Winter's Coming

With the hurricaine coming through (mildly) this weekend, we abandoned outdoor plans and instead went to Climb Zone in Laurel. We met the Greenberg and the Monctons there. Both families have sons our sons' ages. Maceo and Ben and Wesley have know each other since they were 5 months old. Cash and Theo, Wesley's little brother, are a week apart. And Nate, Ben's little brother, is only a few month younger. All in all, it was pretty great. Climb Zone is an indoor climbing gym for kids.

There are about 50 different walls for kids to climb and each one has an automated belay system that enables kids to climb essentially independently and without fear. Not totally without fear, as Maceo would prove. We tried to convince him to try at least the practice wall at least once, just to find out he didn't like it. But he refused and we didn't think a screaming child being hoisted in a harness above our heads was a good option. It was an option, but we decided not to go with it in the end. He did have fun in the moon bounce and on the various inflated slides. His biggest activity was sitting in an arcade game and pretending to drive a boat. That blur there is Maceo flying down the slide.

Cash, on the other hand, was reluctant at first, but by the end, he was super enthusiastic. Not about climbing, but about flying! I'd recommend using the volume on that one just to hear all of our sounds of delight with him.

Oh, Deer

There's been quite a bit of talk lately at our house about deer. We see them across the road, we see them in the backyard, and the boys are quite interested in them.

Why, here's one in the back yard now!

Cassius regularly brings up with our neighbor, Houston, the time Cassius saw deer in the backyard with him a few weeks ago. And during the summer, when the boys and I went to St. Ann's for drop off, we often saw deer in the woods along the way. All this is to explain today's conversation in the car on the way to Home Depot. 

Cash stated, "I see deer out Cashy's window." "No," said Maceo. "There aren't deer around here." And he was right. Where we were, there weren't any deer. Cash is now a little bit of a liar. "Are deer at Home Depot?" asked Cash. "Yes," said Maceo, only hearig the word "home." "No", he immediately said, realizing that Cassius had included the word "depot." It was a bit of a hilarious doubletake from the back seat. Even better was later on when Cassius performed the famous Swooping Swallow tickle routine. On himself.

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.