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Griffin, Maggie

Notepad Tale, Chapters 1 and 2

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Recently, we’ve allowed Griffin and Maggie to use an old iPhone to play music while they are in the basement (usually while building things out of legos). Naturally, they explored the phone to find out what other things they could do with it. I locked it down pretty tight, but they discovered Apple’s “Notepad” app and realized that they could use it to write a story. They’ve written two chapters and are part way through the third. I’ll post them as they finish them.

Note that the overall work doesn’t have a title yet, though each chapter does. Also, although Griffin is tapping out the story, Maggie definitely gives lots of input. For example, she specifically suggested the word stumbled in the second paragraph of chapter one. No adults have had anything to do with editing or revision, though Griffin sometimes asks how to spell words. (Mostly he depends on the autocomplete feature to suggest spellings, but sometimes he’s not even sure how to begin.) After writing the first paragraph of chapter one, he was also stumped about how to keep the story moving. I gave him very broad advice about how stories depend on conflicts where characters have to overcome problems. I barely finished saying it when he was bursting with ideas.

Finally, Maggie wants it to be clear that this story isn’t about her (the real Maggie), but rather a fictional Maggie.

Chapter 1
Maggie’s story

It all started on a snowy January night, when Maggie was born. It’s a girl!!!! Said Sarah. she was so little!

When she was three she stumbled into a forest. She saw something

Rustling in a big blue bush when

she looked closer she saw that it was a monster. It’s name was bogeys. When bogeys saw Maggie bogeys charged at Maggie. Maggie ran but the monster caught Maggie 😞. Bogeys took Maggie to it’s lair. There were lots and lots of bogeys.

Maggie said get me home 🏡. Meanwhile at home Sarah said where is Maggie? it’s past her bedtime, i hope she’s safe. Sarah went looking for Maggie and then she saw footprints 👣 .she followed them she came to a cave when she looked inside she saw Maggie. and 5 bogeys guarding Maggie. Sarah had to get Maggie back but there was one problem it was that she would have to get past the bogeys. Sarah decided to go home 🏡 but when she got there her house 🏡 was GONE!!

To be continued!

Chapter 2
The case of the missing house 🏡

Sarah was furious. if she couldn’t find her house 🏡 then she couldn’t find a rope than she couldn’t tie the bogeys in knots then she couldn’t get Maggie back.

Sarah decided to go to the bogeys lair when she got there she signaled Maggie to distract the bogeys well Sarah go’s and take the phone 📱 and she did that then she called all the Maggie’s in the world 🌎

See this post for chapters 3-5.

Griffin, Photo

Haircut

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Griffin told Sarah recently that he wanted a new haircut, short on the sides and long on the top. He was inspired by Brooke Allen’s illustrations of Mal in the Lumberjanes graphic novels (one of our family favorites).

This is the specific panel that inspired him. Mal is the one with the black hair and two earrings.

 

We’ve had some poor cuts recently for him, so Sarah made an appointment at Moxie on Grand. See below for the results.

Before:

Excited for his new ‘do.

After:

After… looking sharp!
He’s pretty pumped about it.

I think it is pretty cool that he came up with this on his own, though I’m not sure we’ll be able to keep that wave action going on a daily basis.

Maggie

Young Knight?

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Even a plastic blade requires regular cleaning, of course.

Overheard last night before bed:

Sarah: “No, I can’t clean your sword right now. It’s past your bedtime.”

Maggie: “Ok, we’ll clean my sword in the morning.”

(The sword is drying in the dish rack as I write this.)

Griffin, Photo

My Superhero

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This morning, after Griffin returned from working out with Sarah, I mentioned that I was going to mow the lawn. It took me a while to get Oliver up and settled, but eventually I made it to the garage to get the mower. As I opened the door, Griffin said that he had already pulled it out to the front yard. I thanked him for helping me get started. Then I came ’round the corner of the house and discovered that he had not only pulled the mower out, but had mowed the entire front lawn by himself. Note that this is a manual mower, so it takes real effort to move the thing around, especially when the grass is long and still moist from yesterday’s rain.

