Like taking candy from a baby...

Ten on Ten: February...

Today happened to be Bible Study day. Some of these were taken on our trek there. The rest are, once again, just a peek at everyday life on the Bluff.





















P.S. I'm cutting this off and posting it at nap time because this evening I am going to town by myself to finish my Valentine's Day shopping! I figured a picture of me by myself in town wouldn't be too interesting.

Warm sunshine and good company...

Equals one thoroughly enjoyable afternoon!

The Cat Whisperer...

I mentioned a while ago that Silas loves and tortures our cat. Our cat does, however, happen to be the world's most tolerant cat. It might let out a meow for help here and there, but it never attempts to hurt Silas...and the kid is anything but gentle with it. He sits on it, often has a death grip on its tail, grabs fists full of its hair, and chases the poor thing all over the house. Here is a little peak at a typical interaction between the two:















Oh, but wait! That's not even OUR cat. That's the stray! Can you see the fierce face the cat is giving Silas in the last picture? It might look mean, but not once did it try to scratch or bite Silas, even though Silas thought it was a good idea to bite the cat's tail! Any stray cat I've ever known has been wild and mean, and would definitely attack a child that was being this rough with it. I guess if you hang around sweet little Silas long enough, you have no choice but to be tolerant!

Another day, another walk...

I mentioned in yesterday's post that Silas absolutely loves being outside, whatever the conditions. When the rest of us are freezing our behinds off, he seems totally oblivious. Yeah, well at one point on our walk today I grabbed his hand to try to get him to turn around and walk back towards the house. When my hand touched his, something poked my hand really hard. I then looked at Silas' hand only to find that he had a goat head lodged in his palm. The kid didn't even care! A goat head, people! They hurt! Like I said, the child loves being outside, no matter the cost!

Silas: An Update...

At 13 months, our sweet baby:

~Goes up and down stairs by himself. I now let the boys play together downstairs without me and we all love it.

~Can follow simple directions. If you ask him to go get you a ball, he'll do it.

~Helps himself to the Craisins...the only snack that is not up high.

~LOVES being outside and kicks and screams every time we come back inside, even if it's 10 degrees out.

~Loves going for walks but hates holding my hand. He'd rather wander all over by himself.

~Adores and tortures the cat. But they have an understanding, and I'm pretty sure Silas gets the good end of deal.

~Says the following words on a very regular basis and uses them appropriately: Mommy, Daddy, kitty, ball, bath (bathum), snack (nack), night night, please (sign), thank you (sign), uh-oh, and bye bye (complete with a wave).

~Throws every crumb and sticky piece of food off his tray when he's done eating. Yeah, that's fun.

~Can slowly walk backwards and has a very proud grin on his face when he does.

~Sleeps through the night. As in, most nights we put him down at about 6:30 PM and don't hear a peep out of him until 6:00 AM (notice I said MOST nights). Also of note in the sleep department is that our oldest child still gets up a good 50% of the time and comes down to our bed.

~Unloads the contents of our cupboards numerous times throughout the day. I keep telling myself we don't need to buy the childproof lock thingies because he will surely outgrow this phase, but...

~Has a temper and lets you know when something doesn't go his way by screaming and/or stomping his feet.

~Is the BEST snuggler in the entire universe (at bedtime, that is). You should have the privilege of putting him to bed some day. Nothing will make you happier.


Boy, oh boy, do I love this kid.

By far my new favorite...

If only some day we could have a daughter. We wouldn't use this name, but I would definitely print one like this for her room: