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!

Peet-Ah!

Maceo is waaaaay into "Peter and the Wolf", which we have narrated by David Bowie. We listen to it during dinner, during play time, and especially in the car. Each morning, I strap the two boys into the car and we're off to the Brit explaining which instrument is which animal. Mace listens and so does Cash, and the ride is quiet. Every so often, there's a voice from the back: "The wolf is a Chinese oboe." No, Maceo, the wolf is a French horn." No, Daddy, it's French hoon." Or when Bowie says, "Peter pulled the rope tighter!", Maceo asks, "Why he say 'tigh-ah'?" I have to explain that Bowie is English and that's his accent. "But I'm English," said Maceo. "No, you're American." "But I speak English!" rejoined Maceo.

School's Out!

Monday, Columbus Day, school was closed, and we hosted Maceo's friend Wesley for the day. We went by metro to the Museum of Natural History. Both boys were excited for the metro ride, probably more than any other aspect of the day. We saw stuffed animals and skeletons and we went to the Insect Zoo where the boys shrieked inside a termite mound and saw a hissing cockroach and a huge prawn. The next day, school was closed for parent/teacher conferences. Maceo and Cassius spent the day at Mami and Maurice's house. Wednesday, school was closed again for parent/teacher conferences, which Maceo, Kate, and Nick attended. Maceo apparently is quite good at languages and getting better at not pushing and hitting. After conferences, Maceo's friend Patrick came for the day. Nick and the boys took the bus to the National Geographic museum to see the exhibit on dinosaurs. When we came out, a huge thunderstorm was brewing, terrifying Maceo. We rushed to the metro. When we got to Brookland, it was pouring. We waited for the bus and rode home for lunch. Naps followed

Cash drank too much

Drinking buddy.

A video posted by Nick Loewen (@nloewen) on Oct 10, 2014 at 4:09pm PDT

Dinner time

Sunday, we awoke from naptime and decided to go to Georgetown to see the river and have an outing. We saw ducks and geese and walked up and down the river walk. After, we went to Trader Joe's and Taylor's for subs. Cassius and I went grocery shopping while Maceo and Kate went for the sandwiches. When Cassius and I joined up with them, Maceo was munching on bbq chips. He shared with Cassius and they both liked eating them. On the way home, from the backseat, Maceo commanded, "Smell my finger. Smell my finger cause it smells like chips."