A Happy Ending

After dinner, we went back to the beach to watch the sun go down and roast some marshmallows. Silas starts out doing great with the roasting, but then becomes more interested in either drawing in the sand with his marshmallow, torching it, or declaring it "done" and eating it totally un roasted. He probably ate at least 5 marshmallows straight out of the bag and several more that he had cooked for 30 seconds. Every one he declares "mmm, that's good".
So, in honor of Aunt Christine, I had to give him some technique lessons. Roasting is an art form in the Bury family and before we are all together again to make smores I needed to show Silas the secrets to lightly toasting, fully softening, not burning the marshmallow. I picked this up myself after many, many trial roasting sessions with my family on the beaches of Rocky Point. Yes, I would declare myself the best roaster in the Baker family (or maybe just the most patient).
Like I said, the end result was delish every time. And he had just enough gooey bites to get a nice sticky circle around his lips.
The marshmallows gave him just enough of a boost to make it until the sun set just after 9. He kicked the sand, rolled in it, played soccer with Jordan, burried his feet, and maxed out the time we had there.
Jordan gave him a lesson on watching the sun disappear into the ocean. Of course he gave all the details about it being night time here and the sun is getting ready to come up in China, and that the sun doesn't actually sink, it is just going to the other side of the earth and it will be back tomorrow.
In the midst of the explanation he made some sort of sound effect of the sun actually touching the water, and that was what Silas took away from the lesson. So he just made the noise over and over again while adding his own grand gestures to describe what was going to happen.
But it actually takes a while for the sun to actually go down. So Jordan and I just sat together and watched the sun and our sun. It was seriously a great day.
And then it happened. And here is Silas taking it all in. Marshmallow face and all.
Needless to say, he fell asleep in the car on the way home. I wondered if we would ever get the pie unstuck from his lips. He had very sweet dreams, and we have very precious memories.

On to the BEACH!

After fishing, we were only about 25 minutes from the coast and decided to take advantage of these long summer days and hit the sand for a couple hours. Normally, the beaches in Oregon are pretty windy. And even if it is warm a sweatshirt is needed to block the coastal breeze. Today however, there was no wind, there was a bright warm sun in a clear sky, and seriously PERFECT conditions. I brought our beach blanket, dug a hole out in the sand for my belly, and was able to lay on my stomach and watch the boys play in the water and chase birds.

Silas showing off his manly muscles

Walking along the logs on the beach

Playing in the sand

This may have been one of the best days of his life.

My precious son.

Priceless Moments

As much as I enjoyed the fishing, and I did throw the line several times myself and contribute more than one fish to our pile, these are the moments that I live for on our little adventures. A truly happy Silas...rocks, water, mud, and all day outside.
He did take a break in my chair while I was fishing. It was after 2 pm, which means an hour past nap time. We never heard a cry, fuss, or complaint. But once my chair was free he asked to take a nap. He never slept, but he lounged in the shade for a good 1/2 hour. Note he still puts his finger in his belly button when he is getting ready to fall asleep. How cute is that?

He is precious from head to toe. We seriously can't get enough of this kid.

We are debating if his eyes are taking on the green tint that both Jordan and I have. They seem to be this beautiful clear blue, with just a hue of green.
His biggest accomplishment of this trip was that at one point I was getting lunch ready, Jordan had the fishing pole in the water, and Silas had to go pee. So Jordan told him to go ahead on his own. He pulled his little shorts down to his ankles, put his hands on his skinny butt cheeks, and peed on the dirt. He was totally successful and it may have been the proudest moment of his life. He talked about peeing by himself the rest of the day. Last night, Jordan was putting him to bed and reminded him they needed to go into the bathroom to go potty and brush teeth. By the time Jordan got in there to help him, he had taken his stool (which is WAY too tall to use for peeing, he is just a couple inches shy of the top of toilet bowl when he stands on the ground and the stool is probably a good 10 inches of extra height) and put it in front of the toilet, was standing on it and in mid stream. Although he was less than accurate, the independence was thrilling. This morning he gave me the play by play, taking me into the bathroom and demonstrating each step as he narrated and said "see Mom, watch, like this" as he acted the whole thing out. I was beyond impressed.

