There is no doubt my children are their own unique individuals.  Their distinct personalities can be represented by their typical dispersion at the Children’s museum.  Josie immediately runs to the play kitchen and garden.  Mia makes a mad dash to the art table and Marcus is at the driver’s wheel of every pretend car in the vicinity.  After that, Josie checks in on the barn animals, Mia does a little fishing and Marcus begins to chase the girls around with dinosaurs making an awful roaring noise.  Josie will pretend play at every opportunity, saving teddy grahams before they are whisked away by the dragon in her milk glass; Mia loves pretend play also and will often follow Josie’s lead but as soon as Marcus stomps over pretending to be a T-Rex, Mia will happily toss aside her princess to wrestle him to the ground.

I recently decided to cut Mia’s hair short.  Whereas Josie has thick wavy hair, Mia’s is fairly thin and straight and she hates it in her face.  Grammy did a fabulous stylish toddler cut and it fits Mia’s personality to a tee!  The individuality is great, but I have to admit I’m a little nostalgic as my girl’s “matchy, matchy” days come to an end.  To make matters worse, the girls now often pick out separate clothes, whereas they use to always pick out matching outfits.  Josie loves her boots, Mia prefers her Converse.  Essentially, they are already discovering their independence from each other, which is fabulous for them but a little sad for me.

But all is not lost!  They still have an incredible bond that never fails to take my breath away.  There have been a few days I’ve had to keep one of the kids home from preschool due to illness but have sent the other two.  Each time, the child left behind is constantly asking where the others are.  Just the other day, Marcus insisted the girls were upstairs sleeping when they were actually at school.  Even though I told him repeatedly they were at school, he still insisted on checking their rooms “mommy, I can’t find the girls, where are my girls?” he asked after seeing their beds empty.  Later, when we went to pick them up from school, the girls ran out of the classroom and immediately gave Marcus a huge bear-hug ”Marcus, Marcus, we were missing you!”  It was one of those triplet moments we moms of multiples treasure!

The thing about having sisters is their clothes are so much more fun. Just check out these chucks I recently bought for the kids. The girl’s chose from a plethora of glitter, sparkles and hearts whereas Marcus only had a choice of matte red, blue, or orange.

Then of course there are the adorable girly coats and hats which put boys outerwear to shame!

And we cannot forget the dress-up clothes.  Princess shoes, wands, rings, bracelets, tutus…did I mention the shoes…with VERY high heels…for 2 year-olds!

It’s a no wonder Marcus gets a little jealous of his sister’s clothes and toys.  He recently brought me his sister’s Princess book and the girl’s Jasmine princess figurine.  ”Look a match,” he says holding Jasmine up to the Jasmine in the book.  This is followed by a downcast face and “we dont have this guy”, pointing to a picture of Jasmine’s companion …what is that prince’s name anyway?”

On a recent girl’s trip to the Gymboree, Osh’ Kosh and Carter’s outlets (talk about a good time), it’s no surprise I came back with a few new things for the girls and very few things for Marcus.  One of my finds was adorable pink leapord pajamas that I couldn’t resist…come on, they had lace on the behind!   As I showed them their new pajamas in a desperate hope it would get them in bed quicker that night, we ended up with a breakdown.  Marcus was so upset he did not have new pajamas (never mind he has about 20+ pairs handed down from his cousins).  He desperately wanted to wear a pair of new pajamas, even if they did have lace on the behind.  When you are a tired mom to triplets, you do anything to stop a meltdown, no matter how silly.  Marcus was thrilled that Mia agreed to trade pajamas with him:

Pretty funny.  Let’s take another look at that

Of course he will hate these pictures in a few years but he can be redeemed!  About 10 minutes later, as we were reading books before bed, Marcus suddenly looked down at his pajamas.  And as if seeing them for the first time, he immediately started tearing at the pink ruffles trying desperately to get out of his pajamas.  ”I don’t like these pajamas…take them off, take them off”.  We had another meltdown, we put him back in his blue baseball pajamas and all was right with the world.

We had a great holiday full of merriment and memories.  More stories to come but until then, here are a few videos from Christmas morning.

Mia has become a little wordy lately. As always, she has to be the first to answer every question (and she is almost always right) Here she is commentating on Marcus’s present: