16 months old

Last Sunday, on December 4, the boys turned 16 months old. Yes, the boys have been members of our family for 1 year and 4 months.

What can they do buy now?
All of them walk. Fred and Ralf made their first steps being 13 months old and after some weeks, walked properly. Sten was a little bit slower and started to walk just 2 days before he turned 16 months old. Fred can also run. He loves to run away from me, when I need to change his nappy. He finds it really funny when I'm trying to catch him. Ralf is slower, but he walks and does everything like from a textbook and like a single child. We are very happy about their physical achivements.
With Sten, we have been going to the swimming-therapy for a few weeks. It's quite demanding - we need to go every morning, which means that I need to arrange someone who looks after the other two boys during that time and usually, after swimming, driving and geting back home, I need to rush to work (not all days though as I work only part-time). Sten loves our small bath at home, but in the swimming pool, he likes to observe other kids more than swim in the pool. So mainly he is just enjoying his mommy's hands which keep him on the water and looking around curiously. Only today, we had a breakthrough - as we were all alone in the pool, then there was nothing else to do than play and swim, and this made me as well as the couch very happy. We go there until Christmas. I think it does good for Sten - at least he gets one-in-one time with his mom and I know it's important for him.
Ralf talks the most. He can say a lot of different words. His favourite word is "fell down", which he repeats all the time he throws something on the floor. And he likes to do it a lot. He also says "thank you", "mommy", "Piia" (my mom's name; Kert also started with Piia instead of grandma as my mom's name is so easy to pronounce), "car", "no-no" and so on. Fred's and Sten's vocabulary is much more limited. Fred likes to point to various things and say "this", he and Sten also say "thank you". They like to laugh and the most, they like to be naughty (especially Fred).
They all eat our family food by now. Their definite favourites are lasagne and potatoe salad. They drink plum juice and yogurth with a great pleasure. Sometimes they are bad eaters and they start to get picky now. They often refuse the morning porridge. Sometimes they don't eat the dinner... but they always like banana or some other fruits.
They usually sleep from 8.30 p.m. until 8.00 a.m., when it's a good day. Of course, they sometimes see a bad dream and wake up for some moments when I or Erik have to go to their room and calm them down + Fred hasn't given up his milk bottle in the middle of the night; but all in all, I can say that finally I can sleep during the nights. It feels like Heaven! :)
The Autumn has been very, very long and dark this year, but luckily the boys haven't been sick almost at all. Just some running noses and so, but nothing serious. This is the most important, because remembering the crazy days last year with the chicken-pox, I know, that when the triplets are sick, then it's really an emergency situation at home... I hope the boys stay healthy throughout the winter, too.
In good days, it's possible to manage all day alone with the triplets. Erik is especially good at it. With me, the boys are always more picky, they show their feelings, they are easily more cranky and so on. So I'm usually glad when someone comes to help me and for a change, I can spend some time with just 1 boy - so that they all get enough mom's attention.
 In conclusion: life with triplets is physically quite demanding, but at the same time, it's a lot of fun to see how our little boys get smarter and smarter day by day.