65. Developments, character, holidays, bugs and laughs
Skills.
Will is really trying with his words now. Daddy, cat, Maggie (the cat), Jack, hiya, bye, and tractor are regulars, alongside lots of mama, baba, dada, and copying noises we make. The other two say dada, mama, cat and Jack, and some noises. Will is a clear leader with words at the moment.
All 3 boys have mastered clapping and waving. They even clap when there is a round of applause on TV which always makes me smile.
William has always been the strongest climber, and still is. He can walk, but prefers to crawl. For a long time now, he would throw toys and bottles onto the sofa, then climb up and chill with his prize. He also claps and laughs when you look at him in a surprised way when he has climbed up. Climbing at speed and with skill. Robin is the strongest walker, but the weakest climber. He has cracked it finally, but he would give a couple of feeble attempts, then give up and cry. Will kept at it until he got onto the sofa or windowsill.
Sam amazed us the other day. He was sitting opposite James, and taking James's hands and trying to clap them together but his angle wasn't right, it wasn't working. He got up, crawled onto James's lap, picked up his hands and started again. Brilliant!
Characters.
Will is fast becoming the naughty one. He has a seriously cheeky smile, and a couple of people who see them for the first time in a while have even asked if he is the naughty one. He gets a naughty look on his gorgeous I little face, then does something, while looking you dead in the eye, like hit his brother or pull his hair.
He gets incredibly focussed on the things that he wants and almost gets tunnel vision when he wants to get somewhere or get something. There is no stopping him, and if he is beaten, he is devastated!!
Rob is the comedian of the group. I have never seen a child pull so many, absolutely ridiculous faces! He uses his mouth and eyebrows and just wonders around like a shocked puppet. It doesn't even mean anything, which makes it even funnier, just toddling around holding this face for no reason! He is still very dramatic, and absolutely loves to dance! While he is toddling along, he suddenly starts stomping his foot, bobbing his head and clapping to a little tune in his head. If there is music on, it's endless dancing. He can't get enough. Inthink we have a performer on our hands!
He is also someone who loves to get involved. Like a bull in a China shop. He sees it, wants it, gets it. Snatches and runs off if that's what it takes. Him and his brothers have some proper tug of war matches. He is definitely the most confident of the 3 when we go out. Always the first to go off and explore, very closely followed, but first in line. He is very confident in new places, very quickly. He really enjoys a good explore. He is also absolutely hilarious, a real comedian! He pulls the most hilarious faces, and experiments with his body position and does some hilarious walks. He is like Captain Jack Sparrow a lot of the time.
Sam has continued to be middle child. Second born, second to crawl, second to walk. All very close seconds I might add. He has also become the more quiet one of the 3. Over the last couple of months, he has been the most sickly, and became very clingy for a few weeks. His seizures possibly added to the clingyness, but hopefully not. All 3 have had bugs, followed by teething, followed by more bugs recently. Its been so relentless for all of us, the poor boys have really suffered. Sam is currently the softy, and regularly sits back on someone's knee and watches a lot more than the other two. He also approaches things very gently. When Rob toddles up to us, he throws himself at our legs with playful purpose. Sam comes and gently rests his arms or head. Don't get me wrong, he can be as vicious as his brothers, and is currently, the hair puller, and grabs chunks of anybody hair that is close enough. It's horrible!
Fighting
I'm struggling a bit with their scrapping at the moment. They really do batter each other. From what we can tell, Sam's seizures are triggered by stress, and usually happen when he has had his hair pulled or has been hurt somehow. I'll go into more detail later. But the boys regularly scrap over a toy, then when they don't win, they hit, bite or pull hair in retaliation. I'm constantly having to separate them or take toys away. After meals, when I put them in the pen, if they are tired, I'll or grumpy, it can get pretty stressful for me as I feel like I need to be in with them to keep the peace. But I need to get the floor clear of food and high chairs away before I can let them out again. It is very frustrating 3 times a day!
When it's just play time and they all get nasty with each other, I end up piling them all into the pram or wagon to get them all out. However, the wagon doesn't always fix it as the 2 next to each other can still grab each other's arms and hair. Painful!!!
