Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Growing with their trees: A height comparison through eight years

We bought a baby Christmas tree for Mikko's first Christmas, so we did the same for Alrik and Karsten. Here's how their measurements are keeping up over the years.


First, a look back: 6-month-old Mikko's baby tree.


3-and-a-half-year-old Mikko with his now bigger tree.


7-and-a-half-year-old Mikko last year, both pretty dang tall! This tree stays out on the balcony in a state of benign neglect, which is why it's so scruffy. I assure you, we take (marginally) better care of our children than our plants.

This year:



Eight and a half years old. Tolerating picture time.




And…no longer tolerating it.


Being a second child, Alrik apparently has
no pictures of him with his tree when we got it. (?)


So, here, this is a picture of Alrik at his first Christmas sans tree. Just imagine it's in the background, keeping a watchful eye over him as he eats ribbons.



Happily posing with his tree at 3 and a half.
It's a softer Norfolk pine and can stay indoors for its benign neglect.



This year, at 4 and a half. Alrik's getting so tall!
(As you can see, he's outgrown those pants, and how!)



The tree's not any taller, though. Maybe if I watered it…
Here's how they can match height.


Being a third child, Karsten was jacked. Mikko & Alrik got to pick their trees out themselves. Mikko picked his before Christmas, Alrik perhaps just slightly after. Karsten's I picked up, without him, in February, round about Chinese New Year. Therefore, it is a Money Tree, because that's what there was at Safeway while I was hurrying through grocery shopping. Third children in a nutshell right there.


Hey, at least we remembered to take some pictures! Karsten, at 4 months here, was more interested in eating the tree than height-comparison photography.



Here's his 16-month goodness.



You can see his full-height comparison,
and also how terribly we neglect our plants.
Seriously, I can either raise babies or plants, but not both.



Fortunately, our babies fare pretty well.
Look at that chubby-chub!



What a sweetie.



Growing up well, indeed!



We'll check back next year!





2 comments:

Inder-ific said...

This is such a great idea! And they are so cute! But yeah, I gotta tell you, those plants aren't going to last through elementary years at the rate you're going ... LOL! I totally hear you, I recently posted a blog post about houseplants where I explained that I have a limited amount of "nuturing" in me, and if that energy is being expended elsewhere, in keeping little critters alive, the plants are going to die. Even now the only reason I have any energy for some plants is because my kids are older and more self-sufficient, and even then some of them die!

Lauren Wayne said...

@Inder-ific: I know, poor plants! Lol. This post inspired me to give them a good watering (the ones that are left…). I really appreciate your nurturing theory. I feel like that explains attachments to pets pre- and post-babies (not that I tolerate neglecting pets, but more the emotional aspects of it).

It's been a double whammy for my plants: A big building went up next to us, extremely cutting off the sunlight coming through our only windows. That killed off half my plants right there. And then when I was in my third trimester with Karsten, I was too unwieldy to fit behind furniture to get to the plants where they are in the window plus just felt too crappy in general, so I just kind of gave up. I should have asked Sam to take over watering plants along with litter-box duties, but apparently that didn't occur to me, ha. And I never got back in the habit! We keep our curtains closed most of the time (see: building right next to ours), and I don't even see them most days.

I've developed a laissez-faire attitude about the poor dears. If they can survive with me, then blessings on them. If not, then I give them a proper burial in the yard waste bin. I have called a moratorium on replacement plants until I prove I can be a better caretaker again…

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