When I started this 'year in review' project, I thought I would do Trey and Jewel first and post about Silas on his birthday. Anyways, nearly a month later, here is Silas' year in review :)
Sometimes I struggle to write honestly about Silas because he is such a reflection of me. In fact, I find it hard to separate the things I am going through and the way I handle them with the way he responds and reacts to things. So, when he does well and I feel like I want to brag about him, I sometimes hesitate because it makes me feel like I am bragging about myself. If he struggles, I hate to expose it because it usually reveals a struggle of my own. I am prayerful that this post is about him, not me, and that I can truly give a glimpse into his heart.
Silas has certainly grown in physique this year. He and Jordan often flex together, but now when they do, defined biceps and raising muscles can be seen. He is proud of them, and is embracing man hood in a real way (as much as a 6 year old can). Ironic in light of my previous paragraph, this year has brought major independence for Silas and a real separation from being a momma's boy to his dad's sidekick. When Jordan is around in the evenings and on the weekends, Silas is sure to busy himself with whatever dad is doing, or beg him to get into whatever Silas is doing. It was a little tough for me at first. Of course I love that they have such a great relationship, and I would not want Silas to remain in the toddler phase of mother attachment, but when he asks for Jordan to put him to bed I sometimes feel a little sad. Thankfully, we still get a lot of time together in the day, so I don't feel too rejected :)
He has also gained greatly in the risk taking arena of life. Silas likes to watch and observe before jumping into anything, and often he finds just as much enjoyment from seeing other people having fun as he does from trying it himself. His friends always want to play video games with him because he is more content to watch than to play. This is primarily because we don't really play video games at home so he isn't as good as they are. It's more fun for him to watch them be good at the game than it is for him to try it and stumble through it. But, this year he had a lot of firsts and is taking the initiative to do those things with less and less prompting. Jordan and I are figuring out how to balance allowing him to move at his own pace and giving some healthy encouragement to be adventurous.
Once he is in his element, the kid outshines them all. We started Awanas this year, which on top of going to the class by himself on Wednesday nights, he is supposed to memorize a verse and say it to his teacher each week. At first he was reluctant to go and refused to say the verse we memorized to his teacher. That was in September. Fast forward to March, he loves going every week and is memorizing on average 3 verses per week to say to his teacher. He is almost finished with the book for the year. And, he is retaining it, shockingly. Just today I heard him reciting a verse to Jewel that we learned in the fall. Rockstar.
From my perspective, there is no better big brother around. Silas excels at being the oldest sibling. Somehow he gets a great balance between caring for and making exceptions for Jewel, setting an example, and maintaining his "I'm the big brother boss" position. He does rough house with her, sometimes too hard, he does get annoyed and make mean faces at her when he wants space, he does like to show off the things he can do that she cannot on occasion. But, he makes forts with her, reads with her, picks things to play that she can play with him and would want to play with him. He chooses shows for them to watch that are appealing to her, he waits for her when they are getting in and out of the car, he explains things to her and teaches her things, he uses a sweet voice and helps her when she is stuck or frustrated. He dances with her. He compliments her. He melts both of our hearts with his interactions with her.
Silas can sometimes struggle with change (enter major restraint on talking only about Silas here). This year we decided to homeschool for Kindergarten. We knew that we would be living at Jenn's for the first half of the year and then we didn't know where we were going after that. I really felt like it would be tough for him to have the adjustment of moving to Jenn's, starting Kindergarten at one school, moving out of Jenn's and starting Kindergarten in a new school. So, we opted to do Kindergarten together. The great part for me is that Silas is a very hungry learner. He does not struggle with grasping new concepts and he is just interested in gaining knowledge. All of this makes for the easiest homeschooler possible. My major confession is that we did not keep a consistent school schedule at Jenn's. Thankfully, Kindergarten is not a very rigorous curriculum, so we are having no problem catching up this spring. The calendar, 100 chart, handwriting, and things that we were behind on, seem to be enough a part of our regular day that he isn't behind. He quickly picked up reading, and LOVES math. He told Jordan that math is his favorite part of school time because he likes to get the right answer.
The older Trey gets, the more Silas is bonding with him. They ram trucks together, he 'half wrestles' with Trey, meaning that he lets Trey have a few moves and get into it before he pins him down at the end to remind him who the big brother is, and they chase and laugh together all the time. He recently figured out that he can reach over the side of the crib and pull Trey out of his bed. They both think this is really cool and he often races me to the room to be the one to help him out.
Silas is an avid outdoorsman. If we go to the river, he is the first with his shoes off and feet in. If we are hiking, he is off and out in front of all of us, looking for treasures. If Jordan is working outside, Silas is for sure by his side and doing all he can to be a part of it. Getting dirty, loves it. Riding bikes, mastered it. Climbing trees, done it. He is so excited about our garden this year, planting, digging, harvesting...he can't wait for all of it.
I just love this series of pictures of he and Jewel. They have their own look, but you can definitely see the sibling resemblance here.
Silas is 80th percentile for height and weight. It surprises me every time that his weight is at that percentage because he seems so slim. But, I think it is because of the height that the weight is higher than other kids his age. He looks a good 1/2 head taller than most of his friends and same with the Awana's group. His height makes him even more handsome and makes him seem older than he is.
