DANGER! Climbing Toddler Zone!

Okay, we already have established that at least one of my tiny trio is a climber.

Remember the Spiderman climbing feats and the way Kai could walk on the top of the play-yard gate like a tight-rope walker?

I had been very relieved to find out that he had quite forgotten how it was that he used to climb that play-yard gate.

I discovered this when we put it up around our Christmas tree in hopes of preserving it and most of the breakable ornaments from harm.

Now, I know that there is something far worse than a toddler who can climb his play-yard gate and walk along the top of it.

My toddler(S) can all pull the chairs back from the dining room table. They can all climb up into the dining room table chairs, even.

Heck, one of them can even pull his Houdini trick and escape FROM his feeding chair that is strapped TO the dining room chair, only to be found squatting in the center of the dining room table where the lazy susan USED to be, happily shredding napkins and wearing the napkin basket as a hat.

What, might you ask, could be worse than that? Let me tell ya, there is SOO much more where that came from!

Today, I innocently had to go potty, so I snuck away while the babies were all sitting in a row on the sofa, eyes glued to their Backyardigan's DVD.

I came back to find Kian sitting in the bottom oven, legs dangling over the edge of the door as if he was sitting on the tailgate of a truck at a party.

I couldn't figure out what it was that he was twirling. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be Mardi Gras beads, but I knew better.

I removed the two lengths of decorative chain from his hand, got him out of the bottom oven, and looked up through the kitchen pass-through in time to see Kaiden standing on my dining room table.

The chandelier was suspiciously swinging back and forth, a bit too violently for my taste at that.

Apparently, in the thirty seconds it had taken me to try to go to the bathroom, Kai had managed to pull out the chair, climb up on top of the table, and remove three of the decorative chains from the chandelier, and hand them off to his brother.

The whereabouts of the third chain are STILL unknown, but I expect to find them when I clean up their toys after they go to bed tonight.

Then, by the time I was able to walk around to the hallway and get to the dining room, Kaiden had commenced to literally SWINGING from the chandelier.

I did manage to pry him off if it and leave the chandelier in tact, in place, and still somehow miraculously working.

Oddly enough, Vivienne had climbed to the back of the couch and was sitting there watching the entire thing very quietly.

Everyone jokes that I have a hard time finding the time or a safe way to take a shower. Now it seems that I am going to have to give up going potty as well. Eek! What's a Mum to do?

Everybody Is Diaper Dancing

Diaper changing time at my house used to go so easily. Everyone took turns and it was nice and safe and predictable.

As I sit here writing, I am trying to figure out exactly what happened and where it all went wrong.

I know before, in the old house, the babies were all pretty much contained in their little play-yard like the Rugrats have on the cartoon.

Maybe that's why I never really had any trouble with it, they couldn't get out to get into anything, I suppose!

Now, though, it's a three ringed circus. I would call it the "Diaper Tango" but it's more like the "Diaper Menage a Trois" or something!

Imagine, if you will, three walking, talking tiny one year olds frolicking about in their very huge living room.

When Mum walks in, all eyes automatically lock on to her as some sort of target, and everything STOPS in the room as if someone has pushed a "Pause" button on the remote control.

After the pregnant pause is over, all three babies make their move for Mum at the same time, each with their own motive and idea of what they would like her to do with them, each thinking that the one is more important than the other two.

Mum can smell the need for a diaper change from the front hallway. The stench is wafting through-out the house, and she is heading for the diapers and wipes kept next to the television on the shelf out of harm's way.

Somewhere along the way, I get mobbed just trying to get my babies their diapers and wipes.

Then, I have to wade through the often crying, sometimes chattering babies to the sofa somehow without tripping or falling over anyone.

I don't have to stop and pick anyone up because they are literally already attaching themselves to me in various ways.

One will usually try and go for my shirt hem. Another baby prefers to try and grab my pants leg.

Usually, one of them will figure out where I am headed and why and head me off by running to the sofa and attempting an often unsuccessful vault up onto it.

