Report cards.

The kids recently got their report cards and I am pleased to say that they all are doing great in school. In their respective regards. Though it would seem that our little girl is the brains of the operation. She is doing VERY well in her studies and we are looking at different options for her learning track. Now that said if she was an only child this would be a no brainer however as one of a set of triplets the dynamic is different.

We have decided that regardless of the direction she chooses to go be it arts, science and tech, or Mandrian and tech all three kids are going to be put into different classes starting with the first grade. If we have to move one to a different class or school all the kids needs to be split up to be fair. And we hope this will give them a chance to explore and grow on their own.

As the kids get more involved in the school system and after school activities I am heading back into the work force. for the past two weeks I have sent hundreds of applications out to the various jobs available. Now I haven't tried to look for a job seriously since 2003 when I moved to DFW so the world has changed quite as bit.

Wow it's been awhile.

I have been crazy busy now that we're knee deep in Haunt season.

The kids are doing well in school and have made lots of friends. My daughter wants to be a haunter like her Dad but Mom has a few choice thoughts on the subject, time will tell.

We recently got the kids into gymnastics and they are all loving it. Except the exercise part, ergo the warm up in the start of class. It's crazy for me since I am normally the only Dad in the place filled with gym moms all tapped into their laptops or mobile devices. I am the odd one in the bunch and no one looks at me much less speaks to me which is fine since I loathe small talk and bring a book to pass the time while my kids go through their routines.

 This Halloween the kids have all decided to be superheros! Iris is Batgirl, Bobby is Captain America and Cooper is Spiderman. some day I will get a solid theme out of them. However this is the first year that Iris is not a princess so I'm counting that as a win. This being the last weekend of Haunt season I hope to write more often although we are heading into the dreaded gauntlet of Christmas and as such my time is limited. I also plan to be joining the job force so wish me luck.

School lunch.

The kids are doing great in school. The first two weeks they took their lunch to school and were so excited to do so then watching their classmates go through the lunch line and come back with trays of food the idea got into their head that they wanted to buy lunch. It works out pretty well for me and the kids are developing more independence.

School lunch seems to have changed a lot since I was a kid. When I was a kid lunch was one thing ergo I had no choice I ate what the school made and that was it. Where as my kindergartners have a menu of options. They can pick one of two main courses and then two sides of five choices then milk, chocolate milk, or water.

I know my kids and I know how difficult it can be to motivate them to make a choice when provided options and all I have to say is that lunch ladies must have the patience of a saint.

Special Labor Day story.

While out and about one of the things that the family likes to do is hit the thrift stores. Since this is a long weekend we have spent time going to book stores and the thrift shops and the what not. Now the children have an allowance and each have their own piggy bank, for loose change they can earn doing bonus chores, along with a set amount that they can cash out once a month at Toy's R Us. They have never opened their piggy banks nor asked to. They understand you're not supposed to open them till they are full.

We all went to one of our favorite thrift stores on Saturday. As we were getting out of the car I noticed a second before the kids a family sitting by the entrance with a large cage filled with puppies. My daughter looks at the puppies and looks at the wife and I and looks back to the puppies. "Brace for impact!"
Iris says, "What are they doing with those puppies?"
Wife "Well, they're trying to sell the puppie."
Iris, (loudly) "YOU MEAN WE CAN BUY PUPPIES!"
Dad says "We're are not buying any puppies for you!"
to which all three kids said in unison "WE HAVE OUR BANKS!"

I feel partially proud that they understand the difference between their money and our money and scared of what a double edged sword that can be. And no gentle reader we do not have a new puppy. I am the hero that Gotham needs.

Kids are getting schooled.

Well ladies and gentlemen the triplets are in school. I promise I didn't cry when I dropped them off. Not even a little though now I find my self at a loss. I miss the chaos of the daily routine. It's now the third day and the silence is deafening. I do get to clean the house and get chores done that normally the children would not allow, like moving things out of a room to mop the floor. I don't have to keep them from trashing the place. A room will stay clean until the kids get home. It's almost like I get some progress in the cleaning.

Cooper has declared that he hates homework when he could be playing or eating as the case may be, Bobby does it begrudgingly but Iris loves it. It's like Iris has been practicing homework since she first met hand with crayon. The kids love their teacher and have expressed that they would rather buy lunch than bring it from home. They are also fiercely independent as compared to the other children. There are still other kids crying for their parents in the class and my kids are all like "what's their problem?"
We were blessed to have the kids in school for the past two years in one form or another and they love to go do new things. The only thing is that they tend to be much different with out each other in social situations. Bobby lights up since he is center of attention, Cooper tends to be the sports guy and gets real inquisitive where as Iris drifts towards being more introverted. The funny thing is that together they are so confident and work so well together it's crazy. They hit the playground and start up the games, tag, hide and go seek, duck duck goose to name a few.

What as a single child I never understood was sibling rivalry and conflict. I get it now. The teacher made  a big mistake putting all the trips together in one table. I think that lasted about 30 minutes. The boys will just laugh and distract each other as only best friends can do and in a second it will  go to a ground and pound fight. Thankfully Iris tends to be above it all. So far I believe this is going to be an amazing year for the Cory's and thank you for reading.

The last week of summer.

The kids know it's coming, the dreaded school days. This being the last week of summer we have quite a lot to do. This week we have a meeting with their new teacher, they have a dentist appointment on Thursday, and today they are going to spend time with Nonnie while I get to have the last lunch with my wife of the summer. The kids already got their new haircuts and we have all their new school clothes washed and ready. We picked up all their school supplies and get those Monday. The children are very excited to begin a real school year. They have been attending school in one form or another since they were three and this will be the time in which they are in school for the majority of the day. They are well versed in the rules of the classroom and hopefully they will adjust to a structure of a school day as compared to every moment is a teachable moment style of Dad. The triplets will all be in the same class at the same school, which was more difficult to arrange than you may think. All in all 2014 has been a great year for the Cory house. Many changes have taken place on all fronts. I can't wait to see how the school year goes.

School is coming.

My kiddos are about to start school for reals. I mean they have been in some sort of school for partial days since they were three oddly enough. But now the big one is coming. Kindergarten! and they will be there from 8 till 3. My lord what is going to happen to me. I have projects and work to do to be sure but that much quiet? all at once?  For once my house might get totally clean. I could take a shower WITH THE DOOR CLOSED! Lets not even talk about other bathroom quiet time. I won't have to spend half my day breaking up fights and tending boo boos. I won't have to fix lunch for three people who can't agree on the same thing. I will be able to go shopping with out bribery to get through it. I could take a stroll in  a book store, I could go for a run, I could do anything. Although I envision my first week or so I may be a little lonely.

Ok I get it, we're broke.

