Finally, they climb.

Recently we were invited to a birthday party at The Climb Zone, an indoor rock climbing facility just outside of DC.  We accepted the party invitation with a sense of anticipated disappointment on behalf of both our boys because we've been to this facility twice now and have left each time, after making not a small donation in climbing fees, without either boy putting on a harness let alone climbing one of the 35+ different climbing walls.  Well, my friends.  The wait is over.  But it was not without a little bit of goading of one of our children on our parts. 

As was usual, we entered The Climb Zone, greeted the birthday boy and girl, searched for sugar products at the party, and hit up the bouncy house.

A few minutes into the party, Cassius pulls on my sleeve and says he wants to climb.  I found it hard to contain my excitement by managed not to squeal with delight and I promptly picked up Cassius to go get him fitted for a harness.  It resulted in this:

Welp, upon seeing this, Maceo was not about to be outclimbed by a wee 4 year old.  Maceo practically leapt into his harness and was off and running, trying to find the best first wall to climb.  Unbeknownst to me at that moment, they would end up climbing almost every single wall of the 35+ walls in this facility.   Approximately every 30 seconds for the next 90 minutes I was simply changing carabiners for one child or the other and trying to give equal attention to the various shouts of, "Look at me, momma! Look at ME!"  

We all left The Climb Zone ridiculously pleased about the day.  

A Puppy- and Train-filled Weekend

As our weekend time at the pool begins to dwindle, we started to explore other ways to amuse ourselves over this past holiday weekend.  Here's what we came up with:


We met Maggie, a friend of mine's new cockapoo.  She weighed three pounds.  Cassius loved her and wanted to squeeze her organs out of her nose; Maceo held back and played the role of the tyrannical overseer, bossing Cassius into doing things with a creature so small neither was certain it was a dog.

Jessica's new puppy, Maggie.  

Then we went for cupcakes at Buzz, a delicious cupcakery near Maggie-the-dog's house.  Don't be deceived - these are faces of pure satisfaction.

On Sunday, we went to Wheaton Regional Park, the Queen of Parks, and took a little train ride in the cool, quiet woods along with approx. 1,503 screaming toddlers.  Ah, nature.

And, to end our time at the park, we took a ceremonial carousel ride (I was the fastest! No, I WAS! No, ME!), went out to lunch for pho, and played two hours of soccer, give or take two more hours.  Labor Day weekend, done and dusted!

First Day of PK4 and 1st Grade for Two Big Boys

After a delightful summer filled with three mini-vacations to the Bahamas, Bethany Beach, DE and Long Beach Island, NJ, the first day of school seemed like an abrupt and entirely-too-structured end to an otherwise carefree June, July and August.   No one feels this more than Nick, though, given he goes from a cushy schedule of house projects, working out, and early afternoon naps to five classes to prep for and coaching the girls' fall volleyball season at WIS.

The boys greeted Monday, August 28th, with a sleepy-eyed, tentative optimism (see below) and Maceo and Cassius each seemed more than a little giddy about their grand entrance in 1st grade and PK4 respectively, two very Big Boy Grades if you were not aware.

Getting back into the groove of hearing Chinese all day long (Cassius) or every other day (Maceo) took its toll, resulting in pretty grumpy moods at the end of each day, irrational requests for multiple desserts, and entirely-too-early wakeup times.  Luckily, their little bodies and minds caught up with each other and by the weekend, they began giving us a brief window into how they may be as teenagers, sleeping late (for them) and vegetating on the couch for an hour.  Or three.

Chaperoning Hell

I recently chaperoned Maceo's kindergarten class on a field trip to the zoo.  For some, er, odd reason, there was a surprising lack of chaperones and thus I had three kids in my charge - Maceo, Tre and Xavier.  At no point were all three within eyesight nor not running.  At no point did I not want a cocktail.  At no point did I look at my watch and think the minutes were zooming by.  Next time, Nick chaperones, dammit.

Chickens don't eat sticks

The four PK3 classes at Yu Ying have recently become proud new parents to a pair of chickens.  Cassius is pretty certain that sticks are their favorite food.

