This is my favorite picture of Silas from Christmas. There was a board game being played (by a group which included my lovely sister-in-law Tina, clearly) which he took as an invitation to climb up on the table for a closer look (not to mention easier access to the dice/cards/game pieces he would likely snatch), pilfer some goldfish cracker and look deceptively adorable. See, if I hadn't told you what he was doing you may have thought he was saying something sweet like "God bless us...everyone!" or "Jesus is the reason for the season!" or something like that. But no...I'm too committed to truthfulness. He was messing up a game.
But, in all actuality he wouldn't have been saying those things anyway, being, as they are, complete sentences with fully formed sounding words. He's more likely to be saying one some convoluted combination of the following:
"Momma-Kim": A couple months ago Silas discovered it was fun to call me Kim on occasion, even though he'd been saying momma for months. I'd say he called me 'momma' 90% of the time, and Kim 10%. I figured he'd grow out of it. Then my mom came to visit the week of Thanksgiving, and we all spent said holiday at my in-laws. Then my mom's visit became unexpectedly longer when Jeff and I had to be out of town for a week, staying with yet another of Silas' grandmothers. "Grandma" has not yet been a word he has successfully said with any consistency, so when Grandmas 1 and 2 drove him up to see me, at the home of Grandma 3...he naturally got a little confused. We were all standing in the kitchen in a semi-circle and he went around giving names, they were all "Momma" and I was "Momma Kim".
Since then, every woman who is or looks to be someone's mother is called Momma...whether it be the mother in a book, in one of his movies, at a family gathering, or in the grocery store... and I am Momma-Kim. It's awfully cute every morning to hear "Hi Momma-Kim."
"Guy": So...turns out Abby is a really easy name for babies to say. So we weren't surprised when Silas picked that one up before any others...we figured "Alex" or at least some attempt at Alex would follow shortly after. Then a couple of months ago it became clear that Silas' best attempt at "Alex" was....Guy.
I think it happened because each day when the big kids left for school I would tell Silas "Say Bye guys!" and he dutifully did. Evidently, if the two of them together are "guys" then surely one along must be a "guy".
In any case, poor Alex has been "Guy" for months now. My mother made it her personal mission to get Silas to say "Alex" for the two weeks she was here...and failed. So if Alex gets him a toy he can't reach it's "Nts, Guy." or if Alex is playing with his cars it's "No no, Guy!"
A couple of days ago Jeff took the kids out to play in the snow and Silas had lots of fun throwing snowballs at the house, his father, and his siblings. So earlier today he asked Jeff..."Ohside, pyay, ina snow...snowballs Guy head? ana Guy tummy? ana Guy back?" which, translates into "Can we go outside and play in the snow and throw snowballs at Alex's head, his tummy, and his back?"
"Fees!": His sign for 'please' had gotten so incredibly sloppy that we started insisting that he say the actual word, and this is what he came up with. As in, "Fees paste?" when he wants to brush his teeth for the fourteenth time that morning, or "Fees poppa n corn?" when he wants Jeff to make him popcorn. He's satisfactorily learned that if he wants something he has to say 'fees'...now comes the harder part...teaching him that saying 'fees' does not mean he gets what he wants.
"Hmmmm, lets see.....oh! dare is!" This one cracks me up. When driving around this time of year we like to keep a look out for Christmas lights to keep him occupied since he's not the most long suffering passenger. We'll say "Silas, can you see any lights?" and this is his response. Not sure where he picked up the hmmm let's see part.
"ana go? movie?" Silas has a checkered past when it comes to the cinema. At a couple months of age we took him and the older two to see the Veggie Tales movie. He was a gem and spent the whole time staring at the walk-way lights on the aisle. This initial experience gave us false hope...and his subsequent movie performances were less than exemplary and usually involved Jeff leaving the film altogether in favor of letting him crawl or run through the lobby. He spilled a giant bag of popcorn at Bolt. He chose The Tale of Despereaux as the perfect time to fill his diaper. He squealed and screeched through a few others before we gave up. Jeff declared, and I believe this is a quote "I'd rather not go than have to manage Silas. In fact I'd rather not go, stay and clean toilets with my toothbrush than have to manage Silas." I know because I just heard it less than a week ago when the idea was presented to the in-laws of going to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. So, the womenfolk and the over-three children went and the men stayed home with the napping babies. But it was SUCH a fun movie that I really wanted Jeff to see it...and since it was still at the dollar theater I suggested it, quickly adding that since I'd already seen it, if anyone needed to wrangle Silas I would volunteer for the job.
So, we all went, and wouldn't you know it...Silas sat still and quiet and captivated for the entire movie.
Now every time we get his coat on to go somewhere he asks hopefully if he can go to a movie. I told my friend Beth that he and I may become regulars at the dollar theater, even if I'm not interested in the movie, two bucks is a small price to pay for two hours of calm and quiet sitting.
"NO FITS!" We believe in giving simple labels to unwanted behaviors as part of the discipline process so the kid, for one thing, knows WHY he's being punished but also is reminded what to avoid in the future. So once he got to fit-throwing age, when we corrected him for it we would say "No fits, Silas." and encourage him to repeat after us after the discipline was carried out. He's learned the lesson well, apparently. A few weeks ago he had to share a toy with his cousin and in fine two year old form launched himself onto the floor in a pile with much screaming. Jeff picked him up and started down the stairs for some privacy when Silas promptly swats his OWN bottom and shouts "NO FITS!" Of course, lest we get too excited for the comprehension, he says this EVERY time he gets into trouble, not just when it's for throwing a fit. But it's a start.
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