The Inspiration
Preparations for a more modest structure
Construction
Ice Castle!
Ice Castle
Tag Archives: pictures
Two Plates
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.
Exhibit Two
February 15, 2014 photo of Griffin’s place setting after his breakfast. Note the tablecloth. Griffin is 4 years, 10 months old.
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:
- 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.
- Core personalities. Griffin’s gene mix is less inclined toward maintaining a clean environment. (There is some evidence to support this from other arenas.)
- Parenting. Our methods of teaching Griffin and Maggie were somehow different, leading to these divergent results.
- Gender. I’m often skeptical of this, but perhaps there is a gender component.
- As a nod to my years in California, I shouldn’t omit the possibility of planetary influences… Aries vs. Taurus, anyone?
- Or, the Chinese lunar calendar was big in my family, so maybe it’s an Ox vs. Dragon thing!
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.
Upside down
Dawn Rainbow
Photographed in front of our house at 6:30 am, August 5, 2013.
Project Runway, Here We Come!
Griffin, much occupied with career thoughts these days, is now considering the world of fashion design. Two hours before attending a wedding yesterday, I went into my closet where I had set aside my best summery linen shirt for the occasion. Griffin, attempting to reboot my wardrobe, had made some alterations.
Note the asymmetrical slashing—very fashion forward. Worried that I might fall back on other shirts, he proceeded through ten shirts with a similarly whimsical Jack-the-Ripper mystique. These were, in fact, my ten best shirts; I had put them at the front of the rack as I considered which shirt to wear to the wedding. (And, my wardrobe does not overflow with wedding garb.) Griffin astutely ignored the oversize denim and flannel, the maroon corduroy, the checkered seersucker, the ink-stained taupe, and any shirts missing buttons. Luckily for the bride and groom, my little fashionista missed a duplicate oxford at the far end of the rack, so I was able to attend the wedding in something other than my Republicans for Voldemort t-shirt.
Time to go shopping. And lock up the scissors.
Maggie
April 19 Snowstorm
First 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.
Big Kid Bed
We’ve been talking for a few weeks now with Griffin about moving to a big kid bed (partly in preparation for the baby in April). First we introduced the big kid comforter and pillow a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday Grandpa Jeff came up to build Griffin his first ever big kid loft bed. Griffin didn’t quite know what to expect other than that Grandpa Jeff was going to build him a new bed, and we think the results exceeded his expectations; when he was on the phone with Grandma Pam last night, he told her that “Grandpa built me my own new house, Grandma!” This morning after his shower, he excitedly went back into his room, “to look at my special new bed” and exclaimed, “Oh, it’s GREAT!”
We think he likes it.
Griffin’s room before.
Grandpa measures for the railing.
Griffin gets in on the action.
He loves the new perspective!
Griffin and Mama lay down the carpet.
Griffin demonstrates the proper ladder technique.
Tired and happy family!
Grandpa and Griffin say goodnight.
Griffin’s brand new loft bed!