14 months

Alex helps push Ella on the dumptruck - and she thinks its great (for the moment anyway)!

Ella tries to convince Helen to move over so she can sit on the dumptruck too

Alex is happy and having a good time

Big Girl Helen

"We want to go outside!"

Ella is in the grocery cart(which she climbed into by herself). I wonder how much she will cost at checkout?

Helen and Alex getting along and playing together (not something that always happens anymore)

On Mommy's birthday, everyone got a cupcake to help celebrate. Alex did not waste a crumb of good food.

Helen thought the icing was great fun to play with and smear around on everything she could reach

Ella made a pretty good mess too

Daddy reading a story to the girls

Mommy and Daddy had date night for Mommy's birthday

Freddy, Allison, and Nikki watched the kids for us

Helen loves the pudding they got as a special treat

It is so hard to believe that they are already 14 months old. It goes by so quickly. It seems like every day they are learning how to do something new. Ella is walking all over the place by herself. She looked like "Franken-baby" for awhile with her arms out in front of her and swinging her legs out to the side. But now she is starting to get the hang of it and will walk just as soon as she would crawl - and both are about as fast! Alex has taken 4 or 5 steps on his own but he's still pretty unsteady on his feet. Helen is pretty steady on her feet but she won't risk taking a step without holding onto something. She is a very cautious and careful baby so I expect she will take her time with working up the courage to take some steps.

They are starting to talk a little. I can tell that they understand a lot of what we are saying now. If I tell them to sit down or don't touch, while they don't always do what I ask, I can tell from the mischevious smile and occassional compliance that they do in fact know exactly what I am asking them to do. Ella has "uh-oh" down. It sounds really cute but always makes me a little worried when I hear a series of "uh-ohs" coming from another room.

Our nanny Heather has been working on sign language with the kids. Helen has quite a few signs down already. Ella has a couple too. Alex still has two signs - frantic hand waving that means he needs more food, and waving bye-bye when he wants to clap. He's coming along though!

The girls are starting to give "kisses." It is really more of a touch with an open mouth but the intent is there. Yesterday I was reading Ella a book called Hugs and Kisses with Dora. She kept bending down and putting her mouth on the book. I could not figure out what she was doing until I realized that every time I was saying kiss, she was "kissing" Dora. How sweet!

We've always had a lot of books around the house and hopefully it is paying off. Ella will now go pick out a book and toddle over, plop herself in your lap, and hand you a book. She loves to sit there and read books. Her little brain seems to want to soak up as much as it possibly can.

For the most part they are playing well with each other. But they are starting to get a little, uh, agressive with each other too. They won't accept someone taking a toy from them and have figured out that they can grab it back or push someone off of a toy to get it. I try to let them figure it out even though they look at me to punish the wrongdoer. I figure it will only get worse so they need to figure out how to play together. I only get involved when an essential organ or limb is at stake :)

We are having so much fun. I would not trade triplets, THESE triplets, for anything. It is so fun to watch them grow and learn and play with each other. I've always heard that your harshest mirror is your kids and it is true. We got the kids a play cell phone. Helen took it, opened it up, put it next to her head and started "talking" into it. Cecil looked at me and said, "I wonder where she got that from?" I started to protest until I realized he was right. Who knew a one year old could mimic your behavior? And she must have seen me do it enough times to know that's what you do! Here's hoping it only gets better!!!

Disney

Helen and Ella at home mentally preparing themselves for Disney

Helen, Ella, and Alex practice their group picture and their smiles

Day One of Disney - Breakfast with Mickey but all Alex hears is "all you can eat buffet"

Helen stays close to Grandma and keeps an eye on all the weird animals (i.e. characters) walking around

Table for 17 - my brother and his family, my parents, Jean and her family

Goofy tries peek a boo with Helen - she is not amused but she is not crying either

Alex is amused with Goofy's peek a boo for awhile until he realizes that Goofy is not bringing more food

The Cauleys with Mickey Mouse!

