Lies My Grandson Told Me

Maceo goes to Grandpa's house nearly every Saturday for a several hour visit. Upon his return to our house, we are regaled (often by Grandpa) with accounts of the places they visited and the foods they ate. Often, Grandpa tells us stories like these: They went through a car wash one weekend. Grandpa told us that Maceo was anxious about it while they were going through, which surprised him as Maceo had told him that he had been though one before. Grandpa is often surprised by Maceo's confident assent when posed the question, "Do you know X?". When pressed, Maceo immediately caves and says, "I dunno." Maceo will tell Grandpa which way to go in the car. Surprisingly, he is often correct, especially when going to places he goes regularly, like Grandpa's house or Mami's or school. However, one Saturday, Grandpa took Maceo's advice on how to get to the zoo, which ended with a suddenly not so confident Maceo saying, "I dunno" and an unsure Grandpa wondering how to actually get to the zoo. One Saturday, about 20 minutes after dropping Maceo off at Grandpa's, we received a voice mail: "Nick. I have a question about diapers. It's no emergency, but call me back." When Nick called back a little while later, Grandpa asked, "Does Maceo ever go around the house with no diapers on?" Nick said no. "Well, he told me he does and that it was ok. I told him to make sure to tell me when he had to pee. About 4 minutes later, he peed on the floor." Eventually, we think Grandpa will catch on to Maceo's shenanigans.

Give me some!

Last weekend, we had friends Jon and Siri over with their two sons Wesley and Theo to make cookies. Wesley and Theo are basically the same age as Mace and Cash--off by only a few weeks in both instance. We had invited Julian and Eben and Erin over, too, but Julian was sick and so we rescheduled their cookie making visit to one of the two snow days we had at the beginning of the week. Nick messed around a little with the camera and came up with this footage. Most of the filming is of Mace and Julian; Wesley is the kid eating all the pineapple.

Grand Premier!

Just messing around with iMovie. Maceo and Cash and Nick dropped Kate off at aerobics and then continued on to the Soft Playroom at a nearby rec center. It's always good times, and Maceo really likes it. Plus, Cash just looks around the whole time and then conks out on the way home from all the stimulation. Win-win!

Christmas giving

Nick got home a little late tonight, as there was a holiday party at WIS. When he arrived, he immediately took Maceo upstairs to change a diaper. We've been talking with Mace more and more about Christmas and Santa and presents. This is part of the conversation that took place while changing the diaper.

Nick: What happened at school today? Did you play outside? Maceo: No. We saw Santa! Nick: What did he say? Maceo: How are you doing? Nick: Really? Oh, we should get Mamy a present! (That's Nick's mom.) Maceo: OK. We do that tomorrow. Nick: What should we get her? Maceo: A big ole, a big ole, a big ole backhoe!

Actually, not to blow the secret, but most of you are getting construction site-related gifts.

Thanksgiving

Maceo has been quite excited for Thanksgiving. At school, they had been prepping him. He came home with a placemat he'd made with a big turkey on it made by tracing his hand (I think we've all been there) and various food stuffs cut from the coupon pages of the Washington Post. Cassius had two placemats. They were made with an outline of footprints, we presume his feet pressed in paint) and two photos. One of them shows Cassius's superior Gallic side. He looks super snooty and superior as he side eyes another kid who is out of frame on the other swing. There's also an off-kilter, beret-looking hat that amplifies his supercilious look.

Thursday, Thanksgiving, we were expecting Pat, Maurice, Aunt Mary Hanrahan, Leslie and Eric and their twin sons, and us. Pretty small this year. Mace had a hard time taking a nap. As he lay on Nick, calming down for sleep, he would continually pop his head up and say, "When we wake up, it'll be Thanksgiving! That's exciting!" Eventually, he did take a nap, and when he awoke, Leslie, Eric, Sam, and Leo were all here. Mace came down in his new footed pj's and started playing the host. Even though SamnLeo are two years older, they are all the same size, so Maceo didn't seem to feel intimidated at all. He brought Leo upstairs and showed him his bed and his toys. And our toilet, our bedspread, and the water glasses on our nightstand.  He is thorough if nothing else.  And they all went down in the basement and played there, too.

