Silas 10 months

So much has happened this past month.  Silas is on the move.  He went from being too lazy to roll over at the beginning of the month, to getting up on his knees, pulling himself forward with his elbows, crawling on all fours, pulling himself up on objects, sitting up from a laying position and just the other day he walked across the room with his walker.  It seemed like everyday he learned something new and it has been so exciting! In general Silas seems happier then ever, even though we didn't think that was possible! His crawling has gotten extremely fast and he cruises from one room to the other checking out everything he wants when he wants.  Silas also eats most of his meals on his own with his hands and is talking as much as ever.  He is such a joy to us and we thank our Lord everyday for the miracle he gave us in Silas.  

As for the outline of Silas' day, the only big change is that many days he only takes one nap in the afternoon for about 2 hours.  He had been having a harder time falling asleep for his morning and late afternoon naps so we've cut them out many days, and he has been just fine laughing and smiling as always.  He is getting to be such a big boy!

Traits at 10 months:

1) Crawl on all fours, cruising around the house!

2) Pull himself up to a standing position using everything from tables, boxes and walls.

3) Walk on his own using his activity walker

4) Tease Mom and Dad by hiding his face and then laughing or reaching out to touch our faces and then laughing. (I think maybe he is trying to tickle us)

5) Have laughing attacks. Usually at the dinner table when we are finished eating.  Søren makes the simplest sounds or movements and he will laugh hysterically.

6) Have a favorite book. Since he stopped nursing before bedtime we have begun to read him a book before laying him down. We let him choose a book from his shelf and he picks the same book every night.  It is a book with a flap that opens and then there is something you can touch inside.  We can tell he recognizes the pages because there is a page with a squeaker inside and he immediately hits that page as soon as we turn to it!

7) Recognize Mommy and Daddy. When we pick him up at daycare he squeals in delight the moment he sees us. It makes our hearts melt!

8) Loves to climb on both Mommy and Daddy.  He jumps up onto our stomachs and tries to climb over us, stand up on us and to lift up our shirts to find our belly buttons or belts.

9) Has 6 teeth...three on top, three on the bottom.

10) Started eating the same things that we eat for dinner. Pasta, chicken, rice, veggies, etc.

 

11)Weighs 10,2 kg  and is 75 cm tall.

My own piano bench

I love standing up!

Silas laughing after dinner (9½ months)

Silas walking with his walker for the VERY FIRST time.

Yay!

Finally I can write this post! 2 weeks ago we went to Ulla and Peter's house to celebrate Peter's birthday.  We were as usual greeted by Lukas and Nikolaj and went inside to get settled in.  As we went around saying hi I noticed that Søren was giving his sister Ulla a little longer and bigger hug than normal.  I didn't really think much of it, but then Søren told me to look at Nikolaj's t-shirt.  When I did I burst out in tears..it said "Jeg skal være storebror" (I am going to be a big brother).  I was just so filled with happiness I was just standing there balling and hugging Ulla myself.  We are so happy for them and will look forward to getting another niece or nephew in September!

Silas enjoying sitting the otherway in his new car seat on the way to the birthday party

Happy to be with Farmor and family

Farfar with all his grandchildren

The rest of the day was just amazing on top of such good news.  We had some delicious food and good time with family.

So yes, I had to wait to write this post until Ulla and Peter made the announcement official, but now they have been to the first ultrasound and everything looked perfect so now I can blab about it!!! :-)

Otherwise we are settling back into work after our vacation. We started with a big week last week. We had information night for the new students, found out who our new principal couple is, and Søren had to work all weekend.  Silas and I went down to school on Saturday and had so much fun we stayed the whole day. The students were so sweet with Silas. Then on Sunday Silas and I went to Silkeborg to visit some Watermarkers. It was great to see them again and speak English all day.  There are now 4 kids in the bunch so we had a lot of fun enjoying the beautiful weather outside and playing at the playground.

Silas on the move

Silas has taken huge strides these past three days.  On Tuesday while getting Silas weighed by the nurse at our house, Silas rolled over and took his first up on his knees crawling “steps.” Both Søren and I were there and we just looked at each other, while the nurse said “Oh, I see Silas can crawl now.” We just smiled and exclaimed that apparently he could!

Then yesterday he pulled himself from laying down up to a standing position. He had some balance issues at first, but before we knew it he was rocking on one knee and one leg and finally up on both legs leaning against the foot rest.  Again both of us were there to see it and had another special moment just looking at each other like proud parents before giving Silas a huge smile and compliment! 

