Repetition

With triplets, life is more or less defined by repetition. I'm sure any of my triplet mom friends will agree. :)

Repetition can be both sanity-saving, endearing, and yes, it can also make you want to stick hot forks in your eyes.

Ever since my kids went mobile, I've often found myself standing in the middle of the living room, asking, "Seriously, how many more times can I put these books on this shelf, these toys in this basket and these sippy cups on the table? No really, someone tell me, cuz I'm pretty sure I've already done it 38 times and it's only 10:00 in the morning!!"

That moment is usually repeated at lunch with me washing the 6th grubby hand, the 3rd filthy face, cleaning the 3rd messy plate and scrubbing the disgusting table, all the while thinking, "Didn't we JUST finish breakfast? Didn't I JUST do this?"

And then there's laundry. Those little people clothes don't ever stop gettin' dirty. Honest to God, I've contemplated letting my kids wear their own filth day after day, because the constant repetition of folding and putting away laundry is enough to drive me insane. No really, certifiably crazy.

Yes, these are the types of repetition that have occasionally tempted me to stick hot forks in my eyes.

There are, however, some forms of repetition which are quite pleasant and downright necessary.

Routines, for example. Routines are repetitious by design.

We wake up at the same time every day, we eat meals at the same time every day, we go to bed at the same time every night. Without these routines, I'd be grayer than I already am beneath my hair dye.

I appreciate that we can say, "Okay, everybody goes night-night" and all three kiddos march up the stairs and run to their cribs.

Yes, I like THIS kind of repetition.

And then there are moments that are both repetitious AND endearing.

If you know me, you know I'm a regular (some might even say, repetitious) Facebooker. This morning, I was chilling on the comfy chair, Hunter cuddled on my lap. We were both checking our facebook and at one point found ourselves looking at a friend's photo album. I'll preface this by saying that because it was Taylor's photo album, Taylor was in every. single. picture. I allowed Hunter to push the arrow to advance us from picture to picture, and with every new picture that appeared, Hunter wanted to know, "Who's sat?" To which I would respond, "that's Taylor." This was followed by, "Who's sat?" To which I again responded, "That's Taylor." Next picture, "Who's sat?" "Taylor." " Who sat?" "Taylor." "Who's sat?" "STILL TAYLOR. THEY'RE ALL TAYLOR. EVERY SINGLE ONE IS TAYLOR!" Thinking that was enough to end this game, she says to me, "Who sat?" Game off. She wins.

And then there's Ethan Bear. Man, he's a 3rd born (albeit by 2 minutes) to a tee. He's a mama's boy, sensitive, clingy and yes, he's a baby. About two weeks ago, I was putting him to bed and he was kinda grumpy. So I pulled out the ol' bag of tricks to see if I could get him to smile. I kneeled down at the foot of his crib and puckered up. I stuck my fish face mouth between the bars of his crib and begged of him, "Come give mama a kiss." Well he laughed, and eventually, crawled over, puckered up, and gave me a big ol smooch through the bars. Score 1 for mama! And then he moved one bar over and puckered up again. "Oh. Okay. Sure. I'll kiss you through the next bar too."

And so I scootched over a bit and smooched him through the next set of bars.

And then he moved over one more bar.

You know where this is going, yes?

I freaking scootched over 14 more times until I was wedged in a terribly awkward position between his and Hunter's crib so that I could reach the veeeeerrry last set of bars. And then when we'd reached that last one, he stood up so I could give him one kiss up top. And that, my friends has become our new routine. Every naptime and every bedtime. I'm always anxious to see at which set of bars he'll start. Luckily, it's not always the first. Sometimes he'll start about 6 over, which means I'm down to only 9 scootches and one up top! Thankfully, neither of the other kids have caught on or care to engage me in the same shenanigans! But I love having this routine with him. I always kind of worried that he got 'left out' from time to time, because he didn't have 'a thing.' For instance, Hunter got lots of attention because she is the only girl. Colton got lots of attention because of his cleft lip and palate. Ethan, well, he didn't have anything. He was just Ethan. I don't worry about that anymore, because he makes himself plenty noticeable and he is darn unique and yes, he's my baby. Even if it is only by a minute.

(please look past the gross hair...this was one of those days where showers weren't so much on the agenda)

So now, speaking of repetition, I shall publish this blog for the 20th time this month, and the 349th time in 2 and a half years. :)