AFPOT volume 2, part 3

You see what I did there? AFPOT. Made that up meself, fueled by laziness and this mediocre but cold beer.

This is Pablo:

I had the ludicrous idea tonight, as a way of burning my copious excess free time, to start a food blog. Stay tuned.

Now:

8. If you read other triplet blogs and maybe Triplet connection, you’ll come to expect people in public to make crude or repetitive comments. Our experience is that it’s not as bad as people say. You’ll hear “you’ve got your hands full” every time you go out though. Try not to get annoyed. Most people genuinely wish you well, and are amazed to be confronted by a triplet stroller, or three identical (or similar) looking babies. Try not to adopt a snobby or annoyed attitude about it. I was ready for people to be outright pigs, and that just hasn’t been the case.

First off, I NEVER go to Triplet connection. I was treated badly there and made to feel unwelcome. Men, over there, are DHs, which they say stands for “Dear Hubby,” but I know stands for something else. That said… everybody says “you’ve got your hands full,” as if they’re the first to think of it. It’s almost like they want you to clap them on the back for their cleverness. But truthfully, people don’t actually notice us quite so much, now that we tend not to travel with the babe-magnet triplet stroller. Also, this blog’s motto notwithstanding, our guys are actually not all identical (a quick persusal of any of the photos posted here should clear that right up for you), and Satch is enough smaller than the other two so that people don’t actually always assume they’re triplets unless we tell them. I, being the attention whore that I am, tend to want more, and not less, spotlight for my magnificent band of brothers. In any event, the amount that people do or do not pay attention to you and make dumb comments when you’re out in public is (if you have triplets) so low on the list of difficult things you have to deal with it’s barely worth thinking about.

9. It is ideal to have your three babies sleep on the same floor as you sleep and live. Apartment or ranch living is ideal early on. (Big apartment, though).

Yeah, I suppose that makes sense. Apartment living probably won’t last you too long, though.

10. It is good to attempt to breast feed for as long as you can, but essential to be kind to yourself considering the reality of your situation. Hospital lactation consultants may make you feel morally bankrupt for even considering using formula, but you should know that many, many triplet families have to sooner or later. Some time or other you will be confronted with literature that makes you feel inadequate for not breast feeding. Just throw it away. [This is no diss on breast feeding, or the heroic mothers who manage to breast feed multiples for any length of time; just an acknowledgment that the pendulum has swung far in the direction of belittling and vilifying non-breast feeding mothers.]

Hey, I wrote that? That’s pretty good. Yeah, it’s true. Because breastfeeding was once really frowned upon, there’s a legion of advocates who think they’re still fighting a war that’s been won long ago. I stand by this #10 perhaps most of all.

11. Dr. Sears’ books, relevant and helpful as they may be for singleton parents, are probably not for you. [You don’t need to read about the serious damage a C-section does to the mother-baby bond, for instance; and it is impractical to imagine you’ll sleep in the same bed with your entire litter]

Still agree. Regift the Sears books you get.

12. Just a theory: expose your kids to as wide a variety of foods as possible. Stick with your pediatrician’s advice about when to give what (no eggs till 9 months, no nuts or shellfish till 1 year, said ours), and avoid choking hazards, but help them to develop a broad palate. At 14+ months our boys eat everything under the sun – though most people assure us that won’t last.

Yeah, it didn’t last. I mean it sort of did with Satchel. He’ll still eat most anything, and he has a burning curiosity about all new foods “what’s this??” But Pablo’s unaltering response when confronted with something unfamiliar is “I don’t like that.” We still try, though. I think it’s a mistake to conclude, because your devil-child refused broccoli twice they’ll definitely refuse it the third time. I resist capitulating to a diet of nothing but pb&j, grilled cheese, apple sauce, yogurt and chips, though each of those items has been rather useful in our travels. (Oddly, our boys really do seem to like broccoli.) I’m still throwing new stuff out there all the time, and accepting the fact that sometimes they don’t eat it. Our guys are behemoths, a missed meal now and then (since we generally don’t substitute for refused items) is no great catastrophe.

I gotta hit the hay. Word on the street is I get to sleep in all the way to 8am (if I can) for papa’s day. Gonna get right to that.