When I was a kid I had no idea the amount of money it takes to just have a kid in the house. Not to mention three. I mean food alone will hurt your bank account in ways you can't dream of unless you have the loving burden of progeny. When I moved out of my parents house they started living like they were rich and in my youth I couldn't understand that all that surplus money came simply from the fact that I had moved out. We now I get it, and it was never more apparent to me than when talking about going to the circus recently.

For the five of us to go to the circus in moderate priced seats. $300. that is bare bones assuming that we can just teleport there to cover the $10 parking fee. Lets not mention we would have to get treats and toys for the kids which can easily skyrocket it up to several hundred dollars and all this would most likely happen before we ever got seated. Ten minutes into the show a child would need to pee which would trigger the triplet psychic peeing chain and yadda yadda yadda.

I would rather have a nice day at the park with ice cream maybe catch a movie go to a nice dinner and spend a third of that total cost.

The summer grounding of '14

So the kids normally behave very well to the point I think that we're blessed but this past week the children have developed hell spawn abilities and wield them with impunity, or so they thought.

I have the kids clean their play room every day and I have them start about an hour before Mom gets home. During normal times I may have to ask twice maybe three times before they would get the job done, that said, I never have to sit in the room to make them finish. Now don't get me wrong there have been some yelling matches over the play room before resulting in the removal of toys and privileges, just not to the extent of Tuesday.

Long story short, after two and half hours of back and forth and many forms of attempts to create motivation, the children have become grounded! They have lost all TV privileges and their favorite toys, no longer allowed to have their wubbies at bed time and on the day of the incident they were sent to bed without dinner.

Now kids being the selfish self absorbed little creatures that they are have no idea the difficulty this poses the SAHD. TV in it's deprecating way provides a service to parents the world over especially when the temps are as high in the afternoon as they get in Texas. So in order to teach the kids responsibility and correct behavior I have in turn punished my self.

Not enough summer camps!

Time is the fire in which we burn.

The kids love the Summer Fun camp it seems to be circus themed and their first day they made clown masks. I can tell you that the teacher seems a little standoffish since the kids told her that I make scary clowns and monsters in my work shop. The kids have been having a great summer so far. We have been all over Dallas, been to the beach, been to a couple of movies, and in some of the best restaurants that Dallas has to offer. Swimming at Nonnie's and Poppie's and going to Denton for lunches and ice-cream with Grandpa and Mimi. The kids get the whole playing in the water sprinkler in the yard thing now with the added water gun crazies. The kids are having fun running in and out of Daddy's workshop and trying on different masks. The worst thing about the summer is that my children look like they have the pox from all the mosquito bites from playing in the yard.

Things to do in the summer.

When the kids are not kept busy with camp or other such things it falls on me to be the entertainer of the trips. Now don't get me wrong the kids are more than capable of amusing themselves, however that normally results in a trashed house and squabbles twixt them. So I as the stay at home Dad must finds ways to pass the time. Thank the heavens for Studio Movie Grill in one example. SMG has a summer movie series in which they show children's movies from the past couple of years at 11am for two dollars per person. Now they more than make their money back in food and drink costs. But it's hard to beat a movie on the big screen in AC with a wait staff as a good way to kill two hours in the day. We go to the park, we go to the Zoo, we hit the museums. Sometimes we just go get ice cream.
And thankfully now the kids are getting old enough to help out around the house so there is that.

Basketball Camp.

This week the kiddos have been doing Basketball camp. They are loving it though Iris has stated that she would like soccer more. The kids are learning the fundamentals of the game. The dribble and the different shots, how to pass and of course team work. On the first day all three were on the same team and they wrecked shop. Being triplets they have a distinct advantage over the singletons. They spend every day doing team work and playing together. They grasp passing and working together in ways that this whole camp was designed to teach the other kids. So now they are all on separate teams and it has turned out a little better for everyone.

When I go to pick the kids up it's a little weird. I am the only Dad there. I am the only non-employee male in the entire building. I stand there among the seething throng of mother's and nannies listening to the gossip of the day as if I was a fly on the wall. The mothers are all dressed in the traditional garb of their people. yoga pants, pony tail, t-shirt, and overpriced cup of coffee. And I stand there heavily tattooed normally reading a book waiting for my children. My favorite part of the day is when the camp is over and all three kids swarm me yelling daddy from across the room and we all walk out holding hands. It always shocks the soccer moms.

Vacation Bible School

The kids had one week off for the summer then Vacation Bible School started for the second week. The kids love it they get to hang out with a ton of kids and the best thing is no homework as they have told me. The weird thing is that the kids all wear a color for each day the of the week. on Monday it was red, so it was a little weird to see hundreds of kids all dressed in red, now I didn't know that so my kids were dressed as they wanted that morning so in the very least it was easy to pick them out of the crowd. Yesterday the color was green but we knew that in advance so matchy matchy for the kiddos. Today is yellow. These colors are worn by the teachers as well.

In each class it seems that there is one Adult and two teenagers for a class of about 20 kids. Which seems pretty goods ratio to me seeing as the public school had one teacher and one TA for about 40 kids. The classes are from 9am till noon which gives me a little time to my self. Next week is basketball camp.

1st Week of Summer.

I took their school time for granted. I really needed those three hours to get stuff done and have time to think to myself. I love my children but they are five now. And where as they don't need the constant attention of babies they have their own set of challenges. For example, They all live with their best friends and don't really come to me unless they need arbitration of intrapersonal issues or to rat each other out. I fix my fair share of boo boos and feed them and do the normal maintenance of their lives which they totally take for granted.

It's the noise. The constant noise. It is never ending, one of them at all times is humming or whistling or snapping, or some other nonsensical noise. But the worst is they talk in Gary speak from SpongeBob Squarepants. That %$#*&!@ Snail that speaks in meows. I swear to god that when I snap it will be because of that sound. I ask my kids a question the answer is Meow. I can't stand it anymore it's driving me crazy. They thinks it's funny, I swear they are trying to break me. This is only two days into summer vacation.

Except for Iris she respects Dad and does not do the majority of button pushing that the boys do, however she likes to play dress up and if not watched she will go through her entire wardrobe in a day not in anyway playing way like take the clothes back off and put them back but in I am done with these way and crumple and throw in hamper kind of way.

The kids bathroom is flooded at least once a day normally when teeth brushing takes place. The bathroom is awash in toothpaste and spit. Towels on the floor, water everwhere then you go in there to get on to the kids and the boys look you in the eye say "Meow, meow, meow!" and laugh as the vein in your forehead throbs.

I am beginning to understand why parents tend to over schedule children's activities. Because it is easier to drive and drag children all over town then to be trapped alone in a house with them.

The beach!

