Smells Like September
When my husband got home from work, he decided to rake up the mess of leaves that our sycamore trees are already flinging all over our lawn. We have to keep appearances up, you see.
The lawn I speak of is outside the fence that surrounds our home. Our 'inside' lawn is a barren desert of dirt with the occasional clump of brown grass. This summer, the fight for the survival of the inside lawn was too much for me. With the first bite of fall in the air, I can contemplate doing something about it, which is probably as far as I'll get. Once the trees drop their final leaves in, say, January, then I'll do something. When the weather is warming, and the heavy rains are past.
You see? I'm hopelessly optimistic that I'll do something, someday. Yea, me!
Back to the husband and the leaves. I sent the two older kids outside to 'help' their father while he dragged the leaves into piles. Whooping and hollering, they leaped into piles, redistributing the leaves. After a few repetitions, the kids were marched back into the house so that the 'helping' would stop.
I wasn't about to have them 'helping' me in the house, so I sent them back out to the wasteland we call the "inner lawn." They climbed up onto our swingset and began micromanaging the leaf collection efforts from 8 feet in the air.
My youngest appeared at my feet, clutching her sister's rainboots. Sensing a good photo opportunity, I helped her climb into the wader-height boots and watched as she staggered out the gate onto the front lawn.
My husband had made good headway with the leaves, and only a few small piles remained.
"Don' pick that up. I jump in that! Daddy. Don' pick it. I jumping!"
As she frankensteined her way across the lawn, issuing orders and directives like a pro, I got the camera ready. The air smelled great, and I anticipated a candid, adorable photoshoot. Large boots! Tiny girl! Big pile of leaves! Cuteness just waiting to happen, right?
I shot exactly one frame before the neighbor kid came running up and got in the middle of the action.
It seems that everyone has "the neighbor kid" in their neighborhood. Ours is five, adorable, and is allowed to run from house to house to house at all hours of the day and into the evening, looking for someone to play with, or you know, flat-out bother. She's not really picky that way. She also has a pet chihuahua that is allowed, nay, encouraged to run from house to house and into the street and across the town, or at least onto my lawn, where "Precious" leaves me surprisingly large poops.
We've taken to padlocking our gate when we are at home, since she comes to the gate five and six times a day, and would let the dog (and my children) out into the street. We have a large bell on the gate, and when the gate is locked, she stands outside with her eye pressed to a knot hole, clanging away. Shoo her away, and she returns in an hour. Clang, clang.
Anyway, she came barrelling onto my lawn and into my cute, if contrived shot of my two year old jumping in a pile of leaves. I tried to get her to move, and she just didn't get it. Aaaah!
I gave up on the photos, and ended the fun when the neighbor kid took my daughter by the hand and tried to lead her out into the street where a final pile of leaves were collected. Buh-bye, neighbor kid. Take yourself home and your little dog, too.
My mom says I should pin a note to her, telling her mother to keep her home. I don't dislike the child, I just hate that she's constantly on the prowl. I can't enter or exit my house without explaining to the neighbor kid where I'm going, what I'm doing, and why exactly she can't come. And also why she needs to get the hell away from the rear of my car (and her little dog, too.)
Wow, this entry went a direction I wasn't expecting. Ranteriffic!
Comments
I agree with your mom about pinning a note on the girl. Maybe pin one on 'precious' too, saying 'please send bag and nose peg when I go out'
Posted by: sara | September 7, 2005 11:11 PM
We used to have a neighbor kid like that too. Most annoying kid ever. And even though I felt sorry for him, I didn't want him at my house all the live long day.
One time he walked in my front door, through my house to my laundry room, and finding me in my underwear asked where my kids were. My screaming didn't even seem to phase him.
Posted by: chris | September 8, 2005 5:25 AM
It is alarming, in this day & age, that parents will allow their children to just roam! There are so many terrifying scenarios that play out in my mind, not to mention just the aggravation of basically babysitting someone's child for them because they're hanging out in your space. Five seems way too young to be away from her own yard! I don't know what kind of community you live in, but I sure hope it's a safe one, for this little one's sake. Her mother should be ashamed, and I sure hope she doesn't regret her poor choice in the future!
Love your blog BTW.
Posted by: Tammy Anderson | September 8, 2005 6:51 AM
We've had "neighbor kids" like that. They do outgrow it, so that's one thing to remember. And sometimes it's sad, really, to think about where they're coming from (usually a not very happy household, in my experience).
But still, I understand there are times when you just want it to be about you and your family. And I definitely would have something to say about "Precious" and her poops!
Posted by: Melanie Lynne Hauser | September 8, 2005 7:37 AM
Um... maybe her mom is secretly hoping that someone will keep her.
Posted by: EverydaySuperGoddess | September 8, 2005 8:50 AM
We had a neighbor kid around here long ago. I felt bad for her (she was in my class), but my mother, while sympathetic, found the child's mother infuriating. The woman (possibly her foster mother? I seem to recall two last names) would randomly drop off her daughter at our house (or, I later found out, the home of the woman who is now my mother-in-law) and leave, going who knows where. She didn't ask for babysitting favors, she simply left her kid at the most convenient place and stayed gone for a long time. Once, she forgot whose house the girl was staying in. (It was ours. I think.)
Both my mom and my husband's mom told her off at some point, explaining that it was hard enough being a single mom with two or three kids, and the unscheduled, unsanctioned, unwanted care of an additional child (who often ended up staying for dinner) was not to be born a moment longer. I'm sure this was repeated by most of the local moms. The end result was that the poor girl was a social outcast who became a mother by the time we were 15.
So watch how you treat those "neighbor kids." You don't want them turning into "neighbor delinquents."
Posted by: Sleepless Mama | September 8, 2005 9:41 AM
Our "neighborhood kid" would stand on the porch just looking through our living room window, didn't knock or call out, just stood there. Scared the bejesus out of us all the time. I always wondered if things were so bad at home that our front porch was a better alternative.
And the "neighborhood dog" ended up following it's owner's kids out into the road one day and got hit by a car. Okay, this comment also went in an odd direction.
Posted by: Elizabeth | September 8, 2005 11:19 AM
The neighbor kid lives next door to me. I hate explaining to a 10 year old where I'm going, why I'm dressed the way I am, and what that odd sound is coming from the basement.
Posted by: Tammy/averagemom | September 8, 2005 2:11 PM
I know, it's easy for me to feel sorry for your neighborhood girl - she isn't invading my cute photo ops. She probably doesn't have a very happy home and is just dying for attention.
Our next door neighbor girl is darling, has impeccable manners, and adores my older daughter (and the younger one too, but she's still a baby). I feel very fortunate.
Posted by: Julie | September 8, 2005 6:11 PM
Our neighbours kid spends all her time hanging over the fence and watching me....she doesn't speak or smile...just watching.
Posted by: aussiemama | September 8, 2005 10:46 PM
We have one of those too, he is a little kid with an earring and shows up all prepared with his swimsuit and towel, ready to go swimming. Mind you, he gets very annoyed if my older son is gone, at daycamp, or whatever, and stomps off in a huff because his mom said he could come over and go swimming goddammit. She doesn't even know which house is ours, and has never met me, let alone asked if there is adult supervision at the pool. He fell out of a 50 foot fir tree because his brother (10) watches him after school and didn't know he was up there until he broke his leg by falling out. I have sneaking suspicions that their whole gang of boys would be here swimming while we are camping if we didn't have a big loud dog...
Posted by: baseballmom | September 9, 2005 12:30 AM
Have you talked to the prowlers parents lately? Sometimes "that kid" is having problems at home which drives them to seek out attention and affection elsewhere. If that's not the case, then it's appropriate to gently suggest that your yard be off limits to the everyday search for playmates. And the dog warrants a talk with the parents regardless. Leash laws are everywhere now; if it was me, I'd say, "I saw animal control driving through the neighborhood yesterday, I'd *hate* for little shithead to be picked up because he was running loose again..."
Posted by: Philip | September 9, 2005 11:31 AM
We used to have a family of 12(!!) kids living next door. We were childless at the time. It used to drive us nuts that we couldn't walk outside or work in the yard, without several children wanting to have conversations with us. We always figured their parents were so overwhelmed they never talked to them, so the kids were looking for grown ups. I make sure my kids only drive me nuts, not the neighbors.
Posted by: Lisa V | September 9, 2005 5:23 PM
I love sycamore trees, but they do make a mess, don't they..
Posted by: cmhl | September 9, 2005 6:19 PM