I have been just awful with keeping up with Silas' new tricks as he does them. I guess it's true about the second child. All of the milestones are glazed over. I will say, however, that he is certainly not photographed any less than his sister was. Goodness.
Silas is sitting up. He is scooting backwards. He has his own little language that he sings to us. He thinks the dogs and Vivien are hysterical. Vivien didn't take that much of an interest in the dogs at this age. He loves anything he can put in his mouth. His gums are a bit swollen, so I think we'll see a tooth before long. He does not take a pacifier (which is astonishing since Vivien just gave hers up at Christmas!). So far he has eaten brown rice, avocado, sweet potatoes, and bananas (his favorite). They all must taste like lemons on the first bite given the face he makes. He wakes 3-5 times a night to nurse. He is very laid back and likes to look around. He enjoys swinging outside. He naps about twice per day. Sometimes long naps, sometimes short. He is at the mercy of Vivien's schedule. He is as long as Vivien was on her first birthday.
As for Vivien.... We started working on simple addition yesterday through finger counting. She caught on pretty quickly. She says the most amazing things sometimes. Her vocabulary really astonishes me often. Sometimes I'll try to dumb something down with simpler language, and she'll come back with a more complex word. Like when I mentioned that we needed to ask if we could use something and she said, "you mean we need permission?" I really am loving age 4 much more than age 3. That was nearly the death of my spirit. Now she is much more rational and reasonable. We are mastering what motivates her (challenging her to a race, for instance). She is consistently well-behaved in every learning environment from her pre-school to her ballet class. We always get compliments on her, and her ballet teacher gives her special privileges for being such a good example in class. She loves to dance and sing. Her favorite CD is the Mamma Mia soundtrack. She's really into role playing right now. She likes to use her dolls to act out scenes from movies. One more surprise to me is that she is apparently mechanically inclined. I took apart the filter on my Dyson to wash. It is in 3 parts. I put them outside to dry. The next day she put it back together (she did not see me take it apart) and brought it back in to me. It's not a terribly complex thing, but I think it might be something that a 4-year-old might need help on. I was pretty shocked with that.
That's all I have for now. I'm sure I'll think of some other things later, but I hear my little buddy stirring from his nap.
