Daredevils in Diapers

So I realize that only one of my children is still is diapers, but that's besides the point. Today I would like to introduce you to my two wonderful monkeys:

Xavier is three. He is a typical boy. He loves trucks and cars and airplanes and anything construction related. He even dressed up as a construction worker for Halloween. He is also an INCREDIBLY active toddler and VERY strong! I knew he was going to be a busy boy before he was born. When I was pregnant with him I often wondered if he was having soccer matches against himself in my belly. It was lots of fun - unless he was practicing his kicking skills against my ribcage. Or my bladder. Suffice it to say, he has been a busy boy since he was a baby. He's very inquisitive and curious and gets into anything and everything possible. Childproofing has proven very difficult with him - just when we think he can't reach any higher, he finds a way to do so! Apparently I was also a monkey as a child, so I'm not horribly surprised that he has inherited this trait of mine - but since he is a boy, and let's face it, they are, for the most part, physically stronger, he's even MORE of a monkey than I was as a kid. Most days it's lots of fun to watch him. Other days I think he's going to give me a heart attack before I'm 30.

Then there is Shaela. She is a lover of the written word and if she had her way I would do nothing but sit and read her stories all day. When she finally gets bored of that (which isn't often!) she loves to play with her babies, and has a growing collection that she has to sleep with every night. As for her being busy, well....we had high hopes that she would be a quieter, more laid back child. Not so much. She SCREAMS when she doesn't get her way, her voice is enough to wake the dead some days, and she can stomp as loud as an elephant when she wants to! And, at 20 and a half months, she is very quickly following in her monkey brother's footsteps with the climbing and jumping and running. It started this summer when she started trying to scale the chain link fence that separates our yard from our neighbors. (Xavier does this frequently, and has recently learned how to swing himself over the fence and INTO their yard!) She climbs up and jumps off the furniture frequently and can also now climb into and out of the playpens that I use for the daycare kids. She can also climb the ladder of her and Xavier's bunk beds like nobody's business, and just the other day we saw her starting to pick up her brother's latest climbing habit - scaling the banister!

Words however, cannot describe their feats adequately enough, though. You really need to see it to believe it, and I was lucky enough to get a few pictures of them the other day. One thing I know for certain - at this point in life, neither of my kids has any fear!