Donald Duck with Caroline, Andrew, and Matthew

Donald and Ella

Donald and Alex

The Cauleys and Minnie Mouse

Pluto tries peek a boo with Alex

Pluto, Mommy, Ella, and Sarah

Jean and Helen

The Cauleys at Disney

Daddy and Ella in line for It's a Small World

Mommy and Helen on It's a Small World

Ella and Uncle Brad

Dinner at Disney - have to have the bottles before we can have the good food

On Saturday morning Jean had an extra spot for breakfast with the princesses. Ella was an easy choice. Here's Jean with Jake, Alex, Sarah, and Ella. Ella had a great time and never minded being shipped off with people she has not seen in months :)

Even Cinderella cannot contain Ella

Snow White and Ella (why doesn't Ella look more impressed?)

Ella with her magic wand

Mary Poppins and Ella and Sarah

Princess Jasmine and Ella

I need to brush up on my princesses because I don't know which one this is

Sarah and Ella

Grandma and Ella with her Mickey Ears

Alex plays Mr. Tough Guy like he does not care about all this Disney stuff but he secretly loves it

Grandma and Ella feed the ducks

Grandpa and Alex feed the ducks (Alex is not quite sure he is ready to let go of that food even if it is fun watching the ducks eat it)

Ella and Caroline on the People Mover in Tomorrowland

Alex is the high scorer on the Buzz Lightyear ride

Caroline entertains the girls when they start thinking about having a melt down because we skipped their nap

Alex wants to know when we are moving on to something more interesting

Andrew, Caroline, and Matthew squeeze into a stroller

Ella has fun at dinner (but only apparently as long as I don't touch her or look at her - she had a fit if I tried to do anything with her that night. I'm chalking it up to being very tired and not the early onset of the teenage years)

Alex and Andrew - Alex had a good time eating his spaghetti

Uncle John and Aunt Laurice came up from Lakeland to meet us at Disney

The girls get some love from Aunt Laurice

Grandpa, Grandma, and the babies before we leave on Sunday

Back home Ella can try out her new strategies to get up the stairs that she has been contemplating while at Disney

Daddy and Helen

The girls have Daddy all twisted up when they both want to walk at the same time

Ella tries again but to no avail

Triplets at Disney is not as bad as you think. We headed down on a Wednesday and made it door to door in three hours. Once we got there, the kids were entertained for several hours just checking out the hotel room. Note to self - babyproofing a hotel room takes some planning. Thursday morning we started off with breakfast with Mickey and had a great time. Then it was back to the hotel for naps. We waited until after the afternoon nap to venture back out. The girls went in the double stroller and Alex went in the single. Our first ride was the Pooh honey pot ride which did not go over so well. Helen cried through most of it and Alex had a death grip on me. Next up was It's a Small World which went over much better. Then the merry go round which was a big hit. Dumbo's flying ride was a hit with the kids but mommy was a little scared being up in the air.

On Friday we got adventurous and skipped the afternoon nap and powered through. The kids did pretty well and we got to see a lot of Epcot. We did the same on Saturday but by then the lack of sleep was catching up with them. Thankfully we had multiple adults and kids around to keep entertaining everyone. The hardest part was not letting your arms fall asleep from holding them in line for the rides.

We had a great time, and I'm sure the kids will never remember it but I know Cecil and I will. We had fun just watching their reactions to all the new sights and sounds. They definitely seemed happy to be back home on Sunday though.

Thankfully we have no trips planned anytime soon so we can relax a little. Everyone is growing up so fast. Ella can now take about 6 or 7 steps - if she is in the right mood and it is her idea to walk, not ours. Helen and Alex are right behind her and everyone will probably be walking soon. They are moving away from baby food and eating almost all table food now. It is fun to let them try new foods and see how they react. Ella will not eat scrambled eggs for some reason but everyone liked trying chocolate pudding. The girls can clap their hands and all three can wave bye-bye. And they know how to raise their hands above their heads to show they are "So Big!!"

It is so much fun to see them learning and growing up. But I still have to grab them every now and then and love on them and remind them that no matter how big they get, they will always be MY babies!!