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 :)

Mom's Birthday & Si's 12 mo. Appt.

My birthday falling just 5 days after the kiddo's means that it is just a tad bit overshadowed. That's okay. Seriously. I did go out to breakfast with my boys before going to work and they threw me a great birthday lunch at work, too. I left the office early so that we could take Silas to his 12 month doctor's appointment. So, here's the lowdown.
Silas weighed in at just about 23 pounds. He is now in the mid 50s in terms of the growth chart (hight, weight, and head circumference compared to other 12 month-old boys). The doctor mentioned that he isn't putting on as much weight now that he's crawling around all the time. She also warned us that his eating may slow down in a few months as it is common for toddlers to get more choosy around 14 or 15 months. Hmmm. We will wait with baited breath for that. So, anyways, size-wise, he is very average and the doctor is happy with his size and overall health.

We thought that now that he has his 8 incisors, we might have a break from teething for a while. However, recently, Silas has been trying to bit us. A lot. For instance, he will crawl up to me while I'm sitting on the floor and crawl into my arms all smiles, then suction his little mouth onto my cheek and bit down with all of his might. Owwww. This is a daily occurrence. So with that, we really didn't need a professional to tell us that he's still teething, but apparently, I felt compelled to ask anyways, and yes, duh, he still is.
Vaccinations. We've been getting them for Silas, but have never felt at ease about it. There's an overwhelming amount of contrary information on vaccinations out there. I'm really not going to go into the arguement on whether or not vaccinations cause autism here (you all know how to use Google if you need more info). Our doctor was really great at not being judgemental regarding our fears or pushing anything on us. Mercury is no longer used in children's vaccinations, which makes us feel much better. We decided to hold off on the MMR vaccination till he's 15 months. I was happy with this decision, since he was already getting 3 other vaccinations today. So far, he's shown no side effects whatsoever. Also, I must note that the doctor observed Silas and immediately said there's no way he's autistic. We know that, but somehow it felt very reassuring to be told this. So, him hitting his head repeatedly with this hand (like he's saying "doh!" over and over again), and also frequently shaking his head back and forth and then laughing ---both normal. It was a good appointment, if only to reassure mom and dad that all is well with Little Bear.

8 mo's old--new achievements, teeth, & rashes

Silas turns 8 months old tomorrow! Here's the low-down.

First up: New achievements. He continues to improve his sitting up skills, as you've probably noticed in recent pictures. That's great, but the big news is that this evening, for the very first time, Silas pulled himself up from a seated position to standing by holding onto the guard rail on the bed--no help from mom and dad! Wow, were we impressed! Note: he still can't pull himself up to a seated position when he is laying down, no matter how hard he tries. Such is life. Overall, he is a lot more animated and able to scoot and pull and move himself around. He also likes to pull himself into mom's arms and cling to her, much to mom's delight!

Second: Teeth. He now has all 4 front chompers. The upper right tooth just broke through a few days ago. Let's hope we get a slight respite before he cuts anymore.

And finally: the rash. We noticing a rash all over Silas' back a few weeks ago. When it hadn't gone away in a week and a half, we called the Doc's office. We brought him in this Tuesday and she diagnosed the rash as eczema. Some infants are prone to it and he'll probably grow out of it eventually. It does seem to itch him sometimes, but luckily, he can't really reach his back to scratch it. We think he may have had a reaction to the foam mattress topper we had on the bed (which has since been removed). It was causing him to overheat at night and his back would become sweaty. Now that we know the rash is eczema and not heat rash, we know how to treat it. Mom's giving him nightly oatmeal baths and both mom and dad slather vitamin E cream all over his back several times a day. It's already looking better!

One more Planet Silas factoid to end this posting: at the Doctor's, Si weighed in at 20 pounds 4 ounces.