Silas 17 months

The biggest changes with Silas this past month have definitely been his language. It seems everyday he learns a new word. He continues to copy everything we say, and now copies even more complex words with two syllables pronouncing more and more consonants.

Some of my favorite memories/routines of the past month are:

-After getting Silas ready for bed he usually has about 10-15 minutes of playtime before actually going to bed. When it is bed time, we say, “okay Silas, it’s time for night-night” He then walks towards his room saying “nigh-nigh” and goes right to the bookshelf “good book” he says and then goes to the chair where we read him a goodnight book everynight. It is so cozy and fun to see how much he understands.

-If Silas needs help with something, getting a cap off, getting something off his shelf, or taking something out of a drawer, then he will say in a very loud voice “helpe” in this particular tone.

-Hide and seek. We run away from him and find a hiding spot. Then one of us asks him, “Where’s Mommy/Far?”…he then looks around the house saying in a question like voice “Mommm-ie, Mommm-ie?” until he find us. Sometimes we say “coo-coo” to give him a hint, and then he says it too. When we finds us he smiles and often runs away, hoping we’ll hide again.

-During a table prayer Silas will just start saying “AMEN.” Sometimes he says it many times, and other times he waits until we are finshed where the Amen really comes. In church he also yells AMEN whenever he hears it, turning the heads of many and bringing a smile to their faces.

-Brings items over to us. When he hands it to us he says “Tak” (Thank You)

-Sings along to Old McDonald on the ee-eye-ee-eye-oh part!

-Understands many things for example:

“Bath time Silas”—He goes into the bathroom.
“Arms up” –Puts his arms up when changing him
“Where’s the ____” and can often find it.

-Makes some interesting connections. 1) The other day I said “Silas, I love you”. He then went rummaging through his toy box and found the small heart shaped pillow that says “I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU” when you give it a hit. 2) He has a red balloon, I said “Silas, look at your balloon”….he then went and found the “Goodnight Moon” book where there is a red balloon and turned the pages to find it.

-Can “read” a book. Okay its a picture book, but on one page there is a picture of a car and shoes and when he gets to that page he says “Car, shoes”.

-When we sneeze Silas says “Achoo” afterwards.

-After making a poop, he looks at us and says "Poo-poo"

-If we do something he thinks is fun, such as swinging him in the air or blowing on his stomach, he says in a high pitch tone “gain!” until we do it again.

-Dances to almost any type of music, whether it’s from his cd player or a musical toy. He moves his feet really fast or sways from side to side.

-Makes train noises----grra-grra-graa-oooh-ooh

Silas is just so much fun. He continues to be a good eater, even eating many different types of vegetables again. He eats his oatmeal all by himself most mornings and drinks from his own cup, as long as there isn’t a lot in it! He laughs a lot and definitely makes us laugh. He is happy in the morning even if we have to wake him up. His grumpy time is when we are making dinner and he is hungry or wants attention, but the hour after dinner is usually filled with fun and games, and family time.

Finally, here is a list of the new words he says on his own:
‘Gain’, Milk, Far, Mommy, Up, Down, Tak, Tank-uu (thank you), Siya (Silas), Amen, Thirsty, Helpe, Phone.

Riding the tricycle at legoland

I like this, I'll lick it all off!

A funny video --uh-oh, helpe..etc

Far!

Silas 16 months

Our little boy is so full of energy and life. He has really begun to understand and know what he wants, and this becomes obvious in his laughs, and defintely also in his screams and tantrums. Silas is quite social, and is not afraid to go over and talk to new people. We started going to gynasitcs, and he goes over to the other children and adults just chatting away. He loves to climb on any and everything, and most definitely the places that are quite unsteady. His favorite places are 1) The drawers with DVDs under the TV. 2) His table and chair set in his room. *We have now put rope around the DVD drawers and there are a lot less conflicts!

As for language: Although he can’t always use the words for what he wants, he can give signals for his wishes and we often understand what he is “asking” for. One of his favorite gestures is to shaking his head no. When someone he doens’t know talk to him, he shakes his head. If we ask if he wants more food, he shakes his head. And many times we ask him a question, he just shakes his head, and 2 seconds later begs for the thing we asked him about! He has also begun to actually say words and not just repeat them after us. The most common are:

“Car”, “Socks”, “Sove” (sleep in Danish), “Sut” (pacifier), “More”-when he wants more food,  “Banana” and “Book” as well as the Danish equivilants “Banan” and “Bog.” He can point to these things and say the name, or coming running with a pair of socks yelling “socks” with an a high tone at the end of the word.

