Opening holiday presents

Silas got all sorts of great gifts for Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice. He had a lot of fun opening presents at the house before we left to spend some time with Bethany's family.

Opening presents at home

Sharing Christmas cookies (being followed by Guthrie)
Christmas cookies from Grandma Kathi!

Let's see, what else is in this box?
Anything else?

He's going to take a couple more rounds to warm up to the animatronic gorilla.
Frightening gorilla

And in the end, he composed a very nice song about all the fun things he got...
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Eating salsa

After having been properly trained in the art of eating hot foods, Silas has grown to really love salsa.

Eating salsa

CD Reorganization Day



Left to his own devices for some independent play, the ever-helpful Silas decided to help reorganize the CD shelves.

Playing in the leaves



So, this is from last month, but (for the family) it shows how big he's getting.

Walking the dog

Silas and I have been trying to walk Guthrie more often. The poor guy is so pent up. It's also good to help Silas learn to stay with me while walking, instead of trying to go up every set of stairs to porches or into walkways to the backs of houses. Guthrie gets frustrated at the slow pace at times, but loves it nonetheless.

December 12, 2009: 16 months and counting

Hooray for Papa for updating Silas's blog! They have so much fun together, it really makes me happy.

In the meantime, while the boys are sleeping in, I have finally got all of the pictures from October through the beginning of December up on our flickr site. We have been doing so much, it is really tough to update it all here, so I am going to just post a link to Silas's folder.

I must add one video though. Maya and Ryder got married on October 24th at the Mattress Factory. The wedding was beautiful and loads of fun. One of the nice things about it, was all of the guests were given time to wander around the museum. We must have spent at least 10 minutes in what I tend to call 'the dot rooms.' Silas had so much fun, and I can't remember the last time that I smiled so much, for so long! This definitely gets chalked up as one of my early fond memories of Silas.

Fall 2009, Part 4: Mama!

But most of all, we like it when Mama gets home, and we all get to have adventures together.




Fall 2009, Part 3: Nature

No matter where we go, we always appreciate nature.


Fall 2009, Part 2: Parks


Lots and lots of time at the parks!




Sometimes, Guthrie gets to come along. We always feel guilty leaving him, but he's not so great around other kids sometimes and isn't allowed in the play areas... Alas.

Fall 2009, Part 2: Starting the Days off Right

We know that it's important to start the day off right with a good breakfast, and we know how to do that! Standard breakfast items around the house are eggs, bacon toast, farina, coco wheats, french toast, and pancakes. However, when we go out for breakfast, our favorite is the home fries with eggs, cheese, soysage, sauteed onions, and garlicky aioli with tortillas on the side from the Quiet Storm (as shown above).

The rest of the morning (before Silas' midday nap) can be spent lots of different ways...

Usually, we read the news, check our email, and watch the Muppets, kittens and puppies, bike movies, and whatnot on youtube.


Then, sometimes, we go to the bookstore and play in the kids' book section, where we frequently meet new friends.


Sometimes, we do stuff around the house, like laundry.


And, we frequently make trips to the grocery stores, making sure to balance onion rings or faux chicken nuggets on our heads.


Although, the farmers' market was fun before it shut down for the winter.

To be continued...

Grabbing the reins


Well, Bethany and I have been slack in updating this blog since she went back to work in August/September. I sort of suspected I should take a greater role in writing on his blog when I quit my job at the end of September to watch Silas full-time, but I didn't quite get there until now. I'm going to post as I see fit, and Bethany will do interstitial posts when she feels moved and has the time to put bits into the computer. The next few posts will be a quick catch up of what Silas and I do all day...

Thanks for sticking with us.

-Eric

PS. You'll note there is an extra person in the thermal image above. We took it at the Carnegie Science Center, and it was too challenging to wrestle a timed-out kid in a stroller, the streams of people wanting to see the exhibit (or just walking through), and the digital camera trying to think too hard about how to take the picture...

November 11, 2009: 15 months 6 days old

Ok, so I have not updated Silas's blog in a loooong time. Part of the reason is because I really want to post all of the fabulous pictures we've been taking of him over the past two months, but at this point, a text post is better than no post.

Silas had his 15 month appointment last week and is holding steady as a cute, small kid. He weighs 20 pounds 13 ounces and is 29 inches tall - both ~7 percentile. He is also getting three more teeth - he now has four molars, and the final two non-molar teeth on the bottom front are working there way in. It's amazing how much older he looks just 'cause he has teeth.

