Our Little Grinch

Over the course of the Christmas holiday, Grafton picked up this "cute" routine that he would enact while we were driving in the car. It goes something like this:

G: "Talk about me while I'm sleeping." (closes his eyes)
D: "Mom, do you think Grafton enjoyed what we did today?"
M: "I guess so, since he seemed happy most of the day."
G: (indistinct growls)
D: "What do you think he would like to do later?"
M: "I don't know...maybe should we ask him...I think he's waking up."
D: "Grafton, are you awake?"
G: (growls, louder, finally awakening) "I'm not Grafton! I'm the Grinch! I will steal Christmas!" (roars)

And this act would go on for a while, before our sweet Grafton would return.

We'll have to be careful not to show him the Grinch TV show next year. Oh, and we actually saw the Grinch in NY this past week:

Grafton Meets Santa

We found out that Santa Claus would be making a public appearance at Yankee Candle at a time that would perfectly coincide with our drive back from a day in Brattleboro. We arrived at around 4:30pm, waited a short while (while watching Christmas movies on multiple large screen TVs), and by 6:30pm Grafton was the first in line to see Santa! Grafton told Santa everything he wanted for Christmas, which included a green garbage truck and a white pickup truck. I guess we'll find out soon if Grafton has been naughty or nice!

We posted some pix from their encounter. And here's one for the blog:

Happy Holidays, all!

Potty Trained

For the record, Grafton has officially earned his "potty trained" badge. He pretty much had it by his 3rd birthday. But with a month of "proof" behind us, it's clear that Grafton knows when he's gotta go, and where he's gotta go to take care of business. We still use a diaper overnight, but they are generally dry in the morning. I'll also note that Grafton gets a kick out of using "erinals" in public restrooms.

Party #3

Gymnastics-themed birthday party for Grafton, in photographs.

III

Yup, Grafton turned three. If you ask him now, he'll still say he's two, but we're working on that with him. In order to remember what the little guy looked like after three years of life, Dad took a few photos of him on his big day. To save you from having to click on that link, here are a few of those photos now:

On the morning of Grafton's birthday, Dad had put on his fleece pants and sweatshirt after getting out of bed. Grafton sees Dad's attire and says, "We don't wear comfies on birthdays!"

The Deal with Bananas

I made a deal with Grafton this morning. I told him that if he tried one bite of a banana, I wouldn't put any banana slices in his cereal. You see, he always refuses banana slices in his cereal, and so I never dare lace his cereal with this most offensive produce. But I offer this to him at least once a week anyway, in hopes he will have a change of heart. It has been this way for maybe a year. He simply wouldn't eat bananas--in any form (unless I secretly minced them up and threw them in our waffle batter). But he hates the idea of banana slices in his cereal so much that he agreed to the deal. He would eat one bite. After taking this one bite, he said "hmmm...this is pretty good!".  I couldn't believe it. Mom couldn't believe it. He proceeded to gobble up the half banana I had given him. And then he even agreed to having banana slices in his cereal. And he eat them all up. Bananas are back!

Accident-Free Sunday

No diapers today, just underwear. And no accidents!

Also, another bike ride around the neighborhood. And no accidents!

And we flew a balsa-wood, wind-up propeller model plane in the pumpkin patch behind our house. Oh wait, actually there were a few accidents there...

Street Pedaler

Grafton had not been showing any interest in riding his bicycle this summer, and the bike we bought him has been gathering dust. The last time we were at Nana and PopPop's house, they gave us another toddler bike to bring home that was sitting around in their garage. So this morning, which was bright and sunny, we reminded Grafton about the new bike with the hope that he would want to get outside and enjoy the day. To our surprise, he was uncharacteristically excited about taking it out for a ride. So Dad slapped on the training wheels, filled up the tires, and told Grafton to take it for spin. And Grafton was pulling it out of the garage as soon as Dad opened the garage door. Mom took her bike out too, to help encourage Grafton. Dad decided to walk along with Grafton to help out, as necessary. Well, Grafton did great! He got going with no trouble, and except for careening out-of-control toward the curb on a few of the downhills, he rode flawlessly through the streets of our neighborhood. And he was motivated too! He rode the entire 0.9 mile loop without looking back. And when we got back to our home, he wanted to keep going. And we did. 1.3 miles in all.

Halloween at Home

We didn't think we'd be able to have Halloween at home this year, since we lost power early Sunday morning (due to the record-breaking October snow storm). But power came back on Monday morning, and we were able to carry through with our trick-or-treating plans. Grafton had a great time dressing up as Frank Sinatra, and gave us a number of fine vocal performances throughout the evening. He was less interested in the candy-related aspects of Halloween, and wasn't thrilled with the idea of picking up treats at our neighbors' homes. But once he got the hang of giving out candy, he ran to the door every time trick-or-treaters stopped by. Plenty of photos here.

S is for Summit!

We took Grafton out for a hike on the Skinner State Park trails, with the hope of reaching the Summit House on Mt. Holyoke. This was a low probability outcome, considering our past hiking experiences with him. He's being doing much better on hikes lately, but the last time we were out on these trails we only made it about a third of the way up. So dad brought the backpack along, just in case Grafton did not cooperate. But our little guy pushed all the way to the top, without complaint! We held his hands most of the way up, but he did all the "heavy lifting", stepping up the trail over big rocks and roots. He was propelled in part, by the reward of seeing the Summit House, which we told him all about as we headed up the trail: how it had been used as a hotel and resort many decades ago, and more recently, how it was a museum, and finally how it will reopen next year after being closed for the past few seasons. We were both very proud of our little guy and we could tell he was quite proud of himself as well! As it was getting rather blustery and cold at the top, we decided (with his complete approval) to head down with him in the pack. We treated ourselves to a nice lunch at Barstows, which included hot chocolate and an assortment of mini-cupcakes. And while we were eating it started snowing--big heavy flakes. We could tell the storm was coming, having seen a hundred or more birds sitting up high in a tree nearby, tweeting about the impending weather change. We drove home in thick snow (though, not yet sticking), and predictably, with his tired legs and a full belly, Grafton feel into a deep sleep. He didn't wake up at all, as we brought in him inside the house.

Two-thirds of the way to the summit--and "Little Guy" (see hat) was still going strong.

M&M Test

Based upon a psychological test described in a book Neva and I are currently reading about children's mental development, I performed the following routine with Grafton.

I placed one M&M on a plate for Grafton and told him, "If you can wait one minute without eating that M&M, I'll come back and give you two more. Remember, you can't eat it!"

He passed! I then repeated with 2 M&Ms first, followed by the promise of 7 more, with a 2 minute wait in between.

He passed again! And proudly proclaimed "I didn't eat them!" when I returned.

However, it was a somewhat biased test of his willpower, since he was watching Mary Poppins at the time, so it was probably much easier for him to resist the temptation. I'll try again later under more controlled conditions.

