Where Did You Go?

Since the boys have started walking, I've found myself very busy and very tired at the end of the day. Hence I have been shirking my posting duties (as well as failing to send out a single thank you note for all the wonderful gifts we've received for the boys' birthday - I swear, I'm going to be writing those any minute now). The boys have definitely changed over the last month. They have gone from walking like tiny little Frankensteins to almost running while carrying a wide variety of items. They can open doors, love to turn the light off and on, and touch the thermostat so that it glows green. They like to climb inside the toy basket, take the tupperware out of the cabinet, and can sniff out a remote or phone from a wide variety of hiding places. They still take good naps, but now there is a lot of noise coming from the bedroom as they "sleep." Routinely, they throw everything out of their beds and laugh like lunatics as they play peak-a-boo with each other and shake the beds like madmen. We occasionally attempt to teach the kids to use spoons, & probably the biggest change is that we've taken their pacifiers off of their shirts except for nap time and bed time. Surprisingly, they've done amazingly well with laying down the pacifiers.
Michael is still my love bug, he still likes to bite (although not as often as he used to), and he LOVES to read. This handsome boy is rarely without a book. He likes to carry them around and turn the pages. He also brings you a book to read over and over again. His favorites are the Nose Book, the Foot Book, and Blue Hat Green Hat. He still has those lady-killer dimples which he generally pulls out after he's done something like steal toys from his brothers or opened the door to someplace he's supposed to stay out of. Mikey is a very neat eater and of the three, he is definitely most picky. If he is not in the mood for a particular food, for example, watermelon, he flings it to the floor in disgust. He eats much slower than his brothers which makes his meal fair game for Ryan who sits beside him. Tonight, he paid Ryan back by removing his tray and throwing it on the floor (this is something he's been working on accomplishing for a few weeks, and thanks to his tenacity, he has finally attained his goal).
Ryan is aptly named as he is very much like my brother Zach. He loves to climb on anything and everything. His current favorite route is to climb up his chair, stand on the back, and get into the things that are laid out on the little dresser in the living room. I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time until I find him and his compadre James sitting on top of the mantle. For some reason, Ryan has decided that his distain for my actions is best expressed by throwing himself on the floor and screaming at the top of his lungs. Needless to say, this is not my favorite method of communication. He also loves to read. His favorite books are Just Like Daddy and Little Jesus, Little Me (which we read as Little Triplets in this house). His eating habits are somewhere between wild man and savage beast. He likes to grab a handful of food, run it over his face in the general direction of his mouth, and chew whatever manages to defy gravity and make it to the promised land. He is amazingly messy, but he's a great eater. He loves bananas and rice.
Young James has a fondness for all beverages contained in a can. His favorite is an open although empty Diet Coke can, but he'll settle for a closed Miller Lite. James keeps us laughing. He is always doing crazy things. For a while he went through a period where he humped everything while yelling "ahhhhahhhhahhhahhh" at the top of his lungs. Thankfully, he's seemed to have passed through this phase rather quickly. He LOVES hats. He likes to wear them and steal them from Grandpa and Daddy. He is always running around the house doing something silly. Over the last couple of days, his favorite thing to do is drag around the shark water sprinkler my wonderful friends from school gave us. He gets mad at the shark if it doesn't drag properly. He's a pretty good eater, but when he finishes, he likes to take the offending items remaining on his tray and fling them on the floor for the dogs. We've had to resort to putting the dogs outside or in the other room so that the boys don't throw them food on purpose. He also doesn't like it if his brothers get out of their chairs first and then try to eat off of his tray. He will slap their hands away from his food, but he sure doesn't mind stealing things off of their trays.

These three little monkeys are keeping both Kathy and I hopping. We spend all day letting them entertain us and trying to contain the chaos they create. I'm looking forward to when the weather cools off a little so that we can go to the park.