Little things that make me smile...

Charlie keeps referring to some book on early childhood development that apparently indicates at some point - in the near future - our children will become very distressed if the food they are eating gets 'disorganized'. According to Charlie, if the peas touch the chicken ... or if the spaghetti touches the bread ... everything could very well be ruined and our children's appetites immediately extinguished.

From what I am told, one day soon, our children will make a concerted effort to be neat eaters.

Quite honestly, I don't see this phenomenon of our children being distraught over a messy eating environment happening any time soon. I sure as heck don't know what book Charlie is referring to and although I've searched our entire collection and have come up empty - my husband insists it exists. Each day while I duck to avoid getting hit with a flying sippy cup, my husband is optimistic that this will be the day our children will sit with a napkin folded neatly on their lap.

My personal experience as an aunt to 22 nieces and nephews, and babysitter to scores of children, supports the theory that kids will continue flinging mashed potatoes across the room and wearing spaghetti on their head until they are at least 12. After watching Charlie attempt to catapult peas off his fork and in to his mouth tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if our children still have questionable table manners at the age of 40.

*****

Our children have really started to develop an opinion on matters lately. Just this morning, William insisted on what he would wear today. He went straight from being dressed in his race car pajamas, to a full-body temper tantrum when we tried to put him in overalls, to being dressed in his dinosaur pajamas. This is the outfit he wore all day ... to the park, to Lowe's to pick up more Christmas lights, and to Charlie's office this afternoon where he accompanied his dad.

Dinosaur pajamas.

With pink socks.

And his Tevas.

In public.

Fortunately, he didn't insist on wearing a diaper and his sister's black patent leather shoes to the hardware store - like he tried to wear for church while we were in South Carolina. Alas, it is moments like these that make me thankful for our trusty digital camera and which will make William think I am the worst mother in the world the evening of his senior prom.

*****

When our babies were younger and I was working hard to keep them on a schedule, I would log on to the computer during nap time. Because our house is small and I didn't want to be scurrying around cleaning and making much noise ... and because I knew that if I took a nap I might slip in to a coma and not wake up for two months have a hard time waking up ... I would sit down and update my journal.

Writing has always been a good outlet for me. It has been an especially good outlet to help me record the memories of these glorious, fleeting days with our young children ... and to see the humor in situations that might otherwise make me run for the hills.

Situations that would make me run for the hills at warp speed.

Needless to say, for the past nine months, this blog has been a catharsis for me. It began as a means to record the experiences that we have had in our journey to and through parenthood ... but it has doubled as a vehicle to keep our friends and family afar abreast on the in's and out's of life with triplets. Along the way, I have had a great time *meeting* so many people, who I may never actually meet, that have taken an interest in our family. (I must add that the comments received are truly a highlight of my blogging experience. You mean people actually read this stuff?!)

With that in mind, I was happily surprised to see a writeup in the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper this past weekend, about our blog. I knew that a story about family blogs was in the works, but I certainly didn't expect this.

This article was even more exciting than the time our little blog was listed as the Denver Post website of the week back in July. I was made aware of the Denver Post article only after someone left me a comment, but due to my lack of technical competence, I cannot find the link again now. (Unless you count a 30-minute layover at the aiport, I've never been to Denver.)

Unfortunately, Jane Clifford from the Union Tribune had sent me an e-mail while we were away on vacation asking for permission to use pictures of the babies in her story. Had I logged on to my computer once during the entire trip - I would have seen her note and given her my authorization.

Of course I wouldn't want for her to publish any pictures that might one day cause our children to blush. You know I'd never condone something like that.