He also says “boo” as he comes out from his hiding space behind the speakers in the living room. Silas has also begun saying “Far” (the Danish word for Dad) and if I mention the word Far, while Søren isn’t home, he will go wandering about the house looking for Søren saying “Faar, faar.”

Some of his favorite toys include

-The same old plastic stacking cups. He now can tack them up and put them together, after a few tries and switches.

-The swing in the living room

-A CD player in his room. He can turn it on himself, and begins dancing when he hears the music. Swinging his arms back and forth and moving his feet really fast. It is so adorable. He will even dance on command if you ask him to.

-The sandbox and outdoor tractor.

Silas now has 16 teeth and eats pretty much every type of food. He is not so happy for rice lately, but is enjoying some vegetables again now that he can chew carrots and cucumbers. He has discovered ketchup and LOVES it. He eats with his fork sometimes, but mostly with his stands still. However, the last few days he has insisted on feeding himself in the morning. I have taught him the words scoop, so he says “scoop” and tries to get some oatmeal on the spoon. He has been quite succesful these days, but it sure is a mess as he still wants to use his hands.

Finally, Silas makes a lot noises. He says car noises when he is driving a car around the floor, but also when he sees a car. He also says dog noises when he sees or hears a dog in real life or in a book. It is so cute listening to his noises, words, and the complexity of his own little language he speaks non-stop. My personal favorite is that after he makes or hears a fart, he says—”bloop”—imitating the sound.

Again we feel so blessed to be parents and to be able to watch Silas develop and grow. It is so enriching and brings us a lot of joy and laughter everyday.

Auntie and Uncle again!

We are so happy to announce that Søren’s sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl one week ago. We were able to visit her just 1½ days after she was born, and it was amazing to see and hold her. Her big brothers were and are so proud, and it was fun to see Ulla and Peter with a newborn again. The boys were “fighting” over the baby toy we gave our new niece, and cuddled up in the playmat that we brought over, to watch the cartoons.

Since we visited, there have been some complications with jaundice, and Ulla, Peter and baby have been in the hospital a few different places. She is doing better, but any and all prayers are very welcome!

We love her already, and look forward to watching her grow.

A little messy

A little messy is not only a good way to explain how this blog entry is going to be, but also how things have been going lately.

Søren and I are a part of the 10th grade team this year, and it has been an exciting journey so far. The scheduling, with this alternative type of schooling, is quite different then what we are used to. Some weeks we may not have any morning classes and first come to work at 12:30. Other weeks we have many morning classes from 8-12 and then our other music classes after that. There aren’t any weeks that look the same. This makes is very nice the weeks we don’t have much in 10th grade, but the weeks where we have a lot can be quite messy. I just had such a week where I had lots of 10th grade classes, morning devotion every morning, a big Open House event that I was on the planning comitte for, and then a 30+ hour weekend shift. On top of that we had evening engagements, so lets just say my life was a mess. Especially my room where my clothes have been piling up, and still need to get taken care of. The good thing is that I had so much to do, that I couldn’t possibly get it done, so I was much better at prioritizing and being okay with things that weren’t perfect. That can sometimes be a struggle for me, so now that I’m on the other side I can see what some positive things.

This week has been a lot lighter, and now Søren is in Århus on the 10th grade class trip from Wednesday to Friday. I had an absolutely fabulous day with Silas on Wednesday, where we had some much needed time together, and later in the afternoon we visited our friends Jette and her 3 girls, as her husband is on the trip with Søren. It was nice to have other thoughts and girl talk.

Otherwise we have been doing various things. I have been busy with the Show Choir I’m in. Dancing and singing in the weekends, before our next big show in January. It’s very fun to get to be on stage again, and to improve my dancing skills even more.

Søren is still playing soccer on Mondays, and is really enjoying being a part of the 10th grade team. He applied for an EU paid trip for 24 students to visit the EU office in Strasbourg, France…and he was approved. So he is already excited for the trip in April, and into the planning already.

So yeah, that’s the messy, telling of our lives in a nutshell.