OK, Maybe We Did Start The Fire

Whew! I didn't mean to keep you in suspense about our fire for nearly two days, but sometimes (OK, most of the time) things are a little crazy around here.

So about that fire...

Usually my stove looks like this:

See? No knobs at all. That's because the knob locks make it easy for little hands to pull the knobs completely off the stove. Ever since the day Jeff had to bring home pizza for supper after I spent more than an hour hunting unsuccessfully for a stove knob, I just keep the knobs in a drawer.

But the night before the fire, I made supper for the adults after the kids were in bed. I left a knob, in its lock, on the stove. 

It was a typical morning around here. I had gotten the newspaper and was standing at the stove, which is on a peninsula overlooking our kitchen table. I was reading the newspaper and chatting with the boys while they ate their breakfast.

Then I made the mistake of being human and having to pee.

I left the newspaper on the stove, and went to the half bath less than 10 feet away.

I heard the boys running around the kitchen jabbering. Then I heard them say, "Fire! Fire!"

I didn't think much about it. We're in a big imagination phase around here, and the boys are always talking about monsters, volcanos, flying robots and the like. And no one was screaming or sounded panicked.

Then I thought I smelled smoke. Honestly, I was sure I was imagining it, but I opened the door of the bathroom to check. I saw two-foot high flames on the stove. The burner was red hot and my newspaper was on fire.

I almost killed myself trying to get off the toilet and extricate myself from my pants.

Then I raced, bare-bottomed, to the cabinet with the fire extinguisher while yelling at the boys to move back and sit down.

Unfortunately, like every cabinet in my house, the cabinet with the kitchen fire extinguisher is locked. Those magnetic Tot Locks really work! I nearly tore the door off the hinges before I spied the kitchen tongs. I grabbed the tongs, picked up the flaming paper and threw it into the kitchen sink where I doused the fire with water.

News flambe, anyone?

The I turned around and said to my three very wide-eyed boys, "That is why we never EVER touch the stove."

The boys were all quick to tell me what happened. As it turns out, Alex can now open the stove knob locks. He happily demonstrated his new skill and told me, "I make fire, Mommy!"

That's great honey, but this isn't the Boy Scouts. We don't give badges for that.

Alex had a small blister on one of his fingers, so we headed to the hall bathroom for a stern lecture and a Band-Aid. As I was tending to his injury I suddenly heard sirens.

I panicked, thinking one of my neighbors had seen smoke and called the fire department, and I was about to greet them sans pants.

I scrambled out of the bathroom in a desperate bid to retrieve my pants before the firefighters arrived only to find Isaac and Sam playing with their very realistic-sounding toy ambulance and police car.

Since there was no harm to property or children, this story is one we can chuckle about, but I am very,very aware how lucky we were that no one was hurt. Though I may be traumatized for life. I even put all the boys in their cribs later that day when I had to use the bathroom again.

Alex, Sam and Isaac

I told Jeff later that the whole thing never would have happened if I were a man.

Because if I were a man, I would have taken the newspaper to the bathroom with me.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Of Coyotes, Christmas and Children

Time for a quick update.

First, there's no news on the coyote. Apparently someone spotted it in a neighborhood a mile or so south of here. It was acting strangely, just like the one in our neighborhood was, so we assume it's the same one. Either way, Tim the Wildlife Guy hasn't caught it yet. Maybe it went off into the woods and died. We may never know.

Christmas is coming fast! This week I'm pounding out some work before everyone starts leaving for the holidays, and it become impossible to get anyone on the phone. Next week is a whirlwind of my early birthday celebration, two Christmas programs for Amelia (church and school) and probably six other things I'm not remembering right now. We've got most of the Christmas shopping done, so there's just the wrapping to do. Whew!

This weekend Amelia and I baked up some more goodies for some treat boxes for a few people. I'll be posting the recipe for Oreo truffles this week. I wasn't a big fan, but Amelia loved them and Jeff thought they were pretty good. So, that's good enough for me. And, as usual, it's an easy recipe.