Conversations

A couple of paraphrased conversations with our son this week:

---

Yesterday, we were explaining to him why he needs to be careful with his head when he's playing rough.
Dad and Mom explained: "...you have to protect your ears, and your eyes, and..."
Then Dad finished with: "...and the most important thing to protect is your brain!"
Grafton: "Where is the brain?"
Dad: "Feel your head--see how it's hard? That's your skull. Inside that is your brain."
I went on explaining to him what the brain does so he would understand why it's so important to protect: "You know when you see something? Well, it's your brain that is seeing something. And when you hear something, it's your brain that is hearing something..." (and so on).
And then Grafton cuts to the chase and tells us, "And when I'm thinking, my brain does the thinking."
Well, I guess we don't have to simplify our explanations quite so much...

---

Today, Grafton interrupts our conversation while in the car as he usually does by calling out, "Excuse me! Excuse me! I want to say something now." After we acknowledge him, he says "I want to tell you a story. When I was a little boy...[unintelligible speech for a little while]...My friend Eekie Eeeks draws the pictures and I draw the words to the book." Later on, "Eekie Eeeks died. He was old and he's not living anymore. But Grafton is here and Grafton will meet a new friend." Finally, "I am going to die soon too. And Grafton won't be here anymore."Parents (horrified), "No! You are going to live for a long, long, long time."

---

Finally, a few days ago, Grafton asks, out of nowhere, "What is high school?"

Fancy Clothes

Grafton (et al.) get dressed up for a Baptism ceremony.

More photos here

Pumpkin Time

Grafton stands in front of pumpkins picked from behind our house!

More pix here

N A C H O

These are the letters Grafton was able to write last night, following Mom's instruction.

Grafton and Dad Read "The Lorax"

Grafton recites pieces of "The Lorax"...from memory!

Training Wheels

Grafton's been having a ton of fun at school riding the red tricycles on the playground. He's told us about it a number of times when we've asked him what he did at school that day. (Usually he'll also explain that he didn't crash into anyone.) So realizing how much he was enjoying the pedaling experience, we headed to the bike store and traded in Grafton's Specialized Hotwalk bicycle for a Schwinn Gremlin pedal bicycle, with training wheels. At first, it didn't go so well, as he kept hitting the breaks (turning the pedals in reverse), and had lots of trouble getting started. Then Dad realized that the cranks were binding for some unknown reason. After a quick repair at the bike shop, the pedals were turning smoothly, and Grafton did much better. He still would hit the breaks at inopportune times, and didn't always apply them after picking up speed on a downhill section. But the couple of times we've taken him out for a ride, he has been able to get cruising on the sidewalks around our house. For short bursts, at least. So far, each time, we've ended up dragging the bike home ourselves. But I'm sure it won't be long before we can't get him to bike back home at all.

Letters (ASCII 0x40-0x90)

We've been working with Grafton to start teaching him to recognize the letters of the alphabet. His Baba made him a nice flip book of the alphabet, one letter to per page, with accompanying pictures. Most nights we flip through a number of pages to recite the letters and ask him what letters he's seeing. (He likes to do this with his Dad by flashlight, after we turn out the lights in his bedroom). With the exception of 'G' he has yet to demonstrate he's learning the alphabet. But I actually think he knows more than he lets on, as he has a tendency to tell us "I don't know" any time he's not entirely certain about an answer.

Tonight, at dinner, we were pointing out to him the letters that start various words of items at the table ("pizza", "cup", etc.). He was more attentive and engaged than usual. After running through a number of words, we recited a list of 'B' words, and asked him what letter they started with, after sounding out the 'B' sound for him a few times ("buh, buh, buh"). He called out "B!" and we could tell he was very excited at being able to identify the letter. This motivated him a bit more, and he started asking us what letter various other words started with. He went on doing this longer than we would have expected, showing us that he really is getting interested in figuring out how letters relate to words (you know, what we adults call "spelling").

Lately, Grafton has also really enjoyed putting together his alphabet train jigsaw puzzle. He will often call us over to help him identify the letters so that he can piece together the train into the full alphabet.

Hopefully, his interest in the alphabet will continue to grow! I feel like he's on the verge of a minor intellectual jump...if we can keep him motivated to learn.

Back on Track

Grafton is getting back on track with his potty training. The last couple of days he's successfully told us when he needs to get pee in the potty, and produced the goods once we got him on the potty. He's even woke up with a dry diaper this morning, and headed straight to the potty after getting out of bed.

Rainbow in the Berkshires

Driving home from Otis tonight, Grafton saw his first rainbow. It appeared to us multiple times as the country road weaved in out of the trees, and Grafton pointed it out and smiled each time he saw it.

(Sorry, no photos.)

You Never Can Tell

You never can tell what will be a problem for a toddler.

With our big move now a few days behind us, Grafton is doing great with the change. We didn't know whether this was going to cause problems for him, and we were worried that he would constantly ask to go back home, or back to his old room. But he's barely asked about it. In fact, I think the only time it comes up is when we ask him about it. So far so good.

We were also worried about his sleeping arrangement. We delayed for months converting his crib to an open bed, worried that he'd be getting up and down all night, causing days or weeks of restless nights for us all. But moving into our new house, we knew it was time to make the conversion. Although we were concerned that altering his bed at the same we were moving might be too much at once for him. But we did it. And for the past two nights, we think he's never slept better. In fact, Neva just commented this morning how this was the first night in a long time where neither of us were woken by Grafton calling out to us for a "re-tuck". So much to our surprise, he's doing really well with his new 3-walled bed.

But then there was the tub incident. He made it over two and half years using a (oversized) infant tub for his bath time. We never liked the full bath tub in our last home, and so we just kept using the smaller infant tub. Now that the new house has a much nicer tub, we were happy to be do away with the infant tub. But Grafton was not happy about it all! What a fit he threw! He refused to sit and screamed so loud that I'm quite sure our auditory systems sustained significant damage (the bathroom's tile, fiberglass tub, and mirrors do little to attenuate high-pitched screams). He was also slipping constantly, since the tub does not yet have a mat. I held him by both arms trying to get him to sit, and eventually prevailed. But the screaming continued. On his butt, he continued to slide around, which he found moderately entertaining and started to come around emotionally. But just as he was getting used to the tub, he slid onto his back, sending his feet flying upward. His little toe hit the tub faucet and got cut, and started bleeding. More crying and screaming (understandably now). His toe is fine, but I think we might go back to using the infant tub for another night or two...

Just the Facts

It appears we can no longer get away with telling the little white lies that we occasionally use to dissuade Grafton from activities that are, well, inconvenient for his parents.

