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

on friday, silas helped eliza and i celebrate our anniversary eve by joining us for lunch up at north park nature village.

then eliza and baby tremenda showed up with wine and fancy chocolates in the evening. we made some cheese and baked up some pizzas. georgia was a flurry of joy.

saturday morning snail riding.

silas finally starts pitching in around breakfast time.

i spent saturday morning wielding a wheelbarrow, eating doughnuts and trying not to get in eliza's way at the great perennial divide. when i returned and cleaned myself up, sam and i packed up the hatchback and loaded up the baby for a drive up to milwaukee. we found ourselves at cempazuchi at dinnertime. silas's reach has just extended just far enough to make it to the basket of chips.

strolling down brady street after dinner. moments after this photo was taken, we ran into joey, an old highschool friend of mine from indiana. too bad silas's fake id is still being processed or else we would have totally hung out to see his band play.

catching up on some reading, catching a few more z's.

holy great pumpkin.

silas deals out some unsolicited donkey taunting.

us three again at whispering orchards.

because there's more to wisconsin than margaritas, hotel pools and apple orchards, we headed up to sheboygan to help our friends, rachel and doug, celebrate their baby to be.

baby shower balloons with sian.

because it hasn't been crazy enough to see my best friend from high school get married, become a pediatrician and with child: let's just add in a snapshot of her with my son.

ps. hi ra!!! hi sian!!! thanks for siging those model releases!

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when does a child officially cross the threshold from babyhood into toddlerhood?

is it when he loses patience with his mother preparing his breakfast and just goes ahead and gets it himself? Or, perhaps, is it when he points at the beer on the second shelf of the fridge and says "papa"?

silas and olivia spent some quality time together cruising the sidewalks of ravenswood manor.

keeping an eye on the neighbors. you'd think they were campaigning for the condo board.

well, olivia did alot of walking. silas gave her a challenge by braking with his dragging feet.

a week away from the big 01.

soaking up the last of the summer sun.

he's faster outside on the concrete.

sam, thanks for always being up for my big ideas.

thanks for taking me to the best places.

thanks for inviting me over to your back porch that wednesday evening.

happy anniversary.

love,
your wife

green city market on saturday morning. we bought up some greens, beans, eggs and silas had a tomato & herb crepe all before his morning nap.

who's responsible for this child?

silas is very specific about what he does and doesn't want to touch while at the markets. sam caught him reaching out for a dried sunflower.

and just this morning at the lincoln square market, silas seriously pushed aside probably fifteen butternut squashes in the quest for just the one he was looking for. it was only a dollar, i bought it for him. he also clung tightly onto a four foot long crookneck green squash and fretted quite a bit when walked away from the table. i appeased him with a pound of pickles for canning. (how's that for racy internet reading?)

monday morning at the beach. just a bit north of here, two years ago sam and i tied the big ol' knot. i like to think that silas understood the significance of our daytrip.

it was a bit windy and sunny. but silas could've hung out digging with his empty lunch container all day.

calla lilies.

in other anniversary present news, the first batch of tofu jerky is dehydrating away. only 5-10 more hours until it's ready!

it's been all things pumpkin around here for the past week or so. silas is so in love with pumpkins and assorted gourds that before we cut one up we have to be sure to have a replacement. he looks for them immediately upon waking, tries to heave and toss and attempts to take bites out of the large tough skinned autumn balls.

jack o' lantern in the works.

silas stirs the goo stew.

it's always best to leave the clean up to sam.

glowing pumpkin, spicy nose.

baby's first hayride! baby's first tractor exhaust in the face!

no biggie for these two, this is georgia's daily commute.

hard to tell if he was happier about the swine or the rusty fence.

once again, georgia and silas overwhelm their mothers' with their good looks.

sam and silas tough out the rain at north park nature village's harvest fest.

forrest and silas accessorize with slings, mamas and buckthorn bling.

apparently they have pumpkins everywhere. silas found some more (along with handy pricing guide) out in mchenry county while visiting his grandparents earlier this week.

because she likes to encourage silas's early verbal development and lots of pointing at her drink, my mom orders bubble tea.

bathtime hijinks with papa. also, please note the after 6:30pm goofy grin.

heading downtown on a beautiful thursday morning.

baby's first lunchtime nooner! baby's first indian buffet! baby's first samosa!

happy birthday, sweet boy.

we love you so much, it's ridiculous.

so i guess this is how it's going to be, silas lee. the weather has gone crispy and cool and we're reminded of just where we were at at this time last year.

