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

before the next weekend catches up and smacks the last one in the dupa, i must post. there is an ice cream sandwich followed by a nap waiting as my reward for successfully completing this small task.

a five minute bike ride from our house on saturday morning was a land full of free blowup bouncy castles, veggie burgers, poms poms and carnival games. good lord, i do love a christian college that gives back to the community. all that fun that silas had almost made up for the ten grand i spent on grad school at said college.

seems like he got the hang of the bouncy castle thing pretty damn quick.

or maybe he'll fancy himself a baller.

bouncy train. i was worried he might get freaked out in the tunnels and hallways with kids barreling from every direction. but then once sam told me to chill out because silas was more than okay, i realized that he might not ever come out because he was just so delighted. oh, but he still looked so little to me in there.

then we took a five minute bike ride in the other direction from our apartment and found ourselves in a park district pumpkin patch. where ten bucks can get you:

a bunch of pumpkins to sit with,

some permanent markers and cray-pas to decorate your chosen one,

a pig to pet,

a donkey to pal around with,

a ghost painted on your cheek by a junior high kid with a very thin mustache,

and a pony to ride!! what a deal!

(special note to bkqp: silas chose the pony named blaze. respect.)

and because jon bon jovi says "we'll sleep when we're dead," weren't done yet. dinner was big plans for a pizza picnic in another park.

but the park was deemed to mosquito-y, silas actually yelled "ow! bug bite!" so we jumped on the montrose bus with our giant pizza and messed with the lady sitting to the right of the picture who kept saying into her cell phone, "i'm so hungry. i'm so hungry."

so there you go.

overcast day? we headed to the aquarium.

forrest chortles at the manta ray.

careful, senor tortuga, that's some precious cargo.

everybody else is scurrying about, huddled under their umbrellas. but there's my son, in no hurry at all, yelling "yay, raining, yay!!"

taking portraits of the almost two year old silas is a whole different banana.

reading the book that he reads every day, ten times a day. at least.

walking the streets of andersonville with papa.

raccoon pelt and a beet & a carrot, silas prepares for the times that lay ahead.

catch and release the magnetic force fishing with papa.

golden boy on the wooden horse.

chicago botanic garden with mom and amy & forrest.

asparagus plants provide moments of shared solitude.

silas follows eliza around at the office.

give them a waterfall and a pile of tossable leaves and they're quite satisfied.

they stop to take in the view in between wind sprints back and forth on the bridge.

silas takes advantage of time spent with sam at dusk playing in the muddy puddle.

silas waking up from his afternoon nap before five=time to visit with olivia rose!

who doesn't love when rachel is in town? we all get to stay up late and act inappropriately.

early morning bike ride to breakfast at tre kronor. soaking up our favorite parts of home before our vacation.

silas lee, a whole two stinky years ago you showed up.

twenty four whole entire months of all you, everyday.

and it has been, clearly, the best thing ever. your papa and i had no idea what we were going to get when we threw our winter hats into the child rearing ring, but now we have a little more of a clue. we got you.

this month has been quite the early autumn experience. pumpkins, apples, time with all your friends, grandma and amma. a week in california. meeting two more cousins. museums, aquariums, dinosaurs, construction trucks, diggahs.

and your last airplane (up, up, high!) trip as a lap child. seventeen flights in two years and you only made us really sweat once (that kunming-beijing leg earlier this year). seventeen. but, many people all over this world want to see you & who are we to deny them an absolute joy we get to experience everyday. we know your life is crazy, honestly, if you weren't such a chill and entertaining kid we wouldn't have even considered taking on half the adventures we've had.

almost every weeknight before i collapse into bed, i think tomorrow we will take it easy and not do much. but then the morning comes and you are so excited to be awake. and i am so psyched to have another day with nothing to do but be with you, so we must make the most of it.

we must figure out what colors the leaves have changed to today, what halloween decorations we can discover, what friends we can find strolling around the neighborhood, what museums have free admission, what puddles have formed from overnight rainstorms, what books we can check out of the library that we've never read before, how many vegetables + apples we can maneuver home from the market.

and, now, you're two. and we haven't even come close to exhausting our possibilities.

so far so good. this upcoming monday would have been the day that sam and i planned on me being back on the payroll. we just remembered that the other evening. seriously, how did these first two years happen so fast? so fun? but, we'll figure it out. your papa promised us so. i'm sticking around at home at least a little while longer because this is the best job i've ever shared.

sam and i want to be sure to have the inside track on all the things that you've named during the day, all the horses and ponies you've ridden on, the pizzas you've made, the times you've banged yourself on the head and thought it was amusing. that's good stuff and since we made you, we call first dibs.

but, we are going to start documenting our family in a new spot. more pictures, less typing. this site will now be anchored at good ol' www.ohkatie.com. your monthly posts will be written by hand. plain and simple.

onward and upward.

happy birthday, big kid. your papa + mama love you so very much.
it's ridiculous.