Supermen

Lately the boys have been in the habit of jumping. Off of things. Seeing how high and far they can go. While Sam is a pretty good jumper and can handle himself pretty well, Matthew is a little unstable when it comes to jumping . However, that doesn't stop him from trying to jump like Sam does. When I set up the swimming pool today, they found a tote, overturned it and used it to jump into the pool. They then ran to a small boulder (it's maybe a foot or 15 inches in diameter) on our property, climbed on top of it, jumped, ran back to the pool, climbed on the tote, jumped into the pool and repeated the cycle maybe 10 times. Indoors, their favorite way to jump is off the stairs onto the landing below. Sam can manage four steps, maybe more, but he never gets hurt doing it. Matthew can safely manage two steps, maybe more, but he often ends up injured in some form, although the injuries have been fairly mild to date.

This morning I was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast and the boys decided to go into the stairway to the upstairs and jump. I couldn't see them, but I could hear very loud thuds (indicating jumps of considerable distance) and then peals of laughter, so I wasn't too concerned. After a few jumps I decided I'd better check on them to see how they were doing and as I approached the stairs, I saw Matthew flying. At least he appeared to be flying, leaning forward with his arms out, then his feet caught the bottom step and he belly-flopped onto the floor below him. And there was no blood, no tears, no injury, just Matthew pulling himself up with a big smile, and me admonishing him to jump from a lower step. I have no idea how high he jumped from, but it must have been from a stair about as high as he is tall because it really appeared that he was flying momentarily.

They still frequently pile up pillows and blankets and run and jump into them in the basement. That has become a regular activity since I first introduced it this winter. But they also have started playing "nap" with the blankets and pillows too. After some serious running and jumping, they will each pull out a pillow and blanket and gather some books and relax for awhile. It used to be that quietness from the boys meant trouble (it still does sometimes), but sometimes they're just playing "nap." And with all that jumping, they certainly need a nap, and they sleep well at night too. So kiddos, jump on...