Nature and boys - Autumn time

Having a dad who is consantly going to the nature to photograph, our boys are quite well informed about the nature. They can name all kind of animals - also the ones small children usually do not know like marten (nugis), badger (mäger), otter (saarmas) or birds like buzzard (hiireviu), arctic tern (randtiir) or golden eagle (kaljukotkas). They also know what is the difference between coat (kits) and deer (hirv); and can imitate sounds of elk, wild boar or owl.
Erik can't wait the time, when he can take the boys out to the forrest to photograph. We believe Fred is the first one to join as he shows the biggest interest to wild nature. Until they are still too small, we take hikes out to the nature - usually somewhere close. We try to go each weekend. Our favourite places are Tabasalu Nature Park (10 kms from our home) and Keila-Joa (12 kms from our home). Boys like to pick sprays or cones; they like to run around and most of all, they like the sea. They call it "big water".
Today, we went to Keila-Joa to enjoy the last colours of Autumn. Soon, it's winter time...

 

With boys in Keila-Joa

 

Keila-Joa Waterfall

In Kadrioru Park a few weeks ago

Boys - starting kindergarten at the age of 3

After a looong gap between blog-posts, I decided it's time to start again.
Yes, you guessed it right: I have been way too busy to write something here... Days fly by and I feel overwhelmed with all tasks I have to do during the day. And night. I wish it was more than 24 hours in one day. Maybe then, I could manage my life much better!
Anyway, I have missed posting here - write about our life with our wonderful boys. Afterall - family is the most important.
This week, a new period started in our life: boys went to the kindergarten. In Estonia, all kids should have got a place for kindergarten at the age of 3. In our county, there have been a big problem with kindergarten: too many young families with small children and too few kindergartens. Many parents were angry - the moms want to start working again, but there is no place where to take a kid. In our family, it was not that bad as we had a Nanny for the boys since they were 9 months old, but paying each month - a full-time salary for a Nanny - .... well, it has costed us a fortune!
Luckily in summer, our county announced of building a new kindergarten. Or being precise: renovating an older office building for a kindergarten. At first I was a bit sceptic - can it really be a nice kindergarten if it used to be an office for some company? But in the end - it came out all nice! And in October 15, the kindergarten was opened. As it is situated in a street called "Future street", then the kindergarten itself is called like that, too. "Future"... and all groups in kindergarten are inspired of the same theme. For example, our boys go to a group called "Inventors". There are 21 children with 1 teacher and helper.
The first day was very difficult for me: leaving boys somewhere what they don't know, with someone they don't know and with kids they have never seen... I was nervous all day thinking how they are coping there... But when I went to pick them up in the afternoon, they were nicely playing and everything was fine. I was releaved! I guess it's much easier to go to the kindergarten when you have brothers supporting you. :)
Anyway, since that day, boys have been to kindergarten each day and have not cried at all. Lets see how the next week will be! Our boys are big now!

At Pille's place

 In August - we traditionally go to Pille's place in Rapla county to celebrate the end of the summer (and of course, also to meet our good friends). We did it in 2011, 2009, 2008. It's always fun at Pille's - and we are always blessed with good weather. Pille has sheep and a horse and our boys loved to watch them (it's not their first time as in Muhu, we have several farmers, too); we had a nice dinner like always and nice chats with Marju, Kristi and Eve.
See you again next year! :)

 

Funny words

This post is inspired by friend Maris' post, where she wrote about a cute word her daughter says. I'm sorry the post will be in Estonian, because otherwise, describing my boys' funny words in English would ruin the meaning of the post.
Poiste kõne on pärast 2-aastaseks saamist lennukalt arenenud. Sõna, mida poisid pidevalt kasutavad, kuid mis on miskipärast veidi valesti kätte õpitud, ja seda kõigi kolme poolt (kui õigesti mäletan, siis alustas selle sõna ütlemist selliselt Ralf, mida kõik hoolega järgi hakkasid kordama), on sõna "meer", mis tõlkes tähendab "veel". Huvitav, millal nad aru saavad, et lausa kaks tähte on sõnas puhta valed? Peale selle kasutavad kõik poisid sõna "oki", mis tähendab tegelikkuses "sokid".