Since the firsts he is getting faster and faster, crawling quite quickly from one end of the room to the other and trying to climb up on everything. Out little boy is getting so big! :-)

A mini vacation

Family Madsen had a mini vacation in Søndervig these past 3 days.  Søren’s Dad and Hanne have an apartment on the west coast in Søndervig that we were able to use for a few days, while our students are skiing in Norway and therefore we have the week off!

Our days were filled with lots of relaxing, walks, playing at the water park and just hanging out at “home” as a family. The weather wasn’t so nice but we made a trip down to the ocean and Silas loved the waves. We also had a nice dinner out and bowled later in the evening.

We had such a lovely time just having so much quality time together and we got to experience Silas crawling and pulling himself up to a standing position for the first time!

We did this 300 piece puzzle in 1 hour and 12 minutes

Playing in the sand for the first time

See I'm standing and I got here myself!

I could get used to swimming everyday

Silas chatting 9 months

For some reason I couldn't post this video on the last blog entry, so here it is by itself!

Silas 9 months

This has been another month of big changes for Silas.  He has gone from not really being able to move around much, to being able to pull himself forward using his elbows. Also he has never really been one to like rolling over, but now he is doing it as much as possible especially while getting his diaper changed! Silas' language has changed too this month.  He now has so many letter and vowel combinations I can't keep up, but his "cutest" sound he has now are his "ss" sounds.  To me it sounds like he is trying to say his name in a lispy and whispery kind of way...ssh-e-lasss. :-)

Silas is also going through somewhat of a period now where he has a bit of seperation anxiety, as the books would call it. He can play okay on his own until he notices we aren't in the room anymore, then he lets out a holler to let us know he can't see us.  It doesn't help if we talk to him from the next room, he wants to see us.  This has also been the case at bedtime as he cries when we leave the room after singing and praying with him.  It has been better the past few nights, so maybe he is getting used to it.

Finally Silas is such a big boy now that he has stopped nursing.  While we were in MN he just stopped wanting to nurse and actually cried when I offered him milk.  So after talking to our nurse we decided that it was his way of saying he was getting what he needed from solids and that  I should stop.  It was a bit tough on me, as it came so suddenly, but I am trying to focus on it being a good thing that my baby boy is naturally developing and growing up.

Outline of Silas’ day:
7:30 - Wake up and eat breakfast - he eats oatmeal with bananna
9:00 - Get to daycare and eat a snack
9:30 - ½ hour nap
11:30 - Lunch - he eats 2 pieces of rugbrød all smashed up and sometimes a quarter piece more
12:00-14:00 - Naptime
14:00-16:30 - Gets picked up and plays at home and has a snack of fruit and bread
16:30 - ½ hour nap
18:00 - Dinner - he usually eats mashed potatoes, meatballs and a veggie
19:15 - Gets ready for bed and sleeps

Traits at 9 months:
1) Crawl on his stomach---pulling himself forward with his elbows. Can reach for things he wants and stomach his way over. At daycare he tries to crawl over to me when I come to pick him up!

2) Eats only solid foods – Silas began refusing to nurse and was hysterical every time he was offered, so the nurse suggested he was ready to stop.

3) Says lots of new sounds and talks CONSTANTLY! Ss sounds – Almost sounds like he says Si-las with a lisp.

4) Stands up very stable at a table or his “walker”

5)Stands in yoga moves----downward dog!

6) Is in general more active. Rolling around on the changing table, making 360’s on the ground and rolling on to his stomach in his crib.

7) Having some separation anxiety.  Especially at bedtime. He doesn’t want us to leave and cries. However, not at all for naps in his carriage.

8) Better to play on his own with his toys.

9) Eating more and more meals by himself - it sure is a mess but he is mastering at least getting some pieces of food in his mouth.

10) More attentive and curious about everything. He can pick up the tinest piece of lint and study it so closely.

11) Has become quite vocal in what he wants, whining and grunting.

12) Now has 4 teeth – two more on top! and one more on the bottom that is almost there.

13) Weighs 10 kg and is 74 cm tall.

Standing "on my own"

Goodmorning!

Downward dog!

Can you see my new front teeth?

First video from Feb 26th.......it is crazy to see how much better he got in just 3 days!

Silas chatting like crazy!