t h e . r i d i c u l o u s . p a n d a

i thought silas might enjoy looking at himself as much as we do. i was right.

i take a picture of my baby wearing his sweater from antonio & angela, sam makes it a bit more cinematic.

we spent the weekend with my parents. silas was all smiles and sweetness until waking from his morning nap on sunday. maybe he was a bit anxious about the superbowl, maybe it was something in the morning breastmilk, but he certainly wasn't happy. in between cries, head butts and general crankiness we had a good hour of happy silas. we quick grabbed the camera in case it never happened again.

trying to tell grandma all about it.

practicing his fighter pilot moves with grandpa.

you never know what'll make him laugh.

silas managed to get red cheeks even though he hadn't left the house for two days.

come to think of it, we weren't even looking for a reason to get out of bed this morning...

silas and his favorite teething toy. it's like baby knows we're on a budget.

and this is why the weekends are so precious.

on sunday we had the pleasure of meeting miss audrey mae.

i guess i don't really need to put the before and after captions on these...

jill and silas

the wee one and her father, todd

silas and audrey

i wanted to make sure i had something for sam to celebrate saint valentine's day. even though he said he hadn't gotten me anything, i knew better than to fall for that big fat lie.

so, yesterday, i set silas up to take a special extra lovey dovey portrait of us that i could present to his papa.

but silas talked and cooed and talked during the entire photo shoot. instead of big baby smirks, i have a bunch of pictures of silas's knitted brow and a mouth twisted with the delivery of a serious monologue.

we put off the picture taking until baby fell asleep.

and good thing, because mr. "i didn't have time to get you a present" showed up with a heart shaped deep dish spinach pizza, tiramisu, four bottles of tinto lena and a bag of cheetos. i can't think of any better way to celebrate the love we got going on in this family.

this weekend was all looking at the baby. my brother's family was in town from wyoming, my sister's family visiting from manhattan. my entire family gathered at my parents' house: two grandparents, four siblings, four spouses, six kids. silas sat and stared wide eyed at his cousins, tested the bouncing tolerances of his aunts, uncles and olivia. he only cried once and that was when his hand was covered by a plastic triceratops, he wasn't expecting that one.

quinn xi, pondering the big four

li yao, getting ready for her closeup

priya xue, happily handing over the "baby of the family" sceptre

silas lee, who can sleep when you got aunt kim presents to drool on?

quinn and priya visited on silas's turf today. brunch at the diner, a walk around the block and some serious quality time spent with his cousins. now he's passed out napping and i can only imagine his dreams are filled with a spinning quinn and a laughing priya.

silas lee, this is the month that you turned on the charm.

late in january i took a deep breath and geared you up for a day downtown with grandma ruth. we spent hours wandering around the art institute. we paced in the darkened ando room, you stared at japanese warrior statues, figures of buddha and examined african wood carvings. it was amazing, you were amazing. it was one of those afternoons that i will never forget, you blew my expectations away.

earlier this month you sort of stopped talking. at first we didn't notice, you really only babbled on the changng table and when we were reading you books. but after a few days we realized how unchatty you'd become. sam and i tried to engage you in conversation but you didn't really seem interested. so we laid off and figured you'd come back around when you were ready. apparently you're ready. midfebruary your verbosity returned and we've barely been able to shush you since.

your sounds and words are completely different than what they were before. much more coo-y, sigh-y and a lot of throaty rolls. it's totally crazy. did i mention that you talk ALL of the time? even when you start to fuss and cry, you'll stop every few wails to interject a sentence filling us in on the details of your emotional state. oh, and the drool. holy lord, the drool that comes out of your mouth. anything that comes near your mouth you gift with a fine sheen of your drool. not only do we have to change your shirt a few times a day, but i see sam in a full selection of his pocket tees in one weekend. we're just going to blanket the drooling, the gnawing on our knuckles and leading with your mouth towards every object as "teething." that way people just smile and nod instead of looking completely grossed out at our slobberly wonderboy.

silas, you haven't backed down in the face of old man winter this month. you've slept through long wintery walks, squinted into the bright snow and become a regular at our local, warm coffeehouse. granted, you and i have had long days of trying to amuse ourselves indoors.

but that's the best thing about you, silas, you are really psyched about almost everything.


this month we started visiting the library on a weekly basis and checking out books for you. i love holding books out in front of you and adding to our pile whichever one you lunge for first. they say you can't judge a book by its cover, but so far you've done a decent job. but your favorite place is still the bath. you've figured out that not just kicking your legs makes the bath fun but flinging your arms all around causes much splashy splasherness. i usually have only one eye open because water is flying all over the place. it is hilarious and you are so serious and intent about making the most of your time in the tub. it's almost as if it's your job.

what else, what else? your papa and i made you a cherry pie to celebrate you coming into our lives four months ago today. we marked it with an "s" and waited until you fell asleep to eat it. we can't believe how great you are. how incredibly much we love you and how different you look to us every day. i swear you grow longer every night and you hair gets foofier every time you nap.

silas lee, you are the best thing to wake up to after your papa leaves for work in the morning. you have the sweetest cheeks to kiss goodnight and the best smelling neck to nuzzle. we can't believe you've only been around for four months. so awesome, that's you.

(Danke Lucy Kempe!)