The forest next door

I've posted pictures of the trail leading up to the Grand Forest before, but that's not the only woods in walking distance from our house. In fact, one of the biggest and most beautiful of trees lives in a woods (Meigs Park) that is just a few minutes walk from our house, much closer than the Grand Forest. The trails are cut by neighbors and animals. They are rough and at this time of year, tall boots are required to traverse them. But it is worth it.

If you were to want to explore this forest, you would...

Take a right at our driveway...walk down a small hill, passed a grove of ashes and cedars.
Stop at the field to listen to water flowing under the road and into a horse pasture. Oh, and make sure you have your walking stick. That's absolutely essential!

Just after the field, you'll see the narrow path leading into the forest. Take it!

Walk on for a ways. The path will widen for a bit, and then gradually narrow again. Finally, you will reach a part of the path that's been reclaimed by the forest as marshland. If you are a wee one, you may turn to your big person and wonder how you will ever get across. Don't worry, your mama will carry you.
It is muddy, but beautiful.
Once you've made your way towards drier ground, you will see that you are no longer walking on a dirt trail. Instead, you walk on a path created from the fallen trees of the forest, which lead you on, closer and closer to your destination.

The way is rough now, but don't worry, you're almost there.
As promised, it is a magnificent old tree.
And what do you do once you finally get to the tree?

You sit on the root which itself is bigger around than most trees you've ever seen.
You talk with your mom about being carried over mud, about walking sticks, lichen, and big trees --everything that is around you.
You listen to the birds and just sit there together for a while. When your mom asks you if you want to leave now or stay for a while longer, you say "stay longer" and so you do.
When it's finally time to go, you cry a bit because you don't really ever want to leave the big tree. But it's okay. After all, the tree and the forest it lives in are only a few minutes from your home.

You can come back tomorrow.

Don't fear the sweeper

Silas jumped a huge hurdle this weekend. He went from being terrified of our vacuum, to accepting it's existence and being willing to touch it to THIS:
Not only will he now allow us to vacuum while he's in the room, but he want's to help! We actually had to put it back upstairs because he wouldn't stop playing with it and riding it like a car. Hours later he said "Mommy, bring vacuum downstairs!"

This changes everything! Well, okay, not everything, but it does mean we can now vacuum whenever we want, rather than waiting till we're both home so that one of us can take Silas out of the house while the other vacuums. Those days are OVER!

In addition to handling, with greater ease, things that make loud noises, he's also less timid around other kids. One day in the park while he was with his dad, he went up to another boy who was a bit older, but less vocal (according to his mom). Silas, with a big smile on his face, said "Hi! How doing?" The little boy stared at him. Silas stared back. The little boy stared some more. Silas got bored and moved on to the next thing of interest. It was a simple social "interaction," but I'm glad that he initiated it. Even just a few months ago, that probably wouldn't have happened, and he more likely would have been in the other boy's shoes. He still has a bit of the shy-guy in him, but it's much less pronounced, and his introspective personality is balanced with a sense of curiosity and budding ability to socialize with his peers. It's wonderful to watch this side of him develop :)

Fearless sheep sheering and date night

Silas, looking on as Blu the sheep gets "shaved."

I wasn't all together sure how Silas would manage the sheep sheering this year. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that he's been dealing with an understandable fear of sudden loud noises, like vacuum cleaners, and sheep baaing. I was afraid that the combination of the sheers and the sheep being forced into awkward positions would really freak him out.

That ended up to be totally unfounded, however. Perhaps it helped that for days leading up to the sheering, I talked up the event, saying that the sheep were getting shaved, just like daddy shaves. When the moment arrived, he didn't shy away at all and in fact, we hung out and watched all four sheep get "shaved" even though the process took well over an hour. What a brave kiddo! For more pictures and to watch a video I took of the sheering, click here.

In addition to it being sheep sheering day, yesterday was also my birthday. It truly was a wonderful day. After Silas' nap, we took a hike in one of the local forests. We walk in the woods all of the time but haven't been to this part of the Grand Forest, as it's called, in quite a while, and it was just beautiful.

In the evening, something most remarkable happened. Uncle Patrick came over to watch Silas so that Drew and I could actually go out to dinner, sans child! We went to my favorite restaurant, Shima Sushi, and managed to spend a delightful hour and a half on our "date." While this was a special thing to do in honor of my birthday, we might just have to make date night a regular (or at least semi-regular) occurrence. Wait, didn't I say that same thing last July? :)

Birthday fun, according to Silas

Hi Planet Silas readers. It's me, Silas. Hey, did you hear? I turned 2 years old yesterday. Here I am, enjoying the cupcake mommy made for me. It's the first time I've been allowed to have chocolate, because mom and dad are kind of health freaks. I liked it alright, but I don't have a huge sweet tooth. A few bites and I was pretty much over it. Anyways, I call cupcakes "Happy birthdays" because that's what they're all about. Mom thinks that's pretty cute.

But let's back track and start at the beginning of my day. You probably saw the picture mommy posted yesterday of me with my farmland. Well, here's me when I first discovered it. Mommy and Daddy set it all up after I went to sleep the night before my birthday so that it would be the first thing I saw when I got up in the morning. Wow! It's so cool! I love to move the doors on the barn and say "Open -- shut!" over and over again, just like in the "Wheels on the Bus" song. The play blanket my mommy knit for me is pretty sweet too.
I like to show Daddy all of the animals that live in my barn.

