We’ve had our puppy for two weeks now and we want to tell you about the second one. She has gotten to like us much better and is way more attentive. She loves playing with Coco, the dog across the street, but is scared of Josie the Great Dane. Piper has gotten bigger. She also has more of an appetite. She loves the liver treats and also she goes on some walks. We got her a bigger crate also. She is still the cutest thing ever. And she gives us delight. What else can a person ask for?
Warning: This is a bit grosser than the average post on this blog. Skip it if you’re squeamish.
Once upon a time our puppy had an engorged tick in her ear. We saved it in a plastic bag for a few days because we thought it might be a Lyme disease transmitting tick but we think it’s a dog tick. And it didn’t die so we drowned it in alcohol and it still didn’t die so we pinched it in a clothespin for a few days BUT IT STILL DIDN’T DIE!! And it is still alive today. We might pop it but it would get too much blood everywhere so we named it the invincible tick.
Hi there. Today was an awesome day! We woke up at 7:30. We did our video games. Then we had an awesome breakfast of waffles, eggs, sausage, and raspberries. After that we went to SPA (my dad’s school) and my dad went into the building while we played in our hammocks. Then my dad went home with Oliver and made a picnic lunch. Then they came back and we had made a caterpillar home! Then we rolled down the big hill and went home 🏡.
This week was pretty good. I did my human body systems work which is a project that I’ve been working on for a few months that is about the eleven human body systems and I’m on my final draft.
I also worked on my conference prep essay. This is an essay which we have to write about our year and work habits and big work and lessons and lots of that stuff. Normally we would have written this by March 19 (I’m pretty sure), but it’s different this year because of the coronavirus. We already had the conference but for some reason I still have to write this.
I also did a lot of TerraCycle work. We’re trying to create a presentation slideshow that will teach people about TerraCycle and how it will help save the Earth. Here’s a PDF of our current draft of the presentation:
It was hard to stay focused because Oliver and Maggie and Daddy and sometimes Mama were always loud somewhere. Especially Oliver because he’s always asking me to do stuff.
I also went to a few state parks and I learned a lot at them. We saw a garter snake at Lebanon Hills and Mama said that I could try to pick it up but it got all coiled up like it would try to bite me. We looked it up later and learned that it will poop and make it really stinky if you pick it up. Also they’re really fast. I’m adding this because I learned a lot of facts there, so it counts as school.
Everything below is in Griffin’s words. It’s a bit stream-of-consciousness, but we just asked him to talk about Kindergarten. Occasionally we prompted him to give further details. – Andrew & Sarah
I like the puzzle maps. They are maps but they are puzzles: Africa, United States, and the other one that kind of looks like Africa (“South America?” “Uh-huh!”).
The trinomial and binomial cubes are boxes with blocks inside them and you try to match the pattern on top of the box.
I like the reading corner because it has a chair and there are two reading corners, one in the back of the room and one in the front of the room. I like the the one that’s up high with the stairs to go up, in the front of the room. I like to read the garden books and I like the pretend books and I like sitting in the reading corner too. There is only one garden book; it’s like a pretend garden and it goes all over the roof and he goes through it. It has lots of white flowers and yellow ones too. The pretend books are not real so like they are real books but they are not real people and stuff.
I like the computers too in the multi-purpose room. We try to match words sometimes.
We eat with silverware and sometimes our fingers. We have lots of tables which we have to set up. We sing this song before we eat:
For the golden corn and the apples on the tree,
for the golden butter and the honey for our tea,
for fruits and nuts and berries that grow along the way,
for birds and bees and flowers, we give thanks every day.
We also have another song that we sing at the rug:
Choo choo choo choo,
Choo choo choo choo,
Going up the tracks,
Choo choo choo choo,
Choo choo choo choo,
Then we come right back.First we go to Malaya’s house,
Then we go to James’s house,
Then we go to Crosby’s house,
Then we go to Tegan’s house.Choo choo choo choo,
Choo choo choo choo,
Going up the tracks,
Choo choo choo choo,
Choo choo choo choo,
Then we come right back.First we go to Griffin’s house,
Then we go to Harrison’s house,
Then we go to Serenity’s house…
We keep singing like that until we go to everyone’s house.
The play structure! I love recess. Now we go on the play structure. The grass is medium new and medium not-new. The play structure is new; it was already built when I started school but the grass was new so we played out back instead of in the front. We like to play and tag and in the sand box. I like playing on the play structure too. We get to go outside every day, except when it is raining or super super cold.