Pretty proud of this guy!

Griffin mowed the front lawn entirely on his own.

PS: Yes, we have discussed the potential consequences of spinning blades encountering bare toes.

Griffin, Maggie, Oliver

Bedtime Routine

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Sarah wrote this up for our first non-family babysitter for Oliver. It sums up where our bedtime routine stands now. We’re loving it–short, simply, and successful.

Oliver

Oliver’s bedtime is anywhere between 6-7:30pm, depending on how tired he seems. Signs that he’s ready for bed include crankiness, rubbing his eyes, heavy eyelids, general discontent, arching his back, etc. Once it’s clear he’s ready for bed, here’s what we do:

  • Make a bottle to take upstairs. We usually make a 6 oz bottle, which is 6 oz of water mixed with 3 scoops of formula.
  • Change diaper
  • Get into PJs (we’ve left some out for you)
  • Read him a book (I Like It When is my standby) and give him the bottle, if he’ll take it. We usually lay together on our big bed. If he’s really eating a lot, you can read him more stories. I’m sure Griffin and Maggie can find some to read. Sometimes we skip this part if it’s clear he’s ready and doesn’t need any milk.
  • Once he’s done eating and you’re done reading a story, we say goodnight to Maggie and Griffin, and enter their room. We say goodnight to objects in the room (“Night night, clock! Night night closet! Night night, alphabet! Night night, Maggie’s bed! Night night, Griffin’s bed!”)
  • Lay him down and give him his lovie.
  • Say, “Night night, sleep tight! I’m right outside! I love you!”
  • Leave the room, closing the door.
  • If he cries, please set a timer for 5 minutes. Crying is continuous crying, not whimpers, moments of silence, whimper for a bit, silence for a bit. If he cries hard for 5 minutes, enter the room again, give him his lovie if it’s out of reach, and repeat, “Night night, sleep tight! I’m right outside! I love you!” Please don’t pick him up. He’s used to this routine now, and we’ve only had one or two times of really hard crying. He’s learning to soothe himself to sleep, and he’s gotten very good at it!

Maggie & Griffin

Bedtime for these guys is 7:30pm, unless Oliver is still falling asleep. We try to put Oliver down before they’re ready for bed, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way. We start them getting ready for bed around 7 or 7:15pm. Their jobs are:

  • Get into PJs
  • Put dirty clothes down the chute
  • Brush teeth for 2 minutes
  • Go to bed

Their routine sometimes includes time for read aloud, but if you are busy putting Oliver to bed, I would encourage them to get into their PJs, brush their teeth, and take a little quiet reading time on our bed, if it’s available, or the back bedroom. They are sometimes really amped before bed and goof off in their beds, which sometimes wakes Oliver. Please remind them that it’s silent time once they’re in their room!

Andrew, Griffin, Maggie, Oliver, Photo, Sarah

Memorial Day at the Cabin

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We enjoyed a few days with away from the end-of-school rush at the cabin over Memorial Day weekend. Our friends Jess, Murray, and Olive joined us. (Sadly, Kevin couldn’t make it this year.)

The trip included a number of notable events:

  • Oliver’s first trip to the cabin, including relatively long drives, unfamiliar sleeping arrangements, and a wacky schedule. He was quite flexible, though he did complain that we were letting him freeze during the first night (temps dropped steeply after dark). We nailed it on the second night.
  • Oliver’s first kayak trip.
  • Maggie’s first time paddling the canoe and sitting on a proper bench.
  • Griffin and Murray’s first time being largely independent in the kayaks. This was not exactly our intent, but they got them in the water before the rest of us were ready and before we knew it they were across the lake, exploring the island. (Definitely wearing life jackets!)
  • Griffin caught a frog.
  • Relatively close encounter with a pileated woodpecker on a birch by the cabin. The photos, at the end of the set below, are blurry phone pics, but this sucker was huge.
  • Two new eggs in the loon nest. We weren’t sure if they would use the same nest site for a second year running. Last year one egg did not hatch. We’ll be checking back on the nest at our next visit.
  • Thunderstorms and hail kept us inside on Sunday afternoon, which allowed for a smashing D&D game. (Griffin’s elf wizard was nearly killed by an evil skeleton, but Maggie gave him one of her healing potions.)
Oliver enjoying the view from the porch.
Oliver’s first time out in a kayak.
Maggie’s first time paddling (occasionally) the canoe.
Griffin and Murray zipped all over the lake.
Two fresh loon eggs in the same nest that we found last summer.
Oliver working on some teething issues (and boosting his immune system).
Bedtime reading with Jess.
Pileated woodpecker is on the trunk of the tree above the cluster of green leaves. (This was the maximum zoom with my phone… alas I didn’t have time to get the telephoto on my camera.)
Profile of the pileated woodpecker on the large branch to the left.
Oliver

That was so last week…

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This morning, at 4:44 AM, after giving up on the whole sleeping thing.

Oliver must have read last week’s post about how we would just put him in his crib and he would magically sleep through the night.

Boring!

This week he’s trying out a new thing: having a harder time falling asleep and waking up crying every 30-minutes or so starting at 3-ish. Fun times.

Oliver, Photo

Beds, Bikes, & Bottles

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Change is afoot in Oliver’s world.

Beds

Oliver is falling asleep in his crib (foreground) while Andrew reads “The Hobbit” to the kids under the loft.

First, as mentioned on Monday, Oliver is now sleeping in his new crib in the kids’ bedroom. We were planning on a more gradual transition, but Griffin and Maggie were so excited to have him move in that we went for it. It’s been pretty miraculous so far. Every night this week, they’ve all gone to bed at the same time, with no special rituals for Oliver. We generally hang out near the crib for a little bit while he falls asleep, but it’s pretty quick. Honestly, the whole thing is a bit spooky; he just lies down and falls asleep. Crazy!

Bikes

Our newest cyclist.

Oliver has been out on a couple of bike rides now in the iBert seat on Sarah’s bike. He loves it, and we love the fact that we have a new way of getting around town with him. The older kids enjoy riding their bikes, too, so this increases the whole family’s range of car-free transit. It’s hard to believe that this little guy will be riding his own bike in a few years.

Bottles

Hands in action.

This one might be better titled “Grasping” or “Manual Dexterity,” but they don’t have the same alliterative pizazz. Oliver has been getting better at using his little hands over the past month. He reaches for things intentionally, grasps objects we put in his hands, and likes to touch things within reach. (I like to walk around with him and let him touch different things—the bark of a tree, a smooth stone, a fuzzy towel—and watch him react to the different textures. On a more practical note, he can hold his bottle when he’s in his bouncy chair. He drops it frequently, but he loves trying to hold it and it gives us just a bit more leeway when we’re prepping a meal or trying to accomplish other tasks that require our hands.

Andrew, Maggie

Young Theologian

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I was helping settle Oliver into his crib when Maggie got up to get a drink of water. She got back into bed, then sat up and stated, matter-of-factly, “I don’t believe Jesus rose from the dead.”

“Um… what?”

She repeated herself, enunciating carefully, “I don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead.”

“Ok honey. Goodnight.”

Maggie, Photo

Happy Birthday Maggie!

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We celebrated Maggie’s fifth birthday today at Highland Park. Maggie is a brash, confident, dynamo at this stage in her life. Her party, at her request, featured rampaging around the park, pin-the-horn-on-the-unicorn, various unicorn- and rainbow-themed crafts, cupcakes, and then more rampaging. I love this firebrand who believes absolutely that princesses can save themselves. Happy birthday, Maggie!

Pin the horn on the unicorn.
Pretty good showing, overall.
Cupcakes
Getting ready
Oliver with evidence of his razor sharp nails.
Birthday girl