A wee fashion adjustment

The cat: still more tolerant of Silas than he is of the rest of the world.
I have been wanting to cut Silas' bangs for a long time, but was always outvoted when I brought up the suggestion: Drew wanted to grow them out to match the rest of his hair and Silas simply wanted to be resistant. So I relented. Let them grow. Fine.

Imagine my surprise when I came home from work a few days ago and discovered that Drew had cut them himself that morning. Tired of hair hanging in his eyes all of the time, Drew had convinced Silas to sit still long enough to make the cut, something I had failed repeatedly to do. I am a fan of the bangs, I must say. They are the only part of his hair that we have ever cut, so, other than the bangs, that's how nearly three years of growth looks on him.

I still find myself reflexively reaching across his forehead to brush the hair out of his eyes, even though this is no longer necessary. And, with three paragraphs devoted to my son's hair, I think it's time to wrap up this post.

Lights out, Helicopter

Rudolph the January Reindeer

The Christmas season is over, but reindeer continue to appear daily in our lives in the form of song. Silas sang this (twice!) for my parents in our latest video chat and they commented how they wished they had a video of it. Well, now they do. Enjoy!

Sculpture no. 1

Silas made his first sculpture earlier this week. Mixed medium: cardboard, tape, marker. I remarked that it looks like a number one, a fact the artist himself was not aware of. Very fitting considering it is his first sculpture.

Our own corner of the Hundred Acre Wood

Hello, my name is Silas and I will be your tour guide.

A while back, Drew spotted this Pooh Bear on display at our local bookstore. He asked what they were going to do with it after it was no longer on display, and the clerk said she would let us know. Months passed, and finally, yesterday, we got the call. Pooh Bear was ours if we wanted him! Drew went off to retrieve him and I told Silas he was getting us a surprise. "Wow" Silas said when he saw it, "I love the surprise!"

We couldn't resist putting it by our Christmas tree, which was in the process of being de-Christmastised. Our own little corner of the Hundred Acre Wood :)

January '10 Book of the Month

Introducing Planet Silas' January '10 Book of the Month:

The Mitten: A Ukraniane Folktale by Jan Brett.

This folktale has multiple adaptions; I myself am a fan of Brett's interpretation. This book, and indeed several of this author's works, speaks of winter, with it's cold snowy scenes and beautiful hand knit garments to keep the characters warm (second month in a row with a knit-related theme, by-the-way).

Nicki's grandmother just knows that if she knits Nicki a pair of all white mittens, he will drop one and loose it in the snow. But snowy white mittens are what Nicki wants, and so that's what he gets. Sure enough, Nicki promptly looses a mitten while exploring his winter world, and that's where the fun begins. Animal after animal discovers the inviting mitten and decides it would make a good place to get out of the cold. As the animals crowd inside, the mitten expands to comic proportions, which Silas finds absolutely hysterical. But, Grandma's excellent knitting holds fast and the mitten stays in one piece, even when a bear joins the menagerie.

One of the features that Brett is known for is a three-paneled picture layout. The middle, largest picture shows what's happening, mainly featuring the animals in the mitten, and carries the text. The smaller picture on the left appears through a mitten shaped "window" and depicts Nicki as he plays in the snow and woods around his house. Usually, he's walked near an animal's home without even knowing it. On a mirror panel on the right of the page, the animal then appears leaving it's burrow and heading, presumably, for the mitten. The next page will then feature that animal and it's introduction to the mitten and the other animals therein. I love having these glimpses of what's to come on the following page as it presents an opportunity to involve Silas in the story. "What animal is that? Who do you think is going to find the mitten next?" That sort of thing.

At the end, it is a tiny mouse who triggers the end of the animal's stay in the mitten. Nicki is lucky enough to find the mitten before he reaches home, so there is no chance of a lecture from grandma. The last wordless page, however, shows a perplexed grandmother holding both mittens out in front of her: one the size to fit a little boy, and one that is inexplicably large enough to fit a giant.

Wonderful and fun, winter read, and a classic story, beautifully rendered.

Last picture of the decade

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas: It's a wrap

It was a happy Christmas morning here on Planet Silas, and a lovely day all together. We video chatted with Grandma and Papa, opened presents, played, and had brunch with Patrick and his mom.

But let's backtrack, just for a minute.
On Christmas eve, Silas got his last puzzle piece and we put it together:

We baked Silas' great-great-great Grandma Manz's white cooke recipe. We heard Santa is quite a fan so we left him a few. And we did not forget a treat for the reindeer:
Along with the wrapped presents, I like to hide a few things in the bows of tree. Silas found two fire dogs and several firefighters tucked amidst the branches. I told him a few days beforehand that there would be surprises left by Santa in the tree. The story got a bit confused as he reported to me on Christmas Eve that Santa himself would be hiding in the tree (sounds a bit scary to me but Si seemed to think it was a fantastic prospect).

I think he must have been a good boy this year. Santa done him right.
Hours of imaginative play. My favorite is when the firefighters have conversations. He does a different voice for each. Priceless.
Me and Squishy Bear. It doesn't look like it, but he wanted to have his picture taken. Hugs beat presents.
Later in the day...Brunch at Patrick's. Silas is waving to Drew's family. They are still trying to work out some kinks with Grandma G's computer so that we can video chat. They could see and hear us but we couldn't see or hear them. Half way there!
Patrick's mom, Silas, and a good book.
Patrick and Silas still had time to work on some art:
And that's a wrap! In closing, I wanted to say that this was, in many ways, Silas' first Christmas. We try not to make a big deal of things, try not to have too many presents, try just to hang out as a family and enjoy ourselves and each others' company. That being said, this was a big deal for Silas. This is the first year that he was really aware and understood what was happening. His excitement was infectious. Christmas can be a stressful and even sad time for a lot of people and I myself have struggle with that as an adult. But Silas puts everything into perspective for me. This was a largely stress-free holiday thanks to him and so, I will end with two quotes from our young sage:
"I just want to play ALL day. Playing is my favorite!" and "Ho, Ho, Ho, MEEEERY Christmas!"

Santa's elves are sleeping...

Their work here is done.

Gifts are wrapped. Fire station is assembled. Child is nestled all snug in his bed. Time for some mulled wine.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Waiting for Santa

We decided to light up our home on this, the shortest, darkest day of the year, by decorating our Christmas tree. In the midst of our efforts, Silas ran over with two pillows and pretended to sleep. That's when I took this video:

Happy Solstice everyone!

"Are you a Hanukkah duck?"

A conversation between two rubber duckies overheard while making dinner last week:

Duck#1: Are you a Hanukkah duck?
Duck#2: Yes I AM! Are you a Halloween duck?
Duck#1: Yes I AM!

That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. The two ducks have been inseparable ever since. Gotta love pretend play :)

Cookies

What's December without overdoing it on sweets a bit? We decided to up our sugar quotient for the week by starting it off with a batch of gingerbread cookies. There's something about the ginger-molasses combo that is tough to beat. Silas and I worked as a team through the whole process. Rolling out the dough is probably his favorite part, followed closely by mixing:
When Silas saw the next picture, he exclaimed "Look, I'm crying!" Not really. I believe he was actually saying, "It's the caaamara!"
Silas is contemplating which cookie cutter to use next...
I wanted to mention in this post that the Christmas trees, which you can see in the background in the above picture, have been a real success so far. He's excited to find the new puzzle piece each morning and then put together the pieces we have so far. More than half way there!