Over the previous Memorial Day weekend the family and I went Galveston Texas to spend some lovely time on the beach. We got down there on a Friday and left Monday morning. The kids love the beach even though this year was the 30 year seaweed invasion. When I say invasion I mean the first 50 feet of beach front was covered in at least three feet of seaweed. It created a wonderful patina of color ranging from dark brown to a lime green as the seaweed built up and decayed.  We always stay at the condo which over looks a pool with a lazy river and palm trees.

From the condo there is a porch at both ends and since we are right at the end of the island, from one side you can sea the ocean and from the other side you can see Galveston Bay. Its awesome because you get to see the sunrise over the ocean and set over the bay so vista views either way.

The trips being five this year have taken the plunge. In all aspects of the word. They chased the waves and now jump directly into the pool. We spent hours just beach combing and collecting shells looking for crabs in the tide pools. Getting sunburned, and fishing. Yes fishing, the kids started fishing this vacation. While fishing the kids all caught fish and my wife caught three where as Poppie and I caught nothing. all in all it was a great trip.

One constant.

The only thing that a parent can count on is change. Constant change. Why is it that one day a kid will love something and the next hate it? It makes it very difficult to please such a capricious thing much less three of them. Cooper has never met a meal he doesn't like while the other two are always wanting something other than what they were given.

Having triplets make you a new parent and an old parent at the same time. There are the normal new parent things like being over protective and worrying about every little thing from what's going in to what's coming out. Then the old parent thing of "they will be fine." And letting them have freedom and the ability to be self sufficient. It's not that you as a parent don't want to do and help out with everything but simply stated you can not be in three places at once.

The trips are at once the most wonderful thing and the most annoying thing all at once. The truth is you just never know what is going to happen next, be it injury, illness, or absolute joy.

It's been busy.

Since Friday of last week I have been running my butt off. Friday I did a radio show for five hours then came home went to bed. Sat woke up early and went to Tx Frightmare weekend and wore costumes for the majority of the day and networked. Met some amazing people. Sunday went back to the con and worked more for another project I'm working on and I missed the kids. Once Monday got here we took Maureen to the Hospital and she stayed there until I picked her up Tuesday at about 2. Now while all this is going on the kids still need meals and baths and laundry done as well as managed to make clean and do home work and then all the other chores around the house. Now Maureen is home and all tuckered out from the procedure and so I gotta help her out. Now it's Thursday and I have a station meeting tonight at 7 pm. Tomorrow I gotta go to Denton for a job then run back to Dallas for a public appearance at the Rocky Horror Picture show at midnight. then Sat I am recording another radio show.

The kids are doing great I only wish they helped me out even more than they do.

One thing I can say about triplets.

Before the triplets I was completely unmotivated to try and work or fit into society as I believed that society expected me to. I resented work and financial responsibilities that I felt was a tool used to maintain order among the populace, and I couldn't be bothered. Now with that in mind I have over the years developed this concept of work that breeds resentment and a soul withering response to the theory of work. Work any work was a anathema to what I understood as our purpose to enjoy life. I believe I have missed many an opportunity because of this belief.

Then the triplets came, I had no choice but to work, and work I did. I have never in my life worked so hard and still do to this day, but as the triplets became more self-sufficient I found my self with this developed work drive that needed an outlet. I needed something to do that would allow me to express myself and focus this new developed energy. If you had asked me five years ago if I would be writing and working in the haunted attraction industry, making masks, props, costuming, marketing, acting, and managing, I would have laughed it off because it sounds like a lot of work. And if you had told me that I would in addition to all that be a host on a radio show, I would have never believed you.

And the only reason I get to do this is because I have the support of my wonderful family and life just keeps getting better.

Ok this is the worst.

There is this commercial where two parents go to talk about cellphones and have a newborn in a baby bjorn, and the baby is asleep. So through the entire commercial the parents are whispering and making the sales associate whisper as well. I personally think that is a crock and a example of awful parenting. Why on earth would you take a sleeping baby into a business and then expect the world to cater to your shitty parenting? One parent could have stayed in the car with the baby while the other went to the store. One parent could have walked to a quite portion of the store instead of trying to have a conversation around a sleeping baby. Better yet one parent could have stayed home while the other ran errands. I say this because this is the world I lived in for years with triplets and let me tell you that the trips are the center of the universe and their comfort comes first. No one wants a caterwauling baby in their face, even more so if it's not theirs. I understand the necessity of still needing to run errands while you have a baby but as a stay at home dad it just strikes me as selfish parents who think nothing of expecting the world to walk on egg shells for their baby and I think that's just rude.

Another day

The triplets are a whirlwind of chaos. The mess they make in a benchmark of madness. Our house is in a perpetual state of disarray. We can clean the bathroom and with one bedtime routine the bathroom is trashed. Toothpaste all over the counter dirty washcloths pilled in the bathtub. Toothbrushes adhered to the counter in a miasma of spit and toothpaste. the toilet covered in urine and the floor awash in dirty towels. This is all competed in roughly a ten minute period. Their bedrooms can be undone by the simple search of a lost toy or the need of a wubbie. The play room is a complete disaster. Piles of cars and various sundry of boy and girl toys. We have quite the collection of dolls and dinosaurs in which to one must become a ballet dancer to traverse from one side of the room to the other. I don't know about you but there are times I need to use a yard rake to make a path from one part of the house to another.

I visit friends and their houses are immaculate and everything in place and I must say that it hurts to see that kind of effortless order maintained yet when you walk the halls of my home it looks like a Toys R Us exploded. We constantly sweep up and place toys in tubs, point in fact we have removed several tubs of toys as the kids have lost interest and yet there are always more to take the place of the fallen.

I am glad that my children are well toyed however the truth is while yes they play with all their toys the majority of their time is spent with the simple toys. chalk, bubbles, and ranged weapons. they have more fun exploring the back yard and collecting bugs than most anything else. The only down side is when they brings the bugs into the house.

Well it's almost Easter.

Nothing like giving your children a basket full of sugar first thing in the morning to celebrate.
We recently have had the kids getting into the habit of bathing themselves which is wonderful though we do have some issues getting it started.

We recently started trying to eat more healthy in this house and so far the kids don't really like the process. I can tell you that they miss fat though they may not be able to put it in such words. They are missing the carbs as well. Now they still eat awful lunches and the what not and they get their surgary snacks in the afternoon as well as candy it seems every major holiday however the two main meals of the day are all healthy, and let me tell you Kale is not a big hit.

I know my writing has tapered a lot and the root cause is the haunt industry. That and I am helping out with a radio show about haunts and we are in serious planning stages. All that and I'm making masks and other props as well as doing web content for several different pages and some admin work on a couple of web pages. Sorry if I am not producing copious amounts of kid details.

Disney on Ice.

I had never in my life before seen any sort of ice capade. I can tell you I was not the target audience.
The kids loved it as the Disney characters danced across the ice in their cumbersome costumes. Not to mention all the impulse items placed every 15 feet. When I tell you I was shocked by the amount of shills hawking plastic you need to believe me. I mean every 15 feet they had a booth selling the same products as the booth before and the booth after, in case you missed it.  It also seemed that every 5th spot was a kiosk for pose with a instaprint photo with the cardboard cut out of select characters.

