Tree House? Conquered!

Connor and Helen often play at the neighbor’s house – after all, it has a great swingset, cherry tomato plants that they’re allowed to pluck from freely, a hose that Helen uses to wash those tomatoes she plucks, and a tree house.

During the open house for our home—as we were deciding whether to purchase it or not— Connor ran over to the neighbor’s house, and promptly climbed up the ladder into the tree house. And then he asked if we could buy their house instead of the one we were looking at. We knew right away that the folks next door would be great neighbors because the mom came out to tell us how great the neighborhood was, and as I apologized for my then three-year-old’s trespassing, she said in her fabulous Wisconsin accident “Oh, no problem at all—he can come over anytime! I have three boys myself. Looking at houses must be awfully boring for him.” We chatted a bit more, and Ed and I went home and decided to buy the house.

When we moved in, our neighbor reiterated that the kids were welcome anytime, and I had to tell her “I’m from Kansas. When someone says we can come over, I take them at their word. If you’re just being polite, feel free to say that you’d prefer we knock on your door, or set any other rules. It would be completely fine with me.” But instead, she assured me that she was Midwestern too, and it really was no problem. Naturally, we extended backyard privileges to her boys as well. The boys love playing with Connor’s toys and on the basketball court in our backyard—and if we ever get the ground to harden up enough that the sand truck can dump its 3.5 tons of sand in our sandbox—I’m sure they’ll enjoy the sandbox as well.

And so it is that the five children run pretty freely between the two yards, and occasionally we knock on their door to make sure Helen is inside their house when we can’t find her outside, and we holler out our door when we see our neighbors looking around for there motley three when they’re playing inside our house. Connor seems to be the only one to remember to always tell me if he’s planning to go inside their house, and he rats out Helen fairly reliably as well.

A little over a week ago, I got home with the kids from the nature center and they wanted to run into the neighbor’s yard. I told them I’d be inside putting dinner together. Ed arrived a few minutes later, and the last I’d seen of Helen, her feet were planted firmly on the ground as she stared up the pretty big ladder leading to the tree house. I figured she was ready to go for it. By the time Ed got home, we looked out to see this:



See that little pink shirt and red pants? Helen is about two steps from the very top. I don’t know if Connor had to help her get inside, but by the time Ed got out there with the camera, Helen was triumphantly inside the tree house with Connor, having a grand time.



Elaine

Well Rested!

Did I hear someone mention that tomorrow is the last day of NaBloPoMo? Oh, right, that event where friends of mine (usually including me) post daily in November (and my hearty congrtulations to all of you who met the challenge). Did you think I forgot? Well, I didn’t forget last Saturday, but I was in Puerto Rico getting lost briefly in San Juan before getting turned around and arriving at my condo. this is the prize I 'won' at Connor’s school’s silent auction a little over a year ago. It sits directly on the beach – and pretty much across the street from the rain forest. I thought about posting, even tried, but do you know how awesome this condo is (besides the location, of course)? Super awesome. NO INTERNET. This is absolutely the first vacation I have taken in as long as I can remember where I answered NO work email, NO personal email, and did NO posting. I haven’t lived this long without a computer since college, and damn was it good. Of course, my companions noted that the world could have collapsed and we wouldn’t know it – because we didn’t even turn the television on, save for a quick glimpse of the weather (gorgeous – it didn’t even rain on us in the rain forest!). But what did I care? I was on the beach, loving life. World be damned! And that was it. On Sunday, I thought briefly about writing posts and uploading them when I got back, but I decided to revel in Connor half-running, half-skipping whenever he got near the sand. Monday, I was busy hiking in the rain forest and riding an electric boat through a forest of mangrove trees to see the bioluminescent bays, and I swear, I did not even think about blogging. And that was true every other day of vacation as well. Last night, I plowed through personal email and got most of the way through before deciding to do my part for the school newsletter. And today? Well, as usual for November, blogger is slow, so there are no photos, just a note to say that leaving the internet behind can be incredibly refreshing. And I’ll post the traditional Thanksgiving post and monthly letters in the upcoming days.

