The Supreme Sweetness of Silas

So my sister was gone for all of 12 hours before I bought tickets to go visit her in Germany for Thanksgiving. No, I'm not lonely here, why do you ask? Silas was also missing his cousin today. We had gotten into the habit of going into their room when Ellis woke up and Silas would tickle the baby's toes, and nuzzle him with his nose/head butt him, blow raspberries on his tummy, and finally try to poke his eye out. Then Rachel and I would throw pillows on Silas and he'd squeal and crawl around the bed. Flopping himself down dramatically on the pile of pillows.
This morning he walked into the bed, stood on his tiptoes, walked around the whole bed, looked under the quilt, asked to be put up on the bed, and looked under all the pillows searching for his lost friend.

Silas has been doing so many cute things lately I really should do a better job of writing them down or photographing them. But I would have to have a camera in my hand every second of the day to capture him pinching and pulling the bread dough, climbing entirely into the stock pot, pounding the coriander seed with the mortar and pestle, styling his hair like Krusty the Clown in the bath tub. Ok that last one we did to him, but it was still pretty cute.

We've been teaching him a little sign language. But the only thing he has picked up on is "more" and he doesn't tap his fingertips together he points to the thing, points to his mouth, and says "moa, moa" seems cute until you realize he does this not just to indicate "I would like some more scrambled eggs please, mother" but also to indicate "there is a banana on the cabinet, and although I don't want to eat it I would like to squish it around in my hair" and "I would like to dump the pinto beans on the floor again" and also "I need more time playing with my blocks." So in effect this pointing to the mouth and saying "moa" is actually a way of saying "Gimme."

The other sign he does is "hot." He makes a little claw and puts it over his mouth and says "haa." At first he did it every time he passed the stove, and then he started doing it whenever he say a tea mug. Then the other day he put his hand on the black leather chair that was sitting in the sunshine and said it. And today when there was steam rising from the pot of lentils he said it again. It's really cool to think that he is generalizing what it means and applying the concept to thinks that we've never demonstrated as being "haa."

His first word was a couple months ago though, and it is still the one he uses the most frequently. "Diggle" which basically applies to him poking or rubbing or tickling any bare skin on himself or anyone else. He 'diggled' Ellis's toes, he pulls up my shirt and 'diggles' my belly, he'll pull his socks off and 'diggle' himself. He's so adorable and proud of himself, he wrinkles his nose up and giggles.

He loves racing around the coffee table in the living room or the kitchen island and loves being chased. He slides down the stairs on his belly (still feet first, thank goodness) to escape from the horrendous diaper changes. He makes a break for any open doors because he loves, loves, loves being outside. Lately he's been opening the freezer door and then leaves it hanging open as he wanders back into the living room. Maybe he's hot?

He loves splashing in the bathtub and we discovered in tonight's bath that if you poke him in the belly button he'll suck his tummy in as far as possible. He's really been growing up an getting skinny the past few months, losing his baby pudgy-ness. It's sad to see it go. He has to hold a toothbrush whenever we are brushing our teeth, and wants to brush his teeth and our teeth. I guess we should also set a good example and start flossing in front of him too. I know I use Silas as an excuse for a lot of things I don't want to have to do, so I suppose him being a reason for doing one thing would be fair.