It was another big week! I can’t believe how much these kids pack into 7 days.

I want to start this week’s blog by sharing these photos from yesterday at the zoo. Steven, Sammy and Amaya are holding hands!! The boys started in and Amaya wanted in. It turns out the really do like each other! My cup runeth over.

We also had fun with pumpkins at the Kensington Farm Center!

What a difference a year makes!

Earlier in the week I was home for Yom Kippur so I took the opportunity to go to music class with the kids! They loved it, but I think I loved it even more. I think I mentioned that the class is about 1/2 free play and 1/2 music. The music portion involves singing songs in a circle with a variety of instruments. It’s adorable. The free play is time to check out a TON of toys. The kitchen seems to be a favorite and, this week, everyone tried the Step 2 coaster.

Amaya was wandering and ended up sitting on the class leader’s lap for a song.

Music class selfies!

On Wednesday night, Jason’s long time friend Mark, and his wife Mary Beth, came by for dinner! I’m not sure if I’ve seen them since our wedding and it was definitely the first time they met SSA. The kids loved meeting them and wish Mark and MB lived closer!

On Tuesday there was more play time at our early intervention group. This week, the group is meeting at the apple orchard! It’s so hard to miss out on those opportunities but Megan always keeps me in the loop with photos.

Even at our advanced age of 20 months, Steven, Sammy and Amaya still love a laundry basket!

We haven’t used our bath seats for months and I’m planning to sell them but the kids wanted one more chance to see if they still fit. It’s a tight fit – even for Moo.

The boys were rockin’ their ponytails again!

My college friend, Rachel (Hi Rach!), got the kids these GW shirts that we are now big enough to wear, and model! Raise High!!

This week was an overnight visit from Grandma Sunshine. Sammy can say “Sunshine” now! We always have so much fun when Grandma Sunshine visits.

Working on flash cards.

Grandma Sunshine visited from Thursday to Friday and then, Friday evening, Nana came to visit from NY! We took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the zoo on Saturday morning.

Today, we went to the Farm Center at Kensington Metropark where we took the pumpkin photo I shared earlier in the blog. It’s a great spot for Steven, Sammy and Amaya to roam free and visit the farm animals that are in our books.

At the farm, Steven was as adventurous as always. He walked from animal to animal, checking everything out. We got close to a goat who scared Steven when he bleated but Steven recovered well enough to eventually pet his new friend on the back. It’s interesting to me, though, that all of the kids are wary of the animal’s faces. They’ve never been bitten but they have an instinct to stay away from those animal teeth. Sammy and Amaya had a lot more trepidation about the animals but were comfortable walking around when the animals were out of sight, or if they didn’t get too close.

Dinner tonight included a special visit from Auntie Ames! We’ve been so lucky to have three visits over the past few months!

Just a bit more this week!

We continued to have fun on our new slide and with our construction hats. We looooooove our construction hats.

It’s starting to cool down (BOOOOOOO!) but we are still able to spend time outside on our deck. Sammy and Amaya can climb up on the deck chairs themselves and, even though Steven needs help getting up, he also loves sitting in the grown up chairs.

Sammy has learned to wipe his runny nose on his shirt.

Amaya was so happy to wear big cousin Chase’s monster truck PJ’s this week!

Mommy time!

Whenever Sammy sees my phone he says “nana” in anticipation of FaceTime. This was taken just before we dialed. These kids were ready!

Have a great week!

Steven, Sammy and Amaya are 20 months old today! And I’m not really counting months anymore except for how I obviously am.

I need to start this week’s blog with this series of photos because I love them so much. The kids wanted to wear hats, and they’ve also discovered the joy of smushing your face up against glass.

These kids.

I was home from work on Monday for Rosh Hashanah which was perfect timing because it was the first early intervention appointment of the season.

When we left off, Steven and Amaya were receiving weekly speech therapy, Steven was receiving bi-weekly physical therapy and Sammy was receiving general monthly services. All of that technically continues into the fall but it’s always helpful to level set. We also have new teachers for Steven and Amaya so they need to take stock of where the kids are. Amaya’s teacher was off for the holiday but Steven’s new teacher, Robin, was there along with Steven’s PT, Jeanette, and Sammy’s teacher, Dawn.