Fishing!

Apparently you cannot fit in here in the NW until you are a skilled (or at least frequent) fisherman. Jordan is always looking for fun new things to do with Silas, so he took the plunge. I appreciate so much that he is willing to try anything new, and really put the time and effort into learning and enjoying it. He got a few tips and lessons from guys at church and work and we set off for Lost Lake. The name was appropriate as we drove 5 miles down a logging road through the coastal range before we nearly passed this hidden little treasure. We were one of only a few visitors that day, which was probably better since Silas doesn't really understand the art of keeping quiet around the fish. However, despite our rock throwing little helper, we were pretty successful for our first official fishing trip.
Although the fish were pretty small, we got bites or caught fish almost every time we threw the line out. This is my kind of fishing (Jordan and Silas too!). We threw back as many as we could, but sadly we lost several lives because we were unable to unhook them successfully...or in time. So this was Jordan's first catch.


Silas was mostly very content to play with the worms, throw rocks in the water, sit at Jordan's feet, and explore our little camp site area.
He did like touching the slimy, dead fish. We'll see how fond he is of them on fish dinner night :)

I love Thursdays

For the months of May and June, Thursday is Jordan's day off. It is actually really nice to have a week day off as we have been using this time to take Silas on day trips to go to the river, go fishing at the lake, and hanging at the beach. All of these areas are much less busy on Thursdays, so we have been greatly enjoying our NW surroundings the last few weeks.

Our first trip was just for the morning out to the Nehalem River. Although we had a newly purchased fishing pole and accessories, we were unable to find a great spot by the river to set up our "spot"...meaning a place I can stretch out my reclining lawn chair and there is enough room for Silas to walk around without falling into the river. So, we settled for it to be an exploratory trip and found a place to make a campfire and cook our hot dogs.
Silas is HIGHLY enamored with gathering fire wood, blowing on the fire, and stoking it with his stick. He pretty much thinks everything Jordan does is the coolest thing to be doing, and as you can see has mastered the skill of mimicking his Dad. And, yes, they are wearing matching camo pants.
We eat hot dogs now and again at home, but over the fire they were WAY cooler. So this is our little boy, in his own little camping chair, eating his own little meal...I guess he really is getting bigger.

The Phrases are FUNNY!

I just had to add a few more pictures from the last few days, and record some of his latest phrases before I forget them :)

So, the biggest problem with spaghetti is how delicious it is, and how hard it is to eat with a fork. So we prefer the both hands in method. See the video clip at the end of the entry!

So, I have to confess that with the warm weather, I have been taking the opportunity to get some sunshine. Saturday I was laying in my chair most of the morning while Silas played very happily in the back yard. I usually expose my growing belly to the sun as well, because let's face it, bigger looks better when tan! So, when I went in to make lunch, I looked outside to find him stretched out in my chair...with his shirt pulled up just like mine.

This Sunday, Silas was voted best dressed (again) by everyone at church. I can't help myself, he makes the outfit!

We also recently moved Silas into a big boy bed. It is comical actually because we are using the queen size bed from our guest room for now. This was mostly motivated by need on my part. Silas does not share my lap well with the baby, so story time in our chair was getting to be a pushing match. Not to mention that lifting him in and out of his crib was probably not the best thing for my "restricted activity". So, into the big bed he went. It was a fabulously easy transition, which we were not expecting. I thought we would have jumping up and down, getting out of bed, and playing way too long before sleep. Graciously, God gave this one to us and he mostly just loves his new bed a ton.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at our friends' house for a bbq. It was a really busy afternoon/ evening and even though Silas was tired I knew winding down for sleep would be a trick. But, we climbed into his big bed and read our books together, sang our songs and prayed, and then I left with all quiet. About 30 minutes later I hear him crying so I went up to go check on him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed when I came in, and this was our exchange.