I like my teacher Kristen and also Angela and Corinne, my side teachers. Angela passes out the food and she speaks Spanish.
I miss my sister when I go to school. It is a long day; I sometimes get tired.
When I get home, I like to snuggle with Maggie and also I say, “Hello Mommy and Daddy” if Daddy is home. I like to play with Maggie and when Mama and Daddy make dinner we like to play.
Dear Raven,
A couple of weeks ago I got a letter from you. Inside the letter was Flat Raven! We took pictures of Flat Raven. It was so fun. We can’t wait to share them with you.
The first place we went with you was Hidden Falls Park on the east bank of the Mississippi River. It’s so fun because the roots of the trees are pulled up and we can climb in them and slide down them sometimes. We even hide in them while playing hide-and-seek. Did you know that the Mississippi River starts in Minnesota? It starts at a place called Lake Itasca, but it goes by not far from our house. We ride our bikes to the river sometimes.
Next we went to play with Richard, a friend of mine. We played at his preschool which is very close to my preschool, the Dodge Nature Center. Both schools have animals and lots of nature. We play outside a lot. We played a game called Grumpy Old Troll which is the same as Tag.
After we got home, we decided to walk to a Thai restaurant for dinner. This Thai restaurant is on a street called Grand Avenue not far from our house, just like the Thai restaurant we used to eat at with you in Oakland on Grand Avenue! On our way to the restaurant we found a cool purple chair beside someone’s house. My favorite Thai food is Pad Si Yew. It has big brown wide noodles. It’s so yummy!
On Thursday night we had a really big snow storm. Some places got more than a foot of snow, but we only got about six inches. Whenever it snows, we like to sled to my preschool. We took you along for a ride in Maggie’s sled. We know that it doesn’t snow very much where you live, so we thought you would enjoy this fun part of winter.
Love,
Griffin
We were learning about Claude Monet. He’s an artist. All the people who saw his art just laughed at it and made fun of it and even thrown it in the garbage because he just did blobs but that was his way. Impressionism. We looked at lots of paintings. I liked the one with the flowers and the pink house.
This one painting is about his house is covered in green. I made his house yellow. You can barely see the yellow because it is his house and it is covered with grass. The red spots are poppies and sun. The name is Poppies at Sunset.
[This is the first post that Griffin has authored himself. I’m just following his instructions. – Andrew]
Today I learned about selkies at preschool. Selkies are magic seals. Selkies can turn into humans and when it’s nighttime they can take off their skin. I am part selkie because of the twinkle in my eye and also I like to swim. Selkies live in Ireland. They like eating sushi and swimming. They eat fish also. Â Selkies are so silly and funny. I like learning about selkies. This is my first day of learning about selkies. Bye bye!
Dear Mom,
Daddy’s new laptop is pretty cool. Please don’t tell him that I snuck out of my crib last night to borrow it. I only chewed on it a little bit, and I had to write you this message.
Happy birthday! I can’t really comprehend how old you are, but you’re probably at least 18 or 19 months.
You’ve been a pretty good mom during these first nine months. (I’m practicing my midwestern understatement… Dad would say you’ve been “dreamy” or “incredible” or “frickin awesome.”) Plus, I’m told you were taking good care of me for the previous nine months too. (I like my new, roomier crib better.)
In any event, before Dad catches me drooling on his precious keyboard, I wanted to mention a few specifics. Thank you for forgiving me when I smashed your beloved french press. (You have to admit it sounded pretty great when it exploded!) Thank you for taking me swimming every week at the Y. And storytime at the library… that’s the best! Thank you for taking me canoeing, camping, and hiking in my first four months. The other kids never believe me when I tell them that I’ve already hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail (but I got pictures to prove it). Thank you for accepting my bizarre culinary tastes (pickles and oatmeal, yum!) and not getting too upset when I throw all the food on the floor. (Daddy told me that in high school he used to fling pudding onto the ceiling of the dining room… so I’m just honoring my heritage.) Thank you for having the most humongous library of kids’ books in the universe. I’ve tasted most of them and they are delicious. Thank you for comforting me when I’m hurt but reminding me that I can handle most bumps and bruises.
Thank you for reminding me to save my big moments for when Daddy’s around. I gotta remember to save my first steps for him. (Maybe we can fake it if I forget?) Speaking of Daddy, you can let him know that I think it’s pretty nifty that you both laugh so much and have so much fun. I am, occasionally, embarrassed by your juvenile senses of humor, but I cut you some slack because you’re both so old.
All in all, you’re a pretty cool mom.
Love,
Griffin