Steven: Great news is that Steven is performing on the low end of average for gross motor! If he was evaluated today, he wouldn’t even receive services! Jeanette is going to come out monthly for the next few months just to be sure he’s progressing properly but Bobo is catching up! He’ll still need to wear the SMO ankle braces for a few more months, but that’s separate from how he stacks up with regards to muscle tone and overall gross motor development.

On the speech side, Robin said he wouldn’t qualify for weekly services if measured today! I was surprised to hear that because he’s noticeably behind Sammy and Amaya but, to qualify, you have to be scored at 1/2 your age and he’s definitely ahead of where you’d expect to find a typical 10 month old. Robin thinks it’s great that he uses his few words correctly, in context, and continues to add new words. He, and his siblings, also did really well with receptive communication. When asked to go into the playroom and bring back a ball, they were all able to complete the task.

Sammy: Sammy will continue with his monthly services. We’re going to focus on sensory issues. Though I use the word “issues” very lightly. We’re trying to determine if he’s simply exceptionally cautious, or if there are sensory sensitivities there, too. He doesn’t like his feet on grass or in sand. He won’t touch an electric toothbrush (which was recommended for sensory issues.) He doesn’t like slides or swings. Little things, but we want to make sure we understand it so he can experience his world as comfortably as possible.

Amaya: Amaya’s teacher wasn’t there but we did talk about the food hoarding in her left cheek. We’re going to bring some french toast to group on Tuesday so the occupational therapist can see if it’s just a game or an actual issue with tongue movement/chewing. When she meets her new teacher on Monday, I suspect Fern will say that Amaya no longer qualifies for weekly services. But it’s okay if that’s not the case!

There they are during the session checking out Robin’s Poke-a-Dot book. We now own 3 of them. 🙂

During nap on Monday, Megan and I spent time putting up this awesome alphabet in the nursery. I love how it looks!

Months and months ago, I bought some safety harnesses for the kids. It’s not comfortable to think about using them, but there are situations where it just might not be safe to go without them. Imagine walking down the street with 3 toddlers who are too young to know not to run in the street. If you only have 2 hands, you can’t possibly contain all 3. And if one child runs off, what do you do with the other 2 while you’re in pursuit? So we have them in the house and I decided it was a good day to try them out because Megan and I were heading to a local park.

In theory, they liked them just fine. In practice, it’s really, really difficult. First of all, if one person is holding all 3 harnesses, they get tangled in seconds. Second of all, see the picture above? When 2 kids go in different directions you’re stuck. And twice Sammy fell backwards because he went to move forward and couldn’t. We’ll keep trying. But if it doesn’t work, we can also make a decision to require the wagon or stroller in solo situations where it’s not safe for the kids to walk freely.

This is how we ended up walking into the park. Steven and Sammy in our arms and Amaya holding Megan’s hands.

They liked their little friends, though!

It was a gorgeous day in the park. Lots of fun for everyone!

When we got home, we wrapped up dinner with apples & honey for a sweet new year, a Rosh Hashanah tradition. It was the first time SSA had raw honey, outside of a recipe. They liked it. But it’s a mess. A big, big MESS. So they’ll probably wait until next Rosh Hashanah to have it again. 🙂

Our schedule is busy this fall. On Tuesdays we go to our group with the Early Intervention program. We tried our first ball pit!

Wednesday was our first music class! The EI program on Tuesdays has a ton of teachers there so Megan is able to take Steven, Sammy and Amaya on her own. The music class doesn’t include that luxury so I hired a “nanny’s helper” to go to the classes with Megan. My luck, is that Megan’s helper is her younger sister! Perfect!

The class is in an indoor sports field near our house. It starts with about 20 minutes of free play, then 25 minutes of music and songs, ending with another 10 minutes of play time and a goodbye song. I’m really excited to see it for myself next week!

Today we had the great fun and pleasure of going to our friend Parker’s 2nd birthday party. It was at the Funtastic Party Center and it’s definitely Funtastic! Amaya is getting over a cold so I took the boys and Amaya stayed home with Jason for some Daddy time.

