In Norway:
Surviving (with not very much screaming) two trans-Atlantic flights (thanks to his first media treat, Sesame Street on a Kindle Fire)
Long days with Papa while Mama was at a zebrafish conference
Playing with Aunt Hannah and Uncle Greg who were also in Oslo
Visiting the Vigeland Sculpture Park (and associated playground)
Getting really great Indian food late at night, and getting a free ice cream from the sympathetic waitress
Staying up until 10:30 and sleeping until 8:30 thanks to the Midnight Sun and jet lag
Visiting Oslo harbor islands (and beaches) with Papa, Aunt Hannah and Uncle Greg
Several days of visiting the old Fortress/Castle in central Oslo with Papa (and falling into the duck pond)
Pushing his stroller up and down the roof terraces of the Oslo opera house
Listening to the National Military Band at the Oslo palace, and dancing
Pushing his stroller up and down the pedestrian streets with members of Lissa's lab
Huge, fancy, expansive breakfasts (free!!) at the hotel, with Irina and Papa
Buying in-season local strawberries and consuming huge numbers of them in the hotel room
In Sweden:
Learning a hard lesson about not taking toy cars from others
Running in circles with Max
Picking blueberries with Max
Finding slugs and snails
Swimming in the Baltic with Max
Playing with cars with Max
Riding the Swedish buses
Visiting Max's playground in Stockholm
Visiting a vegetarian restaurant in what looked like a Swedish "castle" overlooking the ocean
At home:
Swimming in the public pool
Painting and drawing on the porch on hot days
Playing in the fountains in the park
At least 8 playgrounds
Seeing lots of exotic rescued pets, including a sugar glider, an alligator, a python (which Silas got to touch), and more at an event in a Cambridge park
Visiting the beach
Walden Pond
Spending time with Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Fred in Cambridge
Meeting up with Aunt Julia for lunch at MIT
Lissa's post-defense party
Alicia visiting every weekend
Running to (and around) Fresh Pond
Walking and running up and down Memorial Drive on Sundays
Hiking in the Blue Hills with Kestrel, Mark and Tanya
Playing with Marie at playgrounds
Cooking pizza, cookies, muffins, and preparing snacks
Endless reading
Playing with cars, trains, dolls and blocks
Late-afternoon ice cream trips
Scooter riding
In Ithaca, visiting Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Fred:
Silas's first bike trip, along the Ithaca waterfront trail
Playing with trains
Playing with water in the yard
Visiting the Ithaca Children's Garden (and associated adventure playground and turtle pond)
Walking in the woods
Hiking up Taughannock creek and playing in waterfalls
Gardening with Grandpa Fred
Making pesto
Picking apples and making applesauce
Running through the hayfield and seeing a tractor
Examining animal holes in the field
Going out to dinner at Ithaca Beer Company
Getting his first case of poison ivy
Playing at the Commons playground (brand new!) and drinking a smoothie from Mate Factor
Reading with Grandma and Grandpa
Spending the evening with Grandma and Grandpa while Mama and Papa go see a movie
Running in the yard
Biology lessons with Mama: worms, centipedes, bees, dirt, crayfish
Visiting the Ithaca Farmer's Market
In Brightwater:
Going for rides in the rowboat wearing a life jacket
Taking a canoe trip to Bushy Island
Playing with sand on the island
Finding hermit crabs and snails and learning about animals that live in the ocean
Building (and playing in) a new play house with a door
Playing in the water as the tide came in
Reading and playing with Tanya and Mark
Eating lots of watermelon, corn and fresh blueberries
Drinking milk and eating bedtime snacks at a small table next to the fireplace
Watching Papa build a fire
Being woken up early by an angry red squirrel attacking the cabin screens
Going on a long hike (mainly on his own two feet) in Harpswell with many fairy houses
Building fairy houses
Finding acorns, pine cones, rocks, etc.
Dancing and singing in the cabin (violin, guitar, old folk tunes)
Eating Indian food late at night on the way out of town
In Montpelier, visiting Grandma Susie and Grandpa Dick:
Playing outside ALL THE TIME
Pushing around a big yellow dump truck
Watering the garden
Digging weeds
Playing in the bird bath
Finding worms
Finding mushrooms (and learning that we only poke them with sticks, never our hands)
Reading lots of Curious George
Playing the piano
Eating cheese puffs and blueberry muffins
Playing with his new train set and ferry boat
Playing with Aunt Hannah and Uncle Greg
Visiting GG's house and having lunch there, playing in her yard
Visiting the Montpelier Farmer's Market
In Petersham, visiting Aunt Susan:
Eating Aunt Susan's plums, potatoes, and other produce
Hiding in a hollow tree
Walking through the blueberry field and down Sunset Lane
Exploring the barn and everything in it
Seeing Aunt Susan's amazing gardens and flowers
Seeing grasshoppers
Avoiding poison ivy!
