Do you have a monkey?

We took Joshua for a walk last night to get out some energy before bedtime. He kept up with us for a almost the whole lap in the neighborhood, but landed a ride on his Dad's shoulders for the last stretch. He quickly determined the best handholds, and placed both his little hands on either side of Benjamin's forehead to keep his center of gravity where he wanted it.

Joshua is still a little climber, and sometimes uses his toes as tools. Other times, he sees the benefit of having shoes at his disposal. A couple weeks ago during church, Joshua started to climb up the back of the pew in front of us. He would grip the top of the bench, and somehow find a place to have a good toehold and raise himself up 18 inches from the ground. I leaned over and told Benjamin that the climbing wasn't being very respectful in the chapel, and Benjamin quickly interrupted Joshua's climb. After the meeting, Benjamin admitted that he was in such awe that Joshua had accomplished such a hold, and was calculating the boy's strength in his toes and scrawny biceps to be able to accomplish such a feat. He may have been a little embarrassed that all he thought was: "Check out what my kid can do!" Oh yeah, we are in church, and that isn't something we want to encourage....I guess in the end it's all about working as a team.