It’s so interesting to watch them play. Both boys were drawn to the balls. They know balls. They’re comfortable with balls. Once they understood they could climb, though, they were all for it. We need to practice our skills getting down!

It was a construction themed party, with pizza for lunch. I was amazed that Steven and Sammy just sat in their chairs and ate their pizza for a good half hour. Most of the other kids were done and they were still sitting there eating, eating, eating. I can’t get enough of these hats!

We brought home a hat for Amaya, too, which was perfect for Take 2 on our toddler slide. They’re definitely better with it than they were 2.5 months ago. Now Steven and Amaya can both climb up and slide down on their own. We just have to figure out where we’re keeping it because it does still require some supervision. Fun times in the Land of Cheltenham!

A few other fun adventures from the week.

Megan took the kids to the doctor this week to get Sammy’s cough checked out. (Croup. Allegedly.) There’s a fish tank in the waiting room and Megan sent me this text.

These are orchids that Steven got for me.

Sammy can take off his clothes.

Which may be a distraction so no one notices that Amaya is trying to climb out of her crib.

Dear Amaya – No, no, no, please DON’T! Bad things happen if you do. Things like TODDLER BEDS. Put that foot down, please. Give us a another year. Love, Your Mother

We are a house full of readers.

Now that’s it’s fall, we can collect leaves on our walks!

Cooking this morning, Steven, Sammy and Amaya wanted to cook potatoes, too.

Daddy holding court.

Rocking our fall jackets, courtesy of our big cousins Chase and Charlie.

One cute extra photo of Steven!

Sammy is waving hello. Allegedly. I think he’s really channeling his inner puppy.

Sad Sammy is Sad. He wants to play with our car keys desperately.

We got electric toothbrushes for Sammy because they are supposed to help with some sensory seeking behaviors. He won’t touch them while they’re on but Amaya can sit there with the toothbrush for a good 20 minutes.

Amaya, gearing up for winter.

My little girl is badass.

I will leave you with this photo of the Golden Girls. These ladies are all Gold with Grace.

Caroline, Hadley, Amaya, Charlotte, Zoe, Abby, Elizabeth and Grace.

It’s football season and Steven, Sammy and Amaya are ready!

It’s getting more and more difficult to take pictures of all 3 kids together. Clearly, Amaya wasn’t having it. It’s possible she’s a Lions fan.

I tried to get a picture with all of my kids and that’s proving even more difficult than getting a photo of just the 3 of them.

At least my boys were cooperating!

We also did our due for the Lions!

We had a really nice weekend at home together. It’s been four weeks since we were all home and it was about as relaxing as a weekend can be when you have 3 toddlers in your house.

After a lazy morning on Saturday, I went to the mall with Sammy and Amaya while Steven and Jason went to Home Depot.

For the first time, we tried out the little play area at the mall. It only has one entrance/exit so I was able to do it on my own. I think it’s even possible with one adult and 3 kids.

It’s so interesting to watch them. Sammy was ready off the bat to run inside and explore. That kid loves to be free! Amaya was more hesitant and hung back for a while. Sammy, however, was very nervous about the slide. We went down twice together but he was not at all interested in trying it on his own. Amaya couldn’t get enough of climbing the stairs and sliding down. I held her hand since she’s still getting the hang of things, but she loved it.

We had some time to try on hats. “Hat. Hat,” Sammy says.

Meanwhile, Steven was living it up at Home Depot! Jason sent a text with this photo that said, “Stevie nearly apoplectic in the lighting section!!!” I just love Steven’s enthusiasm for everything.

The trip to Home Depot was to buy supplies to mount our TV. The kids were enthralled watching Daddy work.

I am NOT a Pinterest mom but I decided to do a craft with SSA for Rosh Hashanah. I “drew” these apples and taped them to construction paper for coloring time. I put “draw” in quotes because they’re really, really terrible. But the kids don’t know that! Coloring is new for us so it was a lot of fun to watch them go for it.

Of course what happens is Amaya starts eating a crayon and I say, “Don’t eat the crayon” so then Steven and Sammy start eating their crayons. Or I say to Amaya, “Don’t put the crayon up your nose” and Steven and Sammy start putting crayons up their noses.

