IT'S CANDY!!!

Somehow we came into possession of a bag of candy. Perhaps it was at Easter. We keep it in a cabinet out of the kids' reach. Both boys really like candy, especially jelly beans, so we are able to use it as a carrot (a sweet candy carrot) for good behavior. The other morning, Kate left early to go teach aerobics, and so the boys and I were eating breakfast, playing, making a mess (the boys), and cleaning up (me). At some point, the boys ran through the kitchen and into the powder room just off the kitchen. They closed the door and it got very quiet. "Great," I thought. "I can get some dishes washed and put stuff away! It's so great that they are able to play by themselves!" Unbeknownst to me, Kate had moved the candy from the high cabinet to a low cabinet. Beknownst, now, to the boys. After too long a period of silence, I went to the powder room and opened the door. Two quiet boys looked up at me, mouths working on candy, the bag in Maceo's hand. Cash had a thin stream of chocolate drool running down his chin. He was quite mad when I took the bag and followed me yelling into the kitchen.

Shapes and Colors

New house

We are in the process of perhaps buying a house maybe. Yesterday, Kate, Nick, Jim, Susan, and Maceo went to look at the house all together. It was exciting, especially for Maceo. He ran around the house, telling us which room was for whom. He found a piece of wood. So exciting!

He's since been asking when we will be going there again. We try to explain the uncertainty of the process and the concept of time, but it doesn't really work. Nick finally told him he'd have to be patient, referring to a Cookie Monster book Maceo has. That seemed to work. About an hour later, out of the blue, Maceo told us, "I'm not going to talk about my new house anymore. I'm going to be patient and keep my question in my throat." He soon after was asking questions again, but it was super cute while it lasted. 

Cupcakes and cousins

Maceo was making scones with Kate and he began to tell me about the cupcakes he and Cassius would have at his birthday party in April. "I will have a yellow one with a train on it and Cassius will have a green one with a truck on it."

"Sounds good," I tell him. "God willing, we'll have it at our new house!" "Yes, God willing, we'll have it at our new house," said Maceo. He paused. "That's my cousin," he said. "Who?" I asked. "God willing," he said. 

Maceo attempts an unequal exchange of cake

One day when both Cash's daycare and Yu Ying were closed, Pat & Maurice took Mace and Cassius for the whole day.  A friend of Pat's wife had baked Pat & Maurice a delicious, but small, Basque cake-  just two large pieces which Pat & Maurice cut into four small ones, two for the boys and two for them. Maceo gobbled one and then, since Cash had no interest, gobbled the other, all but a small bite. Pat ate hers. Maurice had not finished lunch and so had not turned to his piece of cake. 

Maceo picked it up and tendered his remaining bite of the second small piece to Maurice saying “Here Maurice, you can have this piece and I can have the other (big) one.” 

No dice, said Maurice. 

"But Maurice," said Mace, “friends are supposed to share.” He was smiling when he said this and it was funny. They laughed and Maceo ate his small piece without complaint. 

Maceo Memorizes Peter & the Wolf

Driving from dropping off Cash at St.Anns to take Maceo to Yu Ying, we are of course listening to Peter and the Wolf. After the part where the wolf has come, the cat goes climbing up the tree. I see Maceo miming this in the back.

Then, David Bowie says, "This is where things stood. The cat is on one branch in the tree. The bird is on another." In the pause that follows, Maceo says, "Not too close to the cat." Which is just what Bowie then says.

Cassius says

Cash has the following vocab:

Agua

That

Cat

Dog

Book

Brother

He's a genius, I tell you!