Welcome to the Neighborhood

When you move into a new home, you have many hopes for what your house will have.  For me, I hoped granite or Corian countertops, a main floor 1/2 bath, solid-core doors and neighbors with a great sense of humor.  What was that last one?  It's not because of my great joke-telling prowess, but because with my family comes a certain amount of chaos that could lead to a) a lot of laughs for the witnesses or b)my family being run out of the neighborhood.

Many of you remember my FB post about my daughters' Crayola 'huffing' habit.  Yes, Crayola made scented markers and my girls now associate their coloring books with the sweet smell of artificial pine, lemon, raspberries and lime, among others.  This 'addiction' has led to many an afternoon spent wandering around the Rizzuto homestead with a rainbow-colored mustache that would put the Lucky Charms leprechaun to shame.

Well, today, we took our habit a little too far when I found them peer-pressuring the neighbor girl in our game room.  I walked in to find her with a marker up each nostril and Chuckles and DQ shouting, "Heew, mell dis wun," and "Oooh, this is my very favorite!"

I venture a guess that we have made quite an impression on our neighborhood, the current situation not withstanding.  My toddler, who was potty-trained before age two (there, I got in a snarky, braggy parenting remark), is quite capable of taking off her pants, scaling the toilet and doing her business all by herself.  But, being a toddler, she has not mastered the all-important skill of putting the pants back on.  And, being a Rizzuto, she does like to be naked.  So, neighbors, landscapers and door-to-door solicitors have all had the unfortunate experience of witnessing my toddler streaking the neighborhood.  (Sad thing is, her brother is totally jealous and yes, he's six).

And, you have all heard about DQ's propensity toward the scream.  Well, she uses the scream without discretion and the volume is quite impressive (again, her father's side of the family).  Whether she is being pulled around by a canine or her brother has turned the hose on her or her sister is holding her watering can, she has managed to bring more than one neighbor to their window to make sure there isn't a murder being committed on the sidewalk.

And, then there's Sharkbait.  Where to begin.  Actually, I'm not going to begin because I only have a few minutes to write.  I'll just share with you that within the first three months of living here, one neighbor made the comment to me that "he's the most appropriately named kid I've ever met."  And we'll just leave it at that.

So, here we are.  We cleaned up the friend before she made her way home, but who knows what information is now being delivered to her parents.  I'm sure this is only the beginning of the excitement we'll be bringing to the neighborhood.

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