Wild Things
It’s been warm and wet in Melbourne this week. Even when the rain stops (for the odd moment it does), our house seems to sweat. Everything smells moist, like a hot house: earthy, damp, warm.
Hot houses provide great growing conditions, but with young children it seems to make the walls smaller, the ceiling lower, and as all mums would know, these are the best growing conditions for Wild Things.
On wet days, Boys 1 and 2 join forces to become a 4-legged beast, wild and rambunctious. The house seems to shrink as the day rolls on and their pace increases. The smaller the house seems, the more they want to barrel their way around. Fresh air normally pacifies them, but there is no fresh air here with humidity around 90%. By dinner, they are all crazy-eyes and flashing-teeth, and it’s a wonder we get them bathed and into bed without having to call the Ranger.
Yesterday I managed to farm out Boy 2 for part of the day. At first it seemed easier: there is much to be said for having only 2 children for your one pair of hands. Boy 1 enjoyed the luxury of not having to share toys with his brother. He played games by himself, narrating in a hilarious high-pitched squeak. I happily potted about the house, not having to play referee. We paid no notice to the weather outside, and our home felt very civilized.
But by noon, Boy 1 was asking after his brother. “Are we picking him up now? Why is it so long?”
Then I realized. On their own, each boy is self contained: a little serious, very cheeky, but quiet. Without the other, they are a little lost. But together, they become a comedy duo, feeding off each other’s energy. They are two straight guys in a horse costume. One is the head and the front hooves, the other the tail and hind legs.
And when the weather turns bad, they both play the Ass.
How do you tame your Wild Things? Leave your thoughts on boisterous wet weather behaviour …
7 Responses to “Wild Things”
Oh man, the horse costume. That’s so funny. Maybe you could buy them a real horse costume and leash that horsy up in the backyard with a bale of hay? You could offer rides to kids in the area for $10 a pop.
Good point! Although, it would be a slightly lopsided horsey as Boy 2 is such a shorty. And after a few minutes they would end up wrestling within the costume.
What about some gum-boots and awesome scientist-theme rain jackets? Won’t that help the cabin fever?
In the end I sent them outside with gumboots and umbrellas and told them not to come back to the house until they got cold. They both ended up naked, but kept the gumboots on.
My kids are like this too — squabble when they’re together but pine when they’re apart.
LOVE that they were naked in gumboots !
LOL! Great post. My boys have been crazy today. But they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks for Rewinding at the Fibro!
I smiled at the comment about sending them out to play in the rain. It rained here on Wednesday and it has been so long “between drinks” so to speak that the kids stripped off and ran outside too! And they were nude in their gumboots too.