People he saw: All 4 grandparents, GG, Aunt Hannah and Uncle Greg, Aunt Julia, Great Aunt Susan, Tanya, Mark, Kestrel, our friends in Sweden, former neighbors Tania and Andrey and toddler Lev, friend Finn and toddler Marie, friend Alicia, toddler Victoria and her grandmother, and many other playground acquaintances
All of this travel has required, well, a lot of travel! Silas took 5 flights, several long bus rides, and 3 extended road trips and two smaller ones. He's gone from nearly impossible to please in the car to a pretty great traveler. For our international trip we allowed him to watch Sesame Street when the going got tough, and we've allowed that on other long trips - it's been a great help and Silas loves it. He also plays with cars, eats little snacks, and hopefully naps!
New gross motor skills: jumping with both feet off the ground, jumping on the bed, going down stairs competently without our help, going down shallow stairs without holding on, steering his scooter so he doesn't get frustrated or have to stop frequently.
Other developments: LOVES asking us to draw him specific things, and has begun to try to draw and paint specific things himself - he'll tell us he's drawing roads, wheels or circles. Adores stickers, especially the reusable sticker "scenes" we got for him. He's very good at shapes and sorting now - he identifies the shapes by name and has no trouble with simple shape puzzles or sorters. Considerably more obsessed with reading than he was a few months ago, which is saying something - sometimes we will read to him for more than an hour. He sits still for complex stories with many words on each page and knows all of the plots by heart. (All the words, too - if you pause he'll fill them in.) Rarely grabs the book and flips through the pages any more. He's especially into Curious George right now, and Where's Waldo and I Spy books. Adores his train set and always acts out scenes of one train helping another one. Sets up pretend dramas with dollhouse dolls - using the bathroom, eating, etc. Often "feeds" dolls and toys from his own snacks, or asks for special snacks for his toys.
New language and social skills: he started speaking in short phrases before the summer began, but he's steadily increased his vocabulary and sentence length over the course of the summer. He now speaks in 4-5 word phrases, most of which don't quite have correct grammar - more like "toddler logic". He uses tenses, possessives and plurals, but not always correctly. He's started speaking to other children, introducing himself on the playground and asking to play. He'll also tell them about his toys. He's very, very concerned if we genuinely hurt ourselves and wants to come pat our injuries and make it better. (If he swatted us in a tantrum, he's less contrite, mostly out of embarrassment.) He often uses "please" and "thank you" spontaneously as of a few weeks ago. He's started negotiating with us a bit - we often ask him to wait a minute, or tell him we will wait a minute to do something he doesn't want (diaper change, etc.). Now, when we ask him to do something, he sometimes asks US to wait a minute! Usually he follows through after that.
Overall, he's extremely independent and hates to have anything done to him without his consent. Fortunately, MOST of the time he's cooperative enough that we don't have to use any force or coercion. He hates being dressed or undressed when he isn't ready and having to put down toys before bath time. For most of the summer he was having a meltdown maybe once every 4 or 5 days, and then during a rough spot this month it was more like every day or even twice.
Bad days notwithstanding, he is generally very well behaved, with a very strong sense of what is expected of him. We call him our little "Safety Officer" because he reminds us of hazards all the time - "might fall down", "oven very hot", "candles hot", "knives sharp, hurt" and so on. He knows not to run into the street or touch the oven, and he's cautious around stairs. If given enough time and space to act correctly on his own, he's generally quite cooperative. If, however, he's both tired and very hungry, forget it!
Lately he's become extremely interested in potty training - he wants to read potty-training books constantly, has tried sitting on the potty (his request), announces when he has to go, requests diaper changes after pooping, stays dry at night, and generally shows all the signs of being ready, EXCEPT for actually wanting to pee in the potty when the time comes. Just today he refused a diaper for a long time, then suddenly requested one, peed in it, and seemed nervous about the potty. After that he wanted to read 4 potty books in a row. Who knows!