Kõige parem kõneleja on kehalisest kõige nõrgem Sten, kes püüdlikult kordab järgi kõik, mida ees öelda ning on võimeline rääkima lauseid, mis koosnevad kuni neljast sõnast. Meie lapsed vaatavad telekat harva, kuid kui vaatavad, siis Teletupse - see on meie praegune üldine lemmik ning need vähesed laused, mida selles saates korrutatakse, on Stenil kõik selged. "Kus on Po ratas?", "Tipsi kübar on kadunud", "La-laa tudub voodis" jne. Üldiselt on tema laused väga hästi hääldatud - neist võib aru saada igaüks. Tal on aga üks eriline sõna, mida ta pidevalt kasutab - "teine pood". Tegelikkuses tähendab see "teisele poole".
Ka Ralf räägib üsna ilusti, kuid tema sõnad on vahel veidi rohkem võõrale arusaamatud kui Steni omad. Lausetesse oskab ta sõnu ritta seada 3-4 ning peamiselt meeldib talle rääkida oma riietusest ning sellest, mis talle seljasolevatest asjadest kohe üldse ei lähe. "Püksid ei sobi", "Särk on märk (märg)",  "Vale puus (pluus)" jne. Samuti on ta väga osav kõikide loomade nimetamisel, teab hästi, kes on kits, ammuu, vant, hani, part ja siga.
Frediga on rääkimise osas natuke teised lood. Kui tema ühe sõna selgeks saab ja kui see kõlab tõesti nii, et ka teised probleemideta sellest sõnast aru saavad, siis ta on suures vaimustuses ning korrutab seda sõna kohe mõnuga. Paar nädalat tagasi sai ta korraga selgeks kaks sõna: "kukk" ja "kana". Miskipärast arvab ta, et need käivad ühe linnu kohta, sest kui ta kusagil kuke või kana pilti näeb, tuleb tal ühes jorus "kanakukk". Olen püüdnud talle seletada, et üks lind on siiski kana ja teine kukk, aga Fredile see väga korda ei lähe. Hiljuti õppis ta ära sõna "hani", õnneks oli tal sõna "part" juba varasemast selge ja uut lindu "hanipart" sellele ei järgnenud.  Paljud tema sõnad on veel arusaamatud ning korraga on ta võimeline ütlema 2 sõna järjest, nagu "emme tuli" või "ratast ei ole".

Vahva on jälgida laste kõne arengut. Eks neid huvitavaid sõnu on veelgi, aga kõik ei tule korraga meelde. 

Birthday - 2 years old

Summer has vanished away, and I haven't posted anything. I try to be better in Autumn!
The main event in summer was - of course boys' 2nd birthday. It's amazing those little boys have been in our family for 2 years already. Sometimes, it feels such a long period, especially in every-day routine; but when looking back - those 2 years have passed by quickly!
We haven't been to the doctor for 2-years-visit yet (we'll go on Tuesday), so we don't know how tall and heavy the boys are, but in all other things, they are normal 2-year-old-boys: they like to run, climb, play with cars, drive cars, ride their balance bikes, swing and of course, make a lot of mischief. All of them talk now quite a lot - sentences with 2 and 3 words are already normal. Fred, who is the quickest physically, but lowest in talking, has developed his language skills considerably, too, and now says words as clearly as Ralf and Sten. All in all, they are sweet boys! :)
Some photos about the birthday party:
Waiting for the guests on birthday morning -

 

Birthday party guests, those who had arrived in time -

Boys with their new balance bikes: a gift from grandparents and aunt -

Birthday cake -

Eating the cake and blowing the candles -

 

Fred with a big birthday flower -

Birthday party with other triplets - Kadri and Maris with their children -





Summer activities

It's middle June already, so summer is so-so arrived to Estonia (no very warm weather, yet, though, so I haven't been able to put up our summer-pool, yet). I'm still working, but the evenings and weekends we spend as much time outside as possible. We have a large garden and sometimes boys really enjoy "helping" the mom and dad. Usually, it's more trouble than help, but at least the boys are entertained. :) In the garden, boys also love to play in the sandbox and swing.

