Friday, February 29, 2008

Neighbor Woes...

I usually am the one saying how much I love my neighborhood and neighbors. I know almost everyone on the street and my kids love having friends on either side. However, the ivory tower crumbled a little today. My girls were out playing with their friend who lives next door and I was chatting on the porch with her mom. The kids were drawing with chalk on the driveway and I was throwing an occasional glance their way. I looked over and saw that they weren't in the driveway but I could still hear them so I wasn't too worried. It sounded like they were in the backyard and they were screaming. Now being a mom to girls, high pitched screaming just doesn't get me moving too fast anymore because it happens a lot. My only concern was that my neighbor has a pool in her back yard. So I say "does it sound like the kids are in the back yard?". She agreed but said "don't worry about the pool, the fence is closed". I said we should probably go see what they were up to anyway. So we go through the house to the backyard and this is when my adrenaline skyrockets. The fence to the pool is open and Natalie is walking along the edge of the pool. Aubrey is screaming and crying because their dog (a lab mix) is out and jumping all over her--she is on her knees trying to hit the dog to get away. I freeze for a minute because I don't know which one to run to first. I try to calmly but firmly tell Natalie to come away from the pool NOW! I don't know how I did on calm, but I was definitely firm. Then I ran to Aubrey to get the dog off of her. And in case you're wondering, my neighbors idea of helping was to say "Anna, stop it, stop jumping". yeah, that was not working. So I grab this dog by the throat and pin it to the ground. My neighbor is like "be careful, you're pregnant I don't want her to jump on you". And I'm thinking you'll be lucky if I don't break this dog's neck. I told both the girls to go straight into the house. I didn't see any blood on Aubrey so I'm hoping she's just scared and not hurt. Now here's the real kicker. My neighbor's son (if you've seen the movie "A Christmas Story", think of a 7 yr old Scott Farcus...) is on top of their BBQ laughing this whole time. Apparently he's the one who let the dog out while Aubrey wasn't looking. So the girls are now in my neighbor's house and I have to let the dog up to go in after them. As soon as I let the dog up it runs into the house and jumps up on Aubrey again. I run after the dog, grab it again and tell the girls to go to our house I'll be right there. My neighbor is following me this whole time saying "I can't believe she's doing this, my heart is just pounding, oh my gosh, I can't believe he was laughing about it". And I'm just trying to stay calm and get out of her house as quickly as possible meanwhile I'm having visions of drowning the dog and smashing that kid's face into the mud and yelling "who's laughing now"--very mature, I know. Thankfully Aubrey was okay, just some scratches and mud and thankfully Natalie did not fall into the pool. So we had a SERIOUS talk about going into backyards without Mom around and about NEVER going near pools. I keep having flashes of Natalie at the bottom of the pool and Aubrey covered in dog bites.

My problem is I really do like my neighbor she's fun to visit with and the girls like playing with her youngest daughter. I've tolerated the rotten fruit in my yard that this same son throws, the mangled plants because she lets them play football through my front yard, the incessant "can we get our ball back" because they are constantly throwing balls in my yard and various other annoyances because I want to be a good neighbor and friend. But today I have to say something inside me broke. I really don't know how I am going to look this woman in the face again without yelling at her to get control of her kid! I realize I should have watched the kids closer and gone to investigate sooner when it sounded like they had moved into the backyard and believe you me I WILL NOT make that same mistake again. But to see another person's child maliciously laughing while my child is being hurt just makes me shake with anger!

So here's my question how do you stay friends or at least stay friendly with someone that you like when their child(ren) and/or their discipline absolutely sends you over the bend?

3 comments:

Stacy said...

Did she punish her son for letting the dog out in the first place and did she talk to him about how rude it was to laugh? Man... I would be fuming at my kid if he was doing that. Wasn't she trying to get the dog away from Aubrey or was she just watching from afar? Anyways... you are neighbors and so you should try to stay neighborly, but maybe keep your kids away for a bit. Man... I don't know... the face in the mud sounded quite fun... you could try that! :)

heidi said...

You don't EVER let them go over there or play with her kids unsupervised by you. You'll just have to be really cool about it in front of her--but make sure the girls are always in your view. That has to be one of the hardest problems in a cul de sac type of street--kid politics. Good luck--that basically sucks.

ablykins said...

Wow, that sounds like a tricky situation with sticky neighborhood politics! Sorry I can't be more help with kid advice since I basicially have nill experience in that dept.! lol

I'm glad Aubrey & Natalie are OK, and that there is no serious damage done physically to either of them. Aside from your neighbor's son, it doesn't sounds like there was any malicious intent, and it is likely he was diciplined behind closed doors and if not, at least you have an idea of what he's capable of and what kind of behavior is accepted in his household.

On a comical side note, you may be able to avoid the whole situation entirely if your neighbor sees your blog- I'm sure she wouldn't be extending an invitation back anytime soon for fear of a drowned dog and a son with a smashed face full of mud. lol- only joking ;-P