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):

Contrails? What?

Grafton's bedroom has a skylight, which provides a fairly wide view of the sky above and the street below our house...if you place your head right up to it.  Often, just before bedtime or right after being lifted out of the crib in the morning, I'll carry Grafton over to the skylight to "see what we can see" of the world outside.  (This used to be my secret technique for getting him to settle down when he refused to sleep.)

This morning we walked over to the skylight together in our pj's.  Dad saw some smoke emanating from the neighbor's chimney and pointed it out to Grafton, thinking he would find it interesting.  But he was too busy looking up at the sky. Uninterested in the chimney smoke, he pointed way up asked "What's that line?"  At first I didn't understand his question, but after he repeated himself, I realized he had spotted a contrail from an airplane that had flown overhead.  I explained to him all about airplane exhaust, atmospheric temperatures, and frozen vapor, and he listened intently.  I then noticed that Venus was bright and visible just below the contrail and told him about the planet that was up in the sky.  With our morning observations complete, we proceeded to get dressed and ready for the new day.

For me, the interesting thing was that I realized Grafton has started to ask the question "what is that?"  He had asked this "what" question a few times already in the previous few days, but it didn't register with me that it was a new form of inquisitiveness for him.  

I must also note that he hasn't asked the "why?" question much recently, but I have a feeling that one will start again soon.

Restoration

Just noting that Grafton's injured fingernail has finally grown back fully, after losing the damaged fingernail altogether.  The finger is back to normal.  This is well ahead of schedule, as his doctor indicated it would be Feb or Mar before the damaged nail would be regrown.  He has a small scar and bump above the finger nail, which will likely be a permanent reminder of the incident.  But all seems to be well with his right middle finger.

While we're on the topic of healing, the bump he has just above his nasal bridge is considerably diminished and hard to detect now.  Perhaps this injury was not as permanent as we had thought it would be.

Grafton's Song

Grafton was sitting on the couch, with his new guitar (well, ukelele) in his lap, and started playing a song.  He declared, "This is Do Re Mi song".  After he played a few notes, he realized it didn't quite sound like the song he had intended to perform.  To rectify, he quickly explained, "This is not Do Re Mi.  This is Grafton's song."

Grafton's interest in music and dancing continues unabated.  He's often found with an instrument in his hands, including his ukelele, recorder, harmonica, and accordion.  He likes drumming along with Daddy as well, using any objects we can use to bang together and make a rhythm.  His rhythmic timing is really coming along, and he can continue producing a steady beat while Daddy drums alongside or plays the harmonica.  And, of course, Grafton dances whenever there's music in the air.  He still frequently demands that we play music for him on the stereo.

Christmas Eve Independence

Grafton enjoyed his third Christmas Eve at Nana and PopPop's house, with Baba, Grandpa, Jake, Sophie, and Jenya.  He played extensively with Jake, although I can't really say what he was doing, since I was not invited.  For the most part, Grafton actively ignored his Dad today!  I guess this is part of growing up.

No more water until...

Grafton asked for some water while Dad was making dinner tonight. Dad gave him a cup and allowed him to use the refrigerator's water dispenser to fill his cup. After just a few sips he wanted to dispense more into his cup. But Dad told him that he could only get more once the water in his cup was gone. Discovering a technical loophole in this rule, Grafton produced one his devious grins, walked over to the kitchen sink, and dumped his water down the drain. Since he outwitted his Dad, we let him dispense some more water.