March 29th update

A STORY ABOUT ADA
It was awfully quiet in their room the other day. I peeked in to see Ada carefully and meticulously tearing a book one strip at a time with her left hand, and gathering the paper strips one by one in her right hand.

Her sisters were both watching quietly, with little elbows sticking over the cribs and resting their heads on their hands. Mesmerized. It was a board book, but Ada managed to rip the paper off the cardboard. Of course, she got a stern lecture on how we treat books, but there was a part of me that had to smile at the picture of our "firstborn" being the little instigator. When they were in utero, we often wondered about their birth order, and whether we'd have one who would designate themselves the leader of the group.

Ada has quite the knack for putting things together that go together. In a playroom strewn with toys, she'll pick out the big spoons and toy eggs, or 3 cars, or 3 balls, or she'll run off with 3 little balls of socks all rolled up while I'm trying to dress them. She gathers things that go together, and will then "display" them (place them in a row or other order that is pleasing to her.) She often picks things out, and then places them in a row along the edge of the sofa.

NEW WORDS
All three have started to say, "duck" in response to the "Brown Bear" book by Eric Carle. The book is so wonderful and innately repetitive as it runs through a series of animals that see one another. "I see a yellow duck looking at me! Yellow duck, yellow duck, who do you see?"

Julia and Emma are saying "cool" and "wow." "Wow" is always whispered and sounds like "Whoa!," because that's what I did the first time I pointed out the reflections of the crystals hanging from the window near their feeding table. Now every time they see the sunlight hitting the crystals and the rainbow reflections on the wall, there are lots of "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" sounds and fingers pointing.

BODY PARTS - COMPREHENSION
The girls all now know where their chins, cheeks, back, and arms are.

I can't believe the pace at which they're picking up new words and concepts. It really blows my mind.

A STORY ABOUT EMMA
Emma said her name for the very first time on 3/29. That same day, Emma pointed to the moon in the "Million Chameleons" book. I was amazed, because it's a white full moon. All of the other moons I've pointed out to her have been yellow half moons. It's actually a rather unrealistic image of the moon in the "Million Chameleons" book, yet she pointed, recognized it, and said "maan". This was the first time she said the word for moon and pointed to a moon picture in a book.

She knows wolves howl at the moon, and when I ask her where the real moon is, she points to the sky outside. One of the first things she ever pointed to, was the moon - both the real one and the moon in pictures. It was also one of the first questions she was able to answer by pointing many months ago.

ANIMAL CRACKERS
Wow, do they love animal crackers. It's like baby crack. Seriously. They don't get anything with corn syrup in it, but I caved on this, because what's childhood without animal crackers? The first time I gave them each one, it happened to be 3 horses. I clicked my tongue like a galloping horse. Now whenever I'm in the vicinity of the kitchen cupboard where these cookies live, they make the same sounds, they point, and whine to show me what they want! Sometimes I pretend to not understand just to get them to really communicate. LOL. I have to find my entertainment somehow.

A STORY ABOUT JULIA
Julia holds onto her 2 cookies and plays with them long after her sisters have finished eating. She'll eventually eat them, but it's much more fun to play with them, apparently. Until she can't stand it anymore, and promptly chomps on them!

Julia is imitating *everything* now and she has many more sounds and words than her sisters. Once Julia starts saying a particular word, it's just a matter of time before Emma picks it up too. The two of them are really in sync, and I think it's helping the other two to hear their sister say things out loud. It definitely seems to motivate them too, when I praise Julia, or respond to something she says. Ada has many more sounds and words too, but she seems to find other concepts interesting.

Like all kids their age, they repeat the last syllable. For kangaroo, Julia says "roo" for "zebra," Julia says, "bra."

During her sister's Early Intervention IFSP review, Julia got hold of a pen and we gave her a piece of paper on which to draw. A week later, at her EI IFSP review, Julia remembered. She came right up to me and started whining to be picked up so she could draw.

MEALTIME SELF-HELP
The ate yogurt with their spoons for the first time on 3/29. Boy, was that messy! But they did great. I was actually amazed at how well they did, and how little ended up on their clothes. There were obviously a lot of drips, but their bibs and the table caught almost all of it. We use a homemade triplet feeding table that's a breeze to clean.

They are all so crazy cute and sweet right now. They offer me their food and say, "yum!" (Guess what I've been saying as I'm trying to convince them to eat!)

NIGHTTIME CHASE DOWN
Every night, we give them a few minutes to run around in their onesies before we dress them in their PJs. For Ada, this has turned into a game of chase down. I stomp my feet like an elephant, and say, "I'm going to catch you... I'm goint to catch you..." When I pretend to chase after her to catch her, she lets out these huge bubbly exhuberant giggles as she "disappears" around the corner. And then I pounce, and she laughs so hard and pretend kicks with her legs to struggle free from my grip. She just loves this game.

She has had a super fast progression from pulling up to walking on Feb. 23, to where she is now. I'm incredibly proud of her for catching up to her sisters with gross motor development. She's ahead with motor planning.

It's so cute that she's starting to want to run too. She sees her sisters doing it, so that's definitely motivating her. She also chases our dog around, giggling all the way. And the dog plays along.

I play the catch game with her sisters too, and they humor me, but it's not nearly as entertaining to them. They just love to run away!

FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS
All 3 do come to me and hold out their arms to help dress when it's time. I'm completely amazed that they're starting to listen to my requests and act on them. Their ability to follow instructions seems to be increasing every day. They sit down before reading and drinking from their sippy cups, they come when I call (not always, but they know what I'm asking),and they bring particular items when I ask them to (ball, socks, shoes, etc.)