ONE
First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Pop! TWO
The kids have been playing outside a lot the last couple of weeks with the neighborhood kids. We have some great kids on our cul-de-sac, but we have one that is a little more to handle. Generally, when the kids are in the front yard, at least one parent is sitting out to watch them. This tends to give the other parents a chance to go in and out to check on them and not have to stay every second which is really nice! Well, this one particular kid is a few houses down and his parents are NEVER out to watch him. He's almost 6 and he has two older siblings so maybe his parents are less cautious. So, basically we have an extra kid to keep an eye on while they play. This should not be a huge deal, but this kid makes us and our neighbors a little crazy. A few things that have made us question and/or laugh/cringe about him:
- He comes down at least 2 times a day and will even come as soon as you pull in the driveway to ask if Atticus can play. It's almost always a no until Vic comes home because with 3 kids, I can't sit out there the entire time. But, he is persistent and I've even had to send him home from my porch where he sat, for at least 30 minutes, to wait on us.
- He will look through the little skinny windows on each side of our front door whether he is waiting for us to come to the door OR to see if we are home. One day, he knocked, looked through the windows and made eye contact with me while he waited. I was nursing, so Vic went to the door but by the time he got there, the kid was gone. Vic thought he heard the gate open. He went back to the backyard where he and the kids were playing and sure enough, this kid comes into the backyard and said he saw Atticus in the backyard playing! He could see through the front windows to the back and just came on around! Vic sent him right back out.
- He comes into the house to make himself at home in our toy selection. We have a rule among our other two neighbors that kids need to play outside and not in and out of our houses. But, again, this kid's parents are NOT around.
- He hangs on the small branches of our smaller tree. We've told the kids not to do this because it they will break...but he has to be told a lot.
- He uses language that is not nice. I'll explain in one of the conversations below.
- He has a pocket knife. Seriously. It's been taken away since the first few times we saw him with it, so I'm thinking his parents must not have approved it.
- He gets mad and throws toys at kids...hard toys. This has happened more than once, but it was happening A LOT one day while I was watching them in my front yard. I had to get onto him pretty good after trying to nicely ask him not to throw toys. He told me "You're the meanest one!" ha!
- I honestly feel kind of bad for him. I know he wants to play and while I'm sure his parents are not bad people, they just let him roam free and our neighbors and us have to deal with him. It's not a really big deal yet because most of the time, the group of kids have fun together. And, Atticus has even come in on his own when he thinks the kid isn't playing nicely. And, Atticus and Grace are not always perfect when playing with other kids, but it's almost comical to wait and see what will happen when this boy comes down to play! And, he's just not a kid I will invite to come over for a play date!
Me: "Is that a knife? Do your parents know you have that knife?"
The kid doesn't say anything as he is working on his firewood.
Atticus: "It's OK Mom. His mom and dad said he's ready for it."
Me: "Okay, but Atticus, you are not ready for a knife yet so I do not want you to hold it."
Atticus, states proudly: "No, but I can use a spreader!"
Me: "A spreader?" as I wonder if he is talking about a butter knife.....
Atticus: "A spreader can cut things too and I can use it."
Yes, he was perfectly happy and content knowing that he was old enough to use a "spreader". Ah; I love that he is no naive.
Another day, only he and this kid were playing outside when all of a sudden, Atticus comes into the house with all of his guns he takes outside to play with the group each time. He doesn't look very happy.
Us: "Atticus, are you done playing?"
Atticus: "Yes; but Aaron didn't want me to come inside."
Us: "Well, what happened?"
Atticus: "Aaron was saying things that that the devil made him say!"
Us: "He did? Well, what did he say?"
Atticus wouldn't tell us at first but we told him we needed to know. It looked like he was afraid to repeat them, but he said "He said stupid and dumb and words that the devil made him say. Why did the devil make him say those?"
Whew. But, after, Vic and I couldn't stop laughing at how serious he was when he told us this. We were so proud of him for walking away from something that made him uncomfortable! And while sometime in the past, we have discussed that the devil tempts you to do things you shouldn't, we thought it was so funny that it stuck with him and he said it! This same type of incident happened again last night, when the kid called him a "stupid dumb face". So, it may be awhile before we let him play one-on-one with this kid again.
THREE
Checkups with Grace have been a constant this week. She sings the Doc McStuffins song to me while she uses all of her doctor tools to check on me and tells me "it's time to get a "diag-nos-ees". She tells me what to say and how to react whether I should be sad or cry or tell her the medicine is yucky. She's hilarious! So, that's about it for this week! We've had swim lessons, playdates, gymnastics and even naps. And Everly even slept from 9:15 pm to 5:30 this morning! We are ready for the weekend!
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