Friday, January 14, 2011
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.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
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):
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):
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