Some updates over the past few weeks... he is saying more and more words, though his favorites are 'this' 'that' and 'duck.' Just tonight I said to him "say goodnight to papa" and Silas looked at Eric and said 'night!' He has also started to wave consistently. It happened shortly after Maya and Ryder's wedding (which was beautiful and tons of fun) on October 24th. So many people waved at him, it seems like he finally figured it out and now waves all the time. He is also walking comfortably now and loves standing and climbing on unstable surfaces. Another new development is a greater interest in books. He will now hand us a board book and then wait to actually read it, pointing at various things in the book and turning the pages. Eric has been doing reading time with Silas in the mornings and it seems to really be paying off.

Silas was a dragon for halloween and enjoyed hanging out at Kate and Matt's house for the evening. He spent a lot of time putting candy in his bucket, and then dumping it out.

It's hard to believe it is already the middle of November. As soon as I get on top of the picture situation I will be sure to post some here, or at least a link to our flickr site.

Happy fall everyone!

September 25, 2009: 13 months 3 weeks

I guess my once a week plan is definitely a bust. The good news is that Eric has quit his job to stay home with Silas and start a consulting business, so maybe he'll pick up my slack and start posting more frequently again. Hooray for life's big changes :).

Silas spent a total of 3 weeks in day care, he ended up being sick for all of it except the first two days. He also managed to get both of us sick. I'm looking forward to the whole household getting better.

Silas's second molar also popped up last week. It's the furthest forward molar on the bottom left. So he has a pair on the left side now to really help him chew. His third molar is also coming in. I just noticed it today. It's on the top right.

Silas has stopped doing the 'franken-baby' walk and has moved on to the 'drunken baby' walk. He looked so grown up in his overalls and real shoes, walking the streets of Dormont. Thanks Grandma Bobbye and Grandpa Bob for the clothes and shoes! Below that picture is a cute pic of Silas with his papa. Next is a picture I took at Becky and Tim's house two days before Becky went into labor.... Then, a shot of Karen and Silas at Roving Brunch. I was pretty lame and didn't get any group shots of roving brunch this month. Becky and Tim were at the hospital laboring (they had a baby girl on 9/21 named Calliope... Congratulations to them!!!). So, I was kinda distracted. Plus, Silas and I were both feeling pretty sick. But, the food was fabulous and Maya took some pictures of the feast she and Ryder cooked up. Finally, the last pic is another cute one of Eric and Silas playing with Eric's thumb ring. Silas likes to take the ring off and put it back on Eric's thumb.

Silas looks like a big boy!

Silas and his papa

Dinner with Becky and Tim - 41 weeks pregnant

Karen and Silas at brunch

Silas likes playing with Eric's thumb ring

September 12, 2009: 13 months 1 week old

Ok, so it's been waaaay more than a week since I've updated the blog. Life has changed bigtime in the past couple of weeks. The big change... I got a job teaching 8th grade math. I interviewed for the job on August 24th, got the offer on the 27th, started working on September 1, and the students started on September 3rd. Silas went to daycare for the first time on September 2nd. He's got his first daycare cold, but other than that, seems to be doing fine. We take the bus together in the morning and I drop him off on my way to work, then pick him up on my way home. We got lucky and found a decent daycare around the corner from my school.

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to Indiana to visit family and celebrate Great Grandpa Randall's 90th birthday. While we were there Silas got his first haircut and his first ride on a pontoon boat. I've posted over 60 images and a video on our flickr site HERE. Below are a couple of my favorite pics from the trip.

Playing on the swings with Grandma Kathi

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Silas's first haircut

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Silas on the boat

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Silas with his Aunt Angela

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Silas with his Great Grandma Helton

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August 29, 2009: 12 months 24 days old

Just a quick note. I forgot to mention that last Friday I was fishing something out of Silas's mouth and I felt his first molar coming through! It's the furthest one forward on the left. He's now up to 9 teeth.

August 26, 2009: 12 months 3 weeks old

Silas had an action-packed week this week. He got to hang out with his friend Ruby for the first time in weeks, then on Friday he went to the pediatrician for his 12 month checkup. His stats: Height - 28 inches, Head Circumference - 44.25 cm, Weight (fully clothed) - 18 pounds, 12 ounces. He's tiny and healthy.