Also, on an unrelated note, Cassius loves the new hand puppets at school!

 

Joint bedtime has arrived!

Nick is forcing me to write this blogpost under duress.  We feel compelled, though, to document the moment in time in which both boys go to bed at the same time in the same room and remain there all night long.  It is the month of April.   Maceo will be six in a few days and Cassius is a rather stubborn but ebullient 3.75 year old.  Please stay tuned for a blogpost in approximately 3-4 weeks in which I report how this new modus operandi has failed.  Because, well, kids.

Cassius's Midyear Progress Report

We didn't really know what kind of report we would expect to get about Cassius from his PK3 teachers, especially halfway through his first year at his first formal school and at one in particular that happens to be taught in Chinese.  Turns out, his teachers have this to say about our moody, giggly, tantrum-oriented, and silly little guy.

"Cassius continues to have a great year in PK3.  It has truly been a pleasure getting to know Cassius more and work with him.  He is able to understand all the directions in Chinese and he tries to communicate with teachers in Chinese.  Cassius loves singing all the Chinese songs we have learned and is always eager to learn new songs.  He is sensitive to language and picks up new words easily.  He loves playing with animal toys, reading dinosaur books, and being a little leader to read stories to others.  He shows interest in all the activities and projects we do, especially when he feels challenged.  Cassius made a lot of efforts to create with all the shapes we have learned; he enjoys creating toys and musical instruments using recycled materials. Next unit Cassius will work on taking some leadership roles and using more Chinese to communicate with teachers and friends.  Cassius is amazing, keep up the wonderful things you are doing!

Napping, but not so much

Each weekend, Kate and I have great hopes of the boys napping and thus, us too, by extension. This happens less and less, sadly. Saturdays are my days to sleep in, and Sundays are Kate's. This used to mean that Kate would get to nap with Maceo on Saturdays and I would on Sundays. Both boys now actively fight the nap, and Cassius pretty much only falls asleep in the car. Maceo almost never naps. We still try, though, and on a recent Sunday afternoon, I lay down with him in my bed and told him to get ready to be still and try to sleep.

"Can I sleep on you, Daddy?"

"No, you weight something like 60 pounds! Let's just snuggle." 

"Mama lets me sleep on her."

"Well, it's too uncomfortable for me."

"OK, but you're missing out on the good stuff!" he told me.

And I did because in the end, neither of us took a nap.

Storytime with Cassius

At Yu Ying, parents and relatives can come in and be mystery readers during a class's library time.  The PK3 teachers waited several months so that the little ones could get their routines established at school and (in theory) wouldn't be crying every day about missing mom and dad.    So I went and read to Cassius's class.

It was ah-dorable.




I brought Room on the Broom to read because it's one of Cash's favorite.  When he saw me waiting for the class in the library, he got all shy and quietly whispered, "Momma....." and came over for a hug.  Once they were all seated - and about 4 of them were approximately 1" from my knees,as close as they could get without touching - I brought out the book for them to see.  Before I could introduce it, Cassius calls out, "Momma! Momma!  These (gesturing around him, dramatic pause, dramatic pause) are all my friends."  


Because apparently Room on the Broom is everyone's favorite book in there, it took me about 20 minutes to get through it. Adorable interruptions abounded!  Spoiler info left and right, which animal was getting on the broom next, what object fell off the witch, shouts of everything, small and large, that happens in the book, basically, well before I got to reading those particular parts.   We spent so much time on Room with a Broom we didn't have time for another book.  Three year olds and time management were never meant to go together. 

Maceo learns about the ways of the world

Maceo was having a hard time the other night, not listening well and getting scolded and having privileges revoked. By the time we went upstairs to get ready for bed, both Kate and I were a bit frustrated with him. In the bathroom, he and I loaded up the app we are using during tooth brushing to encourage getting all the teeth and brushing for the full 2 minutes. Kate poked her head in and said, "The way Maceo has been behaving, I don't think he gets to play the brushing game." "Ok," I said and turned the phone off. Kate left to get Cassius ready for bed. Maceo turned to me and exclaimed with some disbelief, "She tells you what to do, too?!"