Quotes and such

"I have a lot of books that tell you a lot of stuff. You could read them if you want."

"Vanilla is my second favorite flavor of ice cream. My first favorites are sage and sweet cream and eggnog. And I like chocolate, and strawberry is pretty good. I don't like cashew... well, actually I like cashew too."

"Three, two, one... Bombard!" (the chant of the trebuchet operator)

(He's talking a lot about jail and slavery and people making bad choices lately...) "Hey, I know of something alive that's perfect... trees."

In the shower: "Can I just stay in here three more minutes for some relaxment?"



 

 We flew to NY and Philly for spring break and had a great time. As usual my posts are out of sync with time so here's the Easter photo re-cap first. We didn't get a chance to dye real eggs this year but instead used our stash of plastic eggs to make a challenging egg hunt for Silas on Easter morning. I think this is the first year we have been able to actually hide the eggs rather than lay them around in totally obvious places. Or maybe since we were not using eggs that could rot or be eaten by the dog I felt more confident about hiding them... Anyway, Silas enjoyed it.

Egg in the trebuchet

Hammerhead shark tried to eat that one.

Silas loves a candy-centric holiday

T ball is Silas's chosen sport this season. He's totally into it. His cap is almost too small for his head. Some things never change.

Hopefully we'll get more close ups this season of the action face.

 Other current events: Silas is enjoying his after school classes this semester. He's taking flute again (recorder style flute).  Besides getting "Hot Cross Buns" stuck in my head for weeks at a time I'm rather enjoying his flute playing. He's very proud to be playing a real instrument. Recent performances: sharing circle for his kindergarten class(aka show and tell),  fundraising for his t-ball team in downtown Berkeley, and encouraging his scarlet runner bean plant to regrow after being eaten up by snails.  With our busy schedule it's been tough to remember to practice so Kevin has created a sticker calendar. The point is to use it as a record and reminder, not a bribe. We've tried hard to avoid that tactic, trying to keep the motivation internal for Silas.  So far things have worked out.

His other special class this semester is the Science of Water. Taught by one of his classmate's mom. She happens to be a wetland ecologist. The kids are having a great time learning about conservation and ecosystems and invertebrates of the streams. They even went on a field trip to UC Berkeley to collect specimens from the Strawberry Creek on campus and then check things out in a lab in the Valley Life Sciences Building. Just his cup of tea.

 So we've been rounding up snails and slugs in the yard. Silas was keeping 2 or 3 in a blueberry pint box, and then that became 6 or 7... he started talking about getting a "big, big, big box" and so I decided to take action after bedtime this week. Headlamp on and paper bag in hand I rounded up 200 mollusks. They will now live in the city compost heap.  Better there than on my kitchen table in a big big big box....  and now the flowers can bloom again.

Now we are six

 Officially on March 29th, Silas turned 6.  On the actual day this big boy made stuffed ("snail") shells for his friends Jasper and Zimry and we headed over to San Francisco to celebrate 6 years of Silas and reminisce about 29 hours of labor.  Silas even got his first chance since birth to hang out in the birth pool because we set it up for our friends in anticipation of their new baby brother. (still gestating as of April 14): 

Brings back memories:

probably the early hours of labor, thanks for the company Jessi

Kevin hung in there with me

The last hour

In his dad's hands, finally, 9lbs 10ozs

Thanks for going down labor memory lane with me. So anyway, now Silas walks and talks and READS and fishes.  So he wanted to read and fish at his birthday party.  We talked him out of his first idea for a party where everyone just sat around and quietly read to themselves. Instead we had our first successful indoor party (it rained) and we made accordion books, book marks, ate a book cake and ... fished.

the kids took charge of hooking the treats to the lines: Swedish fish, smarties, sixlets and seaweed

 I love this photo of Silas looking adoringly at his homemade cake.  29 hours of labor and a few more in the kitchen baking and frosting... worth it.

 We had to limit the guest list this year. Usually we have 50 folks running rampant in the backyard and mojitos have to be served. But the kids are getting bigger and the craft projects more elaborate and the circle of friends wider.  Silas picked some school buddies and some neighborhood buddies and 2 teachers (and they both came, a total treat for me since I adore his teachers).  He requested "Happy Birthday" be sung with the closing line "You belong in a zoo!" and the kids obliged with enthusiasm.

We had to call in some support this year. Neighbor Steve wore his "fancy shirt" and filled in as surrogate grandparent.  What a guy!  I'm sure Kevin and I would have been eaten alive during the cake serving phase of the party if it weren't for Steve's help.

The chairs and table came from a rental place, this is one of the best investments ever made for party gear (or maybe it was the dowels turned fishing poles).  Anyway, Silas would want me to show you this photo of him helping to load the car. Note how strong he is (that's the important part)

The title of this post comes from A.A. Milne's book of poems.  Very old fashioned, subtle humor.  The anglophile in me loves it.  Kevin is the usual poetry reader in the nightly bedtime routine, and he loves it too.  But does Silas like this sort of archaic literature you might ask. Yes. He enjoys a good modern tale of paleontology and talking trains but he's also (thankfully) into things we like reading too.  Must have started when Kevin read the entire Slaughter House Five out loud to him when he was less than a month old.  Our thinking was: newborns enjoy hearing the human voice, especially low toned male voice, and what better way to enjoy your time with a new baby than with a good book.  So it goes.