For example, take the other day when Grafton asked his Dad for another cup of milk. Now we were practically out of milk. I mean there were a few gulps left in the gallon jug. But I knew it wasn't much, and hardly enough to warrant me getting up from my comfortable perch on my recliner. So I told Grafton plainly, "sorry, there's no more milk, we finished it."  In the past he would have taken this at face value, and maybe complained a bit, but then would let it go. But on this particular day, Grafton was not ready to accept what his father had told him. He explained that he was going to check if we had more milk and headed up to the kitchen. He proceeded to open the fridge, found the nearly empty jug of milk, took it out and placed it on the counter, and then started yelling down to me, "Daddy, we have milk! Look Daddy, we have more milk! I want the rest of the milk!" (well, something close to that). So Dad was forced to concede that indeed there was remaining milk, and got up to pour the precocious little boy another half cup of milk.

Later that same day, we were at the Commons eating burritos for dinner outside on a patio area, near the Odyssey bookstore. After finishing up, Grafton asked if we could go into the bookstore. As the evening was moving on quickly, we knew we had to get home soon to get Grafton bathed and ready for bed. So we told Grafton that we thought the store was closed. We actually believed this to be the case, but did not know for sure, and figured it was likely enough to be closed that it wasn't worth proving this to Grafton. But there was no need for us to provide this proof. Upon getting up from his seat, Grafton announces that he was going to go see if the store was still open, and runs over to the door. Finding that the door was still open, we hear him calling back at us, "It's open! The bookstore is still open! Come inside!" So, once again, our little Fact Checker showed us the importance of verifying one's assertions, and in this case was awarded to a reading of "Curious George".

Tonight, driving home from the Arguins, Grafton was singing a single verse of a song from Mary Poppins. He was getting most of the words wrong, but that's the way he liked to sing it. We tried to correct him, slowly repeating the words as we understood them to be. But he refused to accept our version, telling us "That's not how it goes." Having placed some doubt in our minds, Mom and Dad began debating what the words might actually be. Grafton, hearing our discussion, interjected, "We can look it up on the computer."

Solid Progress

First at school, on Friday. Then once at home, on Saturday. Hopefully, he's on his way...

Stubborn Style

Today was one of the hotter days of the summer. Mid-to-high eighties, but brutally strong sun. A perfect day for Grafton to insist on wearing jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. We refused. So...he figured out how to dress himself! Pulled on his jeans, and slipped into his shirt. First time ever. He's always told us "I caaaaan't", when trying to show him how to get dressed. Well, apparently he can.

So we let him wear his clothes of choice. And he sweat a lot today. But he never seemed to mind the heat, and never complained about his fall attire.

He also took to a particular hat we found while packing today. Not our favorite hat, mind you, but it's hard to dissuade our child from stylistic choices.

So here it is, his outfit for July 10, 2010.

Notes circa 2011-07-05

Grafton is doing well in his new pre-school class, and seems to have adjusted without much distress.

"Step in Time", from the movie Mary Poppins, is his favorite song (and dance) these days.

Walked a dog by himself while on a hike with his friends, Ivorie and Grahm.

Flew a kite in the park, with a little help from Daddy, but was able keep it aloft for a while on his own.

Finally has given in to eating pasta, and strawberries and apples (once again). There were certain things he just wouldn't eat, but he's coming around, and willing to try more things. Still a solid "no" to salad or broccoli on his pizza.

Can throw a Frisbee in approximately the right direction. Has a pretty good arm when throwing a ball too, though a very non-standard arm motion (kind of a side-arm pitch, with a half rotation of his torso); it actually amazes me that he can throw the ball in the right direction with this technique.

Enjoyed playing in a lake this weekend, with his life preserver on.  He got scared once or twice when he fell over onto his stomach and couldn't quite regain his balance, but other than that he was fearless and enjoyed splashing around on his own. Had fun with Dad, filling up a "lake" behind a sand dam, and watching it self-destruct after it was breached.

Now very capable on playground climbing structures, using his hands and feet to traverse all sorts of ledges, bars, ropes, etc.

He's increasingly more willing to hike, and is even willing to lead us on the trail now. Roots and rocks of all sizes are no longer an issue, and he can pretty much run along rutted and uneven surfaces without falling. We don't really worry about him falling anymore, or at least we don't worry about him falling and hurting himself badly.

Trying to teach him how to get dressed and undressed, although he usually gives up pretty quickly and tells us he can't do it. Tonight, he got most of his clothes off by himself (the shirt required some help from Mom), including his socks.

We've been trying to teach him his letters, so that he can recognize and draw them. Not making much progress yet, but he does seem to be able to recognize "G".

At Home Depot today, he remembered from earlier trips that there are "race car" equipped shopping carts, and asked for it before we even saw one, as soon as we stepped out of the car.

We can now usually ask him to tell us about something that happened earlier in the day, and he'll remember the event and tell us something about it (e.g, seeing a bear run across the road in front of our car). Or he'll just remember something on his own and incorporate it into his play time (e.g., I told him about how Mom was at the repair shop getting an oil change, and why cars need oil changes, and he explained to me how was going to remove the old gas from his car and replace it with new gas; well, he almost got it...)

Carnivore Grandparents

Grafton, walking around with his toy phone, makes a call. He's talking softly into the phone, and I can't hear him, so I ask, "Who are you calling?"

He answers, "I'm calling Nana and PopPop."

"What are they doing, Grafton?", I inquire.

"They're cooking", he replies.

I laugh and say, "Yeah, we see them cooking a lot, don't we?" (they always cook a big meal when family is over)

Then he emphasizes, "They're cooking meat."

[Perhaps, this can only be appreciated by those that have attended a Tolopko family event in Otis, where there are usually no less than 3 types of meat dishes to choose from.]

Moving Up

Well, another milestone has passed. Grafton graduated from his Toddler 3 class this past Thursday. Ten months of drawing, painting, gluing, dancing, singing, laughing, and learning; reading book after book after book; playing with dinosaurs, bugs, space mud, sticky paper collages, blocks, buildings, race tracks, train tracks, a water table, and a sand table; wearing costumes, snow suits, sunscreen, sun hats, and rain coats; being outside running, falling, walking, climbing, digging, dragging, pushing, and pulling; taking care of the goldfish, and Wally the turtle. And all of this with his friends, Joe, Natalie, Gabbi, Amelia, Gavin, Landen, Tovah, Taylor, and the triplets, Aiden, Brody, Collin. And of course his (daily) teachers, Tina and Rachel, who did so much to care for, read to, talk to, listen to, play with, laugh with, comfort, and put up with our son, Grafton. We know Grafton will really miss his teachers and his friends (though many will be moving on to the next class with him). As time passes, we're quite sure Grafton will remember his time in Toddler 3. And if he doesn't, here are some pictures he can use to remind himself (thanks, Rachel!)

(all photos here, with a special treat at the end!)

Grafton begins pre-school on Tuesday. New teachers! More kids! Bigger room! New toys! More potties! Cheaper tuition! Can't wait!

Nothing Left to Add

"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, 
but when there is nothing left to take away"

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

While working on a pasta collage at school, Grafton completed his masterpiece when he declared,

"It's done, it only needed one thing!"