The final projects. Amaya is still working on the concept of drawing lines, rather than dots, on her page. I think they liked it, though!

This weekend we also wore our Team Grace t-shirts. We’re thinking of Grace always, even when we’re not in our gold. Here the kids were baking Cookies for Kids Cancer. Without any ingredients, of course. But who needs anything besides an imagination?

Here in the Land of Cheltenham we love some of our stuffed friends. Moo and Whammy Puppy are particular favorites. When it’s hard to part with them for meals, we invite them to join us at the table.

Or we get to sit with a real live friend, “May may,” as Sammy now calls Megan.

This fall we’re starting some weekly activities and the first was last week. Our early intervention program has a weekly baby class the kids can go to. They’re on the older end of the class but I’m really excited about anything that gets them out and interacting with other people, and this is run by their EI teachers which is a bonus. Megan took them to their first class and, by all reports, it went well! This week we start a music class!

Saturday afternoon was cold and rainy but we ventured out for a family dinner. It was cold enough for sweatshirts and, luckily, I found some of the perfect size in a box from Chase and Charlie. I am not, not, not ready for winter. Not. Ready.

When we were out for dinner, Amaya took one of our to-go boxes and packed up her meal. It was really cute.

Some more shenanigans from the week…

The boys discovered it’s fun to press your face up against glass!

This is from last week but I forgot to share it. In this installment of “why is my toddler crying,” Amaya is first crying because she wants the y-bike that Steven is sitting on. Then Amaya is crying because she has the y-bike that Steven was sitting on. We fight over a lot these days.

Steven!

Steven has a few new words. He says “ball” and “baby” and he even told me “no”. He remains curious about everything. Steven is a tough guy. Right now, while everyone pushes and shoves at times, he’s probably the most aggressive. He also laughs so easily and is still my little mush ball. Steven is so cute that it’s very difficult for me to be upset with him for his aggression but that’s not fair to his brother or sister, so we’re working with him as best we can.

I mean, look at this face!

Sammy!

Sammy is in the middle of a word explosion. Waffle, medicine, cream, lotion, tush, poop, neck, chin, elbow, meat, fruit, NO. I put a hair tie on my wrist and he said “bracelet”. He knows the word “piece” and uses it in context whether it’s a piece of food or a piece of paper that he ripped up. He has new words every day. It’s so much fun to listen to him!

Amaya!

Amaya is as sassy and willful as ever. She has an incredible knack for getting what she wants whether it’s “up” or sitting in my lap or the toy she wants. When she takes something she knows she shouldn’t have, likely because she stole it from one of her brothers, she runs and hides with it. Amaya loves to say “no,” mostly on principle, I think. She’s a great helper. Amaya has a wonderful soft side. If I let her spend all weekend in my arms or in my lap, I think she probably would.

Chimpmuking her food in her cheek.

Have a great week and, to those celebrating the Jewish New Year, Shana Tova!

This weekend, Team Cline had our first family vacation! We can do it!!

We booked 2 nights at a hotel in Holland, MI. It was enough time to get the feel for being away together but not too much time that it was overwhelming for our first try in a hotel with 3 toddlers. With a long weekend, Jason and I both got home from work early on Friday night and we hit the road around 6:30pm. By 9:30pm, Steven, Sammy and Amaya were tucked into their travel cribs. We were lucky there was enough room for all 3 in the hotel bedroom!

To make things easier, we got a hotel suite rather than one room for the 5 of us. It was a good call. The kids liked exploring the room and we had enough space to move freely, plus a kitchen with a fridge where we were able to store milk and prep snacks.

Saturday morning started with the breakfast buffet in the hotel bar/restaurant. Our travel highchairs really come in handy. I got the kids changed and dressed while Jason got our table set up. Everything was ready when we walked in!

After breakfast, Jason and I took some time to get ready for the day. The kids were so fascinated by my make up application. I realized it’s something they don’t see very often. Normally, I’m getting ready for work before they’re awake or while they’re eating breakfast with Megan.

