Carlos

Our backyard backs the elementary school near our house. Actually, our back fence is about a foot away from the playground. We constantly have balls, jackets, you name it thrown in our backyard. So today while I was cleaning up lunch, Makee was playing out back during the school kids' lunch recess. Pretty soon I hear a bunch of kids yelling, "Hey, come here!" I realize they are talking to Mak. He walks up to the fence to this big group of boys. I peek my head out so the kids would know I was close and they wouldn’t try anything dumb. So I poke my head out, and I hear, “Run, he has a Mother!” But they came back. Suddenly I hear “Carlos, come here! Carlos walk backwards. Carlos fall down! Carlos throw the ball back over the fence!” I hear girls asking, "Why are you calling him Carlos?" I realize the boys are calling Makee “Carlos.” And he is totally eating it up. He keeps falling down so they will laugh at him. They tell him to go get his lawnmower. As he is running they are all chanting, “Carlos, Carlos, Carlos!” I hear them say, “He doesn’t talk.” And then he climbs up onto our fireplace and says something and they start cheering, “He talks!” One of the kids put a little toy dinosaur on our firepit, and Makee came running up to me with it exclaiming, "Mommy, a twiceratops!" Mak spent about the next 20 minutes entertaining this huge group of kids. They were giving him fives and everything. After that, the kids began losing interest in the little two year old over the fence. And they left. Makee spent the rest of lunch recess parked on the firepit watching longfully. Oh, to be a fifth grade boy. What a hilarious moment that I will never forget. I spent the entire time watching out the kitchen window and laughing my head off. And yes, these pictures look like I'm a peeping Tom snapping through my blinds, but I just had to document this moment without the kids thinking I'm some sort of snap happy psycho.
Perched at the fence talking with the big boys Here is Carlos giving the boys back their ball while they all cheer