This is Silas on his annual camping trip with Jordan. At the end of the summer they take two nights for just the big guys and camp together near the coast. All camo, no bathing or teeth brushing, sleeping in sleeping bags, hot dogs for dinner...pretty much the best thing ever for Silas. He really enjoys the one on one time with Jordan. Clearly this is no place for the women folk.
He is also in his 3rd year of swim lessons. This year he has really gained confidence in the pool and is becoming a true swimmer. By true swimmer I mean that he does that back stroke with technical perfection from one side of the pool to the other and is now mastering the free style in the same manner. He got a teacher this year who is pretty tough, she requires a lot of hard work and doesn't put up with horsing around. He has really stepped up to the challenge and made a lot of improvement. At the end of the last session she was handing out their completion ribbons and shaking their hands. She gave a compliment to each kid as she handed them their ribbon. When she got to Silas she told him that he was a natural athlete, but that he is also a very hard worker. She explained that even though he has a knack for swimming, he is really putting in the effort to be excellent. He was beaming. I was about to burst.
Silas is also a man of solitude. When things are stressful or busy, he needs time to unwind alone. The sandbox has always been his escape. There is no limit on the amount of time he can lose himself to a building project, road construction, or just zoning out to the feel of the grains in his toes and fingers. Legos are also starting to satisfy this need for creating, getting away, and decompressing. The beach is his favorite place for these kind of activities. In the trips we made this fall to the coast, I had more pictures of Silas stealing away for alone time than I did of anything else. He is refueled by the ocean and the sand.
He also played soccer this year. Last year he did a little soccer school, but this year he was on a real team. He found his favorite spot to be on defense. He would naturally hang back a little and protect the goal. Although he scored the first goal of the season, he is not drawn to the offensive side. It was fun to see him figure out where he fit on the team and to be invested in his spot and responsibility.
He had a growing year while we were at Jenn's. Silas, plus three girls, all in one house. It's a lot to handle. Boys and girls process life in completely different ways, and being the sole man in the house for most of the day was a challenge to say the least. He was in high demand for a playmate, and jostled back and forth for the true rights of the oldest child in someone else's house. He was pushed to his limit (everyone was), and learned a lot about what to do when he got there. I was incredibly proud of how he handled himself.
He also turned a corner with his artistic side. Prior to this year, coloring and drawing held absolutely no interest for him. This fall he got interested in coloring for a purpose, within the lines or to make something specific. He started having purpose in painting beyond getting the most amount of paint on one page as possible. His creations have been beautiful.
He lost 5 teeth this year. There is pretty much nothing cuter than a boy with missing teeth :)
His cautious nature sometimes causes him to seem shy or standoffish. When Jordan comes home and offers some kind of totally cool and outrageous plan for the evening, Silas often declines and says he wants to stay home and play legos or cars. Jordan and Jewel are flabergasted. How can this be?? Their "take life by the horns" philosophy does not get this "I'll wait and watch and see how it goes" mentality. They often shake their heads as Silas and I prefer to watch them be wild and crazy. What would we do without eachother? This family dynamic is twisted into perfection. There is not really an opportunity for boys vs girls since in personality Silas and I are much more alike as are Jordan and Jewel. But, left to our own, Silas and I would pick the safe route every time, never learning new things or experiencing the rush of an adventure. Left on their own, Jordan and Jewel would have no schedule, no routine to keep them sane, and would throw caution and care to the wind every time. How does Trey fit in to this? Well, I think he is on the wild side :)
The most impressive part of Silas growth this year has been his spiritual maturity. We have had countless bed time conversations about understanding the depravity of our hearts and how much we need Jesus. We talk about how hard we try to do things right, how frustrated we get when we make mistakes, how we want to do things perfect the first time, how we get mad at ourselves when we see our sins, and how we interact with our precious Jesus based on all of these things. He is really starting to comprehend the stories we read and talk about in the Bible. He can identify how a story about a Biblical figure relates to him, and what it teaches him about God in the Bible time is still true about God today. He is a thinker. He is not always a talker, so our conversations are precious and feel sacred to me. He is always paying attention, gathering information, making conclusions, and living according to those conclusions. I feel like I am recognizing in him the great gift of walking through this life with your kids. God is allowing me to help give truth to Silas. When I see him applying it, I feel so honored to be a part of this incredible interaction.
Silas, we treasure you. You have been a salve on our hearts since the day we learned you were growing inside me. What a gift you are to us. We love you so much!!
Silas has certainly grown in physique this year. He and Jordan often flex together, but now when they do, defined biceps and raising muscles can be seen. He is proud of them, and is embracing man hood in a real way (as much as a 6 year old can). Ironic in light of my previous paragraph, this year has brought major independence for Silas and a real separation from being a momma's boy to his dad's sidekick. When Jordan is around in the evenings and on the weekends, Silas is sure to busy himself with whatever dad is doing, or beg him to get into whatever Silas is doing. It was a little tough for me at first. Of course I love that they have such a great relationship, and I would not want Silas to remain in the toddler phase of mother attachment, but when he asks for Jordan to put him to bed I sometimes feel a little sad. Thankfully, we still get a lot of time together in the day, so I don't feel too rejected :)
