Just what I want to see when I walk into the kitchen

Ruby on the counter eating my leftover oatmeal. Oh and she even stopped and said "cheese!" when I snapped the picture!!!
(fuzzy picture from my phone!)

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Climbing *into* the crib

Aren't toddlers supposed to try to climb out of the crib?!?

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Just because

This is a perfect depiction of what kind of craziness has been happening at our house lately and why I have a hard time getting things done, such as blogging.

Yes, that is Hank climbing over the couch and onto the kitchen counter. He is learning that it's ok to stand up against the counter but "no knees!"

This is one of those tricks that test my motherly patience!  If he wasn't always doing it with a sheepish/sly smile then I'd probably be real annoyed but it's hard to be too upset when he is as cute as he is.

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Chairs = endless fun

The dining table chairs provide endless entertainment for Hank.  He plays on them at least several times a day.  Recently he started doing the above move and just hanging out like that for a few minutes.  It makes me smile every time I see him like this because it is so simple but so amusing to him.

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No baby you don't want to do that

Is it wrong to try to brainwash your child?  Hank has a new trick that I really dislike.  It is just SO dangerous.  Even my go-with-the-flow mentality (as it pertains to his tricks - obviously I am a spaz in many other areas) is having a hard time with this.  

He couldn't climb onto the chairs until today.  I had been very happy with that and was hoping he would continue to feel defeated.  Then it all happened at once and so fast.  He scaled a chair then hopped on the table.  It's as if he had been planning this attack for a while and knew exactly what to do.  I tried to act all cool like this was no big deal (so he wouldn't get pumped over seeing me freak out) but as I walked over to pick him up to gently place him on the floor, he stood up.  Right there on the table.  Good grief!

(Please pardon the super crummy pics.  Obviously I had to snap some quickly!)

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Couch workout routine

The couch is Hank's number one obsession right now.  He is able to climb up onto it on his own.  He no longer needs anything to help him get up there.  Therefore, he finds his way to the couch at all times of the day unless I am actively distracting him with a book, a toy in another room, a meal, or if we have left the house.  He is so thrilled with himself each time he hoists his leg up onto the couch and pulls the rest of his body up with him.  If I am not in the room and I hear a tiny little giggle almost certainly it is because Hank has climbed onto the couch.  He's getting better at balancing himself as he walks around and he can even walk close to the edge without falling most of the time.  The other day before bedtime, he took a header off the couch two times in two minutes.  So the next morning I thought it would be a great idea to put all the throw pillows on the floor to create a cushion in case he fell off.  (See photo above.)  This was useless because when he fell off during this episode, he fell hard enough to fall between the cushions.  Oh well.  Nice try Mom.  The good thing is that like always, his falls do not deter him and he climbs right back up there again.  I have come to realize there is no stopping him from getting up there so I am subscribing to the school of hard knocks on this one.  Hopefully he'll just learn how to survive up there.  In the meantime, here is a series of photos that show what a typical couch "workout routine" is for him.  First step is to find the TV remote control (which is in the above photo.)

Then make weird backward pose in the corner of the couch.

Then stand up and make sure Mom or somebody is noticing that you are on the couch.  Check to see if they are going to ask you to get down.

Start doing some high knees and marching in place.

Shuffle over to the books and take a moment to read a couple of them.

Hustle back to the corner and contemplate going to crush Ellie since she just decided to show up.

Go back to read that truck book.  Even if it's upside down.

Sprint to the other end of the couch and see if Mom will stop you before you try to stand up on the arm of the couch.

Run back to center and flash a winning pose.  

Take a 5 second break.  

Repeat.

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Climbing everything

Go ahead Hank, climb up on the coffee table and read your books up there.  Sure, that's just what it's for!

Oh, and now that you have mastered climbing onto the coffee table, how about you climb onto the couch and come over to the counter and see what's up there.  We've been hiding all the good stuff up on the counter where we thought you couldn't get to it.

You can also have a dance on the table too...

And you might as well climb onto the bench and take a look out into the yard.  Nice pants homey.

This is the chaos that has now happened to our little household in the past few days since he learned to climb inside the kitchen drawer.  (He didn't forget how to do that!)  I have stopped trying to get him down off of things and instead I am teaching him how to get down safely by himself.  The good part is that he is listening to me and he is practicing good technique for getting down.  The bad part is that he gets right back up and sometimes even falls.  And yes, it scares the bejeezers out of me to see him up on top of all of the furniture but I really can't do anything about it so I'm trying to help him be more successful at it.

He's even been climbing on top of his little lion push toy and using it as a step stool to get to things that are higher up.  (That's how he got on to the couch.)



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Turned my back for a few mins...

 

OK so maybe I had my back turned for like, 5 minutes.  I heard all this banging and tossing of plastic stuff from this drawer but I thought it was just normal playing.  I finally look and see he has tossed almost every thing out of the drawer and is standing in the drawer bouncing up and down. 

I took these pictures after removing him from the drawer several times only to have him recreate the act immediately after I removed him.  He did this right before he went to bed so I am hoping that overnight he forgets all about this.

And yes, this is yet another picture of my baby without pants on.  I've mentioned diaper changes are a big pain in the you-know-where (literally!) so at the end of the day, sometimes we skip the putting the pants back on thing.

In other news...I am dragging myself into 2011.  Seriously...were did the last couple of weeks since Christmas go?  I've got a few holiday wrap up posts planned.  I'll get to them when I get to them!  In the mean time, I'm enjoying a lot of Hank and Mom time right now.  But I thought I'd post this for those of you with a hankerin' for Hank.  (How come that is the first time I've said "hankering" and "Hank" in the same sentence?  I love the word "hankering" and my kid is named Hank!  This really should have been done before now.  Man I think I'm losing a little of my sass/wit as I get older.)

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