By the time I am able to get everything over there, and try and sit down to assume the diaper changing position, babies are climbing up all over me or scaling the couch hand over hand using the slipcover as some sort of rope.

Meanwhile, sometimes Kai will run around to the back of the sofa with the idea that he can snatch the diapers and wipes over the back side of it while I am fielding the bodies of his siblings clamoring over each other to get to me.

Then I am faced with a moment of truth. Which baby do I change first? Should I tackle the one in my lap, or the one trying to sit on him for being there in the first place?

It's almost a game, trying to figure out which one is the ickiest and if that baby can wait til last to be changed because another sibling is far more overzealous in their struggle for attention.

I like to try and at least have the wipes out of the bag/container and separated and laid out alongside an OPEN diaper before diving in to the ick. Alas, that is not always the case.

Notice that I said that I PREFER this method...it's not often that I actually get to USE this method in application, though!

Once I lay one baby down and the other two realize that they aren't getting changed, one will try and climb up in my lap, usually.

Another will walk down the length of the sofa in an attempt to get to the much coveted container of wipes.

Did I mention that my babies have a very unnatural affinity for baby wipe packages?

Don't even get me started on the baby-crack affect that Huggies Natural cucumber & sweet pea scented wipes have on my children-Leo Bloom & his blankie come to mind from "The Producers."

They all want one and if they can snatch the coveted wipe, they will run away to a far corner of the living room to sniff it and rub their face with it shamelessly.

So, it's a fight to get to keep possession of the very supplies that one needs to actually successfully perform a diaper change at my house during changing time.

Then there is the personal space violation. Triplets are very good at invading each other's personal space, even from the beginning.

Remember the baby who likes to walk down the length of the couch to try and snag the diapers and the wipes off the back of it?

Let's remember that a sibling is already down on the couch waiting to be changed and is often in various stages of BEING changed and is undressed, often exposed to the world, when said sibling decides to WALK right over him/her with little regard for hair or head or even tummy.

It's quite common for them to step on each other when the one of them is down for the count.

It's not that Vivie won't feel sorry for you and try and comfort you after she steps all over you to steal your diaper that should have been placed on your nether regions.

Oh, no, after she makes a hat out of your diaper, she will come right back over and smooth your hair after her tiny toes have pulled it from being entangled in it while she walked all over you to procure her precious hat.

And she will even give you kisses even though her brother is quite sure that she is going to BITE him again after she did just that to try and get past him and in the race to the couch!

The sad thing is, they all do this to each other. Nobody is exempt from this behavior and I am all but helpless to prevent much of it.

I mean, I do try and keep the tiny mouths from actually latching on to skin, but I have two hands to their six. I am hopelessly outnumbered much of the time!

I even will catch the babies as they try and walk all over everyone and redirect them to the floor, much to their chagrin.

It's a continuous cycle of redirecting baby bodies to the floor and intercepting tiny mouths and hands as I try and actually change their siblings diapers.

Remember that I must also somehow get their pajamas or their clothes off to get to the dirty diaper.

Then, somehow, I must find a way to get that diaper open (and keep tiny hands out of it and from pinching, grabbing, or groping parts that really don't need to be.)

And then, I must try and get the dirty parts cleaned up all the while juggling siblings and trying to keep my supplies handy and not ingested!

It's a small wonder that anyone ever gets changed or cleaned up around my house!

Luckily, there haven't been any diaper dancing injuries to date, yet!

Daylight Savings Time Change...The Aftermath!

Well, it happened. I know, it happens every year, bi-annually, and NOTHING can stop it. Sunday morning, early, we all changed our clocks back an hour, like it or not.

As some of you already know, I have been prepping my tiny trio for the past week in anticipation of the time changing by keeping them up longer than usual and altering their schedules in 30 minute increments.

The question is, did my efforts pay off. I still just do not have an answer for you on that one.

What I do know, however, is that that schedule is undaunting and as unchanging as ever. To combat the babies internal clock problem I have had to make a few tiny adjustments.

I haven't changed anything major, really. They still woke up about the same time in the morning. I even had them downstairs and having their blueberry waffles and fruit-loops by 8 a.m. in time to catch "The Backyardigans."

