Constant Vigilance Required

It has been very hot the past couple of weeks, so we have not done a lot outside lately, other than swimming. This morning, after visiting his dad in Texas all summer, Maguire, (the boys' neighbor friend) finally returned and asked if the boys could play at his house. The girls were not happy to see the boys leave but I entertained them with some toys and was confident that they would be sufficiently distracted for a while so I could get some work done on the computer (I didn't have a visual on the girls but I could hear them playing in their room). Only a few minutes went by and in my peripheral vision I noticed something pink move past the back window. I must have instinctively known that something was amiss. I looked to find Sally in her new pink tutu and flip flops, walking down the sidewalk on route to Maguire's. I bolted out the door and around the corner and of course as I called out to her she picked up speed, but I ran up to her and scooped her up and as we walked back to the apartment I explained to her that it is dangerous for a little girl to be out on her own and that she needed permission and adult supervision to go outside.

When we first moved here and Shazer was a preschooler we had an alarm system that I could set so that if he opened the front door the alarm would go off and I'd be alerted. Our door has a dead bolt but Sally can reach it and knows how to open it. The new management recently took out the alarm system to cut costs and we are not allowed to install a chain lock so I'm going to have to be super vigilant about making sure that Sally does not sneak out again. Any suggestions would be appreciated (no, I don't think tying her up to the bed post is conscionable).

As soon as we came in (I'd been out less than a minute) I went to check on Sophie and found that she had made her way into the bathroom and was playing with the toilet water! Aaaaack! So not only did I have a runaway preschooler who could have been abducted but now I had a potential baby drowning on my hands. I'm constantly having to nag the boys about keeping the bathroom door closed. They seemed much better about keeping it closed when Sally was a toddler. Poor Shazer had a couple of nightmares that Sally had drown in the bathtub or toilet. It may also be that Sally is leaving the door open, too, now that she's potty trained. Although, it still seems like every time she has to go she requires my watchful praises, even though she doesn't need my assistance. And I always close the door behind her. And, no, toilet locks don't work when you have other kids using the toilet.

So forget about school work- it would have to wait until Jon is home. I grabbed the bubbles, camera, new trike, and the girls and we went out to play until we just couldn't take the heat anymore (which translated to about 20 minutes). Sufficient time to expend some energy and insure good appetites for lunch and a good nap for Sophie. Now the boys are back and playing "Pokegon" (Pokemon) with Sally. What am I going to do without my little girl watchers when the boys start back to school next Monday? They've really been so helpful this summer. I guess I could be doing homework with this quiet time, but felt like I had to blog.

I also want to mention that it wasn't just the boys who had a friend come from Texas. My best friend that I've had as an adult, Janell Taylor, came to visit yesterday. Her and her husband, Aaron, and their two boys moved to Texas a year ago because Aaron got a professorship at a college there. I've missed her a lot this past year, so it was so good to see her. They came last night to play games (we played Blurt! and Buzz Word) and we had a blast with them, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time- it was just like there had been no time lapse since we'd seen them last. We get to see them again tonight, and I'll be sad to see them go but at least now we know that we can withstand the distance and remain friends. She's really hoping that Jon will try to get a job in Texas when he graduates but I warned her not to say that around my mom because Mom might have a heart attack. Hopefully we'll be able to plan a trip next summer to visit her :)

And, speaking of school starting up, I can't believe I have a middle schooler! We went to Shule's orientation at KMS on Wednesday and he's super excited. He was able to get all the classes that he'd wanted. Aside from the core classes: Math, Science (which he's really excited about), Language Arts, and Social Studies, he's also taking Band (trombone and percussion) and then Computers for the first semester and Art for the second. We're impressed with the technology at the boys' schools (smart boards in all the rooms) and the level of teachers' professionalism (they all had power point presentations to introduce themselves and the curriculum). I kept looking around at the other parents and wondering if I really fit in with this group. Some were older than me but there were definitely some younger and yeah, I'm about the average age of a 6th grade parent. Yikes! Jon's been telling me we're getting old but it really hasn't hit me until now. Shule says he's definitely old enough to be going to middle school citing his need for deodorant and zit cream. We also took the whole family to meet Shazer's fourth grade teacher last night. She seems great and Shazer's excited to start on Monday. We saw the kids' past teachers in the halls and Shule solemnly proclaimed that Ninos would always hold a special place in his heart. What a hoot!

I love that Sophie can fit Sally's old pink checkered Vans (Ok, so they're really about a half size too big, but that just provides more surface for better balance, right?)