A New Frontier

It finally happened. I have had a few weeks of Kaiden not being able to fly from the chandelier any more.

Now, both boys are getting bored with the doldrums of climbing up, on top of the dining room table, only to find it no longer any fun just to sit there and watch television from it.

Don't worry, they have found several other new and interesting things to do with their time.

First of all, they have renewed their interest in our fireplace. I used to catch them trying in vain to scoop out enough soot to make a sand castle of sorts.

This past week, however, I have discovered that apparently the boys had long been playing pirate whenever I leave the room.

I caught them both on either side of the fireplace fan, frantically digging in the fireplace.

It wasn't for soot castle fun, either. They had long since buried several of their Backyardigan's figures in the front up under the grate and apparently had just recently remembered that they were in there.

Note to self, when wanting a fire, I must rake through EVERYTHING very carefully first in order to avoid possible baby tragedy.

There were no less than three buried figures in there. Each figure was coated with soot and appeared to have been in there for some time, too.

Not to worry, the buried treasure has been recovered, all fires are now a go!

Then there is the small matter of the boys wanting to pretend to be mountain climbers.

I am not sure if it was that Snow-fort episode of "The Backyardigans" or the idea that the boys wanted the blocks which are kept mostly off limits unless I can closely supervise them.

But, regardless of the motive, I went to the bathroom (I know I have to stop doing that) and came back to find Kaiden in tears, trying desperately to get his footing back on the keyboard of the piano.

His little footed pajamas were preventing him from being able to get a good footing on the slippery ivories.

I found him dangling from the music rack which was poised at an angle normally meant for folding up into the back for storage.

Lucky for Kaiden, that stand hinged the OTHER way and he was able to stay up and on it.

It was quite a site, really. It was very surreal. While his brother dangled perilously from the music stand atop the piano, Kian sat very quietly and very correctly (as he has seen his big brother practice many an evening.)

Kian played the mood music for Kaiden's predicament. It was a very lovely song, especially for a one year old.

He was very serious, and using both of his tiny boy hands to plunk out the prettiest little diddy.

Nothing phased his song and composing, either, not even when his brother's toe would brush his hand in an effort to regain his footing.

It was super hard not to laugh at them both over this one, even if it was something that they should not have really been doing.

Then, my bladder got the better of me later on that same day. Undaunted by the earlier experience, they were at it AGAIN.

This time, they made sure to get the bench pulled all the way out. I found Kaiden perched and squatting up on the back of the piano this time.

He was busy passing blocks from the block container down to his brother, one by one.

I just shook it off this time, plucked him from his perch, and handed both boys the block container to play with.

Of course, that is the exact point where the team work stopped and that brother instinct kicked in.

This instinct is the one that says that all of the blocks in the container should belong to one boy for whatever reason and not the other.

This almost always results in Kaiden trying to grab as many blocks as possible while dodging being hit in the head with the ones that Kian has managed to procure for himself.

If Kaiden is successful in his quest, Kian will just resort to trying to slap him for good measure.

I do try and separate them and stop the flurry, but sometimes it's just not possible!

But, this week, both boys have forged ahead, exploring yet another new frontier in my living room.