the no whistle zone and the BIG Bruise

Just in case you thought life on Planet Silas was always rainbows and puppies, as the first picture would imply, let me introduce you to exhibit B:
What provoked this sad, sorry, woe-is-me face?
Less then 2 seconds of, believe it or not, WHISTLING.
There you have it. For some reason we have not currently sussed out, Silas hates whistling. It wasn't always that way, but for a few weeks or so, even the briefest whistling has resulted in Silas freezing in place, turning to the whistler in horror, and then bursting into tears. All we can really do is redirect his attention as soon as possible, usually by singing one of his favorite songs or quickly whisking him outside.

This seemingly irrational fear of whistling has led me to realize something about myself: I whistle. A lot. I usually start whistling without even thinking about it, until my son turns to me with the face you see above as though I've just run over a kitten and then put the car in reverse and run over it again. I have to check myself constantly now to make sure I don't mindlessly whistle along with to music. Thankfully, humming meets with no adverse reaction, so we are safe to hum along, for now.

Oh yes, and in today's top story, Silas tripped and hit his eye on one of his toys. He scraped and bruised himself pretty badly right below his eye and on his cheek. It looks awful and it took us forever to calm him down. This is by far the worst injury he's had to date. Although I'm sure there will be many more and it's not as though it's his first bruise, it still sucks to see his sweet little face all marked up. You can see just part of the injury in the picture below. But upside bonus: You can see all of those pearly whites in the picture too. Tooth #15 just poked through!

Grandma for President

While we wait impatiently for the presidential candidates to announce their running mates (c'mon already, boys!), Silas has started a campaign of his own. Grandma G. sent him this shirt. Perfect for the election year! I think Silas is hoping he's on Grandma's short list for her VP pick!

Along with election year madness, we are also still experiencing teething madness (note the fingers in the mouth in the top picture). He recently cut two incisors, bringing the total teeth count to 14. Only 6 more to go!

Baby's first criminal act, and other antics

Ah, the sleeping babe. Nothing could be more precious, more innocent...

And then he woke up and dialed 911 without us knowing it.

Picture it--A weekday. I'm at work, and Drew is talking to his mom on the phone while he starts changing Silas' diaper. Silas doesn't like diaper changes. Hates them in fact. But he does like phones. So, Drew gets off the phone with his mom and hands it to Silas to keep him busy while the diaper change is in progress. Silas starts pressing buttons, as per usual. Drew thinks Silas might be pressing too many buttons, so he takes the phone away from him. Silas protests. The diaper change ends. Life goes on.

And then the phone rings. It's a 911 operator who tells Drew they just received a call from our number. Drew then has to explain that his 1 year old dialed the number. No it's not on speed dial, it was random (what are the odds?). No, he's not being held at gunpoint and being forced to say that his 1 year old dialed the number, and by the way, are we going to be fined for this?

The operator said that they may still have to send a patrol car around, just in case. But the police never materialized, so they must have believed Drew when he said that he wasn't being held hostage. And we haven't been fined. Silas is no longer allowed to play with the phone, unless it's been unplugged.

Did I mention that he gave me a black eye? What a little devil. This happened three weeks ago while Drew was in WI. I was still lying in bed, which is on the floor, and Silas had already gotten up. He picked out a book and very excitedly brought it back to me so that I could read it to him. On the way to the bed, he tripped and slammed the corner of the hardcover book right into my eye. Holy cats! I've never had a black eye before. It took 3 weeks for it to totally heal, and it wasn't even a very bad shiner. I had no idea it would take so long to heal, because on TV, it only seems to take a few days and then people always returned to their flawless skinned selves.

Si is also going through a biting/grabbing/pulling/pinching faze. The bitting can be explained by the fact that he's getting so many teeth in at the same time. We're up to 12 at last count, and 4 or those are the recently cut molars. More appear to be on their way. While I understand that teething is painful, it is still disconcerting to have him run up to me while I'm doing dishes as though he's going to hug me, and then end that hug by chomping into my leg. Ow. He just can't seem to help himself. Same goes for the grabbing/pulling/pinching. He gets so excited sometimes and he doesn't know that he's hurting. He seems to think he's playing with us. But we're always very firm with him. Unfortunately, we've been told that at his age, he can't really remember that it's a bad thing and causes us pain. At some point, however, it's gotta sink in, right?

So, let's recap. Sleeping cherub. Dialing 911 emergency when the only emergency in progress is an unwanted diaper change. General parental abuse. I think the picture below seems more accurate then the sleeping babe portrait, at present. You don't think they're sharing a brewsky and conspiring against me, do you? If so, I'm really in trouble!

Holy Molars, Batman!

