The Stuffed Animal Brigade

Caroline's crib is entirely covered in stuffed animals, but she is fairly selective in what she brings out with her when she gets up, choosing one or two toys per day.  The boys, on the other hand, have an ever-growing collection that must come with them in its entirety each time they emerge from bed.  

Daniel's entourage includes (again, I apologize for our lack of creativity in the name department): Monkey, Carrot, Horsie, Mickey Mouse, and Ribbit the pink frog.

Daniel

 Max's menagerie is: Puppy, Broccoli, Horsie, Goofy, and Pink Monkey

Max

Earlier this month, I went to a baby shower for my friend Sam.  I had forgotten to hide the wrapped gift when the kids came out to play and Caroline instantly decided the present was for her.  I told her, no, it was for Sam.

"Remember Junior?"
"Oh, Junior"
"Remember Junior's mommy, Sam?"
"Junior mommy Sam"
"Junior's mommy Sam has a baby in her tummy"
"Oh! Junior mommy Sam baby tummy"
"Yes, and that present is for the baby"
"My present"

There was no reasoning with her, obviously.  So, I snuck some stuffed animals from the bin in the living room into the back of the house, pulled out some gift bags, and put them in.  Then I noticed the cool hats my friend Jill had gotten them for their birthday, but it had been too warm for them to wear.  So I tossed those in the bags too.  The kids were ecstatic to get their presents and, hilariously, were thrilled with the same stuffed animals they've had for months (Caroline added "kitty" to the group in her crib), or in some cases, for YEARS.

And they loved their new hats:

Monster Max (and Puppy)

Doggy Daniel offers his paci

Caroline took a picture in her fancy, purple owl hat, but it somehow deleted itself from my phone.  This past weekend, Grandpa brought them some new teddy bears that have joined the group, though Daniel has decided his teddy (yes, they are all named "Teddybear") should sleep in Caroline's bed and just visit him while he's awake.

Max

Caroline's Teddybear has "pink tights!"

Daniel's Teddybear is dancing

Here they all lined up in the kids' high chairs to say hello

In other news:  Last week, I had a bunch of late nights.  During one of them, while the boys were playing ball with Daddy in the dining room, Daniel decided the most fun would be to hide out in the plastic tub, while Max decided to line up all the balls to wait for their turn.

More Playgrounds!

Thanks to the San Francisco Parents of Multiples Spring / St. Patrick's Day outing, the Salvateenies got to enjoy three straight weekends of playground outings.  This time, it was at JP Murphy Park in the Golden Gate Heights area of the Sunset.  The playground is pretty fancy - it's on a steep hill and if you go in through the clubhouse, you walk out to a balcony that overlooks the playground beneath.  There is a wide metal ramp that leads down to the playground level but that also has openings to let you directly into different levels of the play structure.  Pretty neat!

Uncle pushes the merry go round - note Caroline is standing while Daniel sits (blue shirt) and Max has already escaped

 The kids definitely enjoyed the snacks provided by the club:

When we got home, Grandma came over so that we could sing Happy Birthday and give her her presents.  Grandma's friends had given her some brownie cupcakes to celebrate, and she shared them with the kids.  Caroline was definitely a big fan.

That called for a DEFINITE bath, after which she put on her new crabby pajamas and posed for the camera in her best interpretive dance pose:

(To appreciate the power of cropping your photos, check out the original:)

Yes, that is a potty she is standing in.

Lincoln Park

As a kid growing up, I went to Lincoln Park playground.  The playground was nestled between the public golf course and our neighborhood Safeway and had your basic play equipment along with a totally awesome grass hill just perfect for rolling down.

Today, the golf course and hill are still there, but the Safeway has changed hands a few times and the play structure has been completely re-done in the City's playground rehabilitation program.  Unlike many of the "new" playgrounds, Lincoln Park is not gated at all.  It is set back from the street, but not far enough back to pose much of a challenge for a pack of toddlers, so it's a playground best visited when you have a high adult-to-toddler ratio.  Auntie wanted to visit and Grandma and Grandpa were willing to wander down the few blocks from their house, so we decided to give it a go.

Max, as is almost always the way, spent most of his time either in the swings or whining to get back in the swings.  Daniel alternated between the swings and running in circles.  Caroline, always the most adventurous, didn't take long to decide that the little kid structure was too basic for her and to move on to the rock walls and rope ladders and big, tall slides of the big kids structure.

Caroline and Daniel at the swings with Boppy (a rare moment with no Max swinging)

The fancy big kids play structure

But with all that stuff to play with, my kids, like always, decided the trees and sticks were much more fun:

In other news:  When Daddy got home from work, everyone was so happy they started hugging each other! (Notice Daddy's stunning blue headband - the things you do to make your kids giggle!)

The First Weekend of March

Caroline has developed a "scared" face.  She opens her eyes wide, opens her mouth wide, pulls her hands up toward her face and shakes them.  The perfect pantomime of "scared".  But when you pull out the camera to catch it "on film", she instantly breaks into her "cheese" mode:

(the hands are still in "scared" mode)

The next day she got to try on her "kitty shirt" and "kitty pants".  I asked if I could take her picture to show Uncle how cute she was and this was what I got:

Check out that Italian blood showing through!

And when Caroline plays Sesame Street, it always turns into a party.  At first I thought it was a sort of cocktail party / mixer, but she told me everyone was dancing.  Before we went out, she had to add a skirt before the outfit was ready.

