Holiday Update 2006

I finally felt my inner Scrooge dying as I actually looked forward to the holidays this year! Silas was so much fun, talking about his stocking and the kind of presents he wanted - "blue presents". I don't know why blue, but that was what he wanted in his stocking. We didn't make a big deal out of the Santa thing - I think we have another year before we have to really address that one. I don't see the need to have him believe, but everyone I talk to seems to think I'm just nuts or incredibly mean to not make it a big deal. I don't want him to be the kid who ruins it for someone else's kid either, so we're still up in the air on that one. What are you going to do?

There are a couple quotes my family is throwing around after our gift exchange with them. The first is, "A present? For MEEEE?" in a very sweet, excited little voice. He said this with almost every present he received all 3 days (we celebrated on the 23rd with Jim and Helen, the 24th with my family and the 25th just the 3 of us). The other cute little Silas-ism is "I made this for you, I did" when he handed each of his aunts and uncles and grandparents a pompom ornament that we crafted together. It doesn't look as cute when it's typed into an email, but it was so darling that we made sure we got him saying it on video. He was so proud of himself, even if he wasn't as helpful while making the craft as I had hoped. :)

We had snow on Tuesday this week and so I took Silas out to play in it a bit. It was really a heavy dusting that melted by noon, but I dressed him in his full snowsuit just for fun. I'll send you the pictures when I get a moment, hopefully this evening. We made minature snow people, which he enjoyed smashing on the patio (that has to be a boy thing.

Then I introduced him to eating snow - I couldn't resist, but now I wish I had. Six hours later he woke from his nap and began vomiting! YUCK! I was covered in vomit, as was his beautiful chair in his room and the entire bathroom! It was so gross! I'm sure my character has been somehow strengthened by the whole thing, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone! He may not have picked it up from the snow, although that was what mom and dad were convinced it was. He was in church Saturday night and Sunday morning, so he very easily could have picked up something there, and I also had taken him to the drop-in day-care at mall, so he could have gotten something there too. But today, at mom's group, I learned that another kid from Silas' Saturday night class also got a stomach virus, so I'm assuming it was the nursery and NOT eating snow, which makes me feel better. He is just today starting on regular food and I'm so leery of feeding him anything!

No more Foofoo's for Silas

Silas hasn't been napping this week. Here's the story in a nut shell: I noticed on New Year's Eve as I was trying to work on his cute lisp that his front teeth don't touch! He has an open-bite! I tried not to scare him as I was dealing with my shock from this realization. He had a routine check-up on Thurs, the 4th, and his pediatrician made it plain that it was time to get rid of the pacifier. And just that morning, when I went to get him up, he had 5 of his fufus lined up next to him in the crib and he was reading a book to them. They are like little friends to him!

We made a scheduled stop at the library after the doctor's appointment to reward Silas with new books for being so good, and I ran into my neighbor, Lynn (Ryan and Evan's mom). I told her my dilemma and she said that Evan had a hard time relinquishing his pacifier too and they finally resorted to cutting it. So I went home and cut his precious little friends and put him down for his nap. He noticed right away and told me that his "fufus are broken - fix it". Trying to be as cheerful and empathetic as I can be, I told him that I know they are broken, but it's okay. It makes me so sad, but I know it's time. He's not a baby anymore.

Of course, since then, he hasn't been sleeping during nap time, which is really hard on me. He does stay in his room, so at least I have some downtime, but I needed a nap a couple days myself and I wasn't able to get one because I have to be alert for his sake. Actually, 2 days ago I did lay down for 15 minutes and in that time he had a bowel movement and then proceeded to change himself - unsuccessfully. It was awful! Diaperless, he had climbed up on his changing table to retrieve his wipes and then climbed back down to the floor to try to wipe himself. I came in when he started crying because he hadn't been able to clean himself and he had gotten poop some of his books that were on the floor. He was so upset and ashamed and afraid! It was heart breaking! I assured him that it was okay and we quickly headed to the bathtub and got him all cleaned up. My mom seems to think that it is hilarious that he tried to change himself, but I feel so bad that he was so ashamed for making such a mess that it's not as funny to me. Maybe I'll see it that way in time.

He did take a nap for me yesterday - I actually had to wake him up after 2 hours. When I went in, he had found one of his whole pacifiers in his mouth, so I think I'm going to have to cut it today. I feel like such a traitor. It's sad.