the boys to move to the office on Night 2, but they balked at that and so everyone stayed put in their original places.

Night 3, Daniel and Max decided to flip flop and Caroline wanted to leave the light on. All three of them took turns whining that they were scared and wanted me to come hug them.  The previous two nights, Max had fallen asleep almost instantly, so I was inclined to snuggle with him this time around.  But Daniel was whining in the hall and Caroline came in to the room and informed me, "If you don't come in my room, I'm going to yell at you."  When I told her to go lie down so I could turn off the light, she responded, "If you turn off the light, I'm going to kick you in your butt."

During all this, Daniel and Max decided they wanted to switch places, which included Daniel carrying all those toys into his room one by one.  Many trips.  Mommy growing more annoyed.  Finally they got settled.  All three were still whining and moaning and being generally annoying and then, within about three minutes, they were all fast asleep.

Max in the hallway, Caroline in the office with the light on

Daniel in the bedroom

I suspect this means it's time to seriously consider getting the boys' bedroom ready to be inhabited.  But I'm also fairly confident that the minute I do that they will all want to be together in one room.

And all I want to do is get ONE good night of sleep for myself...