Clearly, Grafton figured out that it was easier to stop adding early on, rather than having to agonize later over what to take away.

This also reminded me of a scene from the movie "Six Degrees of Separation",  where Flan Kittredge provides the following anecdote during a dinner party, explaining the secret behind the great works of art:

I thought...dreamt...remembered...how easy it is for a painter to lose a painting. He paints and paints, works on a canvas for months, and then, one day, he loses it. Loses the structure, loses the sense of it. You lose the painting. I remembered asking my kids' second-grade teacher,

"Why are all your students geniuses? Look at the first grade--blotches of green and black. The third grade--camouflage. But your grade, the second grade, Matisses, every one. You've made my child a Matisse. Let me study with you. Let me into the second grade. What is your secret?"

"I don't have any secret. I just know when to take their drawings away from them."

Exploiting Loopholes

Grafton was watching a cartoon on PBS this morning, while we were getting ready for work. But anytime we let Grafton watch TV, he forgets to eat his meal. So I kept reminding him, "You have to eat your bareakfast, Grafton!" A little later, Mom comes in and tells him it's now time to put on his sunscreen, which he never likes. But instead of being physically evasive, as he usually is, he looks up and Mom and states, "I can't", then points to his cereal and explains in his most mature voice, "Daddy said to eat it." 

Looks like we're going to have to coordinate our parental orders from now on!

It's Hard to Recall

While at the doctors office, waiting for the doctor to show up, Grafton and Dad were looking at the ABC poster on the wall. It showed the full alphabet with a picture next to each letter. I was quizzing Grafton on his letters, and he got one, or maybe two, correct. But after a little while Grafton looked a little distraught, and said, "It's hard to remember."

I think this was the first time I heard him use the word "remember" on his own, without first being asked about "remembering" something in particular. I found it interesting that he was aware of his effort of trying to recall knowledge. I guess I just wanted to remember this moment myself.

Tuesday Notes

On our evening walk, we found some volleyballs sitting in a field and started playing with them. Grafton's getting pretty good at catching, if a (large) ball is thrown at his chest. He's got a pretty mean throw too, winding up his whole body and chucking the ball with a 2-hand sidearm pitching style. In the middle of our game of catch, he told us wanted to pee outside. We were very excited that he finally recognized his need to pee and telling us that he wanted to go. He also remembered something Daddy did on our hike together the previous day, at which time I told him how he too could pee in the woods, if he wanted. And he remembered. We scurried him over to a tree, but by then the urge was gone.

Grafton likes Jazz. When he hears it on the radio he tells us, "This is Jazz. I like Jazz." Tonight, he was fiddling with the iPod in his room and told me, "I want to listen to Jazz."

Johnny Cash is by far Grafton's favorite musical performer of late. It's all he asks for now, "I want to listen to Johnny Cash." Even though the Man in Black doesn't do Jazz. It only takes a few bars of music before Grafton is demanding we get out his guitar for him to play along.

Day in the Berks

It's been a while since our family's been able to just hop in the car and take off for a carefree day of fun. But with Mom and Dad back to health, and the sale of our house in motion (fingers still crossed), we took advantage of a beautiful Sunday to spend time together as a family out in the Berkshires.

Our first stop was at our local Tailgate Picnic deli to pick up lunch for, well, a picnic. After driving up Route 20 from Westfield, we stopped at a road side picnic area along the Westfield river near Huntington, MA. With full bellies, we headed further north to Middlefield, where we parked at the Keystone Arch Bridges trail head. Grafton had fallen asleep in the car, so we started out on our hike with Dad carrying the groggy boy in his arms. But Grafton soon awoke and was easily convinced to his hike on his own.

 

 

 

He hiked alongside us for almost 3/4 of a mile and would have gone farther on his own, but the all of the bugs buzzing around us required a faster pace. So we tossed him in the pack.

With Grafton now traveling at Daddy speed, we continued up the trail to check out the beautiful 70' Keystone Arch bridge, once used by trains heading through Berkshire mountains. It was a steep, slippery slope down to the bottom, descending from the trail that previously crossed the bridge.

 

 

After the hike, we headed over to the Lee Outlets, ostensibly to buy some clothes for Dad, but Grafton's the one that made out like a bandit (as always), picking up new pjs, shorts, and shirts for the summer. And we also found a hat for him we couldn't resist buying.

With lunch having taken place many hours earlier, we headed to our favorite Berkshire pizza spot in Great Barrington, aptly named Manhattan Pizza. Neva went in to order our pizza, while Dad stayed in the car with a sleeping Grafton. After bringing the comatosed kid in to the restaurant, he woke to the smell of our freshly baked pizza, smiled, and started right in on his dinner. The only proper way to follow-up such a yummy meal, of course is to get ice cream! So off we went to the SoCo creamery in town.

Where Grafton danced to music inside while we ordered and then ate Daddy's ice cream outside on the sidewalk.

 

All sugared up, and ready for more, we took out Grafton's bicycle for him to ride while we walked alongside down the main street.

As we came upon the Mason Library, Dad noticed its circular sidewalk leading up and down to the entrance, and thought it would make a great race track for Grafton to burn off his sugar high. But after one lap on his bike, Grafton decided he preferred to race around on his feet. We seriously think he did over 20 laps of this course. Fast. Hat flying off, and subsequently retrieved, on just about every lap. Sweat dripping down his brow and arms. A few laps with Dad and Mom racing around with him. All of this fun being had post-bedtime, and over an hour away from home.

On the way home, Grafton did not fall asleep in the car. But he slept well overnight. We all did. So we should have energy for hopefully more fun today at a Memorial Day parade...

The full set of photos of our Day in the Berks

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Grafton can say it! (Yes, he loves the movie, Mary Poppins.) [Apr 24, 2011]

Today [May 14, 2011], Grafton is jumping around and dancing in the den, and then explains he's got a drum on his back. I realized he was imitating the Bert's "One Man Band" from the movie.

Language Challenges

Yes, English is a difficult language to master. Grafton's trying to, and doing well, but he's got a lot more to learn. Here are a few quotes, showing some of the current challenges:

"That's mines" (keeping the pluralization when reversing "that's yours")

"Where is them?" ("where are they?")

"I'm all doned with that." (forming past tense with irregular verbs, applying -ed suffix unnecessarily)

While eating corn on the cob, we explained that it can be "hard" to do. He started pointing at his sternum, saying "bones, my bones are here, they're hard". Oh, the challenges of homonyms! We gave him different examples of how the word "hard" is used, trying to show him that it can be two different words entirely. I'm pretty sure kids don't learn about using homonyms correctly via this type of classroom-like instruction, but we tried to explain it anyway.

While not a challenge, just wanted to note here, while talking about language, that the "why?" question is back in full force.

Dinosaur Dream

After waking up after a nap at school, Grafton went over to his teacher, Rachel, with a worried look. He told her that he had had a weird dream, "I dreamed a dinosaur ate my lunch. He ate my bagel."

