Category Archives: Maggie

Griffin, Maggie, Photo

Ice Castle

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The Inspiration

Rainbow Igloo picture posted by Aunt Alli last year.
Rainbow igloo picture posted by Aunt Alli last year. Turns out that this was beyond our carton count and engineering ability this year. (Click for the original website about the rainbow igloo project.)

Preparations for a more modest structure

Over 100 milk cartons collected.
Over 100 milk cartons collected.
Lesson: Don't leave ice bricks in the sun on a black table no matter how cold it is.
Lesson: Don’t leave ice bricks in the sun on a black table no matter how cold it is.

Construction

Construction begins.
The walls begin to rise.
Drizzling water to help cement everything into place.
The bricks are mortared with a slurry of snow and water. Drizzling additional water helps cement everything into place.
Careful mounting of spiked merlons on the parapet.
Careful mounting of spiked merlons on the parapet.
Finishing touches.
Finishing touches. (Mostly testing the integrity of the wall and adding mortar where necessary to tighten things up.)

Ice Castle!

Tall battlements.
Tall battlements.
Ice castle!
Ice castle!

 

Griffin, Maggie

Two Plates

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In the interest of science, I present the following two exhibits.

Exhibit One

February 15, 2014 photo of Maggie’s place setting after her breakfast. Rather than looking at the cute heart plate, observe the clean black tablecloth around the edge. Maggie is 21 months old.

Maggie's plate. Maggie is nearly two years old (one year, ten months).
Maggie’s plate. Maggie is nearly two years old (one year, nine months).

Exhibit Two

February 15, 2014 photo of Griffin’s place setting after his breakfast. Note the tablecloth. Griffin is 4 years, 10 months old.

Griffin's plate. Griffin is nearly five years old (4 years, 10 months).
Griffin’s plate. Griffin is nearly five years old (4 years, 10 months).

Additional Data

  • The photo of Griffin’s spot was taken after he had already attempted to clean up his area.
  • Breakfast menu was identical (strawberry shortcake with crumbly biscuits) except that Maggie declined the strawberries and requested a poached egg. (To my eye, the strawberries and egg had similar properties — slipperiness, difficulty of fork stabbing, etc. — so these data are still valid.)
  • Both ate with forks and occasional fingers.
  • Both had similar napkins.
  • Neither had substantial adult intervention.
  • This situation is not an anomaly. Maggie’s area is typically significantly cleaner than Griffin’s, although she has notably inferior control of her fork and other eating tools.

Hypotheses

Competing explanations:

  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!) Update: See Two Plates, Revisited for the 2017 results.
  2. Core personalities. Griffin’s gene mix is less inclined toward maintaining a clean environment. (There is some evidence to support this from other arenas.)
  3. Parenting. Our methods of teaching Griffin and Maggie were somehow different, leading to these divergent results.
  4. Gender. I’m often skeptical of this, but perhaps there is a gender component.
  5. As a nod to my years in California, I shouldn’t omit the possibility of planetary influences… Aries vs. Taurus, anyone?
  6. Or, the Chinese lunar calendar was big in my family, so maybe it’s an Ox vs. Dragon thing!

 

Maggie

Maggie Walks!

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Maggie is now 13 months, and she has crossed the threshold into walking! We have been expecting this for over a month and a half now, but she has proven to us once again that she’s on her own schedule. One of the reasons we suspect she has been waiting is that she’s been getting around quite well with knee walking (which she demonstrates at the beginning of the video. She also demonstrates her use of the sign “more” in there, too), much to the delight of strangers when we’re out in public! Today, while Griffin and I were playing a game, something just clicked for her and off she went. It’s only a matter of time before she starts running to keep up with her big brother!

http://youtu.be/CgGx25Nf3lc
Maggie

Time for Tea

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Maggie and I just played “Tea Time” together, passing the cup back and forth and pretending to sip (or slurp) from it. Pretend games! My favorite.

Maggie turn.
Maggie’s turn.
Daddy's turn.
Daddy’s turn.
"Now that I've done this 10,000 times, I'm pooped."
“Now that I’ve done this 10,000 times, I’m pooped.”
Maggie

Maggie Busts a Move

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Maggie, my parents, and I recently flew out to Oregon to attend a dear family friend’s wedding. It was a lovely day spent in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, but Maggie was beyond tired after dinner and we thought it was time to go as the evening set in. Just as we were preparing to say our goodbyes, the music started playing and Maggie perked up. Unprompted by anyone, she started tearing it up! The video I captured unfortunately missed some of her best moves, but you’ll get the idea. Next time the crankies are coming on, I think I’ll throw on some fast tunes and get her to dance!

http://youtu.be/IyePHWCEORI