The neighbors are going camping!  For seven days!  That means seven days without my having to scream “Ben!  Tatiana!  Get AWAY from each other!”  Our neighbors are, ostensibly, childless, but they are certainly child friendly as there are usually anywhere from 2-6 children staying with them.  Tatiana and Fatima are over here frequently to play with Lily, but we also sometimes get Mark, Demoni (seriously?  you named a child Demoni?), Summer, and Shania.  This in addition to our usual load of Maeve, Fiona, Taro, and Haley (yes, that IS quite the UN register of names.  But the kids just fall into our two standard racial categories, nothing exciting at all).

In theory, I am in favor of great bands of children, roaming from one house to another, revelling in summer freedom.  In practice, I am in favor of quiet and–more importantly–peace.  And we do not get peace if Ben and Tatiana are in the same place.  Never have I seen more Oil and Water personalities.  Ben, we know, is sensitive to slights (real and imaginary) and prone to take offense.  Tatiana is a bit of a bossyboots and loooooves to get Ben’s goat.  Which, since he puts his goat out by the curb with a “Free Goat” sign around its neck, is not hard.  I have had the “You have GOT to learn to let it go” conversation about a gazillion times.  I have also had he “You have GOT to leave Ben alone” conversation with Miss T.  Yesterday, we had the “Okay, everyone but Ben and Lily–Thank you for coming, please go home, we’ll see you tomorrow” conversation.

I was all prepared to have a powwow today, to sit the two of them down together.  But now I don’t have to!  yay!  My favorite outcome.  For now.