I'm hoping to get to some fun places in the next few days because Flat Stanley has come to visit my home, and I hope to show him around before sending him to someone else. Drop me a note or leave a comment if you want him to visit you. Absent another response, and Therese's agreement of course, I plan to send ol' Flat Stanley her way so that she can encourage him to do a little international traveling. Let me know if you don't want him, Therese.

Happy Birthday, Dick!

Just pretend they say "Grandpa" instead of "Mommy". They're not always easy to manipulate into performing exactly as directed.



Hope it was a good one! Elaine, Ed, Connor, and Helen

Bag Lady

Mud huts

I almost never write about my care-givers, but I'm breaking the rule today. When I got home from work, Connor was just waking up from his nap. Normally, Connor goes completely nuts to see me. Today? He excitedly told me that he and Tiny (our au pair) we're going outside to make a mud hut. How awesome is that? They made the mud and the first two rows of bricks for the hut. They collected pinecones for the hut earlier in the day, and Connor and I plan to acquire bamboo for the roof. It's going to be awesome.

Work Vacation

I've been away at a work conference these past few days. I explained to Helen and Connor that I was going on a "work vacation", which was a concept they could both understand. Naturally, Connor requested a gift, and I decided to bring him a gift that simultaneously qualifies as the most fabulous and worst present ever - shredded money from the Federal Reserve Bank. Obviously, it is a mess, but Connor and Helen love playing with it, and their laughter is almost - almost - worth the many extra trips across the floor with the vacuum it inspires.



For those who find themselves at the Fed someday, let me warn you that what looks like a fairly small bag of shredded currency can turn into an ENORMOUS pile when freed from the vacuum packed bag. WOW.

Elaine

Laundry Kids!

A few nights ago, I sent the kids into the bathroom to get ready for their bath. This is what I found. They're sitting in the dirty laundry bag.

Daylight Savings Time

Dear Helen,

Remember all those times I told you how awesome you were because you knew about and seemed to enjoy sleep? You surely remember all those days that I had to wake you up before I went to work so I could feed you. Well, I suppose payback is hell. Almost two weeks into Daylight Savings Time and yet you still refuse to acknowledge the time change. I love you dearly, but I would really like you to sleep until at least 6:30 each day. And please tell your brother to do the same.

Love,
Mommy

PS: I wrote this post on Wednesday night, prior to going out of town on a business trip. I was confident that I did not need to set an alarm that night, so I didn't. I woke up at 6:37. My cap was scheduled to arrive at 6:50. Not good. I woke Connor up on my way out the door to say good-bye and left Helen sleeping.

Always Helpful

An important thing to consider when raising kids, is trying to imbue in them a keen sense of wanting to take care of others. After all, they are your best shot at not sitting in a nursing home somewhere drooling on yourself with no one to wipe it away. Though you might still be drooling on yourself if your children are caring for you, hopefully they'll feel like wiping your chin.

At this house, when things are important, we start early.





Now, for anyone who believed Helen had an object in her hands that could make Ed bleed, please smack yourself. We are most definitely lax parents in some categories, but Ed leaves the plastic cover on when someone besides him is in charge of the razor. We don't want to be raising a little Sweeney Todd!

Elaine

Climbing Wall

Yesterday, I took Helen to her music class at an indoor playground. Before class, we were running around like crazy people, because I believe in wearing little people out before naptime! At one point, we had this conversation.

"Take my shirt off, Mommy."
"Why?"
"Because I need to climb up the climbing wall." A wall, I might add, that is about 10 feet tall and designed for someone age 4 - 8.
"I don't think having a shirt on will hinder your ability to get up the wall, Helen."
"TAKE MY SHIRT OFF", stomping foot.
"OK"
And I did. And she proceeded to climb up the wall - sans assistance (because I do not provide assistance in situations like these) - about one-third the way up the wall. She performed this ritual twice.

I learn things from my children regularly. Yesterday I learned that maybe it is necessary to go shirtless when climbing up a rock wall.