But in most days, it's not enough  - they want to go out... for a walk to a local playground which was built just this Spring or for a car ride (for example, to visit grandparents who live only 10 minutes away with the car).

We are already looking for my summer holiday to start - and then we want to travel as much as possible, to make our summer memorable and eventful.

What do people say to us, when they see us?

What do people say to us, when they see us, walking around with the triplets' buggy or just going somewhere with 3 boys? Here are some examples:

"I just need to ask: are they really twins?" (asked by a retired man behind the doctor's door looking at our 3 boys, all dressed the same)

"Look... triplets! They are like 3 brothers, but not in reality" (said by a boy in the Zoo)

"Oh, triplets... were they born on the same day?" (asked by a woman about my age)

"Unfortunately I have nothing to compete you with. I have only 2 kids. And no twins or triplets." (said by a man walking by)

"Is one of these triplets, 1 year older than others? It looks like he is." (asked by a woman about Ralf)

"Every time when you walk by our house, I look from the window... you are so cute. Today, I took my courage and came to ask if I can take a photo of you... I want to show it to my wife" (said by a man in our village)

"I am out of words!" (said by a man walking by)

Funny - do you really need to say anything at all?!? But I know... those are the first impressions. Maybe I would say something a bit strange, too, or stare at triplets if I didn't have my own triplets. Because honestly - before my own triplets, I had never seen any triplet buggies in my life!

Visiting Kadri and her triplet-boys

It's very easy to become friends with other triplet-moms. You don't need to explain anything about your life. They KNOW. They live the same life. They understand you in half word.
Of course having triplets doesn't automatically mean, that you need to be friends with other triplet-moms, but it's a chance to get to know some wonderful people and I have never regretted that I have met Maris, Maarja and Kadri this way. Vice versa - we give each other the strength to go on with our lives, with a positive note.
On Friday, we drove to see Kadri and her 9-month-old triplet boys again. We hoped the weather to be good to be able to have a small picnic at Kadri's garden and a walk with our triplet prams to the harbour. The Weatherman listened to us and the day was absolutely beautiful. We all enjoyed it!
Some photos...
6 boys alltogether: 3 Kadri's and 3 mine

Taking a walk with 2 triplet buggys means that we have to use the whole car road!

Boys were curious at Kadri's garden, they found water...:

All boys in the garden playing:



In the Zoo

In May 20, we decided to go to the Zoo with the boys. The day looked sunny and nice - so why not show an elephant, a seal, an ice-bear and a lion to the boys? We went with our triplets-buggy, because without it, the boys would have run to 3 different directions.
I had to teach Erik how to be NOT disturbed by the attention we are getting when we go with the triplets-buggy. The tip is very easy: "Don't make eye contact with anyone and just keep on walking." This way, people usually do not have enough courage to come to touch our boys or disturb our normal day-out with the boys. Of course we got a lot of comments, but when you once accept it and don't let yourself disturbed by everyone who walks by, it is just fine.
I think the boys liked animals quite a lot. Unfortunately Tallinn Zoo is very large - area-wise - but didn't have many animals in the cages, yet. Maybe it was still too cold? But at least the boys saw most of the animals we hoped they'll see - an elephant, seal and an ice-bear. We missed a lion though.
It was a nice day. :)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is in the nicest time of the year. This year, the day was absolutely nice, too. I was able to stay in my garden the whole day - thanks to Erik and the boys who gave me a free morning. It was the best Mother's Day gift. :) I was treating all my flowers... giving them the same love I've given to my boys throughout the year.
Tulips are in full blooms right now. Forsythias as well. Narcissuses and hyacints are finishing. Early peonies and bleeding hearts are almost there. Spirae nipponica Snowmound and Grefsheim Spirea will follow together with lilacs... just lovely!
Here I am, with my 3 precious boys:

And here is my 4th precious boy, riding on a motorcycle competition on Mother's Day:

Here, you can see a cake baked for my own mom, for his 65th birthday as well as for Mother's Day (it's not made by myself; however it's a very special cake as it's something from Muhu island):

Spring is nice!