The dinner was lovely. We seem to have hit upon a bulletproof turkey recipe and it comes out well each year. Aunt Mary brought over her renowned cranberry sauce and that turned out to be the first non-breastmilk dish for Cash in his entire life. We were not sure if he liked it, but it certainly quieted him down. The night ended with Maceo trying to get Pat and Aunt Mary to do somersaults on the living room rug, and succeeding in getting Kate and Nick to do somersaults on the living room rug.

 We hoped the boys would sleep in; instead, they both slept very poorly and woke up at the normal time. Kate, however, let Nick sleep in until 9:10, which is the latest she has EVER seen him sleep ever.

Ay Caramba!

Maceo seems to enjoy reggae and Chipotle on a recent excursion across town to the NW part of DC.
Cash is a little more nonplussed.

Squirrlah! (that's how Maceo pronounces it)

This morning a number of transformers in our neighborhood blue. Kate and Macy and Nick were sitting at the dining room table when it happens. Nick happened to be glancing out the back window and saw the ball of fire on the line. Turns out several more further up the street has blown too. Nick didn't know that at the time though and said "There was a squirrel running away from it. That's probably what happened." Well, a few minutes later Maceo really wanted to look out the window. He said, "I want to see the squirrel on fire running!!"

What It's All About

Nick did post this on Facebook, but we can't stop watching it. Especially fun is the part where Mace can't turn it all about so he just bobs his head in time...

Quick Maceo story

The other night at dinner, Maceo took a big handful of mac and cheese. He said, "That's a big bite." He then almost ruefully added, "But I do like it though."

Funny Man

Maceo and I (Momma) have some of our best conversations in the 7 minute drive to St. Ann's where Maceo goes to daycare, or "school" as we like to say.  Recently on one trip to school, after we clarified that it was a steeple on top of the church and not a pizza, we got around to talking about how cute Cassius is and where Maceo saw himself on the cute spectrum.  It sent something like this:

Maceo:  Cassius is so cute!
Kate:  Yes, he is. You're cute, too.
Maceo:  No, I'm not cute. I'm funny.

More recently, we had a similar conversation and I tried to trick him.  You know, for fun.   It's hard to trap a 2.5 year old in conversation I say!

Maceo:  Cassius is so cute! (This is a recurring theme at our house and the topic is almost always brought up by Maceo).
Kate:  Yes, he is. You're cute, too. And funny!
Maceo:  I'm not funny, I'm fun---(big pause).  (Silence).

One point for Momma!

"Out, Slater!"

Nick learned to throw a Frisbee from his Lab, Maggie, when he was very small. Now Maceo is learning to throw from his teacher, Slater, while on his weekly Saturday visits with Grandpa and Grandma Sue.

Cassius!

Cassius!

Cassius A somewhat brief summary of the way you chose to arrive: On Sunday, August 4th, 2013, you had clearly decided you wanted to join our family. But, perhaps, given your youth, you didn't have all the tools to tell us you were ready a few days ahead of schedule and with no signs of labor. So, while your older brother and your poppa were at Kenilworth Gardens, I drove myself to the hospital for a quick check-in with the midwives to make sure the two or three odd contractions I had had the night before were nothing more than a little indigestion from eating two desserts after dinner on Saturday, an all-too common practice for me by the end of my pregnancy with you. That was around 10am. After a bit of waiting and some disjointed conversations between nurses, doctors, and the midwives, all of the dots were connected abruptly for us when I was informed around 12:30p that, simply, you needed to come on out. And, fast. So, Maceo was whisked to Mamy's house and your father rushed to the hospital and I was rushed into the OR and you arrived to us via c-section at 1:44pm. Et voila! If this is a sign of your future efficiency, I'm loving this trait of yours already! And I promise not to blame you too, too much for the pain of recovering from a c-section. You weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and measured 21 inches in length, almost the exact same size as your big brother. But that will be the last comparison I make between you and your older brother as I recognize you are separate and unique creatures and I will love you both for your differences. And by last comparison I mean the first of many.

Terrible Twos

Our first few weeks with Cassius have been a much different experience than the first few weeks with Maceo. While we are not very sure of the actuality of our memories of early Macers, it does seem to us that we spent lots of time and energy appeasing him. In addition, he didn't nurse and only slept on Kate, making life a bit difficult, especially for her. 

Cassius, on the other hand, is nursing well, and he sleeps pretty well, touch wood! We feel rather human, except on the weekends when Maceo is not at day care. For example, today, Saturday the 24th.