Seizures
Sam has now had 11 seizures in 6 weeks. 2 today! He has a referral booked in at the hospital in a week. We are pretty sure they are the RAS seizures as each one after the first 2, have happened when he has become really stressed. He does that horrible cry kids do when they are so distressed that they cry out until their is no air to cry out any more, they then go quiet and suddenly breathe in a load of air and start to cry normally. Sam does this, but instead of the breath in, the seizure starts and he goes silent. I have been with him for all but 1, and caught him before it can fully start twice. James caught the other 1 which didn't develop into a proper seizure. They still result in the floppiness, unfocussing eyes and paleness, but not the rigid body and rolling eyes. He then goes grey and looks so poorly for about half an hour. He doesn't react to me being there, stroking his head, talking to him, other than glancing at me. Like he is too weak to smile.
It's horrible, absolutely horrible, and I get really upset each time it happens. The full seizures only last a few seconds, but to see my baby frozen and distorted, then to look so poorly is just the most horrible thing to go through. It took me the best part of a week to feel normal again after his first seizure. I now get the horrible emotional adrenaline rush when it happens.
They have mainly been from a brother pulling hair or stressing him out. Pulling his top, hitting him, standing on him, etc. I feel like I caused the recent one because he kept pulling hair and I picked him up and put him on the floor to remove him from the hair. I do this all the time if they do something more than once that they shouldn't be. This time he got really upset when I put him on the floor. He was at the end of a horrible bug, and getting towards bed time, so emotional and tired anyway. But this pushed him right over the edge. He started to cry, and got himself so worked up he went into that horrible long cry. I picked him up with the hope I could calm him down in time, but I couldn't, and he went into a 4-5 second seizure. It's devastating!
So all this fighting is definitely stressing us both out. Every little shout and yell, we jump up to make sure Sam isn't the target. I do feel like Sam is often the target because the reaction is there from all of us. But I'm probably overthinking that. We also worry that us jumping to his attention is making him more clingy. Honestly, in the moment, I couldn't care less. I just want to hold my poorly baby.
A difficult couple of months.
I won't lie, it's been a tough few weeks. We have only had the odd night of decent sleep in over 2 months now. If it's not been a bug, it's been their teeth. Wisdom teeth, top and bottom, have flared up between each bug we have had recently. It's been bad for them. Not nearly as bad as their front top teeth, but still waking them in the night. This, followed by an endless stream of snotty, coughing and the stress of Sam's seizures, has been exhausting. We are doing fine and keep high fiving each other when we have survived a particularly difficult day. It's not the decreased sleep that makes it difficult for us, it's the grumpy boys. Oh my goodness, it's draining when they are all emotional and sick of each other. They all want what the other has and have tantrums when they don't get it. Then they hang off my legs. I just can't get anywhere or get anything done, and them hanging there doesn't make them any better.
Twin triplet upmanship
We went to a small steam rally, which we go to most years. I was wondering around with the babies in the wagon, they were getting their usual attention and "Gary/Granny" was LOVING it! James and Jack were pottering about looking at stalls and going on rides. James was chatting to a stallholder and Jack was tugging on James's pants, clearly bored. The stall holder indicated towards Jack and said to James "you think that's difficult? I've got twins!". James pointed over at me and said "do you see them? That's my wife and our triplet babies"!
A lovely, exhausting holiday.
We went away last week, for a few days in a caravan. Same sort of thing as last year. Blackpool, so nice and local. Lindsay had a caravan next door to us, which worked amazingly well as Jack slept in hers incase the babies were up. They were...... Sam started with a cough so bad he threw up a few times. It was potentially the start of covid which they all got when we got home, including me with a much lighter dose.
He was luckily, fine during the day up until the day we left. They all had a ball exploring all the play areas, and Jack went on some great adventures and mastered the art of kite flying! James managed to find 2 twin trailers for our bikes, so we all went out together on the bikes, which was great!
The week was a million times easier than last year, but still very tiring. Next year when they can have more space and hopefully be less likely to slam each other's fingers in doors and drawers, it should be easier still!
Oh, and have I mentioned the car sickness???
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