Spring comes, although slowly (today morning, it was all white again...). We try to spend as much time outside as possible. When it's weekend, and I'm at home, we spend outside at least 4 hours - 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. The boys always find something to do outside and are always excited, when I say the magical sentence "Lets go outside now"!

Meeting friends

Lately, we have been quite active meeting our boys' friends. Our boys have both older and younger friends.

GLEN is our neighbour boy who we see the most. He comes to play in our house or in our garden and boys are very used to him. He's like another brother. :) He's 8 months older than our boys; still is bigger and wiser, but soon we won't notice the age difference.

MÄRTEN is another boy who our boys have met quite often. He is the son of my friend Marju and they live just 6 kms from us. Märten came to visit us during Easter. He is 1 year old, very developed for his age (started to walk at the age of 8 months) and a serious guy. I'm sure that very soon they start to play together more actively.

MÄRT and MIHKEL - they are nice boys from Pärnu, my friend Eda's two sons. Märt is 5 and Mihkel is 2,5. Just yesterday, we went to Märt's birthday. We have been travelling together during summer-time and we visit each other during birthdays.

MATHIAS, LUKAS, TOBIAS - 3 triplet boys. I have been talking to their mom Kadri since they were born, but only now we managed to meet them in reality: on Friday, we drove to visit them. They are 7 months old, so still a little bit too young for our boys to play with, but our boys were quite curious to see them and touched them very softly! :)

ERICH, HINDRIK, ASTRA - triplets, too. They were born 3 months later than our boys. I just visited them 1,5 weeks ago, but was alone (as I went to their place directly from work). Hopefully soon, they will come to visit us and play in the garden, like last summer.

LOVIISA, LISANN, KARL JOHANN - triplets, too! :) They are 3 years old living quite close to us in Laagri. Last time, we met them during their birthday, some months ago. When it gets warmer, we must meet them again!

Vision

Last week, I became a visioner. You may wonder what do I mean. Very easy explanation: my vision is clear now. I think it's one of the loveliest dreams of a short-sighted person to wake up one morning and see everthing... perfectly! Nowadays, it's possible and I decided to do it. I decided to get my vision back. After 18 years of glasses and stronger and stronger lenses, I can finally see without them. It made me think why I waited for so long to do it. It's so good to see! It's so good to wear sunglasses! It's so good to swim and do spa-procedures without glasses. It's so good to do sports without glasses! Yes - many many advantages.
BUT are there any disadvantages? There is one, what I have thought a lot lately (when I considered whether to go through the laser operation or not). Glasses are a part of me. Glasses are somehow my "safety zone". Every week, I need to stand in front of people to give lectures for several hours. They all look at me, they all pay attention to how I look, what jokes I make, what wisdom I speak. Those people may be old and young. Men and women. Smart and not so smart. Some I see regularly, some I see the whole semester, some I meet only once. With some, I get a good atmopshere quickly, with others, it takes some more time
Glasses are always good to have when you stand in front of the auditorium. It gives you a certain "invisible" wall. You need to open up when you talk to people, but glasses help to have a bit of privacy.
Now, standing in front of class - without glasses - feels like being naked. Maybe with time, I get used to it. Maybe I start to feel comfortable. But if not, then... don't be surprised when you see me wearing glasses again, in front of auditorium. But then they are just for my safety zone, not for my clear vision! :)

About Spring... hmmm I was wrong?

April is finally here! During the weekend, the boys tried gumboots and we all thought it's really time to prepare for Spring now. We have thought to put away the winter clothes and bring out spring ones. But well... April is obviously a tricky month: today morning, we woke up and saw we are back in the winter-weather. All was covered with snow.

So the boys and I took sledges out again and we had a nice ride around the village. I hope this is the last time when winter comes back! C'mon - it's APRIL!