The Triplets are it (and they really do have "It"!)

Tagged. Good idea Mama Papaya. It's time for the babes to give a top ten (my own are coming soon, but it's causing me too much pain & embarrassment at the moment). But rather than do ten neat random facts for each child, I lumped a lot of chaotic & run-on sentences together, jumping from individuals to The Unit in a mish-mosh fasion. Enjoy the wordiness. If I get any comments on this way-too-long post, I'll be surprised. :)

1. Bereket presses buttons and points to pictures in books with his middle, “flippy”, finger. Sira is a master mimicker. Tsega figures out how to get into things (or on top of things or underneath) the best but says the least. Although they understand much and follow simple orders well, none of the boys say more than 10 words. Language therapy, here we probably come.

2. When I make Tsega mad because I won’t give in to something he wants or I tell him to stop doing something, instead of walking away from me mad, he comes to me crying with his arms wide open for a big hug (he does walk away from Jerry though!). Bereket and Sira might walk away crying and bury their faces into the wall corner which breaks my heart (or the kitchen French door hoping dada’s in there to save them).

3. When Jerry was flipping through a recent New Yorker magazine with the boys, which he always seems to be doing, he came across a picture of Amy Whinehouse (hairy legs, tattoos, messy hair, dirty, and all) and the boys were absolutely mesmerized by her picture and tried to give her a binky.

4. Seven times out of ten Sira would rather be in dada’s arms than mine. For awhile he seemed to not even like me, but now he’s pretty crazy about me again and even preferred me for awhile, but now he’s back to dada. Ho-hum, you can’t win them all. Bereket doesn’t seem to favor one parent over another on the whole, but may do it for an evening. Tsega prefers mama and he didn’t warm up to Jerry until he was over a year old; not that he disliked him, he just didn’t seem to seek him out ever. For the record, Jerry and I have no favorites and don’t love one son more than another. My favorite is whoever happens to be sitting in my lap at the moment. Although we try for consistency, different personalities do require different parenting techniques.

5. Bereket is sensitive as an eyeball and that’s why I give him the crib with the view; it makes him so happy to look out the windows before he goes to sleep and after he wakes up. Something about him, he has a deep sensitivity that touches me to the core and I fear I will have trouble disciplining him as he grows, relative to his bros.

6. All the boys love binkies, but Tsega craves them the most. We have taken to putting them away except for sleeping and we have to make sure they are picked up from under cribs and couches because T will look for them.

7. Tsega is almost always in a good mood; wakes up happy and patiently waits to be fed. Bereket and Sira often wake up grouchy and cling their legs around me or Jerry (won’t put their landing gear down as we say) for about the first ½ hour upon waking and might howl and kick if they are hungry enough and see that food is coming; sometimes they get so worked up, I have to help shove food in their mouth as they cannot get large amounts in there quick enough (or they need a couple of minutes to calm down so they don’t throw their bowls in frustration). Except lately Tsega wants to go outside 24/7 (my nature boy) and starts thrusting his jacket and shoes at us while pointing outside and grunting (sounds like, “huh?!”) and gets upset, no matter how cold, how late, or how hungry, when it’s time to go in. All three squeal in delight when I start putting shoes, hats, and jackets on and start running around picking up shoes and handing them to me.

8. If you ever meet my boys, Bereket and Sira will freeze like deer in headlights, get absolutely silent, furrow their brows, and give you what looks like a scrutinizing dirty look. Everybody always comments, Gosh, look at those two checking me out with those big ol’ eyes! Tsega will most likely give you a huge dimply grin and flirt. You might be tempted to feel a special pull from Tsega, as many people—from strangers to familiars--seem to feel; but be careful because I’m starting to feel like Bereket and Sira are getting shadowed by Mr. People Lover.

9. My boys copy each other all day long. If one suddenly drops to the floor and lays on his back just for kicks (“drop and roll!”, I sometimes tell them), most likely his brothers will come up and lay down next to him, all with big grins on their faces. If one starts pushing a box around, another will find something to push along with him. If one starts hugging the big lion, all come up and hug it. If one climbs up the couch, they all do. If one goes up to the French doors to look at something outside (and maybe starts “woo-woo”ing—that’s their version of dog barking because our coonhound Clementine bays all day long as she runs through the country with her pal Louie), the rest go up and look out the window to see what’s up. If one opens the gate outside (a new talent, lucky us), all come up and try to escape together. You get the picture. Except outside Tsega is typically Mr. Explorer as he goes from one end of the yard to the next looking for new adventures, while Bereket and Sira tend to stick closer together pushing wagons and riding cars.

10. Bereket and Sira are so much alike it’s uncanny and sometimes we get them mixed up; but not usually, as I feel different aura wavelengths radiating from them, as I often tell people, and their laughs, cries, and facial expressions are different. Jerry used to be terrible at distinguishing them and constantly had to look at their ears (Sira came to us with a pierced upper ear) but he’s pretty darn good at it now. Somedays they look very much alike, other days they look very different. Sira is fatter with a rounder head and has a way of looking head-on, while skinny Bereket tends to cock his head to the side more. When we first met them, they barely looked alike and I wasn’t convinced they were identical (I am now). Despite their identicalness, I don’t sense any greater bond between them than any of them have with their fraternal brother Tsega. They all fight, bite, hit, and make each other cry, but they also play, love, and have adventures together. Actually, lately, the fighting is lessening by loads around here; guess they are working it out.