meet the cleavers

so. ive lived in my house for just short of two years now. i have a few nice neigbors. the one on the right may be in love with my fiance..( if you catch my drift)-but sooo nice and has a gorgeous garden. not to mention, he gives me free plants and flowers all the time. the one on the right is an older single lady who i think is a spinster. or possibly a widow, or a divorcee. then we have the neghbors across the street. we will call them the cleavers. on the night we moved in, they came over and introduced themselves, all happy. husband, wife and 3 boys. yay. one big happy family. i am a nice person, but it takes me a looonngg time to be comfortable with people. so for the last year and a half its pretty much been 'hey', 'how are you' type banter when we see them. well, about a month ago, the cleavers had a fire in their basement. tragic, i know. something faulty with the furnace. i was mowing the lawn when it happend, so i offered to take their youngest son in my yard. we will name this son dennis (as in dennis the menace). cute kid. hes 4. kelly and emersyn were up north on this day, so it was just me and jae home. so jae and i kept him busy. so, anyway. everything was okay, the house was fine, it was just smoke damage. later that afternoon, when kell came home, he stopped over to talk to the neigbor and make sure everything was okay. mr. cleaver apparently spilled his life story to kelly, short of how many times he and mrs. cleaver have sex a week....interesting. so-now we are friends. fine and dandy.

so, a couple days later, i am getting ready to pick jae up from school and had just opened up the garage door and was sitting at the kitchen table writing out bills. all the sudden my back door to my house swings open and dennis is standing there.

dennis: 'hi'
me: 'AAHHH!'
d: giggle
m: you scared the crap out of me!
d: whatcha doin?
m: just getting ready to pick jae up from school. what do you need?
d: nothing. (just stands there.)
m: oh. does your dad know your here?
d: no.
m: oh. well, you need to let him know where you are, you cant just leave without telling him where you are, especially cross the road. plus, i have to leave to go get jaelynn from school.
d: well, can i come with you?
m: (thinking, WHAT?) um, i guess, but we need to ask your dad.

okay--i hardly know these people. ive had exactly ONE conversation with them, and this kid just up and walks into my house and is asking to ride in a car with me. riiigght. so we go and ask his dad, and of course he says, sure. so i take him with me....the next day, he does the same thing-just randomly shows up, without telling his dad, to which, i send him back home, and then he comes back over 'to play'. its been like this for the past 2 weeks. EVERY.DAY.

fast forward. to this weekend. i get home from georgia, and am sick as a dog. kelly and i no less pull in from the drs. office after i just find out i am 'quartined', and up comes dennis wanting to play.

d: hi.
m: hey hun. the girls arent here, and im really sick, so your gonna have to go home.
d: but why?
m: bc im sick.
d: oh. well, can i wait?
m: no, they arent coming home for a couple days. what i have is contagious, and i dont want you to get sick. you need to go home. ( i was trying to be so patient, but i was so sick, and tired and irritated.)
d: well when can i come back?
m: in a few days. when you see the kids outside.

later that night, i was letting sampson outside, and he came back. i wanted to pull my hair out. this afternoon, at lunch time, he showed up, as i was about to lay emersyn down for her nap. our cnversation went like this:

m: hey dennis. the girls are just finishing up eating and then emersyn has to take a nap. and jaelynn is grounded. but maybe they can play after that.
d: but what am i supposed to do?
m: i dont know, go home?
d: welllllll.....can i play here?
m: noooo, emersyn is going to take a nap. and jae is grounded.
d:can i play in the playroom?
m: no. youll have to go home.
d: can i watch tv here?
m: nooooo.
d: wellll, buuutt, can i go ride your bike?
m: no, but you can go ride YOUR bike. listen, you are going to have to go home for now, they can probably play later on.

a part of me feels bad, but seriously its EVERY day. and the parents ARE nice, but kell and i were talking about it, and honestly i think they are completely oblivious to it. they have no clue that they need to give us some space....and i dont know how to say BACK THE F*** OFF!!! in a nice way....not to mention, kelly and i are soooo protective of the kids--we cant fathom letting the kids out of our sight, or letting them cross the road by themselves, or into anyone elses house, the way they do dennis....and its not saying they are a 'bad' parent, its just a difference of parenting, i guess. and the fact that dennis is always coming over here without mr. cleaver knowing BLOWS ME AWAY. i just keep thinking, what if i wasnt the overly cautious parent and didnt think to ask-does your dad know your here???? and all the sudden mr. cleaver turn around and dennis isn't there--and then what????

seriously, this is stressing me out. because when its my kids, they know the rules. when we are outside-they know the rules and where they are allowed to go and what they are allowed and not allowed to do. when we are inside, same thing. i dont have to constantly feel like im on edge. but when you have someone who isnt your child, its a whole new ball game....especially when they are a little shit....gah.