This weekend Carli made her first neighborhood friend. I know, we've been here for 6 years (I can hardly believe it myself). Our backyard is bordered by the canal (2/3) and a back yard of someone who lives on the canal road. Our dogs have been vocal with their dog before, that's about it. All of a sudden some kids show up in the yard. We were in the back yard and I see this little face just looking through the fence. A couple of words later and before you know, that child was trying to climb the fence to get over here, and our child was trying to climb the fence to get over there. The problem with this situation is even if our child made it to the top of the fence, it's way awkward to get over the top. Did I mention that the 'back down' part is an additional 3 feet tall due to a cement wall? Now, we have had quite a good streak going. We haven't been to the emergency room in awhile (touch/knock wood),14 mos to be exact. After several requests of "Mom/Dad, can I climb the fence?" with repeated "NO", she just wasn't giving up. Finally parents end up at the fence, convinced the children are going to make it one way or another, we accept the inevitable. The dad on the other side goes for his ladder, hands the girl over to me and excitement ensues. The mom comes over and asks the dad "how long did you plan on letting her play, it's already past 8". With a look on his face like he was just tricked into something, I reassure them. We had a way late start tonight and I was just putting stuff on the grill. That dad pulls out a notepad and a pencil and writes down their number "in case." Fast forward to a little while later, we have passed the kid back over the fence and passed them a paper with our number on it. That dad informs us that his wife stays home all day, so if need someone to tend, just give her a call. I let him know that we work in the day and then there is homework. So, Friday afternoons and the weekends are best for us. As we walk in the house, Carli says, momma can I go over to their house tomorrow? And there you have it, now we have a child friend.
This experience leads me to a couple of questions.
Should it always have been that easy?
Who is more weird, them or Me? They seemed quite willing to toss their kid over the fence to play for awhile at someone's house they don't even know, and even after this play session, I'm not feeling it with my kid being tossed over there. He spilled a few details about them, actually quite a bit. They seem to be nice people, but how do I really know?
And, should I tell him that if we push the bottom of the fence back, the children could climb underneath - no sweat. Dally poop enlightened me to that one, he's such a good boy - NOT!
Do I tell them that when their kid was tossed over the fence, I was already about 8 deep in margaritaville? Or should I wait to tell them that good news for one day when they say, Can you just drive her around?
When is it a good time to introduce them to the real me? You know, the one with the trucker mouth. I doubt that is a conversation for when they come home from church. I'll try to behave, short term anyway.
By the way, for those of you who are new to my world. It's not that we are total social misfits. But in our neighborhood, most of the people are original owners of their homes (1960-70 neighborhood). There are a couple of new kids, but they don't even have kids. Not only that, but Carli is at a charter school, not immediately in the area and we don't attend the local Sunday Cult offerings. All those things added together, just haven't made much for a house full of play dates.
3 comments:
Is this the people with the wood? :)
Your neighborhood experience is opposite of ours. Robby and I are chatty cathys so we know everyone and everyone knows us. They see the beers, the whiskey on ice, and the trucker mouth (me). They go for the Sunday offerings and still seem to accept us in their midst. Probably because lately we've been hosting their kids in the sandbox and feeding them at times too!
I say go over with Carli to their house and check it out. Visit with the parents a bit...during the visiting you can see if they've got the pics of the temple on the wall. Then you'll know how much to let loose at once.
Congrats on a neighborhood friend!
Yep, the wood neighbors. The wood is gone. Here's the kicker, the parents (grandparents of Carli's new friend), said they never even noticed they had neighbors, but now that the wood is gone...bam there we are. WEIRD, it's not like the wood was 8 feet tall, wide yes, but tall...not so much.
That's great Carli made a friend nearby. We were glad when we ended up with great neighbors with kids. Now we all hang out and drink beers and margaritas. It's a great time. And the kids all play together. I say visit with them a bit and as you get to know them, you'll know what information to share (potty mouth, drinking, etc) and what NOT to share.
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