Cassius is having a little bit of trouble figuring out his last name. And he hasn't even begun to spell it yet. Tonight, when I was changing his diaper, he told me his last name is "Manoslakos-Loewen." "That's right!" I responded. "And you're Manoslakos Loewen, too!" he crowed. "No, I'm Loewen and Mama is Manoslakos." I'm not sure why I mispronounced it, too, but I did. He was a bit confused. Luckily, he knows what dragons and monsters say. Even baby ones.

Maceo's Food Sequencing Rules

When Pat recently picked up Maceo after school one day he asked, as he always does, to go to the gelato store. He and Pat both know it’s a once a week pleasure, but to be sure there are no changes in the agenda, he asks each day. And as usual Pat reminds him that they've been already this week. Then he assumes the fallback position: how about the cheesecakes? (He know that answer too.)

But Pat sympathized with him agreeing that gelato was delicious and it would be great to eat it more frequently. She suggested that when he is grown, he can run his own gelato store and eat it three times a day or more. Maceo, very serious, replied that no, he’d have "breakfast food" for breakfast, "lunch food" for lunch, etc., but he’d have gelato in the afternoon. When you’re supposed to eat it, she guessed.  They agreed that was a good plan.

Parental validation complete:  kids really do listen to what we say.

Cassius turns five along with Maceo

Recently at a playground in Takoma Park on a Tuesday in which Mami/Pat and Maurice take Cassius all day, Cassius told everyone he met that he was five. There were two elderly Chinese ladies on the playground, walking the track. They did not speak English. Cash announced to them that he was five and then launched into his life history: St Anne’s, Maceo, Maceo’s birthday (in which he really did turn five), and so on.  

Later when Nick told him he was only two, Cash shot back: no, I’ve had 4 birthdays! 

So we take it he’s 5. Officially.

Too cool for school

This is what happens when their great aunt sends a goody box:

Maceo's PK4 Student-led conference: Not a bully after all

Nick and I recently met with Maceo's two teachers, Yu and Shen, along with Maceo, in a student-led conference that lasts about 75 minutes and is designed to empower the student to show his parents what's he's learned thus far in the school year.  Admittedly, Nick and I were a little nervous because Maceo has been on a pretty rigid daily green/red behavior chart that, shall we say, not everyone in the class is honored to be on.  

We've received specific feedback about him being too physical on the playground and generally unable to keep his hands to himself.  So, needless to say we were more than surprised when, in this student-led conference, Maceo's teachers had a lot of praise about him and helped us to understand that some of his physical behavior on the playground had to do with sticking up for his wee little best friend, Adam Berg, a years-long playmate of this that represents the 5% growth chart end of the spectrum while Maceo clearly occupies the other end of that chart.  They have a sweet relationship and Maceo seems to be quite protective of little Adam Berg.  Succinctly said by Maceo's lead teacher, "This is why we haven't called you for a behavior conference about Maceo."  They were able to see the dynamics going on on the playground and respond accordingly - which is not to over-respond. And this is one of the many reasons why we are so pleased with Maceo's experience at Yu Ying.

And so that Nick and I remember what transpired at this conference in which Maceo shyly yet proudly walked us through numerous stations in which he demonstrated his math skills, read The Hungry Caterpillar in Chinese to us, and showed he is starting to learn some Chinese characters, here is a quick little list of what his teachers had to say about him:

• He's really trying to speak only in Chinese to his teachers now.  He apparently is learning Chinese well enough to be able to understand the side conversations the teachers are having in between classes and transition times.  
• He's helpful in serving as a role model for a friend of his who recently became a Rhino by transferring into his class. Seamus, the transferred student, seems to have a crush on Maceo.  He apparently has asked his mother if he can wear an eye patch like Maceo does at school. 
• Maceo's not very picky about his friends.
• He can be very vulnerable and sensitive.  
• He's often the first to be where he needs to be in transitions - on his spot on the carpet, to his seat at the lunch table, etc....
• He'll be in a play in April about the Three Little Pigs and he wants to be the pig who makes his house out of brick. (He's no dummy).

There are a few more months of school for Maceo before summer break which will conclude his second year at Yu Ying. He's one of the lucky ones in that he will have had Chinese immersion for two full years before transitioning to a 50/50 Chinese/English setup and it's amazing and evident that it's paying off.  It was a pretty exhilarating thing to see our kid look at a bunch of Chinese characters on a page, figure out what they said and translate it for us into English.  And to do it without a sense of how incredibly hard that really is. Well, to our adult minds at least.  Here's to looking at our budding kindergartener and hoping it's as lovely of a year as this one...but with less hitting.  

Snowzilla!

Sleeping and Not-So Sleeping

Both boys are pretty good sleepers. Maceo's peccadillo is that he will call us up to his room after going to bed with issues like he is sweaty or his nose is snuffy. We've taken care of that by giving him a blue ribbon good for one nighttime visit. Most of the time, that suffices for him. Cassius has been a great sleeper. He goes right in to his bed, hardly ever with even a peep, seems to fall asleep within minutes, and sleeps all the night. Until the end of December. Then, he began awakening at around 5:15, calling and yelling and crying. We'd try to wait him out, but sometimes, to keep Maceo asleep, one of us would get up with him. This sleep change seems to have coincided with a lot more talking from him and recently, he's been sleeping until he's allowed to wake up (Thank God). However, last night, he awoke at about 11:30, which is very unusual for him, crying with what sounded like fear, which is also unusual. I went to him and tried to snuggle him back to sleep, but he was super tense, and he was super awake. He asked to go to our room, to go downstairs, to read a book. I kept trying to snuggle him back asleep, but after seeing that wasn't going to work, I explained that I was going to sing him a song, and then I would put him back in his crib. He wasn't happy about it, and he started to cry as I put him down. He sat up, and I asked him to lie down so I could put his "woobie" (blanket) over him. He wouldn't, so I left. By the time I got to bed, he was crying angrily, and then he started shouting, "Put my woobie on me!" over and over again. I went in, put his woobie on him, and he was instantly silent and stayed that way the rest of the night.