By 9 a.m., though, their internal alarm clocks were going off, signalling that it was time for their 10 o'clock nap.

I couldn't put them down that early and throw off the entire day, so I decided to compromise, put up with a bad case of the fussies for about thirty minutes, and put them down for naps at 9:30.

It wasn't soo late that they were overly irritable and past being able to fall asleep, yet it was early enough to still bank on them being back up in time for regular lunch time (well regular once their internal clocks caught up with the one on the cable box that is!)

Lunch time rolled around and they were up as usual and ready for lunch. Kaiden was the only one not fooled by my tinkering with their schedule. He uses his tummy to tell time, anyways, and he KNEW something was afoot!

I think the worst part of the day came when three o'clock rolled around. You see, we had long since cut afternoon naps at my house so that sleeping through the night would not become a problem.

This meant that each day about 4 p.m. the babies get a tiny bit cranky. For the next several days, 3 p.m. shall be 4 p.m to them and much crankiness shall ensue!

I shall have two full hours of crankiness before I can feed them, signaling to them that bedtime is immanent. Poor little dears!

Right now, we are in that whole 2 hour twilight zone of crankiness. Poor Bregon has felt the weight of cranky edging into his routine, too.

Vivie decided to insist upon helping him practice his piano by forcing him to let her sit in his lap while he plays lest she unleash her banshee wail upon him!

Kaiden showed his cranky side by insisting on becoming a part of the jam session and loudly banging on the xylephone, alternating between the instrument and Kian's head. We can all guess Kian's response to this!

I know, it only will last for a few days if I am lucky. But it seems that these are the longest days of the year for us at my house!

Daylight Savings Time Approaches!

Daylight savings time approaches. Since the new laws have gone into effect, the date has been moved a few weeks later than it used to be.

We should all set our clocks backward on Saturday night in anticipation of that pesky time change slated to occur in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday.

How will this affect your family? I know that I have been plotting and planning about how to combat the time change and the effect that it will have on my kids.

I used to never worry about time change. When my eldest was little, it never seemed to affect him all that much.

Then again, he wasn't really one of those kids who had to have a schedule, either. Boy have things changed around here!

We first ran into time change problems last year, when the babies were about seven months old. I know, it seems silly, but it really did upset the little ones quite a bit.

An hour to an adult doesn't mean all that much, but when you are internally hard-wired from birth to wake up at a certain time, expect feedings every four hours, and like to know EXACTLY when you will get to take naps, go to bed, and get up each morning, it can get confusing.

To my babies, time change can really rock their world and turn it upside down!

No longer will feedings be predictable, and take place exactly when your tiny bodies are conditioned to be hungry.

And you can forget about being able to be comforted in the idea that bedtime comes conveniently when your body tells you that you are sleepy and that meals always seem to happen just when your tummy is beginning to let you know that it is empty.

Oh no, time change happens, and all of the sudden lunch happens an hour earlier and you really aren't feeling hungry yet (and you just cannot figure out the reason why!)

Then bedtime rolls around, and Mumsy just will NOT allow you to put on your upstairs feet to head to the nursery for beddie-bye time.

You are tired and cranky because in your world, it's 6 o'clock and bedtime. In Mumsy's world, it is really only 5 o'clock and it's dinner time and she honestly expects you to stay nice and AWAKE and agreeable which can really be too much for a baby to understand!

Some children thrive on predictability and become dependant upon it in their little world and the schedule that seems to drive it so well.

When the adults spring time change on them, their world can quickly become confusing and to a baby or a toddler, it can be truly upsetting.

So this year, in an attempt to be on top of things, I tried to plan ahead and start conditioning them to "Stay up later" in some attempt to keep my tiny trio's world a little more sane and organized for them.

I am hoping to avoid some meltdowns by keeping them up about an hour later each night the entire week prior to the BIG DAY when we roll those clocks back an hour.

Unfortunately, trying to organize time-change and prepare for it, has been leading to some major meltdowns at my house!

