Monkey Boy

Over the past month and a half or so, I feel like Joseph has evolved from a little puppy into a little monkey.

We clap, he claps. We wave our arms, he waves his arms. We point, he points. We touch our noses, he . . . tries to touch his nose (still misses most of the time). Monkey see, monkey do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl1ilH2igt4&feature=youtu.be

(side note . . . sorry you have to click on the link to see the movie. Blogger is misbehaving right now.)

Why is he pointing in this video? Because I was pointing! (And he even screeches like a monkey, right?)

And this. He hits his hand against his mouth all. the. time. It is so funny.

And yet, I haven't gotten a good movie of it yet. The first three seconds of this movie are the only ones that I've really caught. It's hard to film things in nature, if you know what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhHDzoK46Dg&feature=youtu.be

And he climbs. Oh, how he climbs. He tries to climb up the vertical slats in the crib. He climbs on and off the couch. He climbs all over his high chair. He climbs underneath the piano and puts his toys there. He climbs up and down the stairs when I let him (which is not very often, especially down). He tries to climb in and out of the bathtub and is even able to straddle it now. Whoever heard of a monkey who takes baths, anyway?

Most of his baths are in the tub, but sometimes we like the sink after getting dirty outside.

Also, he plays like never before. He still giggles when we play hide-and-seek, but usually he's the one hiding himself now, pulling the blanket up and down over his face. And then when Kevin or I hide ourselves, he comes and joins us under the blanket instead of uncovering us. We didn't even know peekaboo could be this fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRaua5IRiTc&feature=youtu.be

Another fun part of this stage is that he's expanded his interests beyond destruction. Sure, he knocks down block towers, empties book shelves, and throws all the tupperware on the floor. But he also builds block towers, tries to put the books back, and refills the tupperware drawer. There is hope.

Of course, not everything is fun and games.

Getting him to eat is always an adventure, as he's discovered that it's just as fun to throw food as eat it. (Monkeys do that, right?) Also, some things are just not allowed, like climbing on the piano. Commence head bonking on the wood floor. Actually, it sort of calms him down to do that. Dunno why.

Maybe it's a yoga pose which restores peace to his inner being.

He can calm down pretty well, to my delight. 

All in all, it's a pretty chill life for this curious, funny little monkey Joseph.

We sure like him.