The kids had a great time and they got their share of loot, from swords to light wands. special cups, coloring books and hats. The show was about everything I could have expected and as such not that bad. The bad thing was that if you wanted a beer from the concession stand it was $12 for a 6 oz cup now they do that because they know the parents need it and for that they are bastards. But I blame the stadium for the beer cost and not Disney. Disney I blame for being consummate product placement paragons and if that was just Disney on Ice, how difficult is it to make through Disney land or world?

anniversary.

I meet my wife in 1999 through some mutual friends. I was dating someone at the time as well as she. Things with our prospective others for one reason or another didn't work out. And we started dating casually in late 2000. In Feb 2001 we had planned a road trip to Mardi Gras with a couple of friends but it ended up being just the two of us. While on that trip we went from being casual to a serious relationship. We dated for two years long distance than we moved in together for two years and then got married in 2005. After being married for four years we got our triplets Robert, Iris, and Copernicus. And now nine years later from our marriage day "in which I still miss the wedding cakes" I couldn't have imagined the wonderful life that I have now. Thanks to the mother of my children and wife Maureen.

Well now what.

The kids have been in virus limbo for the better part of the week and as such we have kept them home from school. But today they go to school and I will have blissful quiet in my home. Maybe I'll get to watch the Walking Dead.

Yesterday my Mother-in-law came over and watched the kids while I went to a job interview. Yes faithful reader for the first time in five years I went to a actual job interview and got the call later that afternoon and got hired. It is in my industry of haunted attractions and I start April 3rd. Thankfully I will be a contract employee and still be able to work for the Haunted House that I am helping startup. I find my self so blessed to be able to do what I love to do with my children and new profession.

Ug..

So all three kids are missing school with a virus and there seems to be very little we can do other than cocoon on the couch and watch T.V. The fevers are running about 100 or so and the throats hurt. Poor kids don't really get the process. They go from dead on the couch with shivers to an hour later feeling better and wanting to get up and run around which gets them winded and need to go back lay down. I can only think that with a singleton it may be easier to manage one child where as with the trips they tend to spur each other to activities that may normally be ignored by one. You live with your best friends and you're all sick. I hope that at least helps.

Another one down.

Anytime the weather changes we have the slew of sickness that runs rampant through the children. The shitty thing is that before they went to school they never got sick and now it seems we can count on the crud at least once every time change. Except the girl, the girl hardly every gets sick it's always the boys. So instead of all the kids going to school today I will have at least one with me at home all day and going grocery shopping with a sick child sounds like a lump of awful unless I get him in the doctor's office and then I have no idea what we're going to have foe dinner. At least it's never boring.

New school thoughts.

In the town I live in we have a choice of which school the children go to and we are required to decide yearly. It make for a more competitive school district reaching for those tax dollars.

Now this might be fine and dandy for your normal spaced families or the singletons, however for the triplets it has it's own set of challenges. The big one is we are given the choice on if we want all of our kids in the same school or in three separate schools. What? I know that's crazy. Could you imagine that morning chaos of triplets going to three different schools?

The problem for us as parents would be I could handle the kids in different classes in the same school though that has it's own set of problems. Lets think about birthdays for a second. I take cupcakes to the school on the kids birthday now instead of oh say 30 I have to take 90. What about when the kids have a birthday party. You want to pay for 90 kids worth of cake much less be around 90 kids at once after they have had cake? Then lets think about class photos, school pageants, parent teacher conferences, different homework, etc etc. It can get a little over whelming when you think about it.

When you're in the depths of sleep deprivation during the first few months of newborn multiples, you have easy milestones to achieve like sleeping through the night, moving to solid foods and you think in your naivety it will all get easier once they start going to school. Well, I'm here to tell you that you are only exchanging one set of problems for another.

My daughter don't play.

So the other day I was talking to my daughter while she sat in my lap and all of sudden I thought it would be funny to "play dead" So I went slack let my tongue loll out and let my head fall to the side.

 Iris said "Daddy?"
 she took my head in her hands and shook my head, she lifted my eyelids and moved my head from side to side. I gave no response. She said my name a couple of times and gently patted my face trying to get a response. She stopped to listen to my chest for my heartbeat.

 Then she sat up and full on slapped me in the face and said "snap out of it!"
When my eyes opened in surprise she nodded at me said "that's better." and walked out of the room.

The post springbreak wrap up.

We started the week with kids not all feeling well and it's been real busy so I will only talk about yesterday. We went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium  and Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax. The kids had a great time. There was a few things that they would not interact with, for example, No matter how hard I tried I could not convince anyone to pose in a sharks mouth. Nor could I get anyone to pose next to the tallest man in the world. I did however get them to pose with Oprah and David Letterman as well as Batman and Catwoman and I have this great picture of my daughter holding the Joker's hand. The kids went on a Dinosaur hunt had a shoot out in the wild west. met all the presidents and wandered the life of Christ all cast in wax. They only had to bypass two areas the Toronado Room but on the other side posed with the Wizard of Oz companions. And they would not go into the Monster part of the show. They went with me into the mirror maze and when I got turned around and lead us to the wrong exit Cooper took over and lead us out of there faster than the three families that went in before us, "the boy likes mazes." We ended the tour with the lazer maze which they didn't do real well with it. And then I took the kids to their first pizza buffet. All in all I think it was a good day.

fairness

It's a struggle to keep all things fair between the children. We try to make sure that as one gets they all get. They each get a toy, they each get a treat, they each get to pick a movie in rotation. However when one gets sick all this careful planning gets thrown out the window. And clothing is difficult as well. You see Cooper is almost half a foot taller than the his older siblings and the boy has big feet. So often times Bobby gets his younger brothers hand me downs. Now that it not something I would have ever thought about before multiples. 

Currently Cooper is ill and the other two are going to school while Coop stays home with me. I still have to run errands so off we go. I bought him a Icee from Target while we shopped and after wards took him out to lunch, bought him a dollar toy and got a movie for Friday movie night. I had to get new toothbrushes and he helped pick those out for his brother and sister. It's not that I didn't enjoy spending the one on one time but sure as the others got home Cooper starts going on and on about all the fun he had outside of school which upset his siblings.

The others understand when someone is sick but they don't understand the party atmosphere that Coop detailed for them. I fear that as this sinks in they are going to start doing the whole I'm too sick to go to school routine and trying to Ferris Bueller their way out.

Oh noes.

It looks like one of the kids came down with the strep throat. Well there goes the neighborhood. Because as one goes they all go and soon I will have three whiney clinging crying kids who will consume the little time I was able to carve out for my self every day. Good luck out there in the free world and hopefully we will weather this storm and get right back on track.