Jeff decided that this would be the year the Christmas cards went out BEFORE Christmas. God love him. If it weren't for his commitment to getting those out they really would be Valentine's Day cards. Unfortunately, we ordered some extras online with a coupon for free overnight shipping. That was four days ago and they haven't arrived. Hopefully the customer service folks can sort that out for us tomorrow.

Once we get our cards out to all our friends and family, I'll share it here with you, too.

On the freedom front, we are figuring out what works to give the boys a little more room without driving me crazy trying to keep up with them. We installed a gate to keep them out of the living room -- critical since that also keeps them away from the Christmas tree. And today I texted Jeff my list of childproofing needs. It was a pretty lengthy one.

Unless you've lived it, you can't imagine what three two-year-olds can get into. The other day two boys got into the pantry while I was busy getting someone else out of trouble. They started throwing the little plastic containers of blueberry applesauce and split two of them open all over the kitchen floor, cabinet and refrigerator.

Yep, time to lock that door up!

And just when I think I've removed everything they can use to climb in the playroom, they prove me wrong. Yesterday Isaac got stuck on top of the play kitchen. Later he and Sam were on top of my sewing table behind the TV. Then Isaac climbed out of his crib during a time out. Uh-oh. Crib tents here we come!

I can't keep up. Well I can, but I can't get anything else done in the house and I collapse in exhaustion the second Jeff comes in the door. So, a few changes are in order. Like everything else in tripletdom, we've had to figure out what works best for us. I am looking forward to the day when we aren't living in a maze of baby gates, though it seems we will have to add a few more before we're ready to get rid of them entirely.

Our potty training efforts are going pretty well. The boys mostly stay dry, and we've had a couple moments of major celebration over something else happening on the potty, too. We handed out Tootsie Rolls as rewards. (Don't think about that too much or ewww!) I managed to restrain myself from running through the streets shouting the good news, but barely.

Now it's time to get back to burning my candle at both ends like everyone else in this holiday season!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

The Great Baby Proofing Wars of 2009

My new weapon in the Great Baby Proofing Wars of 2009?

Duct tape.

No, I'm not using it to hog tie the kids, though there are days when I think that might be the only way to win this war. I'm using it to tape my lazy susan cabinet shut and to supplement the "childproof" locks that my triplets have already figured out how to thwart.

Don't even get me started on lamp cords and my cable connection. (Which is vital to life, as it is my Internet connection.)

I started out with the idea that I could use clear packing tape to tape the lamp cord to the table leg and the floor so it wouldn't scream "BABIES IN THE HOUSE!" from across the room. Not that the crib in my family room doesn't already take care of sending that message.

So subtle, don't you think?

The "experts" actually tell you to do this. HA! It was just sport for the triplets to pick the tape off the floor and try to chew on the cord.

So, out went the table and the lamp.

Next came the team effort to crawl behind the crib onto the fireplace hearth.

New territory: Alex and Isaac check out the hearth behind the crib.

Sam, Isaac and Alex could all get up pretty efficiently, but down was a problem. And I got tired of rescuing one stuck child after another from behind the crib.

But the crib had to stay, so some creative stacking of stuff to block the entrance ensued. Now, they are crawling UNDER the crib to get to the hearth, but haven't figured out how to wiggle up there yet.

All of this brings me back to my original point: duct tape. It's cheap, easy to use, and a great supplement to my current cabinet door locks.

See, before I had these three boys, I had Amelia. And she did not prepare me at all for what her brothers would get into.

When we left the cabinet door locks undone, it bothered Amelia so much she would make us fasten them. Never once did she yank on the locked doors with all her might to pop the locks open. Probably never even considered it. BECAUSE SHE'S A GIRL!

These beautiful boys on the other hand...*sigh*

I'm afraid that this is a war I can't actually win. I'm just hoping to stay half a step ahead so the injuries are minor.

Or, I could follow a fellow triplet mom's advice, "For this stage of triplethood you might need to go with the industrial/insane asylum style of decorating -- just take everything out of the room."
What the heck, we're already well on our way. Here's hoping the boys don't rip the drywall off the walls.