Quarantine and Creativity

The boys have enjoyed the quarter pipe thus far, and they are getting better and better at riding it with their scooters. Skateboard riding is improving, but much more slowly. Maceo did want to add some aesthetic improvements of his own to the platform, though, so I taught him how to use spray paint, and let him get to it.

Next, I'm going to have him spray some weather protection on there, and then he'll have really put in some work.

It's been rainy here the last two days, and the boys have also taken to hiding underneath the quarter pipe where they talk about dragons and prepare potions with water and mud and grass and magic. I'm not entirely sure where this comes from, though it's probably Harry Potter. In any case, it's been really nice to have them playing together pretty well, using lots of imagination, and being outside even in not so great weather!

Dinner Convo

Tonight at dinner. Cassius ruminated while peeling a piece of Easter candy. “ It’s weird how they can make the foil gold.” I responded, “Yeah it is.” 

Cassius continued, "And it’s weird that your butt can poop."

Gnarly, Dude!

For Maceo's birthday, Mamy and Maurice bought him a skateboard. He had gone on Amazon and Google to do some research for the best one, and he is very happy with his choice. From me, he got a quarter pipe to skate board. We built it and attached wheels to one end so that we can roll it out to the sidewalk in front of our house. Both boys immediately began clamoring for a halfpipe in the back yard, but I am a bit worn out both physically and monetarily, so I told them they'd have to get really good at the quarter pipe before I added the other side to create a halfpipe. (I may have created a monster. But at least I can use it to teach fractions.)

In any case, here are the sk8ter dudes doing their mad tricks in front of the house.

Here's Maceo working on a trick called an ollie where he snaps the back of the board down and jumps, trying to get the board and himself into the air.

Maceo getting the feel of the quarter pipe.

Cassius working on the quarter pipe.

Easter Weekend

The traditions defeated the pandemic!

First, on Saturday, Maceo, Cassius, and I took off for a lovely spring morning bike ride. Now, this isn't a tradition, but perhaps it'll become one. We rode through Brookland into Maryland. There, we got on the bike trail and rode all the way to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.

It was a windy day, so you might not be able to hear the constant 

chattering soundtrack emitting from Cassius.

We had many pit stops along the way to munch on Cheezits and other snacks, of course.

Would you care for a Cheezit?

As well, we stopped by Sligo Creek to throw rocks into water, as boys often do. While there, a doe brought her three fawns for a slow walking brunch just across the creek from us.

Boys throwing rocks, living their best lives.

In the woods on the other shore, you can make out 2 or 3 of the deer.

When we finally arrived back from our 11.5 mile ride(!), we strolled over to Grandma Sue's and Grandpa's for the traditional Cadbury Creme egg hunt. Now here, the pandemic did score a point because the traditional creme egg had to be replaced by regular old chocolates. However, the hunt was as thrilling as ever, as challenging as possible, and super fun for all.

Cassius on the verge of finding one of his chocolates while a
seemingly calm and disinterested Grandpa stands nearby.

Once we got home, I set about making lasagna, Maceo's second favorite meal, and we decided that could become a new birthday tradition.

On Sunday, it was Maceo's actual birthday! 9 years old! 88 pounds! 46 inches! We had Maceo's favorite meal for dinner--a cheeseburger from Primrose, and the boys did the traditional Easter egg basket hunt finding clue after clue eventually leading to their loot. Then, Maceo got to open his presents. Highlights included the game Trash Pandas from the McMurrers and a new skateboard from Mamy and Maurice which immediately got tested out and declared "awesome." He can, apparently, already do more tricks on it than his former skateboard just because it's so great. 

The wood in the background is for another present--
I'm making a quarterpipe for him and his skateboard.

And then, they had baths and went straight to sleep!

Cassius and Distance Learning

Cassius, at first, was not very interested in the virtual meetings with his classes. He was silent, ducked out of sight, and complained about participating. 

Here's Cassius somewhat hiding from prying eyes while
he talks with his class and teachers on the iPad.

Cassius at work in his office.

He also has assignments to do on the computer. They are studying Ancient Egypt, so he's been doing reading and watching videos, then posting his reflection on the documents his teachers share with him.