You ever have a sick kid?

Sometimes the kids come down with something although it's not that often. But when they do it becomes a nightmare for getting anything normal done. For one they of course become super clingy. I can tell you that having three fever ridden children cleaved to you is enough to make you feel like you have a fever. That said generally when one gets sick they all get sick. Also when we give one medicine we either have to hide the dosage or make sure that all three get a dose "because everything has to be equal" For the record we keep a false bottle of medicine for the non sick children.  Currently Cooper is feeling a little sick we know this because a) he is not eating and b) he will snuggle up to me on the couch and watch TV for more than thirty minutes at a time. He prefers Mommy in all things and tends not to cuddle with his dad. And now it's only a matte of time till the others start to get the sickness as well and once that happens it's all over but the crying.

Trapped

When the schools shut down due to the weather, where does that leave the parents? It's crazy to think that while I was still working the types of jobs I had before kids that on days like this and worse I still made it to work. I have no idea what I would be doing at this moment other than freaking out about what to do with the kids. It appears that the corporate overlords who live in other states give not a whit about the safety of their employees and you must then come to work at personal risk to car and physical safety. I have no doubt in my or the wife's ability to navigate the icy conditions however I can't control all the other texting ice drivers that will assuredly plague our roads this day.

Back to the point at hand, what am I supposed to do with the kids trapped in the house all day. Today they will be helping with their laundry and they will be going with me to get the groceries today. Maybe I'll bundle them up and throw them in the back yard for a bit, maybe I'll get a fire going and make hot chocolate for everyone. Maybe I'll buy some art projects at the store and that might buy me an hour of peace. Or most likely I will have to do all these things to keep them from driving me crazy. Good luck out there today.

Some days are like that.

When I started this blog I fully intended to write everyday. If you follow me, you know that kinda tapered off there after a week or two. I want to write everyday but sometimes the children simply will not allow it.

A busy day off.

When my wife gets a day off she still has to work, and in some cases more so than if she had actually gone to work. Yesterday the kids got a day off from school which worked well since they also had a dentist appointment. We took them to the dentist at 9:00am and they went through the routine resulting in a simple cleaning and no cavities, so good day so far. After wards we took the kids to Michael's to pick up some art supplies for me and some craft stuff for the kids. Then we took them to Toy's R Us to spend their allowance. Now if you have taken a single kid to the toy store to end all toy stores you would know that this takes some time. About an hour later we were able to leave with all the children happy. Once we were done with those tasks we went to the movie. The Lego Movie was very cute and the kids loved it. After that we came home I did laundry and cooked dinner and then the kids went to bed. I wonder what my wife and I would do with a true day off. Probably sit around and talk about the kids.

Triplets and the dentist

My kids have been to the dentist before and oddly enough had a great time. They had no cavities and good little teeth. They brush well and that other nonsense that goes along with tooth care. ANd today they go again. They are all excited to go they love their dentist what with the TVs and the video games throw in balloons and cartoon characters running rampant all over the place it's no wonder. And I am grateful that they have such a good time there. Could you imagine how difficult it would be to get them to go if they hated it?

When can the kids bathe themselves?

I have been giving baths to these kids for five years now and I gotta tell you I am done. When we first started giving them baths they could fit in a little plastic tub that you would put on the countertop. Then as they got bigger we moved them into the bathtub. As time progressed they just kept getting bigger and more willful. Up until about a year and a half ago we were still bathing all three at the same time in the tub but then they got to big. Now we do it one at a time, and let me tell you I spend half the morning washing children. Iris is great she really loves a good soak and will float in the water for as long as we let her. As for the boys I have seriously thought about throwing their laundry in the tub with them due to the amount of agitation they generate. If we could somehow harness the energy of children I believe that we could solve the world's energy crisis. However my question is when do kids take on that responsibility on? When will they want to bathe alone?

So when are you going to get a job.

I must hear this often enough that I feel the need to write about it. I would like to get a paying job don't get me wrong but at what cost do you know what average day care costs in this country? for triplets? I'm just going to say that it's more a week than what a lot of people make in a week. Now lets throw in gas for the drive to and from day care. Now lets talk about laundry. Who is going to do all the laundry for the triplets? Also in day care they don't tend to do all the grocery shopping or cook the meals. Wait what about a maid service I wonder if we can get some sort of pro bono maid service. Hey I'm going to need a chauffeur to get the kids around the town and school and their other activities. Do they make the kids do their homework at day care or do I need to also hire a tutor?
Now I have to somehow pay for all this while I have been "unemployed" for five years so what kind of starting salary do I need to get this thing going. More than I've been offered I can tell you. I quit my previous job because I was not making enough money to cover day care and all these other incidentals not to mention that the kids hardly ever get sick. So now five years down the road I still get asked these awful questions and I have about reached the end of my civility to strangers about this topic.

The kids want to know.

The children have reached the age of asking questions constantly. I mean you have seen all the jokes about the kid that never stops asking questions and results in the why loop. Yeah well try that times three. I don't like to yell at my kids but sometimes it's all I can do not to go running off leaving a Rob shaped hole in the door. I love that they are so inquisitive but can I get a break. How do I get them to understand that the answer to a question most likely will not change after a few hours. The main question now that they turned five is when can they get out of pre-k and start kindergarten. They either really want to know or like driving me crazy. Likely a little of both.

The post game commentary.

Today is the triplets birthday which fell on a Monday. Since that was the case we did the birthday experience over the weekend. It was good. Got up on Saturday and went to the Dallas World Aquarium and looked at all the wildlife and spent time with Mimi and Grandpa and Uncle Doug came in from Houston to spend time with the kiddos. After the DWA we went to Chuy's Tex-Mex, "which by the way is excellent for a chain"  And at Chuy's we meet with Nonnie and Poppie so all the grandparents were there for lunch and a good time was had by all. After lunch we went to Toys R Us and let the kids pick out their bikes and helmets.

Sunday we took the kids swimming and went out to lunch with Uncle Doug and then went over to Nonnie and Poppies and did the birthday cake then went and picked up their bikes and came home so they could ride around the neighborhood. After bikes we said by to the grandparents and had dinner and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs II.  It was busy if a little low key. And today their actual birthday they have to go to school. For that I ordered cupcakes last week and after I drop off the kids I will swing by to pick those up and drop them off at the school for the final surprise.

Valentine's Day prep.

Sometimes I feel that I came from a different age and I guess I am so last millennium because we as parents got a note home asking us to "help" our children make their valentine's day card catchers. It was suggested that we use a cereal box or something similar. Which annoyed me and makes me ask a lot of questions. For example what is going on in the class that keeps them so buy that they have arts and crafts homework? Is the reason because they don't want that many kids with scissors at once? And if so why was I required to provide scissors for my children? Does the classroom not have enough construction paper to complete the project? Is it a question of glue rationing?