me: What's the matter, Silas
him: I don't know, Mom, I'm just crying.
me: Oh, that's too bad. Well, let's lay back down.
him: I need to snuggle for a minute
me: OK, I will lay next to you for a minute
him: (once I am in bed next to him) Mom, let's just talk for a while.
me: (I know, this is totally against efficient bed time routines, but I couldn't handle the cuteness) Ok, Silas, what do you want to talk about?
him: Ummm...Hmmmm...How about Lisa's house.
me: OK
him: I play with my friends, and the big sand box, and lots of bubbles, and Ivy (their dog) was eating the bubbles! It was so funny! Running around, playing, eat a treat. (continues on with great animation about all of our activities)
me: Yeah, it was a good time wasn't it.
him: yeah, it was a good time.

I guess he just wasn't done processing his day. I was delighted to share in it with him. After that I layed next to him for a few more minutes and he rubbed my arm while I rubbed his tummy, and then he fell asleep. A totally precious moment.

Here are a few of his favorite phrases right now that get Jordan and I cracking up right away:

1. Oh, get outta here!
2. I can't believe it!
3. I can't wait to see him (Jordan)!
4. I just need one more kiss
5. I feel a little grouchy
6. Oh wow, great idea!
7. Check this out...
8. I don't know what you're talking about
9. Oh yes! PLEASE!
10. I love you, too

More about my guys

Jordan has totally stepped up to the plate to help out now that the doctor has told me to start taking it easy. Today alone, I have to brag, on top of working an extra 3 hours on his day off to earn some extra money, he vacuumed the downstairs, cycled through 4 loads of laundry, played with Silas, took him the the Portland Children's Museum so that I could grocery shop alone, and put him to bed. Wow. I know. Silas loves Jordan's days off and they always make good memories. Today when they got home from PCM, I found them waiting for me in the driveway (in the rain) looking just like this...
What a champ of a Dad to join in on the face painting fun. Silas was very proud of himself. Jordan said on the ride home they had gotten stuck in traffic so to entertain Silas, he turned the rear view mirror so that Silas could see himself. The remainder of the ride he inspected his face, laughed, and was saying "On my face, on my nose, right here, right here...ha ha ha, that's funny!"
Then they took out the tricycle that Grammy and Pops got Silas for his birthday, and showed me their latest tricks they had been practicing. Silas ALMOST has it on his own. The slope in the driveway is boosting his confidence.

Then we went inside so I could make dinner. It is really hard to be the one making dinner when there is silliness going on. So I took a break to catch this clip.

And finally, just for a few more giggles...this is Silas' latest joke. He puts this bucket on his head and runs around the house. He thinks that we cannot see him through the clear plastic because he says "Where's Silas, Mom?" when it is on, and then pulls it off to say "I am here!"

His other funny sayings right now are, "You be my friend, Dad?" and sometime he is saying it, sometimes a train is saying it to us. He has also started taking his trains into the bathroom with him when he needs to go #2...and talking to them while he is waiting for the action. We crack up just outside the door (after he asks me to leave because he needs his privacy) as we hear him say "I push really hard, Edward." and "It's coming Thomas!" or "It's a big one, that is a really big one, Edward. I get a treat now?"
He is still very inquisitive about what things are, so he will frequently ask me as he did while we were washing his hands yesterday "what's that, Momma?" while he is pointing to the faucet. So I said "That is a faucet" and he says in this very high pitched voice of total disbelief "A faucet? Really? Really?" as if I were trying to trick him on the names of household objects. Again, these are all things that have us in stitches, but that you really have to be here to get the full idea...so COME!

