Little Monkeys

Avery was designed to climb. Not sure why, though I have a suspicion that it has something to do with helping me stay vigilant on my watchpost of motherhood. Avery is the child who, at the tender age of 18 months, had the fine motor capacity to zip her pjs, pick her nails and hold a pen with perfect form. I think it's this dexterity that allows her to also have the ability to scale inanimate objects to their highest potential. Thankfully, she is not a jumper (see below). Instead, once she reaches this height, she simply grabs the most dangerous item visible to begin her next adventure. This week the highlights have been: pushing kitchen chair to counter, climbing counter, grabbing closed, boxed, and sealed package of multivitamins, grabbing butcher knife on the way down, and sitting in the corner, cross-legged and innocent looking, stabbing open the box to eat her favorite forbidden treat of chewable gummy vitamins. Also on the itenerary: scaling black rack in kitchen to reach crayons, toilet to sink to reach toothpaste which she then painted the bathroom rug with, and my favorite (thankfully thwarted!) plan of kitchen chair, to kitchen counter, to stool she placed ON TOP of kitchen counter to open cabinet shelf (here's where I stopped her) to reach the birthday cake placed on top of the kitchen cabinets in our pseudo-storage.
Each of these adventures, when interupted, are met with the most adorable smirk and shrug as she saunters off to her next adventure.

Avery was meant to climb as Caleb was designed to jump. I was convinced that Caleb, as a toddler, was going to break a bone before the age of three. At 5 and a half he has still yet to do so, though he has a roadmap of scars with chipped tooth landmarks to tell of his tales of adventure. He jumps, fearlessly, off of anything and everything taller than he, as if it's sole purpose was to be the platform of his next feat.
Though we have outfitted their new swingset with all of the fun gadgets most kids would be enamored with, Caleb's mission is to climb to the highest point and jump. It's a wonder he hasn't broken any bones but, seeing as how he's only made of skin and bones God must have blessed him with a super-solid set.