back to the basics

i started out blogging so i can chronicle my adventures as a mother of multiples living the life as a suburbia housewife n i was reading thru my prior blogs n only found 2 at most mentioning or talking abt the girls.

not that there is ever a dull moment with them, its actually the contrary. there is always something new n fun or some headaches n those many moments that i wish i could just take then back to the doctor and ask for a refund. oh well, i think he's policy probabaly doesn't allow for refunds anyways.

my latest battles besides the one over veggie eating is tantrums. i know all ye moms out there r already nodding ur heads n saying been there done that. i know the girls r just three. oh btw, they turned three on saturday, but i just cannot stand the temper tantrums especially when we r out. i can definately handle it when we r home. thats no problem.

like i said in earlier posts, my husband n i definatley believe in discipline. abeg spare the rod n spoit the child seems to be our motto. trust me. we don't resort to spanking all the time. we go thru the stages or phases. we talk it thru. but they r only 3 do they really understand? i think for the most part they do. if that doesn't seem to work, then we threaten to take away the things they love. its funny but i have to threaten them with different things.

with olivia, thats my supermodel/fashionista. when i put them to bed at nite, she gets up goes thur their closet modeling all her clothes. needless to say she is never in her pjs when i go back in the morning. she has a pretty good fashion sense too, she matches when i find her in the morning n when i go shopping, u should see her go thru the racks like she's on a missiosn. when i try something on, she tells me mommy, its cute. So u guessed right when she gets in trouble, i threaten to take away all her clothes n give them to the homeless if she does it again, u should see her start to cry n shake her head n the look in her eyes.

with ophelia, she loves her sunglasses. she sleeps in them, its war to get her to take it off even for baths n she has quite a collection of them so its easy. i go staraight for the sunglasses.

oralia, loves to go to the gym. mummy mummy wanna go to gym. all day long. sometimes i go even when i am not really planning on it just to get her off my back. its kinda a good thing for me though. i guess she loves the play houses n all the other things they get to do. i always wondered why they r soo hungry n tired when i pick them up. shoo i think they get more of a workout than i do.


so after the threatening phase, if they do something really bad, i ask them to hold out their hands and smack the back of it. just once or twice. it seems to do the trick.

but it gets tricky when we r out n u all know how things r. don't let one busy body see u spanking ur kids outside n they call child protective services right away. so i try not to in public. i may however sneak some pinches away from the watchful eyes of people or take them into the bathroom. but soemtimes i may not have that luxury.

for example, one of the thigns we did for their bday was chucky cheese. now, one of the rides takes pictures of u while u are on it. olivia and oralia were on it. so of course they were both in the picture. olivia always being her controlling self. was already yelling thats my picture even b4 the picture came out. so anywyas there was a squable over the picture. olivia then takes it upon herslef to throw a tantrum right there on the floor with everyone watching. needless to say it was embarassing, then my inpatient mother in law who forgets that they r just kids n will act out everyonce in a while starts gettign quite agitated that she is displaying such in public. if she had let me handle the situation, i probably could have gotten her settled alot sooner or just simply escaped to the restroom. i think every one knows there is no reasoning per say with an angry child like that. i mean she was screaming the roof down. eventually we end up abandoning the party cos she took her outside n we just decided to leave as the whole mood had been spoilt. can u imagine she didn't even want to ride with us back home, my mother in law that is. i guess its too embarassing to be associated with us. luckliy my brother inlaw was there so he took her home. whatever!!!!

so back to my point, i really want to nip this tantrum thing in the butt b4 it gets out of hands. any suggestions?


another thing that i have been struggling with is the thumb sucking. my husband is sooo particular abt that. he is so concerned abt them having an over bite n then needing braces. well their dentist says she will be very concerned after 4 cos then they would start getting their permanent teeth in. but its better if we start trying to get them to stop now.

the last time i tied their thumbs up so that they wouldn't suck it, the whole house did not sleep that nite. they tossed n turned n cried all nite. at abt 4a.m, my husband stormed out of bed n yanked the things of. he had to be at work in the morning and had had enough.

so any pointers on that would be appreciated too.


its gettign a little harder to keep them all in the same ouftit. cos they r begining to want to do their own things. i wonder how much longer i'll be able to keep dressing them the way i want.

and last but not the least, i can't teach them how to peddle for the life of me. they got a bike for xmas, n they r still sitting brand new in their paly room cos they won't peddle. i am not the most patient person so i must admitt i kinda gave up on that. besides shouldn't that be a daddy's thing.