When we took Silas to the Doc a few weeks ago for his regular check-up, she told us he was getting a bunch of his molars in at the same time. Yep. It's pretty hard to see them because when I tell him to say "ahhh," he'll open his mouth but stick out his tongue at the same time. However, when I stick my finger in there (and beware, it's like sticking your head into the mouth of a lion), I feel molars on all 4 sides. They've just recently started to cut through the gums. He has been understandably irritable. Lots of up and down mood swings, biting behavior, and a couple nights of severe restlessness. The good news, according to the Doc, is that he should be done with teething by age 2. So, only about 8 more months of miserable gum pain for the baby. Great.
In other truly good news, Drew and I managed to go to a movie (a matinée in an actual movie theater!) last Thursday. This was the first time we've been out to a movie since Silas was born and the first time we've ever used a babysitter (well, Patrick is really more like family then a babysitter). We saw the new Batman movie, which was big, loud, and exciting --a perfect choice to see on the big screen. Thanks to Uncle Patrick, Silas survived the 3 hours without mom and dad just fine. We may have to make this a semi-regular activity, though we're not inclined to want to leave him much longer than the length of a movie. It's nice to have a bit of a break, believe me, but we love being with our Bear too! By the time we got back at about 6:15, he was definitely ready to have mom home again to eat dinner with and begin his nighttime routine.
Oh, yeah, and the pictures: Like his parents, Silas is a big fan of the starch food group. Noodles, just like bread and rice, are a hit.

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.

Froggy, want a new tooth?

Silas is FINALLY cutting another tooth! I felt it this morning and it is coming in fast. It explains his behavior lately, namely the irregular sleep pattern (or lack there of). Last night, he went to bed late (ok, it was only 8 o'clock, but that's almost 2 hours later than normal for Silas), and this morning he was up about an hour early, at 5 am. Before finally falling asleep last night, he lay in bed softly whimpering, poor baby. I've been examining his gums (as much as he'll let me) and I think it's safe to say that several more will be coming in before too much longer. Huzzah!

10 months old! --the breakfast O challenge

Si is 10 months old today. Wow! So much is happening for this little guy, perhaps the most notable of which is that he's now eating hard cereal. We've wanted to start him on something like this for a while but were faced with the challenge of finding an organic wheat-free O-shaped cereal that didn't have added sugar. Not an easy task! Finally we discovered Barbara's Breakfast Os and Silas loves them! This is the first time he's fed himself, and although more than a few fall to the floor, he is improving every day. We hope to introduce more finger foods soon.

Silas is also kinda-sorta crawling. He can get around now, though he's still rather clumsy and slow.

And then there's the teething. Silas still only has 4 teeth. He hasn't had any new teeth in 3 months. He goes through spurts where his gums really seem to bother him. He's been up nursing way more than usual the last 4 nights or so and I suspect this is because his mouth is sore. Unfortunately, I can't feel any additional teeth when I massage his gums, but they are definitely swollen. Keep your fingers crossed and let's hope he's cut a few more before he turns 11 months!

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.

If You're Handsome and You Know It, Eat a Spoon

Yes, another hand-knit item, made for Silas while he was still in the womb, and now, finally fitting him well. Silas proves that fluffy is "in" this season, and egg shell blue is the new black.

Coming back to the spoon: This rule applies not only to spoons, but also to toys, books (both ours and his), bottles, the guard rail on the bed, mom and dad's fingers, and anything else Silas manages to put in his mouth: Take said object away from Si's mouth when he is in the mood to chew on it, and all bleep breaks loose. The solution: Be ready with something else you don't mind him chewing on, and give it to him FAST. That usually works, though a period of calming down time will most likely proceed his reattachment to a new object. Ah, such are the travails of a teething tot.

One more thing: I made the decision to move the Guestbook to the bottom of the blog. It was taking too long to load the page (patience, patience, I know!) and many of you reported to me that you couldn't figure out how to sign it. Regardless, if you'd still like to sign it, please do so!

Knitting Mama Strikes Again!

Note: now that I'm putting all of my past and present knitting/crocheting projects on line in Ravelry, you will probably be seeing quite a few of the Silas-sized objects on this blog in the near future. Even though I have a knitting blog, too, if it's on Silas and it looks cute, it makes the Planet Silas cut.

Now then. This bunting is one of the items I knit while pregnant--before I knew if I was having a boy or girl, I believe. It seemed so big that only recently did I put the babe in it. I don't think I was ever satisfied with the outcome of this project until I saw it on him. As my friend Melissa would say: "Melt."

Also note: Silas takes a healthy interest in "grown up" food. In fact, it is hard to keep him away from it. He has three teeth now (just cut his upper left), so he quickly is building up to being able to eat something of the non mashed/pureed variety.

7 Months Old...Silas Goes Green!

It's a little hard to tell from images on the computer, but Silas' eyes have slowly changed over the past several months from blue to green (Just like his mom and dad's eyes!).

7 month updates: No new teeth to report (he still just has the lower front two), but he seems to be working very hard on acquiring additional ones. He loves his wooden Haba ring (pictured in the previous blog entry with his friend Milo). Basically he will bite down fiercely on just about anything. He can be irritable when his gums are really bothering him. The fixes: homeopathic chamomile pills and/or walks outside.

Modes of movement: He's not on the go yet, but is gradually moving towards crawling. Today he pulled himself forward a bit while on his tummy. He'll also move around, basically in circles while on his back by arching his back. Mostly, what this kid likes to do is stand. It's hard to get him to sit because he'll make his little body rigid so that you're forced to stand him up instead. He loves to stand and bounce, and really, he's been doing this since he was just a few months old. In a related note, Silas is still not sitting up all on his own, though he sometimes does pretty well for a minute or two. He still needs to be watched as he will often topple over, especially if he gets excited. I expect he'll gain the balance he needs to sit on his own before too much longer. Of course, I thought that months ago! Regardless, the next month promises to be an interesting one...