When Boy Wonder and Sweet Girl were little, our house was no different than yours. These two pestered the heck out of one another! I’m pretty sure they took a few lessons from my brothers (but those dudes would never admit to anything).
At any given moment if you were within ears reach of our house, you would hear Sweet Girl yelling at Boy Wonder for something he did… “Mom, he’s looking at me again!” or “He hid my favorite doll!”
But his all-time favorite way to annoy his sister would be to tie one of her favorite dolls to a tree, using a rope given to him by Cowboy (the same rope that I told him would get that boy in trouble). But did he listen to me…no he did not!
Back to the story-
Sweet Girl finally got wise to Boy Wonder and figured out that if one of her dolls disappeared, the best place to look was outside. She would eventually find Holiday Barbie or her Kirsten, her American Girl doll, lassoed and tied to either the tallest limb (he was a great climber) or to the tree trunk. Either one would lend cause to her little bit of a “come-apart”. It reminded me of a John Wayne western. The “duke” was always catchin’ the bad guys and tying them to a tree.
ME: (speaking to Boy Wonder) Can you please find something better to do with that rope of yours than tying up your sister’s dolls?
BOY WONDER: Yes ma’am. But can I still hide her stuff?
ME: (grinning) I would rather you not.
ME: (talking to Cowboy as he comes in from outside) Remember when I told you that the rope you gave Boy Wonder would be a mistake? Well, he has managed to tie every one of your daughter’s dolls up in a tree…daily!
COWBOY: (chuckling) Ok, I’ll talk to him.
The next day as I’m walking down the hallway, I hear Sweet Girl yelling “Let me out, Let me out”! All while Boy Wonder is belly laughing on the floor. I quickly ran to her room…
Let me just give y’all a run down of this situation- That boy had managed to tie his rope from her door knob to their bathroom door knob (we had the Jack and Jill design) so every time she opened her door, the bathroom door would open and block her from leaving her room. She had a complete meltdown right then and there!
I was laughing so hard on the inside while trying to keep my “sturn” parenting face on…
ME: (speaking in a parental tone to Boy Wonder) Do you remember what we talked about yesterday?
BOY WONDER: Yes ma’am, you said to stop tying up her dolls, so I asked Daddy to teach me a new knot so I can tie her door closed.
Sweet Jesus…please give me patience to make it thru the day!
’til next Sunday y’all- Tammy
