So this video is a little more than a minute, but I think it belongs in our Minute in the Life series because it shows how much she’s changed in the last few months!
http://youtu.be/4IgEkoXamvE
Maggie the Mimic
Maggie is 17 months old and is starting to really pick up talking! In addition, more so than I remember with Griffin, she is mimicking just about everything people do, especially when she’s watching Griffin. Tonight, however, she mimicked me after I pretended to sneeze during some after-dinner hijinks with Griffin. Too darn cute not to share!
http://youtu.be/raaplbwvVZcMagic
Griffin, this morning, while eating some fresh biscuits that we made together:
“Isn’t ingredients like magic? You put them together and they turn into something!”
Then, a few minutes later, “I think I want to be a magician.”
Pigs in Blankets
This is hardly an ambitious recipe, but while on solo-parenting duty this weekend, I remembered how much I loved Pigs in Blankets as a kid. Griffin was excited about the idea, so we decided to do it from scratch. We bought old fashioned wieners from the butcher down the street and eschewed Bisquick. They were delicious, so I thought I would jot down the recipe we used here, for future reference.
Ingredients
1 cup  flour
½ tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
¼ cup grated cheese (we used sharp cheddar)
½ cup buttermilk
6 hot dogs
Then the usual dough making operation: mix dry ingredients, cut or massage in the cold butter until crumbly, mix in cheese and buttermilk (don’t over-mix). We rolled the dough out lightly on a floured board (again, trying not to overwork the dough) and cut into six similarly sized sheets. Wrap dogs, bake on greased sheet at 400° for ≈12 minutes.
Wet Pants: A Documentary
At breakfast this morning, Griffin was moments away from nuclear meltdown over some spilled water. Time to whip out the phone and make a movie!
Griffin Says Roundup Summer 2013
Conversation at lunch today
Griffin: “Daddy, you’re the king, and I’m the prince, and Maggie’s the…whore.”
<Mama and Daddy look at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or cry>
Mama: “What is Maggie again?”
Griffin: “She drills holes. The Hole-er.”
Mama and Daddy: “Ooooohhhhhh….”
—
We have been promising Griffin ice cream from an ice cream truck for days, but one hasn’t crossed our path yet. Tonight, after returning from 3 hours at an outdoor pool, Griffin asked for ice cream from an ice cream truck again on the way home. Of course, we didn’t see one and once we pulled into the garage, crying ensued. After he had gained his composure, he started at it again and sobbed,
“We never should have gone to the pool!”
“Why not, honey?”
“Because it reminded me of the ice cream truck!!!”
“How did it remind you of the ice cream truck?”
“BECAUSE IT WAS FUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!” <SOBBBBBBBB>
—
Me: “I’m going to sell you to the zoo today!”
G: “Why?”
Me: “Because you’re acting like a monkey!”
G: “Are you kidding?”
Me: “Yes, I’m kidding.”
G: “But you still kinda want to do it, huh?”
—
Overheard in the garden(in addition to giggling under the cover of the bean pole teepee):
“Wow! These beans are wonderful!”
“Hmm, I wonder what Maggie is investigating over there?”
“Hey MOM! We’re investigating a bee pollinating a flower!”
“Wow! Look at the size of that green pepper! It is almost big enough!”
—
Griffin: “I really had to pee so badly that it got on the potty seat, but I used one of the wet wipes that makes it sparkly clean!!”
—
Me: “Griffin, I thought you just went potty.”
Griffin: “I did!”
Me: “Well, your body is wiggling around like you have a poop.”
Griffin: “The wind is just singing me a song and I’m dancing!”
Upside down
Dawn Rainbow
Photographed in front of our house at 6:30 am, August 5, 2013.
Give Me Uno or Give Me Death!
“Hey Dad, I really want to play Uno every day.”
“Ok. Sure, let’s play Uno every day.”
“I mean, every day until we die.”
The Sandwich Gene
Griffin’s great-grandfather was a legendary sandwich maker. He would happily pile anything between two pieces of bread, add some peanut butter, and call it good. I recall a sandwich he made for me once that included, among other things, peanut butter, walnuts, prunes and salad dressing. As a child, I was horrified by many of his creations, but I did develop a taste for peanut butter with just about anything. (One of my favorite sandwiches remains peanut butter, salami, and pickles… really good.)
I’m proud to say that Griffin has inherited the sandwich gene. Up at the yellow cabin on Saturday, he gleefully requested the following ingredients: peanut butter, jelly, cheese (he wanted four varieties, but volume considerations dictated fewer), roast chicken, salami, pickles, and wheat thins. Upon tasting the result, he declared that it was “the goodest sandwich in the whole world!”