Spider Extraction

While outside on the front porch, Mom and Dad spotted Grafton swiping at the floor with a wet tissue, while saying "bug, bug over here".  After a few seconds, we were able to recreate the events that led up to this moment:

While Mom and Dad were outside on the front porch, Grafton had spotted a small spider inside the house, near the front door. Grafton remembered that Daddy had been performing spider extractions earlier in the day, and knew what to do. First, he would need a tissue to grab the spider safely. He walked down to the den and retrieved one from the tissue box in the den. Next, he would have to wet the tissue (of course). So he retrieved his stepping stool, and brought it over to the kitchen sink, turned on the faucet, wet the tissue, and turned the faucet back off. Finally, he walked back over to the spider and started swiping at with the wet tissue. Mom and Dad, hearing Grafton talking about a "bug" looked over to see what was Grafton was up to. Seeing a spider evasively jumping around on the floor, Dad went over to take the tissue and spider away, and threw them in the trash.

Arizona Vacation Quotes

"Daddy don't fall" (while being carried by Dad in the toddler backpack near Yavapai Point, as Daddy was taking a photo looking down into the canyon), then "Come over here, Mommy" (as Mommy was walking alongside the rim)

"I want to jump down there" (again, while being carried by Dad in the toddler backpack, while walking along the rim of the Grand Canyon, near the Bright Angel trail)

"I'm not old, I'm new!" (response to Mommy when she told him he looks old in the shirt he was wearing that day).

"I'm all fancy!" (after Mom finished getting Grafton dressed in the morning in the hotel room)

"I don't like breakfast, I like salad!" (response to being told it was time to head to the breakfast buffet at the hotel)

"Jeeps are only driven by big guys!" (response to Dad's promise that if we ever moved to Flagstaff, AZ, that Dad would buy a Jeep).  "Daddy is a little guy, no Jeep for Daddy. I'm a big boy, I drive a big Jeep" (answering Dad's question, to confirm whether Dad was a big guy or little guy).

"Daddy, is the grass tickling your legs too?" (while walking through an overgrown field outside Flagstaff, in shorts)

"No! The book will get dirty at dinner." (after offering to bring Grafton's book to a restaurant, so that we could finish reading it to him)

"I'm not tucked! I'm not tucked!" (an alert Grafton issued to his parents who were sitting in the front seat of the rental car, while pulling out of a parking lot in Sedona, after being placed in the car seat, without being buckled in. Phew.)

"You're Bikos, you're Kikos, and I'm Mikonos" (Grafton's new names for Daddy, Mommy, and himself, apparently after eating an imaginary Gyro.)

While having lunch with Daddy near the rim of the Grand Canyon (Mom was off on a hike):
D: "Would you like some of this orange?"
G: "Yes, please." [D offers a 2-piece section]
G: "Thanks." [Examines the offering]
G: "I just want a little bit." [Splits in half and hands back one piece].
G: "This one's for you."


Not a quote, but... While checking out the hotel's game room with Dad, Grafton finds a first-person shooter arcade game, with a pistol attached to the console by a long cable. He picks it up and before I could explain to him that I didn't want him to play with a gun, he drags it over to the car seat of the neighboring racing game, and uses it as a gas pump to fill up the tank of the car.

Step by Step

I sat down to start catching up on our "blog backlog", and put on a David Grover album to keep Grafton entertained. But I started at the second to last song, which caused a disgruntled look to appear on Grafton's face. He looked over at me and started trying to get out into words his dissatisfaction: "I don't want that one. I want, I want, I...that's the end...I want 'Step by Step'".  Now "Step by Step" happens to be the first song on the album.  So not only did he figure out how to tell us that he wanted to start at the beginning, but now he's memorizing song titles.

Chocolate Easter Bunny

Grafton demonstrates how to eat a Chocolate Easter Bunny. (Thanks for the bunny, Baba and Grandpa!)

Sleeping in the Bed We Made

We've been dealing with a recent pattern of disagreeable behavior on Grafton's part. At 4am. Every morning. Sometimes earlier. He calls out to us from his crib, "Mommy, I want to sleep in your bed" (yes, we've given into letting him do this for too long, and he's grown used to it). We tell him it's too early and that he needs to go back to sleep. He starts to whimper. Then he tells us "I need my blankets up" (yes, we've always gone into pull up his blankets). We tell him he can pull them up himself, now that he's a big boy. And he can. But this never works. His whimpers turn into a full cry, and gradually grow louder. "I need music" (we've often let him listen to music when he's trying to fall asleep in the evening).  We tell him it's too early in the morning for music, and that he needs to try to sleep some more. The crying turns to all-out screaming. Next, "my blankets are on the floor!" (yes, he knows that in the past, this forced us to get out of bed to help him stay warm on a cold winter night).  We tell him that he shouldn't have thrown his blankets out of his crib. After 10 minutes or so of crying out for Mommy, he switches strategies, and starts calling out for "Daddy", making the same requests. By now the screaming is persistent and mostly unbearable to any adult who happens to have functioning auditory nerves. We ignore him. 10 minutes more of screaming. We hold fast to our strategy of letting him "learn on his own" that he cannot get us out of bed whenever he wants. Another 10 minutes goes by. Then another. It's intolerable. No one is sleeping and we're all miserable. Pillows over the head barely attenuate the 115 decibels emanating from the neighboring room. But the lesson must be learned, and we continue to ignore his tantrum. We ruminate in our exhausted state how incredible it is that a 2.5 year old can scream for 45 minutes (and longer!) without tiring. And without learning that it will not obtain the desired effect. That's probably because after about 30 minutes or so, he almost always wins. One of us drags our tired bones out of bed to calm him down, allowing him make peace with the fact that it's still sleepy time for all of us. So of course, he's learned that he merely needs to go on screaming for as long as it takes, confident that his "victory" is inevitable. But finally, last night, we stuck to our guns, and remained silent through an endless hour of toddler tantrum. And it worked--he finally gave up. He went back to sleep on his own, and we all slept in until 8am. Let's hope he's starting to learn that tantrums don't always work, because it's hard a lesson to teach.

Danger Avoidance

One evening during the middle of this past winter, Neva and Grafton were driving together on Park St, behind Mt. Holyoke College, when a deer jumped over a snowbank and darted across the street right in front of their car. Neva broke hard and nearly hit the deer, but the car stopped just in time. Neva and Grafton watched the frightened deer stumble away over the opposite snowbank. For weeks afterwards, every time Neva or I were driving with Grafton on that same street, he would remind us, "Don't hit the deer!"

Grafton is definitely a safety conscious young fellow. He remembers most of the cautionary advice we tell him, and often repeats it to us later on. As expected, the warnings we give him most frequently revolve around not touching hot stoves and grills, and letting hot food cool off before eating it. I guess some of it has registered with him, since one evening while trying to dish up some steaming ravioli with my hands onto Grafton's plate, he lovingly yelled at me, "Don't get burned, Daddy!"