Our routine now is that Nick gets Maceo when the owl light turns green--6:15 or so. Then all four of us snuggle in the bed, and Maceo points out how tiny Cassius's hands are, and he gives him kisses, and he tells us about how he dreamed of deer and turtles. And he gives us each a color cupcake to be. "Mama is a pink cupcake, Maceo is blue cupcake, Papa is lellow cupcake. Cassius is red cupcake." Then, Mace and Nick go downstairs and play and go outside and have milk and coffee and recently, we look at videos of Maceo on the computer.

Kate tries to get some more sleep with Cassius sleeping on her or next to her.

Today, after all that and everyone getting up, we walked up to Rhode Island Ave and went to Flip It II Bakery. Maceo had bacon and some of Kate's pancakes and some of Nick's sausage gravy and biscuits and some chocolate cake! We walked over to the library and checked out a bunch of books and then walked home. We all sacked out for naps then, except for Kate who unfortunately could not fall asleep. Post naps, we went down to the corner where the storefront church was having a block party. Maceo wanted and didn't want to go on the moon bounce, and it was here that things started to get dicey. When we began to leave to go look at the nearby school construction site, there were tears about putting shoes on. When we got to the playground, and he couldn't do just as he wanted with the stroller, there was shrieking and screaming. After a quick talk and a snack of pretzels, he seemed fine and we went off to Shopper's Food Warehouse. As we pulled into the parking lot, he commented,"This where I eat cookies", a reference to all the goodies he gets at the store with his grandfather! Once in the store, he began to ask repetitively for cookies. He did get one, but it didn't help his mood, and he soon melted down into a shrieking, crying toddler. Nick took Maceo in his arms and pushed Cassius, who was being a dream in his stroller, and left the store to wait for Kate in the car. 

There was  a good deal of stern discussions with young Maceo. 

This was really the first time Mace has had a public outburst, and it was certainly the first time we've had to deal one with Cassius in tow. It made quite a difference! Now we fear the power of two. 

The Daily Digest

Most days this summer look like this. Maceo's owl turns green at 6:12 and he shouts to us, "Owl green!" Most mornings, Kate goes in and gets him and changes his overnight diaper. They often have a conversation about Maceo's dreams and they often are this "What did you dream about?" "Airplanes and cruise ships and helicopters and trains!" Soon, they come to bed and we all snuggle for a little while. Lately, Maceo has become bossy. "Papa! Get up and put on shirt. I want go downstairs." We all traipse downstairs and have some food and Maceo does what he calls a "milk snuggle." This entails sitting in one of our laps in an armchair and looking around while drinking milk. Kate leaves by 7:15 and Maceo and Nick leave by 7:45. Sometimes they bike to daycare, and sometimes they drive. Along the way, there is road construction going on. If they are biking, Maceo directs the way. "Go this way. Go alley." Eventually, we make it to construction and count the diggers. On bike, we are free to watch for awhile, but then either way, we continue on to school. Lately, there has been a tall crane at the school for use in fixing the walls of the building. This has made drop off very easy, as all the boys are happy to go off and stand on things to look out the window at the crane and possibly the men working. Kate works all day and Nick does some chores and sometimes naps. The pergola over the back deck should be finished in the next day or two. By 3:30, Nick goes to get Maceo and they continue on, weather permitting, to the PG pool where they swim and play in the sandbox until Kate shows up. If there's been enough foresight, Maceo gets his dinner there. At 6 or so, we leave and come home and Maceo often gets a bath and is in bed for books by 7. Lately, he has been more independent and sometimes insists that he read one book and the parent read another. Or he'll read the book to the parent. There's not as much parent reading to the kid as there used to be, sadly. A drink of water and a towel across the sheet (he's had a cold lately and he wants the towel to keep the sheets dry!) and he's off to sleep. He has adapted well to the big boy bed, and he rarely wakes during the night and he seems to go right to sleep when we put him down. We are very lucky in that regard. Lather, rinse, and repeat, and you've got yourself our week!

Independence Day!