Mommy and Daddy decided that we would have "Silas' favorite things day" for my birthday. That was a good idea. One of my favorite things is getting to have mommy with me, so she stayed home from work. We got our picture taken together. Imagine that!

After playing with my barn and taking pictures with mom, we went to my favorite cafe and hung out with my favorite person, Uncle Patrick.My friends at the cafe gave me strawberries. Yeah, they know what this birthday boy is all about!
Then we went to the open gym at Battle Point Park. I love going to the playground, but it was too wet. That's okay, because toddler open gym is pretty awesome too. Daddy helped me do chin-ups.
And, I climbed a rock wall!

After the gym, we headed back home for lunch and I played with my barn some more. I liked the barn so much, I almost didn't want to take a nap. But I finally did, and by the time I woke up, it was almost time for dinner and "Happy Birthday cupcakes." I didn't have any wild parties this year, unfortunately. But a couple of people did stop by to wish me a happy birthday and eat some cupcakes with us. It was a great day. I can't wait for the next one!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Silas!

I guess he likes his presents :)
I'll post more pictures and let you know the highlights of the day later on. Right now, I've got to go frost some birthday cupcakes!

tick tock

I haven't been posting much because I'm in a mad dash to finish Silas' Knitted Farmland by his birthday on Monday. It's down to the wire! Here's a link to a video of Silas "helping" me put it together, which I posted on my knitting blog a few days ago.

I'm sure there will be more posts as soon as the blanket has been completed!

A perfect hair day

What can I say? The boy's got style! The hair dryer is a new fashion-must for Silas, who until recently was a bit afraid of it. Gotta keep those golden-locks in check!

March 09 Book of the Month

Announcing Planet Silas' March 09 Book of the Month:

On the day you were born by Debra Frasier.

March both Silas and his mommy's birth-month, so this book, which celebrates a child's birth, is timely, indeed. All of the migrating animals, the moon, the tides, the wonders of nature, and the people surrounding a newborn baby, come together to welcome a baby to planet earth and to tell the child how glad they are that they have been born.

This is a book which makes me cry, and I have a feeling it has a similar effect on many mothers. I love the idea brought forth in this book that a child can be so cherished, every last living being and force of nature can be positively effected by his/her presence. When I read this to my son, I want him to feel that kind of overwhelming love, but eventually I also want him to feel empowered in a way that makes him acknowledge his place in the world, as well as his ability to make it a better place, (if you'll pardon the cliché). That, of course, is a grand concept, which I don't actively expect my (almost) 2 year old to grasp. For now, however, I appreciate his simple enjoyment of the stylized pictures and flowing text.

I will read this book to him on his birthday and talk to him about his birth and once again let him know how much I love him. And that, is enough.

tape and crayon on paper

A word on the video posted below: Silas clearly says "tape" about 100 times before Drew figures out what he's referring to. And yes, that's his potty, doubling as a stool so that he can reach one of his works-in-progress. Since returning from Wisconsin, Silas has taken his tape and crayon series to a new level. We now have layers of papers, 3 sheets across, on the opposite wall. I'll have to photograph that piece too sometime, as it is particularly nice (in my completely non-biased opinion :-)

An artist at work --the video

Drew took this video before we left for WI butI didn't have a chance to post it till now. He took some great pictures too. I'll publish those as well, as soon as I have an opportunity...

Alden...Friend!

One of the highlights of our trip to Wisconsin was visiting Madison and seeing our friends Jessi and Dave, and their son Alden. Silas and Alden are only a few days apart in age and it was great fun to watch them together.

Alden has a really cool slide and clearly, he is the master of it! Alden looks like he's not budging unless Silas gives him the secret password :)
On Saturday, we took the boys to Madison's fabulous Children's museum. I could have played with this wooden city for quite a while myself.
Nothing beats percussive instruments...
...except possibly learning to lay bricks...

...or dressing up in a hard hat and tool belt.
It was awesome to see our Madison friends, and I wish we could get the boys together more often. I asked Silas the next day "Is Alden your friend?" and he replied "Alden...Friend!" It's now been several days since we saw Alden, but I showed him the first picture on this post today and with no prompting, he remembered Alden's name and again reiterated that Alden was his friend. Awe...

Yesterday was a long day of travel for us, but we made it back home in one piece. Silas did really well on all of the flights and napped a lot, thankfully. His schedule is still a bit off, though. Today, he was up by 4:30. I'm hoping to get him back to his regular routine by the end of the week.

Mitchell Park Domes

What better way to beat the winter blues but to spend the day at the Mitchell Park Domes? Apparently, our family was not the only one to have this idea. We spent a few hours on Monday enjoying the Domes with a fair amount of other people, including Papa, Grandma, Auntie Jennie, Uncle Eric, and cousins Adam and Anna. Eric managed to snap a few pictures of the three of us. Silas' favorite part of the domes was the waterfall in the Tropical Dome (too crowded with people to take any pictures there). Had there not been a lot of other kids wanted to see it, Silas could have happily stood staring at the falls all day long. Like his cousins, Silas also enjoyed watching the trains. Next time we visit, Grandma and Papa will take us to see the Domes at night as they have a spectacular new night display.

We are off to visit the LeClairs in Madison this afternoon and then will be back in WA State on Sunday. I'll probably post again with a vacation wrap-up sometime after we get back home.