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

well, holy jalapenos. silas lee, you are five months old.
five months. what to say? what to write? oh, yes, i know. silas lee, we are exhausted.

the past month has been chock full like we never understood chock full to mean before. yep, we've been busy just hanging out around the house (exploring every room, drawer, closet, wall hanging, mirror & good spots to just laze about for awhile),

going for walks, adapting our going out clothes to the warmer weather, practicing yoga, meeting friends at the library and riding the train.

but, you've also conquered a ton of new stuff this month: we started a fitness class that more often than not is more like a personal trainer for mama. nobody shows up for class, and I get to benchpress you forty times while you laugh with Martha, the instructor, like mama trying to get in shape is just the funniest thing your little baby brain could ever imagine. you've been to the nature museum, the mca, the lincoln park zoo (twice!), & for a weekend away in wisconsin. but the big thing is the teeth.

oh my, how the teeth have changed your every day. everything you touch goes right the mouth. everything i give you comes back with teeth marks in it: your rattles, puzzle pieces, potatoes.

so, because of all these changes, you just aren't sleeping. well, okay, let me rephrase that, you are sleeping but you're fighting it with every ounce of your being and you wake up every two hours just to cry hello and either bounce with papa or eat some more. why do you wake? why? this is the question that sam and i have presented to each other the most over the past month. why? the answer: no idea. the books tell us this is why babies wake up: they get teeth or their teeth hurt or they learn a new skill or they're ready for more than just breastmilk or they are now light sleepers or a general growth spurt. sam and i say yes to all of these reasons. we note your recent rollovers from back to front and the one time you rolled from front to back and scared the bejesus out of yourself. we started giving you tastes of banana in the mornings and a spoonful or two of rice cereal at night. in typical silas fashion, you don't get overly geeked out about either, just real contemplative.

so, you wake up alot and then you go right back to bed. no biggie right? except, your mama isn't sleeping. that's right, the champion sleeper of the family has lost her touch. i lay awake waiting for you to wake up, wondering if we're messing you up with all our various attempts at parenting. you're sleeping fast asleep. your papa's snoring and i'm trying to recite complete movies from start to finish in an attempt to lull myself to sleep.

yesterday morning, i finally turned to your papa and said "we need a crib. now." so in typical sam fashion, he had a crib set up and ready to go within six hours. we laid you down and you looked around. you looked at us. you found the mirror (thanks, priya!) that we attached to the rail. you promptly flipped onto your side, grabbed the mirror with both hands and fell asleep. just like that. amen.

so there you go. i guess you're all right with all the changes. you might skip your afternoon nap for a week or two, but it certainly won't stop you from being in the best mood ever for the rest of the time. charming everyone you meet, giving the slow smirk to the deserving and the patient.

sam and i were talking the other night about the craziness of this all. i asked him if he thought we had decided to have a baby to soon and he answered quite simply, if we would have waited we wouldn't have you. and you, silas lee, are what matters.