To Brush or Not to Brush

Recently, we had a particularly difficult morning with Grafton. One of the struggles was trying to get him to brush his teeth. He was throwing a fit, and remained defiant. Trying to calm him down, I asked, " Grafton are you angry? Are you sad? How do you feel?" To which Grafton responds, "I don't feel anything!"  I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at the precociousness his declaration.  And so he yelled back at me, "It's not funny at all!" But it wasn't long before he turned his emotions around and was happy once more. Realizing he had been unnecessarily stubborn, he told us, "I wanna brush my teeth aaaalll day." Oh, the vicissitudes of toddlerhood...

Sicko

We had a pretty good run with Grafton's health so far this (calendar) year, and even through the entire winter. But the little guy is now sick with a fever and a cold. His parents are thankful he didn't get sick during our recent vacation to AZ. He had a minor cold with crusty eyes at the beginning of the trip, but got better after a few days, while his parents' health worsened. The adults came back home with full-on colds, and we thought Grafton had passed it on to us. But now it looks like we passed something new on to him instead. Ugh!

"Wow"

The title of this blog entry was Grafton's reaction to first seeing the Grand Canyon. Rolling out of bed at around 5:30am (8:30am EDT), we threw on our clothes and headed out the door to catch our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon during sunrise. This photo was taken at Yavapai Point.

What Mommy Missed

Work duties had Mom flying off to Utah today. So it was just the boys at home today, left to fend for ourselves. Except we didn't spend much time at home. Upon picking up Grafton from school, we drove  to a playground at an elementary school in Granby. But we struck out. The playground was surrounded by a veritable moat, riddled with pools of water many inches deep around all the play equipment, including a small ocean at the base of the slide. We decided to try another outdoor spot to play, and headed to Defresne Park. But from the road it didn't look accommodating either, as it was still surrounded by snow. So we did a quick drive around Granby, but ended up back at Mt Holyoke College, where we usually do our evening walks.

Filled with Goldfish, Grafton was ready to burn some energy. He ran and ran, challenging his Dad to keep up with him. We stopped for a bit to enjoy the view of the raging waterfall of the Upper Pond dam. We soon reached the amphitheater, walking onto the large stage, and then climbing up the stairs (Grafton even led with his left foot a few times while climbing). Looking back, Grafton saw the stage and told me, "I wanna sing a song on the stage." As I followed him down the uneven stairs, he demanded that I sit down and watch! He climbed on the stage and started singing Old McDonald Had a Farm while dancing around. He really seemed to enjoy himself. When he finished, he demanded that I put on a performance as well, which of course, I was compelled to do. Fortunately, for me, no one was around. As the show came to a close, the cloudy sky opened up to reveal the radiant and uplifting light of the setting sun. Unable it to see it directly, I implored Grafton to run up the stairs with me so that we could catch the sunset.

After enjoying the transient light, we headed back to our car, Grafton in my arms. The car was parked across the street from the District 2 fire station, and I noticed that one of the garage doors was open. The garage bays were all lit up, and I could see a fire engine inside, and I knew Grafton would enjoy seeing it up close. We headed over. Peering inside, there was a fireman working on a small truck. He invited us in! I thanked him, and brought Grafton in for a quick tour. I pointed out the firemens' jackets, boots, and oxygen tanks, and of course the fire engines! He quietly took it all in, remaining uncharacteristically speechless. As we passed by the welcoming fireman, we thanked him again, when he asked Grafton if would like a fireman's hat. Grafton didn't answer, so I graciously accepted the offer for him. With hat in hand, preparing to leave, the fireman asked Grafton if he wanted to sit in a fire truck! Shyly, Grafton whispered a low, "yeah." After opening the door, Grafton bolted up into the back of the cab and jumped up into one of the seats, carefully checking out his surroundings. Of course, he didn't want to get out, but after a little while I lifted him down. Apparently, it was a slow evening at the fire house, because Grafton was then offered to ring the (decorative but functional) bell on the front of one of the fire engines, which he did. Then the fireman opened another garage door bay, got in the second fire truck, and put on the emergency lights for Grafton's enjoyment. I'd say Grafton was enjoying all of this, but there was more! Next, Grafton was offered to get in the drivers seat of the fire truck, which he enthusiastically accepted. Up in the seat, Grafton was turning the steering wheel and forcefully manipulating the turn signal (I thought he was going to break it). I thanked the firemen a few more times, but on our way out, he brought us to the ambulance parked outside, which Grafton also got to "drive", and then we were allowed to peek in the back, where we saw the empty stretcher and all of the medical equipment. What a tour! We were invited to come back anytime.

After our long evening out, we finally headed home for a quick lasagna dinner, a book, and then off to bed.

Mom's away tomorrow evening as well, so I'll have to figure out how the two boys can have even more fun tomorrow.

Rites of Spring

Thanks to the snow having finally melted away from the roadsides, I was once again able to safely walk to Grafton's daycare and pick him in the toddler hiking backpack. When we returned home, we stayed outside and played golf together in the driveway. We then took out his bike for a quick ride, and next we pulled his toy car out of the garage for a short drive. (We checked the tire pressure, since it had been sitting idle for so many months, but Grafton reported, "it looks good!") In the backyard, which is now again accessible via the brick pathway, Grafton placed his slide back on its feet and took a few test runs. Finally, we kicked around the soccer ball a bit, and then headed inside to wake up Mom from her nap. It's time to stop hibernating--Spring is on its way!

Typical Friday Night

Tonight we all headed to Marshalls to do some clothes shopping for Neva and Grafton. Grafton needed new pajamas, but we didn't talk about this in the car. However, half way to the store Grafton spoke up from the back seat, providing a lengthy description of his thoughts that went something like, "I want to buy new pajamas, because I'm growing bigger. I'm a big boy. My other pajamas are too small. I wanna buy big boy pajamas at the store." After grinning at one another over the surprising lucidity and detail of his words, we explained that we probably wouldn't find the same "guitar" pajamas that he likes so much. He thought for a moment and then accepted this fact, requesting "I want to buy blue pajamas."

The conversation soon turned to skeletal matters. Grafton stated, "Dinosaurs have bones. I have bones in my body too." We smiled at each other again, then pointed out how all animals have bones in their bodies. But I think we'll need to try again at explaining to Grafton how insects have exoskeletons, and not bones. He didn't seem to quite grasp that one yet.

Before turning into the parking lot, we were stopped at a traffic light. Sirens were wailing behind us and getting closer. Mom pointed out to Grafton, "A fire engine is coming up behind us!" As soon as it passed, Grafton caught a view of it and corrected his mother, "that's NOT a fire truck...that's an ambulance!"

So we arrived at Marshalls. While Mom did her shopping, Dad followed Grafton all around the store, as he pushed a small, wheeled, carry-on luggage bag that he found in the travel department. He was very careful not to ram the luggage into the store displays, heeding Dad's warning that if he did, we would have to put the luggage back where we found it.

