Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Four-Year Old’s Perspective of Being a Triplet


Being a Triplet Through the Eyes of a Four Year Old
Since I was only four when I attended my first national multiples gathering, I can’t remember not going to this event. I look forward to it every year, whether we drive or fly there, it’s always different, fun, and exciting and one of the things I love to do most with my family. I’m 12 now and I still am just as excited!

Now that I am older I can really appreciate how it has affected my life as a triplet. The moms and dads get to attend boring (yawn!) multiples parenting workshops for every age of babies, kids, and teens on how to conquer and divide our three-person corporations (and our singleton siblings who want to get in on the family funny business). Meanwhile, us kids get to have all the fun (and none of the work), playing with other kids, joining organized games and enjoying entertainment for especially for multiples like the one-and-only four-legged race (three leg race triplet-style) and a parade of hundreds of Triplets, Quads and Quints all in costumes or look-alike clothes. My big brother, who is a surviving twin, and one year older than us triplets gets to hang out with other oldest children who have to deal with a trio as energetic as we are!

When you’re a triplet, it is so easy to make new friends constantly during the convention because there are so many others like us in the same age range. We've met triplets from all over the U.S., Puerto Rico, and even a few European families this way. And we see our old triplet and up friends from past years and can't believe how much they grow each year (they say the same thing about us). In fact, my mom denies it, but I think I must be related to lots of these other multiples since this feels like a family reunion each year and I consider them all my cousins!

I just get excited playing all the games that they have at the triplet convention. And there is always something new and something old each year -- more different kinds of entertainment than you can imagine and whatever we do it's always a HUGE hit. There are plenty more reasons why I love the Triplet Convention. My siblings even say that they are the happiest when they make new friends here.

Oh, and we also get to go to all of these cool places across America like St. Louis, Phoenix, Arizona, Chicago, Washington D.C., Florida, and many more places (Sorry, I've been to so many conventions, I just can’t remember them all).

Every year, these television camera people follow us everywhere during the convention and I feel like a celebrity like Hannah Montana or one of the stars from High School Musical!!!! Me and my family have also had our picture in newspapers and magazine (not because we robbed a bank, mind you, but because we are "just" a garden variety family with triplets) and we've gotten interviewed for live TV talk shows and network news broadcasts, both us kids and our parents.

My mom, who has been part of Triplet Connection since we were born, even created a new game in 2002 for the Triplet Convention. It's called the four-legged-race. Instead of the usual 3-legged race, all three of the triplets can participate in this race. It is really hilarious, because unlike a three-leg race where only two kids have to cooperate, all three triplets have to work together to make sure the kid in the middle doesn’t trip because both of his legs are tied to a different kid and he has no free movement without them. My siblings always practice for the Big Race for the weeks leading up to convention, so we can defend our winning title in our age group (which increases every year, since we keep getting older). YES, without a doubt The Triplet Convention is the coolest ever!!!!

I hope more kids who have been to multiples gatherings, both locally and nationally will comment on this story and share your own adventures with me!

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