Mayberry

With the beautiful weather we've had the last two weeks, all of our neighbors have appeared out of the woodwork. We've discovered two 7-year-olds and a 5-year-old, all within a three-house distance either way. Dutch forced me to go over to introduce ourselves to the kid across the street yesterday, and then spent an hour playing with him in his back yard.*  and today we were ambushed by the kid who lives two houses to the west, and Dutch spent 40 minutes playing in HIS back yard. The kid in the house just to the east of us was having a play date this evening, but I expect would otherwise have been involved somehow. We've also been told that the Bad Kid who used to live down the street moved away last fall, so it's all innocence and sunshine now. And pogo sticks.

Not much news, otherwise. Dutch has branched out from figure skating to luge (which she prefers to skeleton), but I think we've watched all the available videos. And Skipper has developed a truly delightful habit of pooping only at daycare; neither Cook nor I have changed a poo-ful diaper in weeks.  She must have realized that her nighttime waking habits were diminishing her popularity.


*I made awkward conversation with his dad for a while, and then just ditched Dutch and went home. I figured the family seemed pretty nice, and probably wouldn't kill and eat Dutch. I'm not a full-on let-your-kid-make-his-way-across-New-York-City-alone free-range-kid parent, but I'm not too worried about the neighbors. She had a great time, too. Apparently, this kid thinks that magic potions and fairies are really cool.