Well, we are quickly approaching the second birthday of my baby, and let me tell you it is showing. Of course every new stage brings laughter and wonderment along with frustration as we readjust to his new level of understanding.
Silas has been exercising a degree of stubbornness which has been astonishing to me. The most amazing part of this change is the entertainment he finds in waiting for my response to his deliberate disobedience. I am sure you are wondering how this could be. Many of you recently saw him over Christmas and aside from a few flairs over dinner, he was in general very easy going and responsive to commands. Things have changed in month 23. I have taken to giving very clear and concise instructions in a serious tone so that I know he understands I mean business. This seems to be the trigger for him to start pushing my buttons. Our biggest battle right now is him coming to me when I ask him to...it doesn't matter if we are doing something fun like going for a walk outside or if we are sadly having to leave the library where he wishes we lived, the response is the same. I say, "Silas, come to Mom right now please." He looks at me, grins his little grin, and either stands exactly where he is or bolts in the opposite direction. We started with verbal correction followed by physical assistance in obeying the command, we moved to swatting his hand, and recently have had to spank his tiny hiny! I am alarmed at myself!! However, my shock has quickly dissipated from my actions to his as of recent. Now, when I catch him after his near escape and squat down on his level to recap his problem and my solution, he starts holding out his hand and saying "fingers, fingers" just waiting for me to swat his hand. If I don't do that right away, he touches his bottom and says "bum bum" anticipating a spanking. When I tell him what I am going to do he says "OK" and follows the discipline with a slight whimper, pouty lips and a "Sorry, Mom" before hugging me and then taking off as if nothing ever happened. This is accompanied by often telling me what he is about to do will earn him a spank. At dinner he holds his plate off the edge of the table and says "dump it...my fingers," explaining that the consequence for throwing food on the floor is a swat on the hand. How do parents keep a straight face? All of this is beyond me and I am taking suggestions from veterans (including the mother of my husband who I know can commiserate).
The highlight of this stage is the vast amount of knowledge he is gaining. On top of learning his shapes, memorizing his books and counting to 10 on his own, he is becoming much more aware of his feelings about things. This all started on our way to Arizona this winter when he declared he was scared on the airplane. We tried hard to be concerned for his emotion, but mostly wanted him to just keep saying it because it was so cute. It was followed by (yet another discipline tactic) trying to nix all the whinning that was happening during dinner preparation. When he is crabby, we take him upstairs and put him in his bed so he can rest and then be happy. Well, now getting out of bed (among other things) is equated with happiness. So while we were at the Bury house over Christmas we shared a room with Silas. One night he was having a hard time staying asleep, so he was calling to Jordan and I from his crib "I happy! I happy!" so that logically we would take him out of bed. The great thing is that this has now spread to other activities. Last week, Silas and I were sitting in front of the fire reading his books, and he looked up at me and said "I happy," needless to say I was pretty happy too. Earlier this month I started babysitting for my friend Devon while she is substitute teaching a few days. Her two boys, Connor and Aiden are Silas' best friends. In fact Silas cried for them more than once while we were in Arizona on vacation (he also called all the dogs we saw in Arizona, Ivy...another doggy best pal from Oregon). One day after Devon had taken Connor and Aiden home, Silas was sitting at his little table having some milk and he said "Mom, I lonely" I was shocked. How does he even know these things? He is of course a child genious!
One day, all of these little details will not be so fresh, the struggles will be replaced with new challenges and the treasured moments will be stories in his baby book. But, this precious face I will never forget nor grow weary of. Thank you God for my son.
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