Turkey?
No thank you.
Ham?
Nope.
Stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc?
No, no, no…
Ok, Griffin, what would you like?
A pickle and some cranberry sauce!
Thanksgiving, Griffin Style
Tag Archives: Griffin
Not Every Day is Magical, but Today…
Let’s be honest: being a stay-at-home parent is hard. And tiring. With colleagues who throw tantrums, pin you to the couch demanding milk, want you to pay attention to them every minute you are awake, and very infrequently express gratitude for your efforts, it can get a little deflating.
We’ve been having a hard few weeks. Griffin is…well…three and a half. This equals riding a roller coaster of emotions on an hourly basis. One minute, he’s delightful and pointing out amazing observations about the world, the next minute, he’s throwing a screaming tantrum because I dared to open the garage door without him. Maggie has evolved past the take-anywhere-do-anything ease of newborn-hood and entered babyhood, which for her, consists of being quite content as long as I am within 12 inches of her at all times, most preferably holding or touching her. God help us if I leave her line of sight. She’s sitting up now, which is awesome, but Griffin’s favorite thing to do is tip her over, because, you know, he “just wanted to.” This past weekend we added a family cold to the mix, which left us all a little more cranky and a lot more tired. With Andrew’s demanding school schedule this year and my recent daily challenges with the kids, it’s probably safe to say the parental reserves are starting to run a little low.
Today, though, had some magic in it. It started in the morning when Griffin sneaked into my room and loudly whispered that he needed help putting on his underwear. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary, but there was something about the way he crept in and was trying so hard to follow all of the morning time rules of being quiet and gentle that made my heart burst for him. <loud whisper> “THANKS, MAMA. GOOD MORNING, TOO. I LOVE YOU, TOO!” and back to his bed to read books until his orange sun lit up. We made apple waffles together after Maggie woke up, and then decided it was a good day to go to the sculpture garden and then a park. And that’s exactly what we did, and it was…magic. The weather was stupendous, everyone was in good spirits, I was fully present and fully loving my job. Days like today help fill me up, and I’m thankful to get a gift like this, especially when I most needed it.
http://youtu.be/62r2yBFA5ycHilarious Brother
Maggie laughs a lot these days, and the one person who can make her laugh more than anyone is her big brother. He also managed to make me laugh pretty hard today, too.
http://youtu.be/jhHMLe6a2csFirst Fire
Two winters later, we finally have a swept and inspected chimney, bringing our cozyness potential up at least three more points. To Griffin and Maggie’s delight, we built our first crackling blaze tonight.
Good idea?
“Griffin, do you think that’s a good idea?”
“No, but I’m going to do it anyway.”
Green Halloween?
“Hey Griffin, what do you want to be for Halloween this year?”
“A rain barrel!”
More From Griffin
“Mama, I have all these songs in my body and I’m tryin’ to decide which one you can hear!”
“Mama, I want to fetch a pail of water for the garden.”
“I will bring my scooter outside and then people will hear it going “ba-bump, ba-bump” because there are cracks and then they will play with me. Maybe Bud or Betty will come out!” (Bud and Betty are our 80 year old neighbors)
G: “I’m still a little bit sad.”
Me: “Oh, yeah? Why?”
G: “I’m still sad from yesterday.”
Me: “What made you sad yesterday?”
G: “You were loud with me.”
Me: “Oh, I’m sorry that’s still making you sad. Is there anything I can do to help you?”
G: “No. Don’t worry. My sadness will go away soon.”
Me: <heart aching>
Our Haphazard Garden
While some thought did go into planning our garden this summer, the result has been a splendidly haphazard garden. We planned what we were growing and started everything from seed in the spring, but by the time we were ready to plant in the ground, Maggie had been born and stuff just needed to go in. We borrowed our neighbor’s rototiller to incorporate our backyard compost and got our seedlings in the ground. By the time we had it all in, we realized we had more space than we had planned for and made a mental note that next year we could go bigger. As time went on, we got some surprises: lots of “volunteers” started sprouting up all over the place as many tomato plants and vines took over the unclaimed real estate! We’ve been delighted as we discover what’s coming up and have been watching all kinds of expected and unexpected plants grow. The produce has been delicious, and what’s even better is that Griffin is excited to be part of it all. I’d call that success!
Unexpected Sight
As I was finishing my lunch in the dining room, I suddenly realized there was silence coming from the basement when just a few moments earlier there had been rambunctious banging of “music” wafting up the stairs. Wondering which object I would find flushed down the toilet this time (and when exactly I would learn not to leave him alone in the basement), I rushed down the stairs saying, “Griffin! What are you up to?” Imagine my surprise when I came upon Griffin unloading the dry clothes from the dryer and loading the wet ones from the washing machine.
“Wow, buddy! What a helper you are!” I said as I marveled at how big and responsible he was getting.
“Yeah, Mama! Hey, remember that time I pooped on the rug and in my underwear?”
Ah, yes. You are still three.
Griffin “Reads”
Griffin, much to our delight, absolutely loves books. While he might be a bit hyper (and I say that lovingly), he will almost always sit down and listen to a story. He has been loving the book Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems lately. He has asked me to read it to him three or four times in a row in one sitting! Today, he plopped down on the kitchen floor and said, “I’m going to read Leonardo to you!” I was fortunate enough to catch it on video (sorry for the poor sound quality):