Week 34 with Triplets

Getting everybody in crawling position.

A Short Week

Because the triplet’s mother works in education, the daycare is closed when she has time off work. This week the schools had parent-teacher conferences, which result in a couple long days.

I don’t know how they handle this where you live, but around here the teachers are given a day or two to recover.

When this happens their mother takes over watching them for the day, although sometimes I’m asked to cover a few hours while she goes to appointments.

Helping All Three Become Mobile

If you’ve been following along, you know that Baby B has been somewhat mobile for a few weeks now. She’s learned how to roll wherever she wants to go, and has an early form of crawling.

This consists of moving her legs and then dropping to her stomach to shift her arms forward. It’s not yet a fluid motion but she’s sure to figure it out any day.

For the other two it’s been regular practice with getting them up on arms and legs and then rocking forward and back.

Baby A is making good progress but Baby C seems less motivated. We do feel that will change once he sees his sisters crawling circles around him.

The one thing with Baby C is that, during tummy time, he doesn’t straighten his arms, which is needed for crawling. It was suggested that we get a small ball to build up arm strength and positioning.

Putting the baby on his, or her, tummy on the ball and then rock forward and back conditions them to put their arms down straight to catch and balance themselves. Our challenge is keeping him from just bracing his arms on the ball itself.

I feel like this exercise did work, as we were getting him up on hands and knees by mid week.

Baby C is tricky in that you don’t see him progressing along with the girls (which is common for baby boys), and then one day he just does it.

A prime example is his lack of interest in rolling during play time, but put him down in the crib and he’s rolling all over the place.

Spit Up is Down to a Trickle

My babies were always spitting up formula at this age. I remember having them in bibs for what seemed like forever.

The triplets have not been all that different, with Baby A being the exception. This is evident by looking at the stockpile of burp clothes we built up in the early months.

This week, however, I noticed that our instances of spitting up have diminished substantially. It’s still good keeping a burp cloth handy at all times, but they are called into action less and less every day.

It’s also sweet that their burp clothes have been so commonplace in their lives that they’re now a source of comfort. A fussy moment can often be soothed by a burp cloth, and they are mandatory at nap time.

How Will This Behavior Grow?

I wanted to share a special habit that Baby A has developed in recent weeks.

At the moment, she loves putting things on her head. She does this by herself and it seems to bring her great joy.

Frequently it’s a burp cloth, which is always handy. Sometimes it drapes down one or both sides, but she’s most proud when she gets the whole thing positioned on top of her head.

In the photo to the right she placed a soft book on her head, and it is most amusing.

It will be interesting to see if this turns into an obsession with hats, or simply fades away as a brief moment of discovery.