We then got to spend the entire weekend with Zen, Jeanette and Laz visiting from NY. They had planned on visiting sometime in the next month or so, but decided on Thursday night that this would be the weekend to visit. It was a great last-minute treat! Laz and Silas had never met before. It was neat to watch them interact since they are only one week apart in age. I have a ton of photos to upload onto flickr. Once they are all up I will post a link to the set here. In the meantime, here are a few shots from the weekend adventures, including a cute video of Laz and Silas playing with the wagon.

Silas and Ruby at the park

Laz and Silas playing cornhole

Zen, Laz, Jeanette, Silas and Eric at Frick Park

Zen and Jeanette on Mt Washington

Silas and Laz watching Zen

August 19, 2009: 12 months 2 weeks old

Eric took a lot of nice pictures at Auggie's birthday party, so we have a whole set up on our flickr site here. I just put a couple of pics from the party below. He really enjoyed the sandbox. The next picture is Silas at Ikea. I'm posting it 'cause it's a really good shot of his teeth. You can clearly see the four teeth on the bottom here. The final picture is of Silas trying to climb a stone wall. His current favorite thing is to try and climb everything. If something is in his way, his first choice is to try and go over it. If he can't quite get up (like onto the coffee table) he just sits there with one leg up like in this picture and screams. It's simultaneously annoying and cute.

Auggie and Silas

Auggie and Silas rockin' out in the sandbox

Silas at IKEA

Always climbing

August 16, 2009: 12 months 11 days old

Happy Birthday Auggie! Eric, Silas and I went to South Park today to celebrate Auggie's first birthday. I'll post pictures Wednesday when I do the weekly update. A couple of other things that have gone on in the past few days... Silas has gotten his eighth tooth. He now has 4 on top and 4 on the bottom (all in front). He also survived an entire week of both Eric and I working full time. I got a part time job that required one week of training and we found a great babysitter to come and take care of Silas all week. She did a great job. So great, that Eric and I decided at the last minute to take part in an Adventure Race on Saturday morning while she came back and babysat Silas again. Here's some official pics of the race. There aren't any pictures of Eric and me, but there is one of our bikes (first pic, second row).It's been a jam-packed week!

August 12, 2009: 12 months 1 week old

So, since Silas turned one he hasn't been doing too much besides trying to figure out how to run. He walks almost all of the time now and will occasionally run. Eric and I took him to Ikea and then to the mall on Sunday and he got to play on the big foam playground in the mall for the first time ever. He really loved it. I have been in a training for a new part-time job (about 1 day a month) full time this week and Silas has been with a babysitter and Eric while I am there. He has been doing great without me and seems to not notice too much that I haven't been around. I know it's a good thing, though it is a little sad for me. Still, Silas is such an independent little boy, it's not surprising and I'm glad he is having so much fun.

Silas's first trip to the 'squishy mall playground'

Silas's first trip to the 'squishy mall playground'

August 7, 2009: a blog update

Hello friends and family. So, I didn't want to spoil the birthday post by getting into this, but I am here to let everyone know that, now that Silas is a year old, I will only be posting updates once a week. Taking a picture every day was fun, but it has started to become challenging and a little dreary for me. Since I want the blog to keep going, cutting back to once a week should allow me to continue to enjoy this blog and thus keep it active.

Thanks for understanding!
-Silas's mom

p.s. This does not stop Silas's papa from posting whenever he wants...

August 5, 2009: ONE YEAR OLD

So, I don't typically wax poetic on this blog, but today is a big day for Silas. Today is his first birthday. Yes, he won't remember it, but I will. One year ago today I was laboring away and in less than two hours from now, one year ago, Silas was born. The very first post on this blog is his birth story. It's pretty amazing a whole year has gone by. It's been so amazing to be able to spend the whole year home with him and watch him grow and learn and smile and laugh and walk. What an adventure. Even though he won't remember, we still tried to make the day special for him. We started out by treating him to a cupcake at Dozens in Squirrel Hill. Then, Eric went off to work and I took Silas to a new store called Toys 2 Try. They have a large play area and they sell tons of European made toys. Silas played and played, and then I bought him one of the toys he seemed to like the best (that wasn't a ball!) as a first birthday present from his Mama and Papa.

Happy Birthday Silas. We love you.

A birthday cupcake

Silas playing at Toys 2 Try in Greentree

Silas with his new toy