Well, this is it. 5 months home with Steven, Sammy and Amaya. 22 weeks. What an unexpected gift. Going back to work comes with so many mixed emotions. Leaving my 3 smart, sassy, funny, curious, loving kids is hard, hard, hard but I’m also ready to go back and ready to dive into a new challenge.

It was a busy last week home, for sure. On Monday, we had a final play date with our friend Julie and her boys. We went to a new (to us) park in West Bloomfield, about 25 minutes away.

Amaya and the Greaves Boys

Our first playground time out goes to Sammy for throwing wood chips.

Sammy can be challenging in his willfulness when we’re out. He’s most likely to run off and thinks it’s hysterical. At the park, he decided he didn’t want to sit at the picnic tables for lunch. He wanted to sit on the bench. Since it was a safe environment to wait him out, we just let him sit on the bench until he was ready to come sit and eat with us on his own terms.

Tuesday, oh Tuesday! I woke up to find that Megan was sick and couldn’t make it to work. We had an appointment at 8:30am for our 2.5 yr well check which meant it was going to be a very rushed morning. On a lazy day I hate dealing with breakfast with the kids so, on a rushed day, it feels that much worse. Rather than deal with it, I decided to get the kids dressed and out to the car for a breakfast trip to Starbucks. It’s down the street from the pediatrician’s office and it seemed like our best shot to get to the appointment on time and still enjoy the morning. Megan and I also had plans to get the kids’ feet measured for fall shoes and I wanted to keep that on the agenda, as well. The plan was Starbucks before 8am, doctor by 8:30am and shoe store by 10am opening. SSA were so well behaved from the minute we left in the morning until we got home.

For transportation I brought my Kinderwagon Hop Duo stroller. Sammy and Amaya rode in the stroller and Steven walked. He did great. Depending on the circumstances he walked freely (on the sidewalk), held onto the stroller (nearing parking lots) or held my hand (crossing streets) and he listed to my instructions every time.

We all had muffins!

Waiting to see the doctor.

It was a great appointment, and my first with all 3 by myself! Here are the 2.5 yr stats:

Steven:
25lbs 6oz (7th percentile) up from 24 lbs (6th percentile) at 2 yrs.
34.5″ (18th percentile) up from 32.5″ (10th percentile) at 2 yrs.

Sammy:
28lbs (28th percentile) up from 26lbs 8oz (33rd percentile) at 2 yrs.
36.2″ (60th percentile) up from 34.5″ (58th percentile) at 2 yrs.

Amaya:
26lbs 2oz (21st percentile) up from 25lbs 6oz (33rd percentile) at 2 yrs.
36″ (65th percentile) up from 34.5″ (72nd percentile) at 2 yrs.

Tongue depressors for everyone!

We got to the shoe store right as it opened. It was a quick in and out trip since we were only getting measured. Their sales don’t start to next week and I also want to shop online for shoes.

We finished our morning out with the rest of our breakfast muffins. Mommy got to sit on the sidewalk.

All of that and we were home by 10:45am!

In the afternoon we got outside and enjoyed the kiddie pool and sprinkler. Amaya took to it immediately. Sammy enjoyed the pool but didn’t spend as much time in the water and was a little more cautious. Steven got in but seemed uncomfortable. He spent more of his afternoon with the sprinkler.

Drinking from the sprinkler.

All of a sudden, lawn mowers are making Steven nervous. I’m not sure what’s going on because he loved them but he’s very concerned that they’ll come near him. He heard mowers off behind our property and immediately climbed in my lap for hugs. He stayed there for a while, actually, and it was getting hot so Sammy and Amaya rubbed his back and legs with cool water from the pool and sprinkler. Adorable.

There’s a drain in the grass just off our property and the kids love dumping water down it. When it came time to empty the kiddie pool it made for a great game.