Growing Up

So I have more to add about the greatness of being two. Silas is of course grasping new language and ideas all the time, but the most amazing to see is him entering the world of pretend. I spent A LOT of time pretending when I was a kid, with friends, cousins, and my little brother, Everett. I have really fond memories of the elaborate stories we would create, and I am thrilled to see my own son starting to open the door to this new phase of play. Most frequently he is pretending and talking with his toy trains. I often hear him saying things like "Come on Edward, let's go to work. You are working hard Thomas. Come through the tunnel guys. Oh No! He's crashing off the track!" and so on. He and Jordan have also started pretending to go fishing, camping in the tent, hunting for bears, and shooting guns. He totally gets into these play times and will always tell me in his very animated gestures and voice inflections all about what happened on their adventure.
This also extends to his play with his friends. Earlier this week I was watching Connor and Aiden and was able to sit back and listen to these boys as they built tracks for their monster trucks, made plans for sand castles, and had conversation with one another throughout their play. This is a huge change from the previous "mine" and "no, mine" routine we have been in for months. In particular it is fun to listen to Silas and Aiden together in their little two year old world. I don't know how common it is for kids (especially boys) of this age to be this interactive, but these guys understand each other and really play together. You may remember the video Aiden's mom, Devon, put together of the two of them playing at her house almost a year ago. If you didn't see it, check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFm_idKbpIg, or just watch it again because it is so cute! But now these boys are saying things like "Come on Aiden, let's go play upstairs." And "Ok, Silas, I will bring Thomas." They ask each other questions like "What are you making Silas?" and Silas will say "I am making a jump for my truck." And their little voices have so much inflection and emotion in them! This last visit they were playing with stuffed animals and Aiden marched his caterpillar over to Silas and said to his frog "What's your name?" I could see Silas thinking that he knew Aiden was not asking for HIS name, but rather the name of the frog, so after some stalling he replied "I am Library." Aiden totally cought on and said "Hi, Library." and it continued on from there. I tried with everything in me to get this on video, but they are way too aware of me joining their party. I mostly just caught them playing together and laughing with each other in this clip...I need to get more sneaky.

One of the things that makes this stage so much fun is the vocabulary and sentence structure coming out of these tiny little bodies. After dinner tonight, Jordan grabbed the Bible and held it up to Silas to show him we would be reading before we were excused. Silas looked at him and said...word for word...totally clear and easy to understand, "No thanks, Dad. I don't want to read a book right now, I am going to play trains." We both about fell out of our chairs.

When I was talking to my Dad last week I told him that I feel like no matter how many blog posts I do, or phone calls I have, stories I relay, I am just not doing this kid justice! I long to share this little boy and all his changes with our family. Last week Jordan's friend from work was over, he is single and younger so he doesn't have kids of his own and he has a pretty small family. Silas really likes him and is getting more comfortable around him as he spends more time at our house. Chris really gets into all the things Silas can do because he isn't around little kids a ton. So we pretty much bribe Silas into doing everything he knows how to do in one evening so that we can hear Chris tell us how brilliant and athletic and wonderful Silas is. This is not because we don't know that already, it is just becuase we want so bad to be able to share him with people who love us and love him! Thankfully we have our friends here, but I think that Silas' Uncle Chris put it best when he told me "I can't believe Silas is growing up without us!" and that is exactly how we feel! So, yes, we would love for anyone who can come this summer to come and stay. Not just because I am taking it easy and need help, not just so Jordan and I can have a date, but just to BE with Silas and experience him and enjoy him.