And then we were ready to go!  Grandma and I had some errands to run and we brought the kids along to say hello to everyone.   The first stop was the jewelry store where Daniel and Caroline enjoyed running around and checking out all the clocks all over the walls.  But Max was not thrilled and we had to beat a hasty exit.  The next stop was the nail salon just to say hello.  Caroline marched right in and started selecting colors as if she were getting a mani/pedi herself.  But Max refused to go in, and Daniel wasn't happy being separated from Max, so at one point the boys were both outside with their noses pressed up against the glass moaning for Grandma and Caroline to come out.

So we needed to end the outing with something that would be kid-friendly - ICE CREAM!  I had mentioned at one point that we MIGHT take them to Joe's for ice cream, and apparently Caroline heard me, because every third step she took along the sidewalk was punctuated with an upbeat, "ice keem!"

The shop was empty when we got inside.  I ordered one cup of banana, one of strawberry, and one of chocolate, but the boys both wanted strawberry so we had to go back for a second of those.  They were very excited to climb up on the stools and sit at the counter to dig in.

Note how Caroline holds her spoon while eating with her hands

The boys both ate with their spoons

Max still somehow got ice cream in his hair

Caroline got ice cream everywhere

On Sunday, Caroline decided she needed to do some pilates to work off that ice cream.  She's getting very good at doing "table pose".

We had a play date scheduled with Alexa and decided to go out to the playground, since we hadn't been for a while.  It was foggy and cold when we got there so the playground was pretty deserted.  Alexa works with kids all the time and she relates to them really well and sort of exudes a kid-friendly vibe.  As the Teenies tore into the playground, an older girl (8 or 9) approached asking all sorts of questions about the kids and Alexa.  It was like a mini-Alexa!  She followed us to the swings and played with everyone.

The boys LOVE the swings, and there are only two kiddie swings, so at some point they took over both of them.  That left Caroline to find something else to do.  Enter Abby, our mini-Alexa.  She walked with Caroline over to the big kid play structure, walked her to the top of the slide, slid down with her, helped her climb the spider dome, and Caroline LOVED her.  After about five minutes, they came back and Abby told us she had to go home.  We thanked her for all her help and said, "OK, say 'bye bye'".  And Caroline took her hand and looked over her shoulder AT US and said, "Bye bye, I go home Abby."  It took a moment for us to explain that, no, Abby was going home but Caroline was staying with us, but eventually she got it and said good bye.

And the boys were still on the swings:

Everyone tried out the big kids' swings, but Caroline was the only one who really took to it.  Both boys fell off the swing at some point, though luckily they bounced.

Caroline also explored the pirate ship - and spied on her brothers and Alexa on the swings:

Caroline made friends with everyone at the playground.  Which shouldn't surprise us.  She is very outgoing.  Even when she plays Sesame Street, everyone ends up dancing:

Bath Time (I Did It Again)

The normal pattern for bath nights around here (and baths do not happen every night) includes stripping the kids down to their diapers and then marching them into the bathroom where they ditch the diaper and dive into the water (well, they are raised and lowered into the tub, but I was going for the alliteration of all those D's).

Then I hang out in the bathroom with them as they play with their toys, splash, dance, pretend to be fish, and dump water on themselves, on each other, and on me.  Sometimes I break out the bubbles and they practice popping them or, more recently, catching them before they pop.  They've even tried their hands (or, rather, lips) at blowing bubbles themselves.  This hasn't worked out in all cases, for a variety of reasons - Caroline blows through her teeth like she's pronouncing a prolonged, whispery "F", while Max gets alternatingly shy, blowing too softly, or giddy, pulling the wand too close and ending up with bubble juice on his lips.  Daniel has been most consistently able to propel the bubbles out and into the world, which pleases him to no end.

Bath time ends after everyone has had their hair washed and conditioned.  Usually someone will ask to get out and that starts a domino effect and they all get out.  Sometimes one will insist on staying in the bath until all the water is gone from the tub.  Frequently, this is Caroline, but sometimes Daniel wants to be alone in the tub to stretch out on his tummy and "swim".  When they get out, I dry them, wrap them in a diaper, and send them scampering out to play with Daddy.

When the third child has been released, I grab a set of PJs for them and come out to try to get them dressed.  Often this is not the foremost activity on their list - they would rather continue to play in their diapers.  So I often wait around with a pile of PJs and take advantage of opportunities to grab kids and clothe them.

Last week, I had a pair of firetruck PJs (blue shirt with a truck and red-and-blue striped pants) for Daniel, monkey PJs (orange shirt with a monkey and orange-and-grey striped pants) for Max, and elephant PJs (turquoise shirt with an elephant and navy pants with turquoise polka dots) for Caroline.  I had them next to me on the couch and offered them to passing children with no takers.  Then one child climbed up next to me and pointed to the top PJ shirt and said, proudly, "Fire Truck!"  I responded, "That's right, Daniel, that's your fire truck shirt!  Do you want to wear it?" and hearing no opposition (and seeing no child squirm away from me), I put the shirt on him.  But he balked at the pants, so we just sat there on the couch next to each other, he wearing a blue fire truck shirt and me waiting with the matching pants and two other sets of PJs on the seat next to me.

A minute or so later, he pointed over to the pile of PJs and asked, "Monkey?"

"Yes, those are monkey PJs"

More plaintively this time, "Monkey?"

"No, honey, you have your fire truck PJs"

And even more pathetically, "Monkey???"

"No, those are Max's monkey PJs"

At which point, Joe looked over and said, "Umm...that's Max sitting next to you."

And, of course, it was.

Oops.

So I switched him into his monkey shirt and tried to give him enough kisses to count as an apology.