Dawn sky as I walked to school on Friday, January 19.
Red Dawn
Fine Art
Let it be known that January 17, 2018, was the day that Griffin discovered his true canvas:
Whole30, Take 5
After taking a hiatus last year due to Oliver’s birth, Sarah and I are diving back into our winter tradition of committing to the Whole30 program for thirty days. It’s always a good reset for us in the winter when we are more drawn to sweets and carbs. For those who don’t know what it is, we’re basically going to avoid sugar (including honey, syrup, artificial sweeteners, etc.), grains, legumes, and dairy for the next thirty days. That pretty much leaves fruit, vegetables, eggs, and meat.
I believe this is our fifth time doing it, so it feels like a pretty smooth start. We made lists of recipes last week and stocked up at Costco yesterday. Chicken chili is in the slow cooker and I’ve got a dutch oven filled with my proprietary kale-and-sausage stew which I eat for breakfast every morning (with a poached egg… it’s divine).
The kids aren’t included, though of course they benefit from having fewer sweets and carbs on the menu. Maggie, however, isn’t 100% clear on this fact yet. While we were making lunch for them, she came into the kitchen and asked, in her signature end-of-the-world way, “What are we having for lunch? Pleeeeease don’t say that we’re having only fruits and vegetables!!!”
(Actually, we made mac’n’cheese.)
Household Barbarism
This just overheard from the living room:
Maggie: “Griffin! You can’t have that on the couch…Barbarian!”
Imminent Death
Maggie will surely die if you don’t come down this instant to eat our breakfast!!!!!
—Text message from Sarah this morning
PS: Yeah, we text each other across the house.
Oliver’s 2017
Last year in early January, I discovered a new app called One Second Everyday (1SE). I did my best to capture Oliver’s development from that moment on, and here is the final product! I wish I’d known about it right when he was born, but this is still pretty cool. Enjoy!
Oliver’s First Flight
Travel with three is definitely harder with three than with two. Even though Griffin and Maggie are great travelers at this point, they still need a fair amount of guidance and support, especially around luggage handling: “Don’t run over that lady’s toes!” “Your bag is tipping over!” “Your coat is dragging on the floor.” And then, of course, they simply don’t have the muscle power yet to get bags onto shuttles or sometimes even escalators. Add Oliver to the mix and at least one parent is relatively hamstrung. He comes with additional supplies too. We ended up traveling “light” with merely five suitcases, five backpacks and diaper bags, two booster seats, one full car seat, and the seemingly infinite writhing tentacles of our winter coats. There were a few moments when we were entirely beholden to the kindness of strangers.
But we made it, unscathed, and the flight itself was largely peaceful. Let the mayhem of a seven cousin holiday begin!
Modern Fashion
We’re immersed in madcap packing for our holiday trip to visit Andrew’s family in Maryland. Kids are asleep. Adults are exhausted, going over checklists.
Sarah: “Did you check on Maggie’s clothes in her suitcase?”
Andrew: “Well, she seemed pretty organized about it…”
Sarah checks the suitcase and finds the following items, very neatly packed:
- 7 pairs of pants
- 2 skirts
- 1 shirt
- 4 pajama tops
- 0 pajama bottoms
Dialect in Dialogue
I love the little tidbits that the kids come up with as they engage more with the world. At a recent meal, Griffin noted that the word because is spelled one way, but is often spoken a different way: ’cause. He knew that he should spell out the full word in writing, but he wondered what he should do if he were writing the words that someone else said (i.e., quoted dialogue). This led to a great conversation about written dialogue and how the conventions of writing don’t always match the conventions of speech.
This would have been a great discussion topic in English workshop with 8th graders, so it was a real treat to have it spontaneously emerge from our 3rd grader’s ever-curious mind.
Oliver’s First Birthday
Oliver’s birthday landed two days after Thanksgiving this year. Pam and Jeff were able to join us for the day. Sarah had been pummeled by a rough case of strep earlier in the week, but everyone was healthy by the weekend. We went for a walk around Lake Como, ate cake, and enjoyed more Thanksgiving leftovers.
We began the day with Oliver’s presents.
Breakfast from PJ Murphy’s (who also baked the cake)
Suited up for a chilly walk around Lake Como.
The never-to-be-topped “Amazing Lotus Flower Birthday Exciting Candle” (which may have slightly traumatized the birthday boy).
In case we run out of birthday cake… we have a whole cheesecake!