A hieroglyphics stamp kit that Mamy and Maurice got from a neighbor for Cassius

But his recalcitrance has changed! His one on one meetings with his teachers are quite active and energetic. He runs around looking for things to share and show to everyone. Sometimes, he carries the computer from room to room, narrating what he is looking for and laughing happily. He was super excited to show the stamp kit to his English teacher, for example.

Here's the first part of class the other day.

Here's where I found him at the end of class!

Scooter Boi Doing Trix

Cassius and Maceo are getting more and more into their scooters and skateboards. They have graduated from the ramp I built to trying street tricks down the block at the local church. Luckily, with the quarantine, I'm not too worried about my kids getting yelled at by deacons or anything and run off the church campus. Maceo is a little indignant that Cassius can do these tricks, and he repeatedly points out how easy it is to do the jumps with a three wheel scooter as opposed to the two wheel scooter he uses. But in any case, enjoy little Cassius leaping and doing tricks on his scooter!

A to Z and more

Cassius is a person with a lot of perseverance. Most of the time, it is great. Sometimes, it's when we are late out the door, and he insists on continuing to try to unsuccessfully tie his shoes. I encourage it then, but I get quite anxious.

But! This trait is great for chores, and Cassius can often apply his grit to work around the house. With no real intention on my part, Cassius got involved with my reorganizing of my record collection. It was a lot of fun. We talked about the different artists and what they were like. He asked me why I had so many of these or those, who this person was, what that band sounded like. And we gradually got the records in the shelves.

Note the small pieces of cardboard with letters on them?
That was Cassius's main job--put those in place.

Then, I put in an order to get spacers to help the alphabetizing be clearer and nicer looking. And Maceo got involved, too! We stenciled letters onto the plastic pieces, being careful with placement and to not smudge the ink.

Both boys were careful and attentive and really helpful! And in the end, it looks much better and it's much easier to find records!

Case of Ice Cream

Cassius is very into Encyclopedia Brown lately. In fact, I heard him in his room the other day, listening to his Uncle Dan's recording of an Encyclopedia Brown book that was a gift a while ago. "How did Encyclopedia Brown know?" asked Uncle Dan. "Because a hardboiled egg spins better!" answered Cassius in his empty room.

In any case, Cassius wrote his own mystery. Let's see if you can solve it! (Narrator: You can't solve it.)

One day the ice cream man was out of town. none of them noticed it was only when he came back from Egypt, he got robbed. All except his machines. The fence was closed. One day, someone helped him. He had the right person. It was Jackie Robb. He saw a guy called Indian Trike. The ice cream man asked, "What did he look like?" "I don't know, he had a mask. He said he had a ice cream cone later. I had a ice cream cone. I have a ice cream cone machine." Ice cream man was asking and repeating how, then he asked me who. I know. I had a wrench, said Robb. It was over my head and couldn't reach with my hand.

Who robbed the ice cream man?

Solution:
He said he had a wrench later. He said he couldn't reach with hand impossible. Instead he told his partner to wrench it. He stole it.

Stuntman Extraordinaire!

In an effort to help the boys stay active, happy, and independent, I built a ramp for their scooters/bikes. Next project is a quarter pipe for Maceo's new love of skateboarding!

And yes, in the second clip, Maceo pointed out three deer just casually walking through the field across the street from our house. We do see deer there all the time, but rarely at 3 o'clock of an afternoon!

The boys were on spring break last week, and DC hadn't yet instituted their lock down (which isn't a lock down, but it does mean we've gotten kicked out of parks and from the skateboard places we've been going to), so we've been getting creative around the house with our activities. Luckily, it's been wonderful spring weather, so we are able to do lots of things outside. One thing we did was to write cheerful messages on the sidewalk in front of our house.

"Isn't it beautiful? You're beautiful, too!"

I worked some in the backyard until one of the neighborhood kids came back and offered to take over and mow the lawn! Soon, I'll be able to just sit around on the patio, drinking margaritas and yelling instructions at my small contingent of worker boys!

The trick, as Mark Twain taught me, is to
make them think that chores are a privilege!

Another activity that the boys continue to like to do is the daily drawing prompt from the artist in Paris who then posts all entries on her blog. 

Here is Cassius's extraordinary vehicle.

This is Maceo's "Draw what you see outside your window."

Finally, in attempts to maintain some education, the boys like to play math games on the computer or the iPad. Here's Cassius eating peanut butter pretzels and playing math in a little nook in the house.

Because this is where the pretzel container is,
this is where Cassius is.