Maceo and Nick blew out of DC on Sunday the 1st of July. Since they raced out of the house so quickly, Nick suggested to Kate that they stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way to Pat's house for breakfast. Kate let slip to Maceo while Nick was upstairs that this was the plan. When Nick came back downstairs, Maceo announced, "I need donuts!" "How did you know we were going to get some?" Nick sputtered. Kate asked Maceo, "What kind of donut do you want?" Maceo gazed at her for a moment, gauging the silliness of the question, and then he replied, "Dunkin Donuts!"

So, the two boys whipped across town to Pat and Maurice's house and they all began the drive north.

Sacked out on the way north.

At around 11:30, after lunch, Maceo fell asleep for 2 hours or so, and when he awoke crying, he was quickly subdued into a good mood. We arrived at Aunt Helen and Uncle Tod's house at about 3:45. Within an hour, Nick and Maceo were in the pool, even though it was raining. The general consensus was that it was warm enough. And that Maceo needed to get some exercise. He went to sleep just fine in the toddler bed, and the next day we went to the Berkshire Museum in the rain. There, Maceo got to see lots of animals, dinosaurs, reptiles, and fish. He very much enjoyed to dioramas and the taxidermy and especially the stools.

On Tuesday, the troupe headed to Amherst to see the McMurrers. Kate flew up to Hartford and was picked up there, and there was a great reunion at the house across the street from the McMurrers, where the visitors were all staying. It was a terrific house and well-suited for all our needs.

On Wednesday, a large number of Hanrahans and their families came to visit. Aunt Helen and Uncle Tod drove over from New Lebanon and Aunt Bea, Uncle Kevin, and Emmett Farley drove up from Pleasantville, NY for a huge and drawn-out lunch of roast lamb and lots of other goodies. We uncorked a number of the wines Nick had picked out at Costco, and they all were judged to be more than acceptable.

Nick's first attempt at a panorama of the family lunch,

On Thursday, the intricate dance called the South Amherst Fourth of July parade occurred. This consisted of children riding bikes, trikes, roller skates, scooters, and wagons around the village green. Over all the racing, an overbearing emcee demanded that we raise our hands for various activities we might have engaged in during the year. "Raise your hand if you were locked out of your house! Raise your hand if the EMTs came to your door!" This went on for a while, but we managed to ignore it and enjoy our post-parade picnic and free ice cream.

Relaxing post-picnic.

Bridget and Maceo hug it out on the 4th.

Friday was the beginning of the swimming. It had been stultifyingly hot all week, and Lucy, Bridget, Seamus, Kate, Nick, and Maceo piled into two cars to go to Lake Arcadia, a nearby swimming hole. There, we chased fish, swam, ate lunch, and rode the paddle boats, and just enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Picnic at Lake Arcadia!

 On Saturday, we again packed into cars, and we all drove the hour or so back to Aunt Helen's and Uncle Tod's to visit with them and with Nick's cousin Allen Burton, his wife Beth, and their four kids. A good deal of time was spent in the pool, and then we all sat down to a lovely meal en pleine aire. 

Sunday, we packed all of us, plus Kate this time, into the car and drove back to DC. Both up and back, we were pretty lucky with traffic, though we ran into more congestion on the way home. Maceo was a very good traveler, and we all were quite pleased to have made it back!

Monsters and boy parts

While on vacation in Amhert visiting Maceo's cousins (and, of course, Aunt Yucy and Unca Dan), Bridget and Maceo were out in the hot July sun in a kiddie pool trying to cool off.  Maceo was, as is his style, naked.  Bridget was in her swim suit. 

At one point, Maceo asked where Bridget's penis was.  I explained Bridget didn't have a penis; she was a girl.  He asked again.  I responded - again with Bridget very goodnaturedly giggling throughout this exchange.   Satisfied with the response, the conversation between he and Bridget proceeds as follows:

Maceo:  I have one penis.

Bridget:  All boys only have one penis.  Unless they're monsters!


Well said, Bridget. Well said.

Singalong

Maceo is a big fan of nursery songs. Sometimes he doesn't sing them; instead, he  declaims them as if he were a slam poet. "The ITsy BITsy SPIder went UP the WAter SPOUT." Sometimes he sings a song with syllables instead of words. "Bla bla/Bla bla/ Bla bla bla bla bla." (That's "Bah Bah Black Sheep", if you couldn't tell.) Sometimes he just sings them, but he doesn't know all the words. This leads to some amusing versions.

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Up came the sun and dried up all the rain,

And the itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.

Down came the rain..."

I think you can see where this goes.

Another version he has created:

"Old McDonald had a farm and Bingo was his name-o!"

Today, we heard a new song with a mistake in it.

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great time."

Who knew? HD didn't even see that fall coming.

Recent doings and news

School let out for Nick on the 14th of June. Vacation! However, Maceo still goes to school and Kate to work, so let's not rub anything in anyone's faces. Nick's first week of vacation consisted of a lot of Maceo time, however, as there were several doctor's appointments to go to. One was the audiologists's. There has been some concern that the fluid in Mace's ears is affecting his language acquisition. (Most of us believe that this is not a problem; Maceo is speaking more and more.) He had visited the same office in February, and the doctors told us to come back in June when the environmental causes of ear congestion would be less. He took the same tests that he had the first time, but with different results. The problems started in the sound room. Maceo sat on Nick's lap and was to be drawn to sounds on either his left or right. Then, when he glanced at the sounds, a bear on the left or a rabbit on the right would light up and move. The first time, in February, he loved it and spoke of the animals for months afterwards. This time, after the first movement, he turned and clung to Nick. After a few minutes of trying to restart the test, he murmured, "Bear is scary." Later, he said, "Rabbit scary." That ended the test. He now will claim he needs to go to the doctor's, often because he wants a haircut, and he mentions the two animals, but doesn't mention their level of scariness.

Shady Playground

Around the corner from us, at the middle school, there is a nice playground surrounded by huge trees. I took Maceo and my little video camera there one day with his friend from up the block, Julian, and his mom.

Maceo Runs On Donuts

Kate left for a quick business trip to NYC on Thursday. Maceo and I rushed her out of the house at about 6:35 so she could metro down to Union Station to catch her choo choo train to the City. But then it was too early to go to school, and Maceo and I felt it was silly to go back to the house. So we went to Dunkin Donuts. We discussed the choices of donuts the night before, and Kate had told me that he had decided on chocolate. However, when we go there, he introduced an amendment, asking for a cupcake. Thinking quickly (but not really, since it was about 6:45), I told him they only had donuts. (I know, right? Clever!) Baked Chocolate Donut coming up! And some milk, which I had brought from home. I'll let you decide if he enjoyed the experience.

If you couldn't tell, he told me later, "I like it."

Someone turned two!

Maceo turned two years old on April 12. This year, that fell on a Friday, an auspicious day because it's usually the point in the week at which Nick and I are physically and mentally depleted and I have just enough energy to beat him in Carcassonne before we pass out around 9pm from fatigue. Imagine our frantic scramble to run out and get a piece of cake to celebrate our little bean's birthday on his actual day so he thinks we remember this kind of thing. Which, when he remembers his own birthday then we will start remembering it in a timely fashion, too. 

In the meantime, though, celebrating Maceo's birthday involved us throwing him the umbrella stroller and zipping off down Rhode Island Avenue, the industrial artery into DC that leaves just about any shred of anything aesthetic at all behind. With the sound of cars and semis sputtering by to really set the mood, we picked up a slice of surprisingly delicious cake at Flip It II, ran home, stuck a candle in that thing and presented it to our somewhat mystified son. The candle and frosting were both hits! Our toddler was none the wiser about our lack of planning. Whew. His birthday was saved. Saved!

On the momentous occasion, I'll take this opportunity to summarize a few of his achievements so we can all look back on this and titter behind our hands when thinking of him at this age. Because that's what we do best: laugh at people going through major developmental stages:

1. Maceo can count to 10. Three comes after ten, fyi. And everything adds up to ten things as long as it's more than one. Two is ten, four is ten, even nine is ten, but nothing is two. Or three, or four. You get the idea.
2. Maceo can sings his abcs. This is my favorite grouping of letters: e - f - jeep. Jeep, not "g" follows f. Who knew?
3. Maceo has discovered that he and Poppa have nipples. Sometimes, Maceo likes to lift up his shirt when there are guests around, stare intently at them, and rub his nipples. Yes, it's as awkward as you can imagine for everyone involved.
4. Maceo keeps sweets in the forefront of his mind. More often than not, he'll wake in the middle of a nap, make good solid eye contact with us, and say "donut?" or "cookie?" and fall right back to sleep. This is how I know he's my son.
5. Maceo is an ant killer. And a beetle hunter. Insects fear him. Luckily, he's kind of slow and clunky as he is still getting used to his bigger size and they have time to run. Save yourselves, ants!
6. Maceo is quite bossy. When driving places, he indicates where you should go. "Go THIS way!" with an emphatic point to the right. Nick and I oblige him if it takes us no more than 3 minutes out of our way. But, oh my, when the little prince's advice is not taken, no one wants to be in the car. He does have safety in mind, though. He asks us to put our "binkers" on before taking these godforsaken circuitous turns.
7. Maceo has a vague sense that a baby is coming. I've been diligent about pointing out to him that "there's a baby in there" and showing him my ever-growing belly. Sometimes he pats it lightly and says, "Shhhh....the baby is sleeping." Other times, like a few weeks ago for example, when I picked him up at school, in a room of 5-6 toddlers and 3 caregivers, he makes some good eye contact with me, lifts up his shirt and shouts, "There's a BABY in there!" while pointing at his stomach. I don't have the heart to tell him he's wrong.
8. Maceo's best friend is his poppa. They do all sorts of fun things together, like visiting geese and turtles at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, going in bike rides, digging in the dirt, weeding in the backyard, cuddling in the morning, and not taking a bath for 4 days in a row if someone is not tracking that stuff. They're my favorite boys, lack of hygiene and all. 

Juicy things

We're overdue for tracking some of Maceo's more unique phrasings and pronunciations so here we go. As well, it appears it's been a month since we've posted last and a month in the course of a toddler's life is approximately equal to seven years. So, Maceo has learned the word "juicy."

I used it to try to persuade him away from a cookie to a juicy, delicious pear that was eagerly awaiting him on his plate. Here, juicy makes sense in referring to the pear. (As an aside, I did not persuade him away from the cookie). This morning, I got a juicy hug. Other mornings, juicy kisses. Kisses, yes, but, hugs as juicy? This boy is abusing an adjective. The winner though was the juicy water he had for dinner. You really can't argue with that. Well, you can but you can't win against him. He's ruthless.

Our favorites from the past few months include:

• In the morning after declaring his owl alarm clock has turned the correct color for him to get out of bed (geen! Owl geen!), I bring him to our bedroom for a little snuggling and: Good MORNing...PoPPA!
  
• As Nick departs for work: Have a great... DAY, PoPPA!
  
• When Nick returns in the evening from coaching volleyball: Did you have... a good DAY, PoPPA?!

The Nearsighted Leading the Untrained

My dad and hi wife Susan are at the beginning of the yearlong or so process of fostering a guide dog. He and Susan have a 4 month or so old Black Lab puppy named Slater. He is a very good and calm puppy, but even so, Maceo is a mite bit cautious around him, especially since the dog comes up to about Maceo's armpit. Last Saturday, though, they appeared to have had a breakthrough in their relationship.

The Plague, The Snowquester, and the Apocalypse

Last Thursday, we woke up to a sick little boy. Kate stayed home the first half of the day with him and I came home for the second half. Maceo was asleep for pretty much the whole day. Friday, Mom came in for emergency duty and both Kate and I went to work. Maceo did the same thing he'd done on Thursday--sleep curled up on the nearest adult body. It was very sad. Saturday continued the same, but now Kate and I started feeling a little under the weather. While I fought it off with my tough Germanic/Irish constitution, Kate's softer mediterranean side let her down and she's been sick ever since. As the only functioning person in the house, I felt a lot of responsibility, especially with the huuuuge snow storm approaching. Monday, we all stayed home, although Maceo probably could have gone to school. Kate, however, could barely move. Tuesday, Mace and I did go to our prospective schools and Kate felt a little better. Wednesday, we awoke to rain and some large flakes and cancelled schools and jobs. This was a boon for Kate, as she was going nowhere if she could help it. But Maceo was ready to go. So, we called in the special forces--Julian! He and his mom came over in the morning to play, and then we went over there in the afternoon. I think you'll be able to tell that Maceo feels a little bit better when you see him here in action.

Dancing the Night Away

The other night, Maceo was in a dancing mood. This feeling translated into multiple dances, lots of laughs, and some strange interpretive moves. The music in real life was the ABC song and "Alice the Camel." But there was enough footage of both sessions that I decided to set them to other music and edit them together to get this. I particularly enjoy the ending move of some weird version on either Downward Facing Dog or half a cartwheel.

