Happy New Year

Here's an end-of-the-year Silas update.

As you can see from previously posted videos, walking is Silas's biggest accomplishment. But he's also talking up a storm. It's been harder to capture his words on screen; for whatever reason, he clams up when the cameras come out.

There are seven words is his arsenal: mama, dada, hi, bye, up, down, and uh-oh. (We don't count "moy-nee moy-nee," "boo-ta," or or his duck sounds (like "gaahhhh-waaaahh"), even though he says these more than his real words.) His most frequent (English) word is "up," which he uses as a catch-all preposition to mean up, over, around, through, with, etc. He uses "up" appropriately as well, to mean "lift me up," "I'm going to pick up this object," and "take me up out of this high chair."

Silas loves playing with books. With no prompting, he will take a board book, turn it right-side-up, and flip the pages on his own. He prefers cartoonish illustrations, and it's not unusual to see him "reading" by himself, laughing out loud at each new googly-eyed character.

He continues to be a contemplative kid. In a new place or with a new person, he'll hold back for a while, carefully examining the situation with a look of intense concentration. Once he's checked things out, though, he's game for whatever happens, quick to laugh, and almost never fussy or irritable. He's an easy person to be around.

Thanks to everyone for keeping tabs on Silas through the blog and in real life, and we hope to see you soon in 2009.