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.