Our Happily Ever Laughter: My children make me laugh...

I am sure all parents think their children are the most clever little beings they know. I guess its the fact that we've seen them through all their stages. We've marveled at their first smile, giggle, roll over. We've fixated on their attempts at mobility, applauded their first efforts of communication, be it a clap, a wave of the hand, or a word. Kids are a lot of work, but they are also captivating in how entertaining they are.

At nearly 11 months, Matt's personality is shining through. Generally, he is an easy-going kid, smiling at anyone who talks to him, but he also can get cranky fast, be a bit lazy(he still hates to hold his own bottle) and he absolutely loves to be held. That last one would be a lot easier if he didn't weigh 28 lbs! Matt loves to get into things he shouldn't-the dog's water bowl, the bathroom to climb on the toilet, the stairs ect. He loves to explore on his own, but loves attention. He does not understand "NO" even though sometimes I think he does and just ignores me anyways. He does get this devilish grin on his face when I tell him "NO", he smiles/laughs and then proceeds to do whatever it was he intended on doing in the first place. I think he will give me many gray hairs, especially in his teen years. Matt has one of the most infectious laughs, I can be so agitated at him, and he'll smile at me, giggle and my heart will melt. My Matt is a beautiful little being who is going to keep me on my toes. One of the funniest thing Matt does is make this face at people. I call it the "Popeye" face. It is a cross between a smile and a sneer. He usually uses it when people talk to him and he isn't quite sure what to make of them. We were able to capture it the other day at the Halloween parade(more to come on that in a different post) while Matt sported Papa's hat:

Whatever face he makes this kid is just funny to watch. He can be completely "chill" one minute:

And unstoppable the next:

Matt is on the verge of toddler hood, and I am sure that this next year is going to bring me many more laughs.

Speaking of laughs...Zach is one of the most comical kids I know. Listening to him throughout the day as he plays independently or creates games for us to play together is so entertaining. He does voices, deep ones, high squeaky ones, all sorts and it is funny. Why just last night, Zach was helping me make french fries for dinner, when he said, "Mom look at my moustache" I looked up to see him holding a french fry to his lip:

As I'm taking this shot, he was talking in his deep man voice, saying "Do you like my moustache?" I mean he is a riot.

He is also now big into the superheroes. As much as I wanted to keep him a baby, he's become a boy. He will say "I am the Hulk!" and roar at you, and then say "I'm going to fight the bad guys" And even though this phase is funny, sometimes I worry that Zach is getting a little too physical. Some days Z finds his superhero self in time out because he's punch someone (Mom or Dad or Lennie usually) or tackled his little brother. In some way this phase is interesting because as lovable as Zach is, he does have a whiny streak, so when he is his superhero self, he often times acts invincible:

(This also is his Halloween costume- I found one without a full mask) Yes, he does ask to wear it almost every day, No I do not always let him, but sometimes I just feel a little safer having Spiderman around. Plus, as Spiderman, Zach "pisses" at the bad guys. When he says that I can't help but chuckle. You know, the webs sound like "pst" so in Zach's world when he is pretend web slinging, he's and I quote, "pissing". So funny.

The truth is that the more Zach talks the more humorous he becomes. He is a gentle soul for the most part, well mannered,charming, outgoing, and a total ham. As he gets older though, he is totally showing his all boy humor. The other day as I was taking a picture of his new hair cut, he let out a "farty marty". Instead of feeling embarrassed or saying excuse me, he laughed: