Lockdown
Yesterday the girls wanted to go visit their new best friends, two sisters who are in first and third grade. They are fun kids and their parents are normal people, so I was happy to let them go, but Marty wanted to go too. I know he is too little to go to other people's houses without me, but Newsweek had just arrived, so I thought maybe I could let him go and I would follow about 10 minutes after I had read an article or two.
I said to Aislinn, "If Marty wants to come home, bring him back. And by bring him back I mean hold his hand and walk him to this door and do not leave him until I have him." She agreed and the three of them walked off hand-in-hand. I stood at the kitchen counter, watching them out the window and reading Newsweek over the sink. I fully planned to go right out after them, but after a few minutes I looked up and saw all three of our kiddies plus the two new best friends headed back toward our house.
Aislinn: He just left! He sneaked downstairs and went right out the door, but when we heard the door we ran after him.
Marty: I just wanted you to come play with me at the girls' house.
I let the girls return to their playdate and attempted to tell Marty why he cannot wander the streets of Fort Lee by himself. It is hard to make a convincing argument since there are rarely any cars and never any strangers, but still I hounded him enough that he told me to "Stop saying the angry words to me."
A while later we had the following exchange:
Marty: Mommy, I want to go back and play with the girls.
Mommy: Okay, Marty. I just need to grab some Halloween clothes that I'm going to give to K and L's little sister. I'll be right there. Wait for me.
Screen Door: Creak, slam
I ran out to the front and could see through the window that he was already across the street and heading for the neighbors. I'm sure this is the point where many people would say "I would have smacked him," but I will never be one of those people. He is still small enough that I could keep him inside by keeping the heavy door shut, but I didn't shut the door, so it's my fault too that he got outside. Plus, the concept of not leaving the house without me is brand new (well it's not actually brand new, but it hasn't really come up before since we are normally and at times quite literally attached at the hip), so I don't think I can expect immediate and flawless adherence to the rule.
Tonight after dinner:
Marty: I'm going to play outside
Mommy: No, Marty, it's too late
Screen Door: Creak, slam.
Mommy: Marty! What did I just tell you about going outside without me?
Marty, from his perch on his little fire truck: Mommy, I just wanted to play outside (how can you be so unreasonable?)
And so the lectures will continue.
And so the lockdown will begin.
I said to Aislinn, "If Marty wants to come home, bring him back. And by bring him back I mean hold his hand and walk him to this door and do not leave him until I have him." She agreed and the three of them walked off hand-in-hand. I stood at the kitchen counter, watching them out the window and reading Newsweek over the sink. I fully planned to go right out after them, but after a few minutes I looked up and saw all three of our kiddies plus the two new best friends headed back toward our house.
Aislinn: He just left! He sneaked downstairs and went right out the door, but when we heard the door we ran after him.
Marty: I just wanted you to come play with me at the girls' house.
I let the girls return to their playdate and attempted to tell Marty why he cannot wander the streets of Fort Lee by himself. It is hard to make a convincing argument since there are rarely any cars and never any strangers, but still I hounded him enough that he told me to "Stop saying the angry words to me."
A while later we had the following exchange:
Marty: Mommy, I want to go back and play with the girls.
Mommy: Okay, Marty. I just need to grab some Halloween clothes that I'm going to give to K and L's little sister. I'll be right there. Wait for me.
Screen Door: Creak, slam
I ran out to the front and could see through the window that he was already across the street and heading for the neighbors. I'm sure this is the point where many people would say "I would have smacked him," but I will never be one of those people. He is still small enough that I could keep him inside by keeping the heavy door shut, but I didn't shut the door, so it's my fault too that he got outside. Plus, the concept of not leaving the house without me is brand new (well it's not actually brand new, but it hasn't really come up before since we are normally and at times quite literally attached at the hip), so I don't think I can expect immediate and flawless adherence to the rule.
Tonight after dinner:
Marty: I'm going to play outside
Mommy: No, Marty, it's too late
Screen Door: Creak, slam.
Mommy: Marty! What did I just tell you about going outside without me?
Marty, from his perch on his little fire truck: Mommy, I just wanted to play outside (how can you be so unreasonable?)
And so the lectures will continue.
And so the lockdown will begin.
posted by Shannon at 10:06 PM
1 Comments:
good luck with that.
I don't know if you remember that our house in KY had a slight downhill slope. Alan would run out the door and jump on his fisherprice big-wheel thing and be all the way down at the end of the street ready to turn the corner before I could catch him. Those were the days....
Post a Comment
<< Home