Just Suck It Up

One of the questions I get most often about the kids is, "Do they get along?" I'm pretty sure it's one of those unique triplet questions - because I can't remember anyone ever asking my Mom is my siblings and I got along. The answer I usually give is, "Depends which moment of the day it is," because like most siblings, my kids adore one another and drive one another crazy, often in equal measure but with changing tides.

Side story -when I was pregnant, my Mom and I went to an outdoor market. The grumpy looking bookseller noticed I was pregnant and asked me  how far along I was. My Mom interrupted my answer to say, "She's having triplets!" to which the grumpy bookseller replied, "Well, that's unlucky." Knowing there had to be a back story, I asked the grumpy bookseller what about having multiples would be considered unlucky. "I'm a twin and I can't stand my sister. We barely speak to one another, I pretty much hate her."

Yeah. Way to make me feel really  good. Thanks for that, grumpy bookseller.  The point she was making is that just because they have shared nearly every moment of their lives - this does not mean they will necessarily like each other. Hell, I know parents who love -but don't like- their own kids. I know siblings who also love -but don't like - one another. I also know plenty of people who are entirely indifferent to their relatives. Being born to the same family doesn't immediately mean you'll all get along.  Most of the time, it doesn't bother me too much that the kids might fight or pick on one another or frankly be downright mean to each other. They're siblings, shit happens. Every once in a while, their picking at one another will get under my skin - and that happened just a couple of nights ago. We'd sent them upstairs to get ready for bed, and while I'm sure there was a bit of that going on, there was also rather a lot of "leave me alone!" and "give it back!" and "get off my bed!" and so on.

So I did what any self respecting mother would do, and I yelled at DH to go upstairs and sort it out. I was very, very busy on facebook and did not have the patience to play referee. Of course, I then did what any self respecting wife would do, and I got up off the couch (insert dramatic sigh) and went to sort it out better than he would.

I bounded (yeah, like a freakin' gazelle) up the stairs and used my "your ass is in trouble" voice to gather the trio together. I then proceeded to lecture them,  peppered with a few curse words (I know, I know...I'm working on it...) about how they needed to practice kindness (oh the irony!)and eventually this is how low I stooped:

"Listen you three. I know you don't always like being triplets. I know you didn't ask for it to be that way. I know you spend a heck of a lot of time together, and I know you occassionally irritate the shit out of one another. I even know that sometimes you wish you were an only child. Here's a newsflash for you - I can't do A DAMN THING about it. You're stuck. So either learn to live with one another, or learn to suck it up."

Okay, maybe it wasn't the most elegant telling off, but it sure as hell worked. Been nothing but wine and roses around here between them ever since. I expect that to last....oh, about another ten minutes. Or until someone touches someone, some takes something which is not theirs, sits on someone else's bed....