Opening Doors to Another World.

Hope discovered another world that she really hasn’t experienced too much yet, outside. Today was one of those rare winter, semi-warm, sunny days. And after so many cloudy drizzle days it was a definitely a welcome shock to the senses. I noticed that all morning my kids couldn’t keep themselves from going outside to play. Yaa-hoo, Yippee, Finally!!! It truly was a perfect day not to have electronics around to keep them in.

However as I watched them depart the family abode they quickly all developed squinty face syndrome the second the sun rays hit their faces. I, myself desperately looked for some sunglasses but to no avail. I guess I’ll have to add them to my shopping list. It actually gives me a headache to be in the sun now; I’ve become so accustomed to the clouds. So I tried to sit with the sun to my back whenever I did go outside.

The only downside is that I couldn’t keep Hope in the house. Every time I turned around she was gone again. In the past she has opened doors but never ventured out because of the cold or rain. But there was something about switching on the sun that made the outside world visible to her. Fortunately, her siblings were scattered about in the yard and saw her the moment she would sneak away from me. A couple of other times I saw her out back keeping our dog ‘Itchy’ company. I’m sure the dog loved the attention.

However her discovery of this new world outside the walls of our home has me a little paranoid. I’ve had a couple of kids already that were curious wanderers. I won’t admit how many times we have had to call the neighbors or even 911 to help s find a missing child because that would just be too humiliating. I’ve met several people in our town that know me by, ‘Oh you’re the mom of Evo-man, I remember when he was lost.’ Well that wouldn’t be too hard to forget, he was one of my worst travel offenders – Disneyland (What a nightmare), Target, you name the store and he probably tried to ditch me there, like he did in Fred Meyer last Saturday. One time he when he was four he went on a four block walk with his little friend and they pilfered mailboxes along the way. So when my friend finally found them she then had to hand-deliver quite a few letters to the houses they belonged too.

Lea had to be my worst adventure seeking child though. With her we installed high locks on the doors and set the home security system to beep loudly every time the door was opened, because once she was out the door she would just keep walking. It’s probably another reason that I’ve never oiled my hinges. I like that creaky, radio mystery theater sound. Like the escape alarm at a penitentiary, it’s loud enough for me to know when someone is up to leaving. I even used, dare I admit it, that kiddy-leash a couple of times with her while on our boat for fear she would wander right off the edge with curiosity.

I got lucky today because Hope decided to stay in the yard with her siblings and not take the further neighborhood adventure. I don’t even want to think about what she will do when she discovers the world outside our yard.

A couple of times I stayed outside with her to try and soak up some Vitamin D of my own and let her have a little fun. Princess was playing in the dirt making castles and Lea and Evo-man were rollerblading up and down the street.

Then it happened, I saw Hope coming toward me with a treasure in her hands. Even though I saw it coming about 5 or 6 steps before she reached me I sat frozen and couldn’t move. In my lap she dropped a nice old piece of dog doo-doo! All of the sudden my movement returned and I leaped up, arms flailing and shouting Ewweeeu, yuck, ugh, oh, Ewweeu, all the while doing a little shaky jig! Hope was mesmerized and then proceeded to do what she does when she is entranced with something. While looking at me with large eyes she reached her dirty hands up into her hair and started twisting her curls around her fingers. (Now you know how she gets those perfect ringlets). Thrill, I thought, not only do I get to wash her hands but I have to wash her hair. Hopes outside adventure for the day ended there. I then patrolled the doors like a warden for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow if it’s still sunny I’m going to pay the boys to collect all the doo they can find so I won’t have to worry about Hope bringing me any more treasures from her newly discovered world.