Eventually, we found our way back to Mom. She had found two pairs of shoes that looked like possibilities for Grafton. We had Grafton try on the first pair--blue running shoes. But Grafton didn't like these, and he told us immediately after placing them on his feet. No, instead he preferred the Merrells. Considering how he frequently wavers back and forth on such matters of personal taste, we asked him a couple more times, but he remained consistent in his decision. Unfortunately, we thought the Merrells were too big and clunky on him, so we quietly overrode his decision and purchased the blue ones. When we got home, we wanted him to take off his shoes before going upstairs, which he refused to do. So we explained that he could change into his new shoes if he wanted. This option excited him, but when I took out his new blue shoes, he frowned and told me he didn't want those but wanted the "other shoes". He came over to look in the shopping bag to see where they might be, and was upset when he couldn't find them. I explained that we didn't buy them after all, and he gave me the most distressed look. I tried to convince him that new shoes would be great, and he soon agreed, as long as we cut off the tags. Which we did quickly. And he was happy again.

We had dinner. We watched footage of the Japanese earthquake disaster. Afterwards, Grafton watched Pete Seeger lead the audience at his 90th birthday celebration in a song of "Amazing Grace", singing along at times. And then it was off to bed. But not before Grafton knocked over Mom's glass of wine, breaking it, and spilling the wine all over the floor. But this disaster was pretty minor, considering where it measures on the Ricther scale.

Fire Fighter Costume

Thought we'd share some photos of Grafton's makeshift fire fighter costume: Orange winter jacket, yellow construction hat, and gray sweatpants with rolled-up cuffs.  The snake doll, of course, is the fire hose.  The sound of spraying water is simulated by Grafton's mouth (note the puckered lips).

 

Going Swimming

We signed up Grafton for swimming lessons at the YMCA, and his first lesson was last night.  We weren't sure how it was going to work out, since our little man can be fickle about what he enjoys doing, and he had refused all pools last summer.  But it worked out great, and he was very excited about the whole affair.  He remembered all day that he was going swimming in the evening, and when Dad picked him up from daycare, he ran all the way to the car, exclaiming that is was time to go swimming!

More photos here.

Double-sided photograph

Grafton, Neva, and I were looking at a framed photograph of Neva walking off into the distance on a beach on Cape Cod. Grafton was holding the frame in his hands, intently studying the picture when he commented, "That's Mommy on the beach".  We confirmed his observation and then he asked "Where's Daddy?"  We told him that Daddy wasn't in the picture because he was the photographer behind the camera.  To verify our claim, Grafton flipped the frame around to see if his Dad was on the other side. (Or maybe he just wanted to see if his Mommy's face could be seen on the flip side?)

Today I had fun...

Today, I had fun...

...playing hockey with my Dad in Northampton (fallen tree branches for sticks, a block of ice for a puck)

...crawling back and forth under a changing room door while my parents tried on clothes

...running up and down a "hiking shoe test ramp"...backwards

...practicing my ice walking skills on MHC campus

...simulating low-gravity skipping and hopping while holding my parents hands during our walk

...repeatedly singing all the words to "Down by the Bay" (a song my parents have never heard before)

...sitting in my Dad's lap while we ate lunch at a restaurant

...eating French toast for breakfast...and dinner

Zillow

Dad was looking on Zillow.com to see what houses are for sale in our area.

Grafton, sitting in his high chair, eating lunch says, "Are you buying new house?"

Dad: "Yes, well, we're looking for a new house."

Grafton: "You move to new house?"

Dad: "Maybe, if we find one we like.  But you'll move with us."

Grafton: "You don't want this house. This house broken."

(It appears Grafton has been picking up on our complaints about our house)

Riding the PVTA 38

Every time Grafton sees a bus waiting to pick up passengers on the Mount Holyoke College campus, he asks us if he can get on too. Of course, we had to keep telling him "no" because we weren't actually prepared to go on a bus ride. But finally Dad planned for the occasion this past Friday by picking him up from school in time to make the 4:55pm departure of the 38 bus to Amherst, where Mom would meet us after work. Grafton definitely enjoyed the ride. See for yourself!

Winter Catch-up

We'll it's been over three weeks since our last blog entry, and I'm using the same excuse that every New Englander has a right to these days--I've been too busy shoveling frozen water crystals off of our driveway and roof. Fortunately, we kept a few notes about some of Grafton's latest antics and developmental milestones. Very random and miscellaneous stuff, but these are the little things we didn't want to forget.

Tina, one of Grafton's daycare teachers is pregnant, and we've discussed what that means with Grafton.  I think he must have talked about it a bit at school as well, since one day he came home telling us all about the "babies in my belly".  As Grafton often does, he later mutated this into "I have junk in my belly", which he would repeat on occasion after eating a meal. Not sure why exactly he settled on the word "junk", but maybe he heard others talking about eating junk food!?

Grafton is now well aware that he is no longer a baby. Sometimes, just for a laugh, we'll pick him up and cradle him like a baby (which is no small feat, since he's so large now), and tell him "You're our little baby Grafton".  He instantly rebuttals, "I'm not a baby--I'm a big boy!"  He likes to spontaneously remind us of this fact at various times.

One day Grafton comes home from school and starts reciting some simple rhymes:
"I drink, I wink"
"I drink, I wink"
"I drink, I sink"
"I drink, I puff"
We have no idea where he picked this up, but I posited that he must have been watching an episode of Mad Men at school, because all I could picture was Don Draper sitting at a dimly lit, smoke-filled bar.

Speaking of smoke, we smoked ourselves out of our house one evening a couple of weeks ago, while trying to start a fire in our wood stove.  Just after we got it going, it went out, then smoldered, and quickly began filling our house with smoke. After a few unsuccessful attempts at trying to control the situation, Dad ran upstairs and yelled out to Mom, "get me some water!!!"  Grafton, hearing the urgent call, sprang into action, ran to the pantry closet, and pulled out a bottle of olive oil and white vinegar (thinking they were water) and handed them to Daddy. Mom got the water, Dad threw it on the smoldering ashes, and the situation was under control. We tried to air out the house, despite it being the coldest night of the year. But at 10:30pm, after realizing we couldn't sleep in the acrid air, we packed a bag, hopped in the car, and drove to a hotel.  While in the car, Neva and I started discussing what had gone wrong and how we might have avoided the disaster.  At one point I asked her, "so what did we learn?"  Grafton, hearing the question, chimed in with a precocious and lucid answer, "Don't do it again, Daddy!"  Smart kid.

