Wooly Baby

A few bonus pictures to end the month:

In these shots, Silas is sporting a pair of the wool soakers I knit for him recently, and playing with a fleece ball I made as well. I showed him how to put the ball on his wooden spoon and carry it, and now he's all about doing that.

More info on and pictures of the soaker (for all of you new to the world of cloth diapering, these are woolen pants made to fit over cloth diapers) and the fleece balls I make are on my knitting blog, Knitbook.

Si's Got the Beat

This is a video from when my parents were visiting. I've been meaning to upload it for a while now.

Note, it was taken before Silas started to walk. Although it's only a few weeks old, he's much steadier on his feet now.

Long Croc Walk

Did you think because we haven't posted in a while, we were off somewhere doing something fun for the holiday weekend? Nah, not really. Instead, we had fun close to home and took Silas on some smaller outings, to the Grand Forest, to the playground, and to the park. I thought it would be fun to take his Crocodile walker out to the park so that he could push it along the trail. He got pretty far with it, but really wanted to drive it onto the grass, which didn't work as well as he wanted it to.

For the most part, the weekend was warmer and sunnier than these pictures would imply, and we were outside much of the time. Si's becoming a pro at walking on the uneven surface of our lawn. Well, "pro" might be a slight exaggeration, but he is improving. Everyday he walks more and crawls less. Quite a transition to witness!

One thing more I wanted to mention about Si walking. I was so worried he'd start to walk while I was at work. But I was there last Sunday afternoon when he truly "got it" and began his drunken sailor routine. What a good son to oblige his mother. He melts my heart, that boy!

Port Townsend is nice

We went to Port Townsend last Sunday. I kind of love that town. The boys seem to enjoy it as well. Last time we were there, Silas had just discovered his feet. He now uses them to walk! We walked around with him, holding onto his arms as he picked his feet up off the ground and swung them out in front of him, laughing hysterically. Compare then and now.

This changes everything

So, for all of you following Silas' life, I think this video will be cause for joyous celebration. I don't want to give anything away with what I write here because it will be more fun if it's a surprise. I like to say that this was Uncle Patrick's birthday present from Silas (this was filmed at Patrick's birthday bash).

(PS. A hint for Grandma and Papa: He did this after I talked to you and said "no, he's not doing that yet.")

14 months old!

It's hard to believe that we were celebrating Si's first birthday 2 months ago already!

I've been wanting to write a post updating you on what's going on with Silas developmentally, mainly in terms of language (signing), but it's not going to happen today. It's too beautiful outside and there is so much to do to enjoy the day. So, a more wordy post will have to wait till we return to our normal 60 degree overcast weather.

For now, let it be said that Silas loved playing with his Papa's cap while Papa and Grandma Bryant were visiting. He wouldn't leave it alone, and enjoyed taking it on and off.

I took a video around the same time these pictures were shot of Silas dancing to some music. Will post that at some point...

Washington Trip Video

This is the video I edited for my parents. The file size was huge, so we had to upload it through YouTube, which means putting up with the YouTube logo. As family home videos go, this one's pretty precious to us. Nothing extra-special happens, but I think it conveys the simple joy of spending time with a wee one.

I hope you all like it!

Way too many pictures, part 2

Silas thought this sand digging toy at the park was the COOLEST THING EVER!
Most of the pictures in this post are from grandma's camera, so unfortunately, there aren't a lot of images of the grandparents with Silas. I did manage to take this one, though:
He likes swings more and more.
The playground has some musical/sound exploration activities, including this great xylophone. Since Silas loves music (he can sign the word "music" now, and he signs it both when he wants us to play some music, or when he hears a song that he likes), so he's very interested in banging on the keys.
And, the day is not complete without a hug from Uncle Patrick.

Way too many pictures, part 1

Si's grandparents left yesterday (we miss you!). So, I'm now doing the vacation wrap-up for you. I've got some pictures from my mom's camera to post in addition to some that I took.
So, in today's post you'll see a few more images from our trip to Snoqualmie Falls...and...



...Here we are, back on Mother's Day. Um, Silas, I don't know about this new spring '08 fashion trend you're sporting. You crazy kids. But you are cute anyways.
And there's always time for a good book!
Believe it or not, there's more to come. Be on the look-out for a Part 2, and possible a video or a few videos or maybe a few more posts of pictures, or who knows.

Mother's Day: lotsa love for lotsa moms

Happy Mother's Day, Mamas! This year, it was great to celebrate Mother's Day both with my son and my mom. We had brunch next door at Patrick and Shannon's. Another mom was present too--Patrick's mom decided to surprise him by flying in from Missouri completely unexpectedly yesterday (well, ok, we knew she was coming, but Patrick had no clue)!
And a shout out to some other moms: Grandma G. (Drew's mom--we love you!), Jessica R., who's celebrating her first Mother's day as a mom, with her darling babe, Liam (otherwise known as Niblo), And Jessi L., Alden's mom, who wins Planet Silas' honorary Mom-of-the-Year award.
And here's a flashback for you--Silas and me a year ago, circa mother's day 2007.

He's grown a wee bit, don't ya think?

Good times with Grams and Papa

We're having a blast with Grandma and Papa. Silas is doing lots of fun things with his grandparents, like...

Playing and hanging out together.

Enjoying the beautiful spring flowers in our garden.

Coming...

...and going:

More good times (and pictures) are forthcoming.

Snoqualmie Falls

Yesterday, we took the grandfolks to see Snoqualmie Falls, which is about 30 miles East of Seattle. It's 270 feet high (about 100 feet higher than Niagara Falls for all of you waterfall enthusiasts).
A Silas-eye view of the falls:

Here's my tourist brochure shot:
After viewing the falls from the upper observation deck, we made our way down to the river. I may have fly-away hair in this picture (hey, it was breezy!), but I still like this picture of us:
Drew climbed down onto the rocks. Here he is taking a picture of me taking a picture of him:
And finally, Drew takes Silas for the hike back up.

May 08 Book of the Month

Announcing Planet Silas' May 08 book of the month:

Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow & Lenny Lipton ; pictures by Eric Puybaret.

In which Puff (magic dragon) and Jackie Paper (human boy) have adventures in the land of Honalee.
Grandma and Papa arrived from WI this afternoon, just in time to read Silas one of his current favorite stories. Silas seems to love the fact that we can sing this book to him. The illustrations are lively and fanciful. I know this story from my own childhood, and it is a joy to share it with my child now.
And we have one honorable mention this month. In keeping with the dragon theme, it is:

That's Not My Dragon by Fiona Watt.

A little mouse is looking for his dragon. On each page, we meet a different and interesting dragon, but it's not till the last page that the mouse finds what he's looking for.
Our friend Katya bought this book for Si's birthday. You really can't go wrong with a touch and feel book right now, and he can't get enough of this one. The textures are varied and fit in well with the text. You can also see Silas examining this book in the Six Signs of Silas video.