Wow, lots of questions! Here’s another round…

Hope asks:

Is there any one thing in particular that each of the boys do that drive you crazy?

Hmm. Well….yes. They all whine, and that really grates on my nerves, but you asked about them individually. Linus is very single-minded when he wants something, and will not give up until he gets it (or we can successfully distract him.) While I admire his, um, tenacity, it also drives me nuts. Oliver is Mr. Picky when he eats, and that drives me batty. And Miles will toss his food off his tray if he’s not in the mood to eat it. (Okay, they all do that, but I couldn’t think of anything Miles does more than the other two to make me crazy.) Minor things, though, right?

Is there something that they work together on to accomplish? (i.e. my boys are always working together to “escape” their gated play area)

I wouldn’t say they “work together” just yet, but they will do things at the same time, if that makes sense. Like push all the buttons on the TV (or try to.) Or shake the gate to the playroom to get out. That kind of thing. God help me when they figure out they can work together to do things!

Do any two of them “gravitate” towards another or do they play together equally?

Nah, they all play together (or not) equally.

What are the odds of have Identical triplets?

As I said yesterday, there are lots of statistics out there, from 1:60,000 births to 1:250,000,000 births. I know it’s not the latter, I’d say closer to the former.

Mandy asks:

How do you manage to stay so sweet and upbeat? I just have one so far and am soooo worn out all the time.

Ha ha ha! I’m just going to move on to the next question. I’m blushing! Ha ha ha! Also, Mandy, you get worn out because you’re about to have another baby! Silly girl.

Do you get nervous doing all the stuff you do alone with them. Again, just Annabel but I always prefer a second adult to help me. How did you learn (get the courage) to take them out on your own?

I do get nervous sometimes, but I get really stir-crazy when we’re stuck at home. So I’d rather deal with the nervousness than the cabin fever. I just do it, you know? Of course, I vastly prefer it when I have another adult to help, but that’s not always possible. And I have to admit, I like the feeling of accomplishment when I do bring them somewhere by myself. It’s just getting a lot harder now that they’re older.

And I don’t think it’s courage. Just stubbornness.

Do they affect each others sleep or do they seem to prefer the company?

They don’t affect each other’s sleep at all. One can cry/scream/wail/pitch a fit and the other two will sleep right through it. We are incredibly lucky in that respect. And they sleep fine without the other two around, too. Sometimes at my mom’s house, we have to split up the pack n plays because of space issues, and whoever is alone sleeps just fine. He’s probably lonely in the morning, though, with no one to babble to.

Jamie Cz (and Clare) ask:

Their names are adorable; are they family names or are they named after famous people?

Their names are mainly just names we liked. Linus has always been at the top of our list. If we’d had just one, that probably would have been his name. I just like it – I went to college with a Linus, and it’s just one that’s always stuck with me. But George likes it for a different reason. He’s a Linux fanatic, and Linux was invented by Linus Torvalds.

Oliver is another name we just really like, but I think my mom actually planted the idea in my head. Oliver was thisclose to being Ian, but at the last minute, we decided on Oliver.

Miles was another of our top choices from the beginning, too. George likes to think he’s named after Miles Davis, but really, I just like the name.

When we were thinking of names, I got the book The Baby Name Wizard, which only has about 1000 names in it, not 100,000 like you’ll find in other books. A manageable number. I looked at every name in the book and marked the ones I liked. Then I’d give it to George to mark the ones we liked. The ones we both liked went on our list. (And remember, we didn’t know what we were having, so we had to have at least 3 boy names and 3 girl names.)

Their middle names are the maiden names of my mom, my mother-in-law, and me.

Ren wants to know:

who was your favorite? jimmy stewart or michael hutchence?

Well. Let’s see. Tough question, Ren. Now? Jimmy Stewart. When I was 17? Michael Hutchence.

(Okay, so I went through some slightly obsessed phases with both Michael Hutchence (of INXS) and Jimmy Stewart. What can I say?

Sadly, they both died in 1997. That was a rough year.

Amber asks:

Do your boys ever escape from the wagon when you take them out?

Nope…they have seatbelts! Whew!

Who else can tell them apart, besides you?

George can (well, I hope he can!) and their teacher at daycare can. And my in-laws can. I think that might be it.

What is their favorite game or toy to play together?

They don’t play together just yet, but they have been known to tackle each other. I guess that counts, right? Ha ha!

Jennifer asks:

Do you want the boys to be in the same class when the get in elementary school?

That’s a tough one. Mostly because it’s unlikely there will be three classes for them to be split between. But I would want them to be split up. Maybe when they hit 1st grade. Maybe two in one class, and one in another, and then rotating every year who is “alone”. But I’m not sure. At least we have plenty of time to figure that one out!

Alright, one more for today:

kdliberty asks

Is it me or are does it seem that there are more identical triplet boys then there are girls? I know of only 2 blogs featuring girls (ages 7 and 2) but 4+ featuring boys (all under 3)…

It’s not just you. I had always heard that boy IDs were rarer, but it doesn’t seem that way! Maybe moms of identical girl triplets just don’t blog as much. Hmmm…