Grafton, after all, is now a fully-trained fire fighter, thanks to his latest favorite book, "Big Frank's Fire Truck".  He now knows just about everything there is to know about fire safety, fire equipment, and extinguishing fires.  He knows how to "stop, drop, roll".  He knows that Big Frank drives a "pumper engine" that "holds 1000 gallons of water". He knows firemen need to wear helmets, to "protect his hair", as Grafton explained it. He knows that oxygen tanks and masks allow firemen to breathe when surrounded by smoke.  He understands what sprinklers are for. He's really spent some effort learning everything in this book. As an aside, when Grafton is on duty as a fire fighter, he likes to wear his own plastic yellow hard hat and orange winter coat--he actually looks like a real firefighter (boy, we really need to get a photo of this).

Grafton's puzzle skills continue to improve.  To our surprise, he is now able to find and connect jigsaw puzzle pieces.  On two separate occasions, Mom and Dad each were trying to teach him how to "solve" a jigsaw puzzle. "Grafton, do you see how this bit of color on this piece matches the color on that piece?", and so on.  But he wasn't really listening to us. Instead he was busy staring at the jumble of pieces and then on his own accord would reach over to grab a piece and slap it down in the exact right spot, stating something like, "this one goes there."  I guess there are some things you don't really teach.

He's also pretty much mastered his "shape ball"--a sphere with an assortment of openings that only accept pieces of the correct shape. I like to watch him pick up a piece, rotate the sphere around until he finds the right opening, and then confidently pushes the piece through. He gets bored after a few pieces, even though I always hope to see him finish the whole puzzle.

I think we watch too much news on TV.  Last week, he told us, "I wanna watch the news!"

One morning while getting Grafton dressed, Grafton told me that his "feet hurt" and next that his "shoes [are] too tight".  He was trying to let me know that had grown out of a pair of his shoes. The next day we were all in the car on our way to Marshalls, and Mom and Dad were discussing what they needed to buy. Hearing this, Grafton revisited his earlier topic and began explaining that he needed to go shopping to buy new shoes, because his brown shoes were too tight, which he proceeded to explain over the course of 4 or 5 sentences. (This stood out to us as one of his longer multi-sentence thoughts.)

Dad and Grafton were off to school one recent winter morning.  After Dad opened the car door, Grafton refused to let me place him into his car seat. He insisted that he would climb in by himself.  And that's exactly what he did, demonstrating a level of climbing dexterity that made it clear I've been doing the heavy lifting for much longer than I've needed to. Even more recently, after a walk in the snow, he was climbing into my car and I asked him to get in the seat without placing his wet, snowy shoes in the seat.  Somehow, he climbed on up, kneeled in the seat facing backwards, and then swiftly flipped himself around, kicking his legs out, so as not to get his seat wet.  It was an impressive maneuver.

A few weeks after Christmas, Dad and Grafton went to the dump to get rid of the Christmas tree. I explained to him why we had a big tree in the back of the car and where we were heading.  On the way there, we saw a school bus and I commented that it was odd to see a school bus heading towards the dump. Grafton then asked if it too had a Christmas tree inside. I told him that it might, but that more likely it was bringing kids to school.  Later, after pitching the tree, I pointed out the big garbage trucks that were driving to the top of the landfill mountain. He immediately asked if we could drive up there too.  But after explaining to him that we weren't allowed and that it wouldn't be very pleasant in any case, he understood and repeated "only big trucks, not Daddy's truck." A week later, we headed back to the dump to get rid of a computer, and he told us again that Daddy's truck wasn't allowed to go up the hill.

Grafton really enjoys the cartoon series, "Dinosaur Train".  He's asked for it a lot in the last week or so. It basically puts him in a trance.  But not tonight. He had a change of heart when we offered to let him watch it, telling us, "No dinosaur train! I want to watch a movie!"

Grafton can finally move unimpeded around our house, now that he can operate door knobs (for better or for worse).  Sometimes he'll just repeat going in and out of doors (and up and down stairs), just because he can.  After doing this for a while tonight, his forearms must have grown tired, because he started having trouble turning the knobs fully. He tried and tried, but just couldn't get the door to the den open, and he refused our help saying, "I do it myself!" After a number of failed attempts, he grew very angry and started running around, pumping his fists in the air, and finally ran into a corner and yelled, "I'm fruhhhstrated!" Indeed, he was.  It's quite a spectacle when he gets this angry. But he came around quickly, and we tried to explain that not everything in life is easy.

We're considering hiring someone to help us keep our house clean, and tonight we had a woman come over for a consultation. The first thing the woman asked us to do was to show her around. Grafton considered this his full responsibility and with great enthusiasm led the way through each room of the house, naming each room in turn.  "This is the kitchen", "this is my room!", etc. He seemed so happy to have the opportunity to give a tour.

Grafton is one step closer to brushing with real toothpaste, now that he has learned the fine art of spitting.

Grafton loves dancing with his guitar. He also still loves dancing without it.

Playing the Joe Card

I finally won a battle in our ongoing food war with our son.When Grafton decides "All done! [eating]", it's pretty much a lost cause for us to get him to eat another bite. He pulled this one on us this morning over breakfast, after having only a few bites of his cereal, "All done!" Since it was almost time to go to school, a new strategy formed in my mind.  I calmly replied to Grafton, "Should we bring your cereal to school and give it to Joe?" For those unaware, Grafton and Joe had a history of claiming each others' toys as soon as one of them would lay claim to one. This was a healthy and harmless rivalry, and one that would subside within a few minutes of the two's daily introduction.  But in Grafton's mind, this idea of sharing his cereal with Joe elicited the expected response of possessiveness and he instantly declared, "No! I eat my cereal."  And he did.

The Big Dig

While official estimates are around 20" of snow accumulation, I think we received closer to 2'.  We tried to use Grafton as a measuring stick but soon realized we didn't know how to convert 0.5 graftons to inches.

In any case, we spent a long time digging out by hand, and Grafton helped us quite a bit--mostly by playing on his own, and not requiring our attention! But of course, since Dad had a shovel, Grafton needed one too, and he seemed quite proud to be able transfer snow from one point to another. In terms of snow clearing, Grafton's net work was about zero, but he was having a good time helping out.  He spent a considerable amount of time outside with us, and never so much as complained about being cold. Grafton seemed entirely comfortable in the snowy, blustery weather, even when the wind picked up and blew frosty bits of water into his eyes. He trudged through the powder willingly, falling occasionally, and sometimes decided to just stay there in a reclined position to enjoy a quiet, reflective moment.

And then there were the plows--oh yes, the plows! Grafton loved watching the big municipal plows rumble down the street, spraying snow up into the air.  As soon as one would pass, he'd immediately demand, "more plows!" And he didn't have to wait long for another to come along and answer his request. At one point, the driver of an enormous, plow-wielding dump truck, seeing that we had only a few feet of snow left to clear (both depth- and height-wise), slowed down as he approached our driveway and busted through the wall of snow.  Grafton was delighted. And Dad was thankful. We both waved to the driver when he returned down our street, in the opposite direction.

Here a few moments of video from the morning shoveling (I think we had about 12-14" by then, with another 8-10"  still to come):