I seem to remember that when I was in school one of the projects that we did around valentine's day was to make our card receptacle. I seem to remember standing up to cut out shapes and coloring the heart shaped construction paper then gluing it to said receptacle. We would put them up in the class room and for the entire week they would collect all the valentines and then on the big day we would get to open them and eat any candy.

I just don't understand how schools work anymore to be honest, my children are in Pre-K and if they don't have time to make a construction paper valentine's day box in class what the hell are they doing?

The history to be.

When I became a SAHD I joined facebook as a way to expunge all the new parent baby pictures and to have a place to document their infant years. During that time I have picked up many different projects to aid in that endeavor. I have learned all the baby stuff as well as cooking and photography to help. My father in law pointed out that this is going to be wonderful for the kids since they could at any point go back and look at their development through the internet. It was not my intention in the beginning to make a life long documentation of the children but here we are five years later and I am now writing a blog about them. I do this so that when I am with friends and the what not that they have a place if they wanted to see all the kids pics. It's the modern day version of carrying pictures in your wallet and now the blog is all the stories that I would otherwise bore you with during our chance meetings. I don't write for the kids and I don't write for anyone really, to me it is a cathartic purge. Sometimes the line between parent, and person tend to blur. I meet people all the time who will never know that I am a father of triplets and those that do can follow the pages I have created to mark their passage. And everyone else finds out when they meet us in public. On the other hand it's funny how invisible I become with out the kids. People I see everyday running my errands don't even recognize me without the kids and in a small way that's a blessing.

The impending valentine's day and Birthday conundrum.

When the kids were still inside the momma I really wanted them to be born on valentine's day but alas they held on for three days after wards. Now we have to do the valentine's day cards and presents and all that rot and then the kids have a birthday. Which is going to be fine for the boys in years to come but the girl awe lord the girl. She may not know it yet but with her birthday being so close to valentine's day she is going to have a difficult time dating. Because do the kids not only "need" to have a SO for their valentine's day but three days later their birthday. I don't see this being a problem for the next few years but once the puberty strikes then woe and behold this will become issue one. Good luck guys.

Snow Days.....

I need a little help since I will be trapped in the house all day with my kids. The snow has shut down north Texas for the second time this winter. Thankfully we have plenty to keep them entertained but there is a certain freedom to kicking them outside for a few minutes of peace but now that is denied to me as well. Some will say let them play in the snow and I say that I have my reasons for not wanting my children to get cold and wet.

Gifted and Talented testing.

So I have been jumping through the hoops getting the kids tested for G/T in our school district. We went the first round and made it through. Yesterday did the second round which took much longer. I sat outside the principal's office for three hours yesterday with at least two kids the entire time while one was being tested.  God forbid that they all don't get in or some get in or one gets in. This is a lot of ifs going on in my mind. But we as a family won't know till march so there is that.

The feedings.

The children are odd when it comes to eating and drinking. I have three very different issues when it comes to feeding the trips. Iris hardly drinks anything, it is a struggle to get her to finish a class of apple juice. I don't really understand why it's such a struggle. On the other hand she eats very well.

Bobby only eats a complete breakfast. He eats breakfast very well but as for any other meal he only picks at it. a nibble here and a nibble there. And forget about dinner.

Cooper is always hungry. The boy would constantly graze if given his choice. He will eat as much as a grown man and still keep eating. We have yet to find his "full" point. We have taken him to buffets and he ate steadily for the entire time that we were there, it was surprising to witness.

Thankfully the kids will eat or try anything put before them at least once, although I find it really annoying when they make up their mind about something before they even try it. Sometimes they become capricious about food they have loved for ever and sometimes they ask for things that they have never had. Everyday it's something different in this house.

The Superb Owl in our house.

We are not a football watching family in this house. The kids might like it, we don't know we have never watched it with them around. But they are starting to get to an age where they are going to start noticing things like this and it's impact on society. You know the adds and all the hype building up to the "big game." I personally find the games mostly boring and dangerous to play as a child. I dislike the risk vs. reward.

My wife and I have talked at length about if we would or would not let the children play football and so far our thoughts have been no on the subject but that is only because the kids have not expressed any interest in the game it's self. That could be because it's not a big deal in the home. But if and when the kids express interest in the game we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Instead of doing the whole super bowl insanity thing we tend to have video game playoffs, last night the kids took turns whooping each other on Capcom vs. Marvel fighting game. And the first time my kids play that game they fall into the trap of finding that one cheese ball move that backs you into a corner and just beats you endlessly till they win. We all know the type of move I'm talking about. We had a nice dinner after and story time and then to bed for the kiddos. All in all a great day.

Not sure what to make of yesterday.

I went to pick up my kids yesterday from school and was asked by the teacher if I could hang around to talk about an incident between Bobby and another child that we will call J. After the other children were collected by their parents the teacher came out to talk to me.

A quick background, there is a new student that came in to the class after Christmas. And he and Bobby have been having communication issues since day one. I have heard Bobby complain about him quite alot. I believe the problem is that both children speak each other's language equally as well. That and Bobby tends to like being and enforcer of the rules. So when you have a constant conflict plus communication barrier managed by a teacher in a overloaded classroom, well trouble is going to happen.

So yesterday I learned that they do the Pledge of Allegiance in class. I did not know and it does not bother me that this do this but on the same hand I am not overly concerned that they should recite it either. Essentially I love our country but not a big fan of governmental indoctrination programs so I feel conflicted.

So yesterday during the Pledge of Allegiance J refused to get up to recite the pledge and Bobby decided to be the enforcer by kicking J in the shoe many times until the teacher saw it and for the second time ever so far one of my kids got in troubled. When I asked Bobby he said and I quote "He needed to stand up and speak words at the flag!" I was so torn between pride concern and laughter I didn't really know what the teacher wanted from me at that point. If you ever watched the TV show Family Ties I gotta tell you I'm worried I have a Alex Keaton on my hands.

Spongebob and the descent into Madness.

I don't like SpongeBob like I used to. Before I was married and obviously before children I used to watch SpongeBob on my lunch brake from work. I thought it was a funny show with just enough adult themes to keep me interested for thirty minutes while allowing me to completely shut my brain off. Now that my kids watch it and it plays ad nauseam on all the kids channels.  This little yellow brain fart has been on the air for 15 years. SpongeBob has become a cultural icon of this century and I gotta tell you I am not sure what that is going to tell about our culture in the future. The problem I have with it now is that before family I could turn SpongeBob off when ever I wanted and now with children they watch it all the time. They demand that insidious yellow madness all the time to the point I cringe when I hear his voice. His laugh is the Muzak of hell.