Tonight, to try and distract the babies from it, we all put on our pajama's, donned our new, very cool peter pan denim jackets over our pajama's and a pair of socks, and loaded everybody up into the stroller for a trip to the Pumpkin Shine at the park.

The distraction actually worked, for a time. They made it until about half past six before Vivienne and Kian figured out that it was getting dark out, and that usually they are in bed before this happens.

In typical toddler fashion, some screeching ensued. I had sort of half expected this to happen at some point, and had basically figured on the noise from the masses being loud enough to actually drown out the screeching, wailing babies.

It almost worked, too. But of course everyone within a few feet of us could hear them make their presence known. EVERYONE soon was quite aware of the injustice that I had imposed upon my kids!

We did manage to make it home in one piece, and without too much fan-fare. They were loud, but the people and the traffic were quite a bit louder!

Bregon and I managed to get everyone inside, changed and up to the nursery fairly quickly. The babies even had quieted down once we were home and seemed to be comforted somewhat by the idea that bedtime was imminent!

I had thought that they were really all settling down and going to sleep, until we sat down to have a bit of dinner.

Then, Vivienne let loose her "Banshee howl" that she has mastered over the past few days. It's so high pitched, that I marvel that she has yet to break glass with it yet!

I have just now gotten her calmed down enough to get her back to bed without waking her brothers up, and it's almost ten o'clock.

We have five more days of this new routine before time change takes affect. Hopefully, by then, the babies will all be used to it and won't really notice anything all that different this year!

Saved By the "Goldfish" (or part 2 of A Mumsy's of Multiples Best Friend

Now, both Kian and Kai can walk. Today, I learned exactly what other people meant when they talk about triplets being a handful.

It’s easy to chase one baby. However, throw in another walker, and you start to wonder exactly how one is supposed to go about keeping them all out of harm’s way.

Add in the third baby who does what we call the “Cripple” crawl where she sort of walks on one leg while dragging the other one underneath her body. She knows how to crawl the “Normal” way, but this way is FASTER!

Now, you have to understand that the new house is MUCH larger than the last one. It’s also very open and has a fireplace and an upstairs.

For the first time every, the babies have been allowed to just BE. There isn’t any need for the tiny play-yard here. This arrangement seemed fine at first, too.

Then Kian decided to go mobile and my world changed FOREVER! This meant that both he and Kai could both walk in different directions, with different motivations and get into trouble equally and with great distance, sometimes rooms, between them.

Kaiden discovered that there are Pyrex dishes in the other cabinet that has yet to get its baby-latches installed. Meanwhile, in the hallway, Kian has discovered that there is more to the house than the first floor. He found the staircase.

At first, I was lucky. Because Kian had only been walking for a few hours at best, he couldn’t yet fathom taking on the task of mastering the art of stairs.

Then Vivie decided she, too, could go exploring. While Kai was busy placing his blocks carefully into the Pyrex bowls under the counter, and Kian was eye-balling the stairs with the eye of a mountain-climber, Vivie had jumped right in and managed to climb up onto the hearth of the fireplace.

Meanwhile, the oxygen deprived mummy was trying to figure out who was more apt to be in immediate harm’s way. These decisions are NOT fun and are not anywhere near easy to make.

I somehow managed to get Kian’s attention from the end of the hallway, giving him the urge to have a gold-fish cracker RIGHT THEN AND NOW!

The very idea that Kian might get something that Kai would miss out on was NOT sitting well with Kai who suddenly decided that his blocks could just sit on the floor for the moment while he too went into the hallway, following the sound of Kian’s voice saying fishie, goal-fishie.

The new-found “Pied-piper” syndrome that I had acquired from possessing that much needed bag of gold-fish crackers gave me enough time to head for the fire-place to try and convince Vivie NOT to try and get down by herself (she cannot walk yet but apparently can climb very well) or just scoop her up away from the brick.

Nobody got hurt that time, but this was about the point that Debbie’s (my nurse from the hospital) advice popped into my head. “Gates are my friend,” she had said. Gates. That was the key here. What we need are gates!