The Language of Zachary...

So the kids are really into books right now...especially Zachary. I often come in the living room and he's sitting on a pile of books while reading one of his favorites. Leah usually joins him and they jabber and laugh together. It is the sweetest thing. Caleb doesn't usually sit and read but he takes advantage of the time the other two are occupied and plays with his favorite toys with no disruption. We usually check out books from the library but since pages inevitably get ripped, I knew we needed to purchase some more of our own.

Obviously I don't want to pay full price for books that will likely take a beating, so we hit up some garage sales and also the used book store. Ironically during our book outings, we had two kind of awkward experiences. The one at the garage sale involved a large family. One of the members had a camera and started snapping pictures of us wildly. Like bending down and trying to get all different angles. I just ignored him because honestly, what is he going to do with all those pictures? This has happened only once before but not nearly as blatant and obvious as this guy. Awkward! The lady running the garage sale offered to say something to get them to stop.  She said that particular family was not very-well liked.  Funny.

Our second and more funny moment was at the half price book store. We were outside going through books and the kids were in the stroller. A nice older asian man approached and was super interested in the kids. He asked how old they were and if they were actually triplets. His English was a bit broken but, for the most part, very understandable. Here's how the end of our conversation went:

Him: "How much weight?"
Me: "Oh they were about 3-4 pounds each, so pretty small."
Him: "No I mean you."
Me: "How much weight did I gain?"
Him: "No how big was your, um, womb?"

Haha! I tried not to look totally startled by his question and just babbled something about how we didn't measure. Again, he was so nice so I'm not trying to make fun of him but that was definitely a first for that type of conversation!! Never been asked about my womb size.  :)  Aside from our awkward moments, we did come away with some 'new-to-us' books. One of which is about buses and I've had to tape it back together five times already. The kids love it to the point of fighting and ripping it apart.

Lately Clark and I have been getting the biggest kick out of the kids and what they're saying. They seem to be doing very well with their speech development and say a lot of words clearly and correctly. Then there is Zachary. No...not the boy. The language. The kids are fluent in it and Zachary created it. He says the most random words that make zero sense to us but the other kids know exactly what he is saying and often repeat it. Here are some examples...some of which I've been able to decipher the meaning:

Dock-a-duck (this is Zachary for fire truck)
Ga-bookey (we think this has something to do with books)
Yuck-a-bee (TBD)
Ah-no-mee (possibly hot air balloon or I know me...who knows)
Chup-a-chup (this is Zachary for chirp chirp when talking about a bird)
Da-boo-gay (tractor or truck)

Zachary says these words often and VERY fast. Like he is fluent in his own language. It's hilarious and Leah woke up from her nap the other day repeating yuck-a-bee. I have no idea but I pretended to know and she seemed satisfied with my response.

Aside from all the toddler chat and book-buying we've been doing, we also tried out a nearby splash park this past weekend. I have been too chicken to go by myself (high disaster potential) so I had to wait until Clark could come too. Splash parks are really fun and this one has a nearby sand area. The trio loved the sand but since it was pretty hot we headed over to the fountains thinking they would have the time of their lives.

 This is what they did the whole time instead...



They just hung out on the stairs and ran around the amphitheater area. I think the fountains were a bit too overwhelming cause the kids would get drenched and weren't interested in them anymore. Leah was the worst. Once she got a little bit of water on her clothes she had a freak out and I had to promptly remove all wet articles of clothing. Although she's just wearing a diaper in the pic, she did start out with a couple more layers on top. Come to think of it, she got a little weird about the sand being on her hands as well. Basically all my dreams were dashed for this summer and all the time we were going to spend at the cool splash pads around here. Looks like we'll have to find another water activity.  Backyard pool maybe or Clark's ongoing slip-n-slide dream.  Who knows.

I'll end with this gem.  Dad and his posse just chillin at the splash pad.  It doesn't get much cooler...