Triplets and the birthday problems

So not sure how you do birthdays with your kiddos but I can tell you that we have quite the pickle trying to decide on everything. The one thing that the wife and I agree on with out fail is that the party does not take place in our home.

Thankfully the children are in a single class for now and this limits the number of additional children that could be invited as well as the number of "goodies" I am required to bring to school so that the children can celebrate with their school friends. Could you imagine taking sixty some odd cupcakes to three different classes?

Then there is the issue of the individual presents for the children. Their birthday is in February which limits the amount of outdoor venues that we could use. And that creates the problem of renting space or paying for a birthday party at one of the many places that provide such a service.

We are not even going to get into cost.

Babysitters

We sometimes have baby sitters in the form of my In-laws once in a while and I assure you that we take advantage of the services when ever presented. It's nice to be able to sleep in and have a nice hot breakfast with out sharing and making sure that the kids are eating. My wife and I will normally go out to eat for breakfast and she likes to do some retail therapy.

The problem is not talking about the kids when we don't have the kids. Or shopping for the kids or anything really without it somehow still revolving around the children. It seems to be the source for a lot of parenting jokes. Before you have children you just don't get those jokes like you do when you become and then understand the cliché.

The Triplets are about to turn Five and the majority of my day after shopping and laundry and cleaning from the weekend if to schedule the birthday party for the kids. Last year it was at Chuckie Cheese which the kids loved Mom and Dad not so much, because it is a madhouse in those places. This year we plan on a place called JumpAround basically a wearhouse filled with inflatables for the kids. Lets see how that works out.

Gifted and talented

My children are hopping through the hoops of gifted and talented testing for their school district. I put them in the first round of testing not knowing that there is a series of tests. I was called and told "congrats, your three have made it to the next round of testing."

I was not prepared for all this since I was not able to get confirmation of the type of testing so that I could help prepare the kids. This irks me to no end. It's not that I want to do practice tests or anything I would like to create natural scenarios that would help the kids become more familiar with what is going to be expected of them.

After much digging and searching I was lost until an old friend contacted me who just also happens to have a educational focus in gifted and talented education. And she was able to help me know what questions I should b asking in order to get the information that I required. I learned the testing is most likely creative behavior inventory testing. Which tests among other things non-lateral problem solving, which once I learned that, I understood why when I asked if there was anything I could do to help prepare the kids the answer was always no.

I guess my problem is that I dislike being dismissed as a member of the rank and file when I have legitimate questions and keep getting brick walled. Thankfully I have a wonderful network of friends with many interests and careers.

Triplets and the coffee

So everyday I give the kids a smoothie with their breakfast and normally this is not a problem until yesterday. I had introduced a new flavor which was chocolate. I got the bottle out of the fridge and poured into their glasses and served breakfast as normal. When the kids were finishing their food Cooper said that his drink tasted like coffee. I thought how does he know what coffee tastes like but beside that point I thought he was messing with me. Then I dug the bottle out of the trash and lo and behold it was a mocha cappuccino smoothie.

This is when panic set in as I looked at the drinks of the children and saw that Iris and Cooper had drank maybe half of theirs, but Bobby was sipping the last dregs out of his cup with a straw with a fevered look in his eyes. My wife saw this and my look of fear as she headed out the door for work laughing with tears in her eyes telling me to have a "good day."

I won't bore you with the spastic antics of Bobby except to say that his volume went to 11 that day and was a proverbial flash around the house leaving a wake of destruction to mark his passage. I will instead take this moment to point out that my children don't get caffeine EVER and when they get any sugar it's in small amounts that come in fruits or the very limited amounts of candy they get on the holidays.

Now getting through the morning was difficult enough because the other two kids had gotten some caffeine as well but not to the extent of Bobby and I had figured that most of problem will burn it's self out by the time I took them to school. No such luck and I felt bad for dropping the kids off, and fully expected to have to have a talk with the teacher about what is and is not ok about dropping off three caffeinated for school.

When I picked up the kids three hours later they came busting out of the school like devils on fire. They encircled me and all started talking at 90 miles per minute. For the briefest moment I was worried that the caffeine had laid dormant until I came to pick them up. What I was able to figure out betwixt the chatterbox children was that somebody in the class had a birthday party and everyone got big frosted cupcakes. And that led into the afternoon of daddy locking himself in the bathroom and trying to weather the storm till mommy got home. Moral of the story caffeine plus sugar is a lethal combination for everyone but the child that consumed it.

No rest for the wicked.

I'm not sure when most parents put their four year olds to sleep but in this house it's 7pm sharp. Now that is not for the kids sake as much as it's mine. The kids go to school for three hours each day which gives me just enough time to run a errand or two get home have lunch maybe take a shower if the errands didn't take to long then I go pick up the children. I have the kids all morning till 12 then three hours when in reality it's more like two hours and thirty minutes since I gotta get to school early enough to make sure that I have a place to park so I can get my kids. Take a shower when the kids are home you say? No that normally results in irreparable home or child. When I'm not cooking or cleaning or doing laundry I am making the kids do homework or clean their rooms. I Don't have what you could call a lot of down time during the day. So when the wife gets home and we have dinner the kids run wild for about an hour and play then off to bed where Maureen reads to them every night. And then I maybe watch an hour of TV and then off to bed. Last night I was in bed by 8:30 and it was wonderful.

The I don't knows.

I have a passionate hatred for the phrase "I don't know."
I have heard it so much from the trips it makes me livid to hear it anywhere from anyone. I swear on all that is precious that if an adult said that to me in reference to any action that they  did that affected me and I asked them why and they responded with "I don't know" I may punch them out.

It is the most difficult of things having children and learning to communicate with them. When they are babies you think that as soon as they can talk things will get easier. Well you're wrong. The kids do have the ability to tell you what is bothering them, and they will tell you everywhere all the time. While you're taking a shower, while you're on the phone, while you're sick, while you're doing anything that requires your focus they will be there to tell you "EVERTHING."

So you would think that with this new found gift of gab that the children would be excited to detail every little thing and in this case you would be right until it comes to culpability. Then the horrid I don't knows start in earnest. Who flushed their car down the toilet? I don't know. Who spilled orange juice from the fridge to the kitchen table? I don't know. Who drew on the wall with markers? I don't know. Etc  etc etc.

If you're expecting and soon to have children or have young children that lack the ability to speak you will hear "cherish this time they grow so fast." Well I'm going to tell you honestly that between the time of when they start sleeping through the night to when they start walking in the sweet spot of parenting. They are so cute and stationary. By that time you have pretty much figured out the difference in cries. The food choices are still simple and potty is pretty much routine at this point. So enjoy that time because before it you will not get any sleep and after it is when they start making the real demands.

The fridge

Our fridge like many of yours is an art gallery to our children's artistic endeavors. Unlike many of you so is our walls and out tables and we have folders to keep art and an entire bookcase just to hold all of their day school art. We have copious amounts of kid art. You honestly would not believe the amount that these kids produce just in the school room alone. I'm going to need a storage unit to store all this art by the end kindergarten.

