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