Back to School

The three boys are all back to school now. Cassius is still at St. Ann's, but he is no longer with Ms. Mekisa, which saddens us.  This morning, as Maceo and I were taking Cash in to the school, Maceo pointed out Ms. Mekisa walking up the drive. Cash stood up on the wall next to the stairs, waved, and yelled, "MeKEEEEsa!" He was very happy to greet her. However, now he is in a different room, with a different teacher. Ms. Tay, Cassius's new teacher, is from Ghana, and she was Maceo's teacher during the summer while he was back at St. Ann's. She is very nice, and Maceo liked her a lot. But now he is back at Yu Ying. His new teacher is named Yu Laoshi. (Laoshi is Mandarin for Teacher.) She seems very good and good with Maceo, so we are excited for that. And morning drop offs, after the first one, have been great. Last year, Maceo could be clingy or sad or reluctant, but the last 3 or 4 drop offs, he barely seems to notice that we've left! And I am back at WIS, teaching high school classes and coaching volleyball. These weeks back have been tiring and we miss summer a lot already. Our pool closed on Labor Day, it's dark in the morning when we wake up, and we are exhausted by the time the boys go down. 

Mamy & Maceo: A Story about Friends Who Only Share Two Cookies

This is an endearing snippet from an email that Pat/Mamy sent to me and Nick at the end of one of many days spent with Maceo earlier this year:

Maceo is often hungry when I pick him up, so I try to bring a snack — raisins, graham crackers, peanut butter sandwich. 

The other day I brought two cookies from a box a Philippine client gave me. I told him they were a present from a friend. He loved them of course, and asked if I had any more at home. I lied and said no. Macao was stunned. 

"Your friend only gave you two cookies??!!” he inquired unbelievingly.

I could read his thought bubble: “This is clearly NOT a friend if you only got two cookies, Mamy. Frenemy was coined for situations like this.”

Now of course I am unwilling to give him more cookies from the box because he’ll think I am a liar. The stresses of being a grandma.

We Are Here to Pump You Up!

Turkey Thicket!

We stopped by the other day and the kids, as usual, had a blast. It really is a great park and just a few blocks from our house!

Small Fry

We've been spending a lot of time at the pool this summer. At the beginning, Maceo was a little trepidatious about the water, but now he's pretty comfortable and getting to be actually swimming. Cash is getting better about going underwater, too. So, I brought my GoPro camera and filmed them in the big pool.

The Olympian

Cassius helped me push Dad and Susan's lawn mower all the way over to their house and all the way into the garage. Whenever he realized I had my hand on the handle to help, he would immediately stop, push my hand away, and say, "No, Papa." He is way into bumps be they on foot or in the stroller or in the car. Here, on the way back, you can see his raw athleticism and grace.

Silent Movie

On a recent drive home from dinner at our friends' new home, the boys were in great moods, despite it being slightly later than normal for them. They are beginning to really interact with each other, and Cash is way into copying Maceo's behaviors (which is, most of the time, unfortunate. There's often back and forth good natured screaming). Here they are alternating animal noises while we travelled. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that recording while the phone was plugged in to the radio meant the microphone doesn't work. (We were listening to "Peter and the Wolf" narrated by David Bowie), so instead of just deleting the footage, I turned it into a 1920s-style silent movie.