My Golfing Boys

Last week Silas and I met Jordan at the golf course to play a few holes. Silas LOVES the golf course and is very proud of Jordan as a golfer. I pretty much can't get enough of these two, and I think Silas gets cuter and cuter in his little collard shirts. I remember dreaming about these days when we found out Silas was a boy, and I am enjoying them as much as I imagined myself doing.
Silas has picked up a lot of the golfing phrases, and often does commentary throughout the game. After Jordan hits the ball, Silas will say "Wow Dad, you crushed it!" or "Nice one." Thankfully all of his remarks are encouraging. I am sure this dynamic will change when Silas points out a hard slice or too much of a fade (and yes, I do know what those terms mean). For now I am watching as this very proud Dad accepts all the genuine compliments his amazed little boy is handing out.
This time we forgot to grab Silas' pint sized clubs, so he had to borrow Jordan's. He puts forth a good effort for using a putter taller than himself.

But as you can see, he is much more at home with his mini putter and his home course. We are still working on the hand positioning, Jordan won't let him get away with this chest putter grip, they practice holding it the right way frequently.

The Shower

When we added the sandbox and had a few days of warm weather requiring sun screen, I added this detachable shower head to the shower in our bathroom so that we could rinse Silas off at night instead of having to do a full blown bath to rinse of sand and sunscreen grease. It has been a huge hit for him to take his "special shower".
Once he gets in he says "OK, bye Mom" as if to let me know he needs some privacy. I frequently stick my head in and ask how he is doing only to hear him say "I'm good...bye!". It has also been great for hair washing which had been giving us problems in the tub. Even with rinsing his hair with the cup, water would inevitably get in his eyes and we would have a huge scene followed by a drawn out time of saying "eyes hurting, Mom" (even with the tear free shampoo). So even though the shower goes in his eyes also, something about the magic of me holding the shower head and rinsing his hair makes the soap in the eyes not hurt. Who knew?
He feels very big and proud of himself, it is much easier and faster for us, I personally think one gets cleaner in a shower as opposed to soaking in the water you got in when you were dirty...and I think we are saving water to boot!

Our Newest Addition

This summer we thought it might be nice to turn our plastic kiddie pool into a sand box for Silas, just fill it up with sand from Home Depot and let him use it more often instead of just the days it is hot enough to have the pool filled up. So, last week on Jordan's day off we got to work on our task. Of course by "we" I mean Jordan did all of the work and I tried to keep Silas out of his way and entertained until the job was done. This was actually hard work for me too, because of course once we had cleared out our area and set the pool up, Jordan felt like it was not aesthetically pleasing to have a blue pool filled with sand in our little back yard. So...two trips to Home Depot later, he is constructing a real sand box. I have to give him credit, in our miniature yard he has done a FABULOUS job of making the most of the space. So we were inspired by the sunshine and warmth of the day and improved on our already impressive little space.
Jordan actually let Silas hammer in nails. He started with the tack hammer, to lessen possible injury. But of course Silas wanted Dad's hammer...so Jordan patiently assisted in a lesson.Once the box was constructed, Silas got the vision and could not contain himself waiting for the sand. He jumped up and down in the box while Jordan hauled 12 bags of sand from his truck to the back yard.
Once the sand starting going in, Silas stayed in the box and played with his trucks even while Jordan was dumping in the bags and sending the sand dust all over.
This happy little boy did NOT want dinner or bed time that day...just the sand box!
So over the last few days, he has asked for the sandbox rain or shine. If we are out running errands he will say to me "Mom, I go home now and play in sandbox?" or when he gets up from his nap "Time for the sandbox, Mom?". This morning it was raining and not above 50 degrees. He put on his rain boots and rain jacket with hood and went out to make sand castles. Amazing.

I am so thankful for Silas' sense of adventure and creativity, and so thankful for my husband who always does projects to the highest standard and spoils his family. Of course we have already had to clean sand out of our little fountain twice, and when we did fill up the pool with water it quickly became a beach at the bottom, and I have sand grains on my kitchen floor pretty much all the time now and have already nearly doubled my laundry loads, but it is TOTALLY worth it for the joy it brings Silas. And I am already invisoning many afternoons of laying out in my lawn chair while Silas happily moves from the putting green to the sand box to the pool and back again. Thanks Jordan!