Never ask a kid about your age

We were talking about ages today and how old the kids are. The kids like the idea that they are about to be five, and they keep wondering how old they have to be to drive. They think that the whole world opens up when they turn eight. My wife made the mistake of asking the kids how they thought she was and with out blinking and eye all three kids said a thousand. It's like they had planned on this is was said so quickly and in concert with each other. Then my wife said, "What, there is no way I'm a thousand, am I older than twenty?"
To which the children said "no."
What this should point out is that four year olds have no real concept of time.

Triplets and video games.

I know people who find the idea of video games for children abhorrent, well I think that is a little extreme. I think video games have a place in our lives as entertainment and education. I think that most kids play video games and if they don't, they want to. I think that for my children to not only have the most opportunities education wise they should also have the same chances socially. I have had difficulty in my life from my family and in school because I just couldn't care less about football and in today's society video games hold a similar place in social interaction. If gives the kids something to talk about, bond over, and relate to. When in Rome, I have heard both sides of the argument to be sure but I will say this, To deny someone something tends to create a stronger desire than may have existed before. Behold human nature.

Bath time takes a long time.

In some ways it was much easier to bath the children when they were younger. When they were smaller and had a lot less desire to shoot me in the face with water guns, we could get all three into one tub and, we parents could knock in out in a little less than an hour. Now though I bathe them solo in the morning before school. I bathe them one at a time, you just can't fit all three into a single tub anymore much less would you want to. They are starting to grasp the idea that I would rather them do all the cleaning themselves and I just play lifeguard, but still tend to play the helpless card and time is a luxury in this house. So normally I step in and make sure that they are clean from head to toe, that their hair is washed and rinsed. After the bath they get lotion and then we dry their hair and then dressed while in the bathroom with two heaters running so as to keep them warm.

Iris is the easiest of the three, she loves just to float in the water being a water baby. She likes to have clean hair and likes getting her hair dried and done. She likes the lotion after the bath, The only complaint is the warmth of the bathroom which we solve by using two heaters.

Bobby tends to just want to be the center of a whirlpool or throwing wet things about the bathroom or if the mood fits he will grab one of the many water guns and go all wild west on me. He hates getting his hair wet and will not put his face underwater. The lotion part is not easy to do on a squirming four year old.

Cooper loves a bath, likes to dunk his head, and is a lot calmer in the water than the others. Cooper likes water like a fish does. He likes just to be in it and pretend to swim and float and does a good bit of the cleaning labor himself. The lotion on the other hand in a bit of a problem since he is so ticklish.

Don't get me wrong I love the kids and all the time is precious but  familiarity breeds contempt and I am very familiar with bathtime. Don't get me started on laundry.

Lies and how they start.

The truth is my kids don't lie as much as they omit or feign ignorance of a given situation.
Not real sure when the lying starts but I do know the telling signs. I hope to keep my children honest with the family, meaning us as parents and each other as siblings. I know this is not a reasonable expectation of most adults, much less children, but I would like to attempt it.

Lies are such a complex thing. You have lies of omission, lies of misdirection, lies of false blame, lies of personal advancement, white lies, and exaggerations. It's easy to understand how a child could get confused when they see their parent lie to people about the little stuff or leaving out important details but yet expect total honesty from them within all dealings personally.

I have attempted to make a world for my children in this protected bubble of "childhood" but the reality is they live in a world governed and ruled by adults who in many cases care not about the deluding  of children. And we, as the type of parents we are, feed lies to our children about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny for example.

I wish to raise my children to understand lies and learn to recognize lies and know that anyone at anytime may be lying regardless of appearance or uniform. What I want to teach them is the way to understand the reason for lying and as useful of a tool it is to provide the grease for social exchange to also see the irreparable damage to trust and more that they are capable of.

Singing the songs of madness.

The kids have started a new game that they do. They sing in some nonsense words at each other to the point of ignoring all other things around them. It must be the funniest thing in the world cause they use it to crack each other up to no end. I think the point of origin was Bobby since he thrives on laughter. Basically they sing "meeean meee meeannee ......" over and over and over until a parent steps in and stops it. They do during meal times, in the car, during the baths, even the grocery store. And as loathe as I am to stop my children from laughing I seem to have a thirty minute limit before I am ready to loose my mind. I don't understand why it's so funny other than my children delight in tormenting me and their mother.

Homework always in the morning.

The kids go to school for a half day from 12 to 3 and I guess to train the kids and the parents they get homework assignments. For now at any rate we always do the home work in the morning since they have such a late start in the days. I know that this is going to change next year when the kids are rocking the full day. I would like if the kids liked to do their homework and as for now they don't mind doing it as long as I stay with them and watch them do it.

cooking

The kids love to watch me cook. If they hear me in the kitchen they come running and watch what I'm doing. I let them stir and beat eggs and help out where they can. It's nice at this age since they constantly want to show how capable they are and are eager to do things around the house. Now this can sometimes be a problem since they tend to get underfoot and around hot items like stove tops or pans out of the oven. I don't wish to dissuade them because I would like to ingrain these habits early on. As it stands I have three little helpers that want to clean up and set the table and do all manner of house related skills, and I need to cherish this time. The only thing that the kids don't want to do is clean their room our play room. I mean we do it everyday before Mom gets home and yet they still resist my efforts to make them more autonomous with this action. Why is it children will work and show what good little helpers they are but yet so loath to clean their own areas. It is the mystery of the ages.

School is back in session.

After two glorious weeks the children are headed back to school. I am not going to lie and say I am not relieved. It has been utter chaos since the onslaught of Christmas. The children have doubled the amount of mess and by mess I mean toys. We try to do a purge before the holidays but it never seems enough. Seriously, I don't know about you but during the gift apocalypse it was difficult to find the kids under the strata of wrapping paper, the only way we could find the children was by shaking a box of candy and they would emerge from their various piles like cats running to a can opener. The number of boxes and ribbon could have wrapped my house three times over and it's not like they only had one instance of gift getting. The kids had three different chances to get spoiled. Our house and both sets of grandparents so I can assure you that the children were well provided for.

So for the first time in two weeks the wife is at work and the kids will be in school and I will have three hours to myself. I'll most likely be doing laundry.

My daughter and her christmas doll.

My daughter got a baby doll for Christmas. She got a crib and a stroller and changes of clothes and all manner of other accoutrements required to raise a plastic baby. She loves this doll and carries it with her everywhere.

This past weekend I decided to ask her about the doll and if she liked it. She assured me that she did and when I asked for the doll's name my daughter looks at me and says "Peach."

I said "Peach?"
And looks at me like I'm deaf and says real slowly "PEACH!"