Kin

21 months old! --Art reception

Our handsome 21 month old had a blast at his Dad's art reception on Sunday. There were grapes and crackers aplenty, so he was happy.
Despite the unusually harsh weather, we still got a decent turnout for the event, though a few friends coming from farther away had to cancel.
Here's Shannon, hanging out with Silas near the food. Silas stood as close as he could get to the grape bowl for much of the evening, yelling "grate grate!" (no matter how many times I enunciate the "p" sound, he insists on referring to them as "grates").
Drew and I both caught Si's cold, so sniffing, sneezing and coughing are the themes of the week. Hopefully, we will all feel better for next week's festivities.

The week and a half in review

Let's play catch-up, starting with today's events and working our way back a bit...
First of all, obviously, it snowed. These pictures were all taken this morning. It's our first snow of the season and since this is western WA state, it may very well be the last. So, we made the most of it.
Oooh, what is this?
Um, seriously. What. is. this. Any why haven't you made mittens for me?
And is this really necessary?
Okay. The other big thing going on today is Drew's and Patrick's art reception. Yea! Silas is resting up now from his time playing in the snow so that he'll be bright-eyed for the event.

Silas has the sniffles, but that's life. We've been running a humidifier in our bedroom, which seems to help.

And now, working our way back...We've received two Christmas presents in the mail so far. Thank you Grandparents! We are using the little table and chairs already. He has a very nice "work" area now for slicing his wooden vegetables, drawing, reading, typing on his keyboard, etc. I will have pictures at some point. The other gift will have to wait till Christmas morning...

Tuesday the 9th: Drew's birthday! A fine day indeed. I didn't get any stellar pictures of the two boys together that day, so I'm not posting any. But Silas did help his dad open his gifts, and Silas very much liked the boxes (and Drew very much liked what came in them).

Last weekend (the 6th and 7th): Drew and Patrick hung their show, which took quite a bit of time. So, Silas and I hung out together a lot, and went to several Christmas in the Country places. This is a weekend long event which takes place at various houses and farms around the island. People sell handmade goods, food, etc. There are activities like live music, pony rides, and Santa. I did point Santa out to him, but he was more interested in the water feature set up next to Santa's chair. Since we really don't care about getting a picture of him screaming his head off as we force him to sit on a strange man's lap, we took a pass on that and enjoyed the music guild's chamber ensemble. Silas LOVED that!

And finally, last Friday...Silas went to the doctor. He wailed the ENTIRE time, even though no shots were given. But other than the trauma he experienced simply by being there, the biggest issue he's facing is some eczema on his face. The doctor doesn't think it's food related, so we are just keeping it moisturized as best we can. Other than a minor cold, he is healthy and happy (when not at the doctor).

That pretty much catches us up. I'm hoping to post more frequently this week, but I make no promises :)

a plug for Dad & Patrick

OK so by now you know I'm an artist... and well since I'm pretty well known and all I think its important to give a shout out to those artists toiling day after day with little recognition. So today's post is to announce a show happening this month at the Bainbridge library by two of my favorite artists: my dad and Patrick

If you can check it out, do... I know I will

Hangin' with my Mini-Me

We hear it all of the time -- "He looks just like you, Amber." Looking at the two of us together in these pictures,well, it's pretty hard to deny the resemblance. I had the same light blond hair as a child, and the same smile. And if you saw pictures of my father as a tot, you'd never doubt the power of genetics again. They could be twins, seriously. Drew has also commented that there are moments he sees his paternal grandfather in Silas.
So, Drew's side of the family is in there, too. You can see that Silas' eyes are darker than mine--closer to Drew's in color. I always say they have eyes the color of olives.
The boys also have matching beauty marks on their foreheads, which I think is pretty cute, considering that my mom, sister, and I all have matching beauty marks on our cheeks.

And if you ask me, Silas has Drew's feet. Drew says all feet are the same. He is wrong. Silas has his feet, for sure.

On another note, I've been asked several times if Silas has had a hair cut. No way! He's just got enough hair now that it is starting to stick up in the back and over his ears, and I LOVE it that way. I really want to see him with those cute little baby curls, like you see on a lot of little ones, so we are letting nature take its course for now. We'll cut it if it becomes a tangled mess, but otherwise, he'll be sporting a shaggy look. He's been bald, or nearly so, for most of his life, and his hair is still pretty thin, so I'm looking forward to it being crazy, messy, longish, and adorable for a while.

Dad's back!

Miss you, Daddy!

Drew left this morning to go to his 20th high school reunion in Wisconsin. That means that I'm in single parent mode until his return on Sunday. This is the first time Drew has ever been away from Silas overnight, so it will be interesting to see how Si (and I) deal with it.

We already miss you, Drew/Daddy, so these videos, are for you:

I call this one Things just aren't quite right without my daddy so I'm gonna keep cr--hey, what's that in my ear?


Aren't you glad there's no sound?

After that, Silas was feeling better. --So much so that he was ready to show a big person who's boss. Since Drew wasn't there, I was the target.

I call this one, Toddler Attack.


One more thing: I usually do a monthly shout out when Si turns another month older. Forgot this time... Yesterday, the 16th, he turned 16 months! Woo-hoo!

Dad's Day

Since it was Father's Day today, Drew got to choose what he wanted to do. His choice--head up to Port Townsend for the day.

Lovely, lovely day.

Drop and give me 20!

Si learned from his Dad that push-ups are a great way to strengthen his upper body. All we have to say is "Silas, do push-ups," and he'll drop and give us 20 (or 5, maybe). Well, he's already better at doing them then I am.

We're off to spend Father's Day together. It's finally warm and sunny here and Silas is determined to make the most of it!

Like Son, Like Father

When we went to the doctor on Tuesday, she told us that gastroenteritis is common and that we typically get this sickness a bunch of times in our life. As our body builds up an immunity to it, each time we get it, it is a milder case. So, Silas was probably as sick as he'll ever be with this particular bug. When we left the doctor, Drew remarked that he had no memory of ever being so sick, while I could recall having very similar experiences a number of times as a child.

So, where does that leave us today?

If you guessed that Drew is now sick, you win a gold star!

Yep, this is shaping up to be one of those weeks. Drew has been in bed all morning and I am home from work yet again. But, there's nothing to be done, of course, except hope that if I do contract this ugh bug, it's effects will be much less extreme.

As for Silas, well, he's back to his old self today, except that his appetite is still not that good. He'll have a few bites of banana, for example, instead of eating the entire banana. I suppose he just needs more time. My fear is that the experience he just went through will trigger a pickier reaction to food, but I suppose there's no real logic in that fear. Anyways, he is eating a bit, as well as breast feeding, so there's no reason to sound the alarm.

Let's just hope both my boys are totally back to "normal" soon!

Dad's Birthday

Dad's birthday was yesterday. Here's how we spent the day:

Silas made art by using his feet, which we dipped in pureed blackberries and yellow vegetable paste. Dad then made a tiramisu cake (mom helped a little) for his birthday dinner. After a lunch out at a local cafe and an afternoon relaxing at home and trimming our teeny tiny live Christmas tree, we celebrated with a dinner at Shannon's and enjoyed the tiramisu for dessert. Yum!

That's the brief recap. Happy birthday, dad!

Ok DaD

so Amber let me have a blogger moment here... not to mention a say in picking the outfit of the day for Si...

can you tell?

anyway, after reading a book (and for the record I bought it for the pictures) we headed down to the Bird with Uncle Patrick for a little coffee and toast...

oh and jam, can't forget the jam...