This is Griffin’s first stop-motion animated short feature. In the director’s words:
This is based on my magnets and I’m really into space so I wanted to make this movie just for everyone.
Griffin was so excited after making this that he now says he wants to be a “movie maker” when he grows up.
Back in February of 2014, I posted Two Plates, a scientific investigation into the culinary cleanliness of Griffin and Maggie. CliffsNotes: Griffin made a gargantuan mess, but Maggie didn’t.
One of the hypotheses of this experiment wasn’t testable until today:
1. Developmental stages. When Maggie is four, she will be just as messy. Was Griffin more fastidious when he was one? Memories are fuzzy and unreliable, but I don’t think so. We can test this in a few years with another set of pictures. (Strawberry shortcake for breakfast, February 15, 2017!)
Admittedly, I technically blew the experiment by serving strawberry shortcake a day early this year (I’m not sure why we had our Valentine’s Day breakfast on the 15th in 2014). But in the spirit of our anti-science (post-science?) times, I present our results anyway.
February 14, 2017 photo of Maggie’s place setting after her breakfast. Maggie is four years, nine months old.
February 14, 2017 photo of Griffin’s place setting after his breakfast. Griffin is seven years, ten months old.
The developmental hypothesis does not appear to hold. Maggie still has the cleaner area, though Griffin’s kept most of his detritus on his plate. (He also ate more, and with more enthusiasm, than she did.) But, clearly, mega-messes are not hardwired into four-year-olds.
I should add, too, that while Griffin still tends to be the messier eater, he is far better at keeping other areas of the house clean. At cleanup time, Maggie suffers from chronic debilitating attacks of exhaustion. Griffin, by contrast, will often tackle cleanup without being asked, rarely complains when we request a cleaning, and is developing a good sense of judgment about what will pass parental inspection.
Griffin, upon passing plastic statues of Mary and Joseph in a nativity scene:
“Are those carved from butter?”
We were utterly befuddled until we remembered the popular booth at the state fair where they carve the head of Princess Kay of the Milky Way into a 90 pound block of butter.
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Griffin, while reading some product packaging at the dinner table:
What’s a G-M-O?
Goofy … Mohawk … Ogre?
I like the way this guy thinks.
Jeff and Pam suggested to the kids that they might want to make a welcome home banner for us when we returned from the hospital. Griffin immediately took charge, finding all the necessary art supplies and making, with Maggie’s help, multiple banners.
The first one was across the doorway when we entered:
The second, my favorite, was across the sideboard in the dining room:
The third, not pictured, was an “I Spy” picture with a list of things to find, including 15 goldbugs (à la Richard Scarry). It was especially challenging due to the fact that many items on the list had been subsequently scribbled over. Maggie thought that this was especially clever, “Under here is a tree!”
As indicated by these banners, Maggie and Griffin are, thus far, extremely excited about Oliver’s arrival. We had a lovely afternoon, playing games, letting them hold Oliver, and eating Thanksgiving leftovers. (Sarah and I have been jonesing at the hospital for the past few days. Though we did have the pies delivered. Duh.)
Below are a few more pictures from our first day at home.
Sarah’s water broke at 7:15 AM on November 25, 2016, and Oliver Louis Stocco Roy was born twelve and a half hours later, at 7:44 PM. He was 9 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long. We’ll post more about his name later, but it should be noted that “Louis” is pronounced LOUee after his great grandfather, Louis Stocco.
Sarah’s labor was complicated by the fact that Oliver’s umbilical cord was both wrapped around his neck and fully knotted, cutting off oxygen during contractions. It was an emotionally intense experience for all of us, including the medical staff. Because of the urgency to get the baby out, it was also far more painful and physically traumatic for Sarah than we had anticipated.
Fortunately, moments after his rather dicey arrival, little Oliver loudly proclaimed his health and hunger. He was a rock star overnight, dividing his time between eating and sleeping. Today he got to meet two of his grandparents (the other two, we hope, in January), and his older sister and brother. They were very excited to meet and hold him.
Below are some pictures from Oliver’s first 24 hours. Click on any picture for a larger version.
Our bedtime routine is not as structured as it used to be, though we do get the kiddos to bed by 7:30 most nights. (Which we know from experience is a major ingredient in the following day’s success.) But one thing we all love to do is read in bed together before lights out. On nights when we finish dinner early enough and the kids clean up, brush teeth, and get their PJs on in time, we pile onto the big bed in our bedroom and select a book to read. Sometimes we only have time for a few pages; other times we read multiple chapters.
I love this time for a number of reasons. Of course I think it is “good” for the kids. And it helps calm them down so they can actually fall asleep instead of hurling stuffed animals at each other. And I love books and stories. But it also hearkens back to my own childhood when I remember sitting with my dad reading books. I still clearly remember many of the plots, the sound of my dad’s voice, the way he would slam the book shut when we were finished, the way his wedding ring reflected the lamp, and the ridges on his massive (to my young eye) fingernails.
I don’t remember conflicts and problems, though I’m sure we had them. We do now, too. Sometimes the kids can’t agree on a title. Sometimes Maggie interrupts the story so many times that I want to exile her from the room. Pretty much every night Griffin elbows Sarah in the face or fidgets so much that we want to strap him down. But these sorts of challenges are part of everything we do, and they don’t diminish the magic of storytime.
With the completion of The Secret Garden a few weeks ago, we’re finally at the stage where we can read complete novels. Maggie’s still not 100% ready, but Griffin is eager to tackle bigger stories. Prior to this, we were mostly reading shorter children’s books or episodic graphic novels (Bone, Amulet, and, our all-time favorite, Lumberjanes). It’s exciting to consider all the books we can read together now!
In preparation for Family 3.0, we decided it was time for a major upgrade to Griffin’s loft. Loft 2.0 is bigger, and is now a shared loft for both Maggie and Griffin — we always knew that Maggie deserved a special loft space too. Beneath the deck is an area for reading and building forts, with room, eventually, for a crib. We couldn’t have done it without expert assistance from Sarah’s parents.
You may also enjoy looking at a post about the construction of the original loft, built a few months before Maggie was born, and photos of the construction of Griffin’s original room in Oakland, way back in the spring of 2009.
Thunderstorms all night and ominous gray skies in the morning didn’t diminish Griffin’s excitement for starting school again this year. (There was nervousness, too, but mostly he was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.)
A gallery of art that Griffin created over the past few months (7 years old). Most of these were created at the art table, often in the morning when Griffin likes to come downstairs and create art before the rest of us get up.