Our morning adventure was a trip to downtown Holland. It’s so nice! And I hear the sidewalks are heated so the snow doesn’t accumulate in the winter. We visited a farmer’s market and wandered around the cute downtown. We also visited a park on the water where they had a perfect SSA sized playground!

As always, Steven loooooooved to swing. Loved it. His smile is the best. For the first time, Amaya gave it a real shot, too, while Sammy had fun swinging on his daddy’s lap!

Steven saw a fountain and pretty much insisted we stop by. Everyone was able to get up close when we held them on the ledge. Here, you can see how captivated Steven was.

After the park, we wandered downtown to grab some lunch. It’s getting both easier and more difficult. Steven struggles with his indoor voice, right now. He can be loud. It’s fine at home or outside but, in a restaurant, it can also be disruptive. We’ll keep working on it. I think it will help when he’s more verbal and can better express what he wants. Or maybe then he’ll just be loud and verbal!

(Steven – if you ever read this… you be YOU, okay? Being loud is awesome. Just remember there are times and places.)

We were all tired after lunch so we went back to the hotel for a nap. It was like wack-a-mole. Little heads kept popping up! But eventually everyone fell asleep, including mommy & daddy.

Saturday, late afternoon, we headed to the beach at Holland State Park. Michigan has more coastline than any other state. It’s practically surrounded by the Great Lakes on 3 sides. Holland is on Lake Michigan, on the west coast of the state. When you’re there it’s like being at the ocean from the perspective of expansiveness, but it’s much calmer & it’s fresh water.

When we arrived Steven plopped right down in the sand. Sammy wasn’t having it.

Rather than sit on the edge of the sand all afternoon, we decided to walk around the beach area instead. It’s so pretty. I can’t wait until the kids are older and we can spend long weekends at the beach.

Dinner was convenient at a snack shop right off the sand! Pizza, french fries and mozzarella sticks. Apparently SSA have stomachs of steel.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed out to Dutch Village. It was cute and kitchy. The draw for us was the petting farm. We know many animals (neigh! moo! meow!) but we’ve never seen most of them up close.

Steven was pretty much game for anything. Amaya liked the animals as long as they kept quiet. Sammy liked the animals if they were brought directly to him in a basket. 🙂

We also had our first carousel ride. Sammy and Amaya rode with daddy and Steven rode on a horse. He loved every second of it and spent most of the time holding on with one hand so he could wave and say hi to everyone we passed.

Our final stop of the trip was lunch in Dutch Village. We were messy so we got mohawks. Once the hair is greasy, might as well have fun with it!

It was a fantastic getaway, and it felt like the start of lots of family adventures.

Here we are, settled back at home.

We had more than enough time for baths and bedtime shenanigans.

Today, was also a busy day. The morning was spent outside before it got hotter than hot. SSA has fun with the water table, when they weren’t busy watching their daddy work out in the backyard.

The big adventure of the day, though, was the State Fair! It was around the corner from our house so we popped by for about an hour after naps.

Steven was in hog heaven. Literally. We spent most of our time following him around from animal to animal. Sammy did get in on the action, though, and pet a sheep!

The sheep said “baa” and Amaya lost her mind. Lost. Her. Mind.

The fair is another adventure that will be fun in new ways as Steven, Sammy and Amaya get older.

Here are just a few more pictures from the week.

Megan, with Amaya and Steven.

The boys playing in their daddy’s shirts.

On Thursday, we all wore blue & teal to remember a sweet 7 month old triplet, Hailey, who was laid to rest that day. My thoughts are still with her family. I can’t imagine how they’re suffering. It was special, and heartbreaking, to see photo after photo of triplets in blue. I’m part of an amazing community. #loveforhailey

This week we wore our awesome Newport shirts from Aunt Dale and Uncle Arnie. They were a huge hit!

We support Team Grace every day, but we wore our shirts this week in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness month. If you’d like to support Grace, you can make a donation to Cookies for Kids Cancer here. Only 4% of federal cancer research dollars go to children’s cancer research so every dollar counts.

To wrap up this week’s blog post, Amaya and Chase clearly share DNA. 4 years apart, here they both are doing The Magnum.

Have a great week!