most of all we couldn't wait to see your face.

sam and i wondered a whole lot what exactly the combination of the two of us would look like. now we have a pretty good idea and for your sake we're quite relieved. you are a joy to stare at all day long. in the beginning, i remember how strange it would feel to look away from you. i would feel the muscles behind my eyes pulse when i finally changed my point of view to something other than you. i would force myself to look away once sam got home from work so that i wouldn't be quite so baby crazy. but now, when we lay you down at night i always wish i had soaked you in a little bit more. exactly what you were like that day, those moments. because when you wake up and your papa brings you into bed in the middle of the night, my first thought always is: "he's so big. so long. so old. so different than the last time i saw him."

this past month, you have become quite the buddy. you and i spend so much time together during the day that it is such a relief to see you develop different ways of playing, interacting, bouncing, squealing and smacking with all your loved ones. watching the expression on your face change to pure joy when you see one of your recognized friends, papa or family - that's awesome. but's it's even more fun for me as your mama when your friends look just as excited to see you.

so many things in the past month, silas lee. two syllable words (puppy, balloon), loads of more signs, true communication and understanding, a hilarious sense of humor and anticipation. reading books with you has finally become an interactive experience when you anticipate what animal, action or picture will be on the next page and you move our hands out of the way so you can turn the page. crazy.

we also lost a dear family friend this month. and with all the tears, long talks, hugs, church service, and a late night at the funeral home, you silas lee, were a champ. interesting that you decided exactly on the day that we found out about her death to start giving out kisses. all the time kisses. you preface the kiss with a matter of fact grunt and two little palms on the side of our faces, then plant one on us, followed by a self satisfied little sigh. classic and totally unique. and your papa and i and your grandma will totally take them, all of those baby kisses.

hello, big kid. thanks for the best year ever.

early in my photography instruction, i had the good fortune of falling under the tutelage of a kind mentor who excelled in the art of family documentation. i was immediately inspired by his ability to find new and fresh ways of taking numerous portraits of those in his everyday surroundings. but i was struck most by his collection of photographs of his son. he easily had taken a photograph of his child every week from the day of his birth or so it seemed to me while thumbing through his collection. this was amazing.

when silas was born, the fact that sam and i had created our very own lifetime photography subject was not lost on me. i have a duty to document silas. words are not my strength. but i do think i have a shot with the camera.

click on the link to see: fifty-three weeks. fifty-three ridiculous monkeys.

if you don't already know, birthdays are no small thing around here. sam and i stayed up until two am the night before silas's big 0-1 preparing everything just so: decorations, baked goods, tofu jerky, pile of presents, devil mask on doorway. we wanted to make the baby knew that something very special was ahappening.

apparently sam studied under chihuly.

nothing says a day all about silas like a crate full of apples.

sportin' a styling do at apple holler.

baby in a booster seat! breakfast all over papa's lap!

silas off in search of some apple trees in need of a friend.

he waited a long time. sadly, no one else showed.

maybe we should have named him linus.

pumpkin chocolate muffins with little silas faces.

georgia and eliza show up ready to party.

the entire neighborhood of babies convenes on our home.

it isn't really a party until the electricity goes out.

the presentation of the flaming numero uno.

olivia celebrates with grace.

silas kindly lets his chauffeur join the festivities.

seriously, how did all these children get into our house?

in truth, nobody rocks the party like forrest rocks the party.

saturday brunch is a celebration with family, a few more neighbors and a godparent.

said godparent and his lady.

silas takes a good look at his new buddy, pablo. (thanks, bkpq!)

a round of applause for getting grandpa into the city!

the birthday monkeys.

sunday it stopped being all about the baby/toddler and started being about others for a change. anthony and rie are moving far, far away so we requested one last visit to soak in all the goodness.

getting a bit bored with the bears game, silas decided to try walking (!) behind his wagon.

he was unstoppable.

holy crap! doesn't he look so funny standing upright?!

we were so proud we bought him a puppy. (actually, that's momo. he's moving to california too.)

silas keeps coming up with topics conversation just so they can't leave. ah well, camping under the redwoods - here we come!

just another monday back at work. lunch with the monkey while watching the monkeys at lincoln park zoo.

always up for sharing a tasty cracker, silas checks the reliability of a chain link fence.

counting geese with grandma.

spookiest halloween wishes to you all. because, in my opinion, nothing captures the holiday better than an aggressive chicken and an overstimulated monkey.