Silas Clark turned two-and-a-half today. I didn’t realize there would be such a phenomenal difference between Silas at two and Silas at two-and-a-half. He seems so grown up and like a completely different child. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with Cooper’s arrival, as Silas instantly seemed bigger compared to Baby. But, he’s also grown so much physically and mentally. His vocabulary and retained knowledge surprise us almost daily.

As Stephen commented, “I used to be able to catalog what Silas knew, but this is getting out of hand!”

Silas is learning phrases and words by leaps and bounds. He’ll attempt any word. If he can’t get all the consonants in, he’ll at least mimic the number of syllables (or maybe add a few extra syllables of his own). He knows how to correctly use words like “though” and “yet.” The other week we were in the car and Silas needed a tissue. When I told him that I didn’t have one, he replied, “Have wipes though–Cooper’s wipes.”

Here are some of Silas’s new accomplishments:

• Counting: “1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10,11,13,17”
• Alphabet Song: “A,B,C,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z”
• Singing: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Praise Him! Praise Him!, Alphabet Song, Jesus Loves Me, My God Is So Big
• Quoting Humpty Dumpty
• Correctly labeling colors
• Reciting Bible catechism answers
• Praying before lunch
• Learning to dress himself (almost–he still gets especially tangled up in his shirts)
• Potty training (almost–I’ll spare you the specifics)
• Imaginative play: Spiderman, Ironman, Batman, Superman, Superboy, and various friends of ours. I have to be sure to call him by the correct name of whoever he’s pretending to be at the moment. He has a very specific superhero stance for all of his favorite characters–even though he’s seen only one short video of Spiderman. The other day he said to Stephen, “I want to save the day!”
• Saying phrases: “I love you,” “Happy birthday,” “Silas Clark Moody,” “Kiss this baby goodbye!,” and “Oh my goodness!“
• Drawing: the letter ‘S’, circles, and triangles. He also draws things and tells me what they are now (i.e. “brown octopus”).
• Building houses and garages out of pillows and blankets. This is the “garage” I built for him yesterday.

So before bed, I rocked this little guy of mine and sang him the lullabies I sang to him as an infant. In the darkness I said, “I love you, Silas.” He looked up at me and replied, “I love you too, Mommy.”