Two Little Monkeys

We have entered into a climbing phase around here. Everything is fair game, but furniture is the favorite. And thankfully they haven't tried beds yet. For a while now their favorite game was for us to put them on the couch or love seat and let them jump and play around. It was an instant mood lifter! But the safety was that they couldn't get up on their own which gave me peace of mind to turn my back for a bit. Well, the safety has come off in the last week or so. Pierce "Monkey Toes" Weil first learned to climb the new chair in our living room. His technique is entertaining to watch and he uses his toes to scale the front of the chair to lift himself up to the seat. It's served him well so far and he's been able to apply it to the sofas as well. Blaine has a little more trouble because he adopted the leg hike method where he lifts his right leg up to the very top and tried to leverage himself up that way. (On a side note, he's apparently quite flexible.) In any case, I figure that this is something I can't really fight because eventually they have to learn how to get on and off furniture and handle themselves while up there. It's scary though because I've described them as big enough to get up on things, but not big enough to understand the possible outcomes. Every now and then one of them will stand up and then start rocking back and forth. It makes my heart stop as I anticipate them falling back on their head before I can get there.

The same scares me with stairs. They've learned the proper way to go down (on their belly, feet first), but sometimes they'll perch themselves halfway up in a way that looks as if they could tumble down. In fact, Pierce took his first spill on Rachael's stairs a couple of days ago. I was right there with him, but he made one weird move and started tumbling down. Thankfully I was able to grab him after only five or six stairs, but it definitely scared both of us.

In this phase I've really seen their boy-ness coming out. Their need for adventure and their inability to sit still for long. They have no fear and I have witnessed first-hand the act now, think later mentality. Just today Blaine lunged at me to catch him from the white chair. Luckily for both of us, I still have my cat-like reflexes. :) I love having rough and tumble boys and seeing them explore and learn new things, but I also have a feeling I'm losing months off of my life in the process.