FLA!

We flew down to Orlando last weekend to visit our friends Crista, her husband Feroz, and their 16 month old Sabrina.

Maceo did a great job down on the plane and a pretty good job coming back. He loved the two airports, especially the Orlando one because it has a train between terminals.

Riding it and watching it arrive and depart on the tracks was a highlight. On Saturday, we spent the morning visiting a nearby kids's farm and watching a rowing meet. Maceo, of course, prefered the "ra-ra", but the enormous pig was a hit, too.

In the afternoon, we went to the beach in New Smyrna. Once he got over his initial cold feet, he ran around, chased balls and birds, and ate sand. We don't know why he liked eating it so much, but he wouldn't stop. Hopefully, that's a phase...






We also visited Kate's alma mater. Maceo was not impressed with the books in the library.

Reminiscing about Christmas in Amherst

During our lovely, lovely time in Amherst this past Christmas, we almost thought we'd spend our five days there with no snow. Luckily, nature rewarded a (somewhat) patient 20 month old and delivered enough snow for us to sled in our favorite spot in Amherst, Aunt Lucy and Uncle Dan's backyard! Behold, a toddler's first wild and crazy ride!

Sleep, or The Way Kate Likes to Live

We begin with the Owl.

The idea is that the Owl will turn green at a certain time. This will not awaken the baby, as sleep is preciouspreciousprecious, but that when he awakens, he will know that it is ok to awaken the parents and the day will have begun. As I wrote earlier this year, travelling wreaked hell with Maceo's sleeping and he was awakening LONG before the Owl was green and hollering for us for quite some time. But recently, something switched. It was last week... I awakened at some sound from Maceo. It was 5:15 or so, but he wasn't crying. So, I went back to sleep. Then, I heard him again. I rolled over and told Kate that we should wait a little, that it was about 5:30. She retorted, "It's 6:05!" Maceo has now understood the Owl and the system is in place. He awakens at some time, and then he proceeds to play with toys and murmur until about 6, when he yells out either, "Owl!" or "Papa!" or "Mama!" and we are off to get him and praise him. And praise him we do!

The Cousins play Cars

A, B, C, Easy as 1, 2, Mama!

Maceo has three go-to songs he enjoys. One is "The Wheels on the Bus", and he can add a variety of sounds to each verse. He especially likes the baby on the bus going, "Wah, wah, wah"; the horn on the bus going, "Honk, honk, honk"; and the dors on the bus going, "Open and shut." Another of his oeuvre is "Jingle Bells" which consists of him being quiet as you sing the chorus until just before the end, where he comes in early with a happy "Hey!" Finally, there is the Alphabet song.

Ho Ho Ho!

As has happened for the last three years, we realized, we came up with various plans for what we wanted to do during the vacation, ranging from going to San Francisco to going abroad, and then ended up chucking those complex ideas for a nice simple trip to Amherst and the McMurrers's.
The trip actually isn't that simple. It's about an 8 hour drive, so for the last two years with Maceo, we've broken it into two legs. This year, on the way up, we spent the night with the Abrams, friends who live in Philadelphia. They have a huge house and three absolutely lovely kids; Oliver is 7, Evan is 5, and Josie is 3. Maceo likes them all, though he doesn't really get any of them. Oliver is very nice and thoughtful; Evan is incredibly articulate and creative; and Josie is a good-natured little sister who follows and plays with the two of them, as long as they let her. From Philly we drove to Amherst where the McMurrers are.
For the past few months, Maceo has been a dream to put down to sleep at night. He snuggled right into bed, occasionally whining for all of 30 seconds at the most, and then he would awake early, but go back to sleep and not get out of his crib until 5:45.
However. Since we were in a house with others and we didn't want to disturb them (Nick's mom and her husband Maurice (or Monie, as Mace calls him)), we would take Maceo into bed with us when he began to cry. At 5, then 4:55, then 4:45 on successive nights. This was not fun. The rest of the days and nights were loads of fun, though, so it pretty much balanced out. There was biking, which was great.


There was singing, which was super cute.


While not everyone showed up in pictures, there were good times had with all the relatives! Thanks so much to the McMurrers for hosting us and doing so with such aplomb!