First birthday! Mike Mulligan cake! Bystanders!

It’s kinda funny that we based Silas’ birthday cake on a literary theme, since it’s only been in the last few weeks that he’s been interested in reading.  And to hold that interest, he has to be bounced to the rhythm of the text (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a favorite) and/or allowed to flip the pages back and forth the whole time.

But when I found the idea for a Mike Mulligan cake, I thought Benjamin and Jonah would enjoy making it…  a rectangular chocolate cake with a square cut out of the middle, then topped with dirt (chocolate pudding mixed with crushed Oreos).  Then they added Teddy Grahams as the bystanders who crowd around watching Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann dig the cellar for the new town hall.

Silas got to eat a few bystanders...

Even though he remains toothless, he does pretty well with most foods – pizza crusts included.  He took his first few steps today – and started clapping as well.  And he is a waving maniac.  If he even hears the words “hi” or “bye,” the arm starts a-fwapping.  He can turn around and get down off the big bed in his room (mattress and box springs on the floor) – and he can almost climb on as well.

To us Silas seems like a prodigy, because Benjamin and Jonah did all these things so much later (by multiple months), but when I look up milestones, he’s pretty much average.  Except for his size.  He’s pretty small – about the size of Benjamin at this age.

Silas is also making good progress in his swimming – I glide him under the water for a good two seconds and I can feel him holding his breath.  He comes up sputtering sometimes, but not panicked.  He's also figured out how to take the cap off of markers and color on any nearby surface, including his tongue. 

And... he finds magnets absolutely delightful:

Untitled from SeaBird on Vimeo.