Megan needed to take the rest of the week off so I lined up Stephanie to help me out in the mornings for the rest of the week. We took a morning trip to another new-to-us playground. This one is in Northville, just 10 minutes away. It’s fantastic. Most of the playground is a big fort with tons of opportunities for climbing up high. I think this is somewhere we can come for a long time. Much older kids were having a lot of fun with the more advanced activities. The only downside is that there are bad sight lines and multiple exits. I think, for a while longer, we’ll need 2 adults when we visit.

Amaya and Steven both wanted a chance to sit on the big kid swing. This one sits particularly high off the ground.

A young boy named Sam was at the park with his Batman toys and very, very kindly let Steven and Sammy play with them for a bit.

If your kids work up a big enough appetite, they’ll eat an entire dish of green beans before they even sit down at the table.

Wednesday was another pool day. I’m so happy with how well Steven, Sammy and Amaya have done in the backyard without a fence. I’d been so worried they would run off all the time. As long as there are activities to keep them close to the house, they’re happy to stay in our yard.

Don’t get too excited! This was just for trysies as we start to slowly think about potty training. Amaya is starting to show signs of readiness (holding her pee, asking to sit on the potty, not wanting to wear diapers). Plus, their preschool will work on potty training with them. It only makes sense for us to get ourselves organized for this parenting nightmare.

Sammy is wearing his shorts and Steven has his diaper on. The boys weren’t even interested in giving it a real try. Amaya sat there forever and peed the minute I put her diaper back on. Everything I’ve read and heard is that it’s easiest when they’re truly ready so hopefully we can treat them as individuals and follow their own cues as they get closer to ready.

Friday looked to be brutally hot so we went for a quick morning walk with our cereal before heading inside for the day. The excitement on our walk was seeing the garbage truck multiple times along our route. We bumped into some neighbors who were out for a walk and they said they were following us via the trail of cheerios. 🙂

Inspired by another triplet mom, I tried to set up an obstacle course for the Steven, Sammy and Amaya. Climb over one ottoman. Walk across the stools. Climb over the other ottoman.

In the range of skills and interests, gross motor activities are lowest on their list and it was evident by both their disinterest in, and anxiety over, the obstacle course. They loved climbing over the ottomans but were completely uncomfortable stepping from stool to stool on their own. In time!

Everyone did have fun with play doh and kinetic sand.

We had a nice lazy weekend together. On Saturday, Sammy and Jason went to the ball card store together. Sammy really wanted to go to a ball card show like Steven did last week. There was no show this weekend but kids don’t know what they don’t know so it was off to the ball card store instead. Steven wanted an adventure of his own so I took Steven and Amaya to cvs. Big time fun! 😉 Today was Amaya’s turn to go with Jason to the ball card store and then we all met up in Ann Arbor for family brunch at Zingerman’s Roadhouse. That ball card store owner is going to be very happy that Jason has triplets with great memories and a strong sense of fairness.

Looking at photos of Daddy’s phone.

Practicing “hands on the van” on our trip to CVS.

Notices Amaya’s shoes? She put them on herself on the wrong feet and was determined to leave them that way. Not a battle I was going to fight for a 10 minute trip to the store.

Sammy got to enjoy a special lunch out with Daddy at Noodles & Co. after the ball card store. He picked Bangkok Noodles and then moved on to Jason’s Beef Stroganoff. He looks like such a big kid!

Playing with our little people. Steven loves hats.

Opening the new ball cards that Sammy picked out for the gang.

This morning Amaya took some time to check out her ball card stash.

Family brunch!

Deranged toddler smile!

Steven this week!

Sammy had a poop incident in the play room. Once it was cleaned up, Steven got his flashlight to look for more poop.

Brothers!

Sammy this week!

Wants to watch Daniel Tiger. Also wants to hold 3 dirty diapers.

Rubbing Amaya’s back.

Amaya this week!

Last, but never least, sweet Sally who is sure to also miss her mommy after all of this bonus time together.

Have a great week!