The 'Hood

Evie is living a picture-perfect slice of American life.

Next door to us are "The Girls." Evie wakes up in the morning, and sometimes the first word she says is "shoes!" She puts them on and stands by the door to the garage, ready to go out, excited about the possibility the "grs" may be outside. We can't be playing on the driveway without Evie pointing to their house (or even walking into their garage.) She can say the names of all four girls, and although an outsider may not recognize it, the girls all know when she's speaking to them.

The best thing is they love her just as much. One girl will wander out into the front yard, see Evie, and dash back inside. I'll hear "Evie's out!" and one by one, the other girls will appear. They even think about Evie when they're on vacation, bringing a special souvenir back just for her.

Across the street is a sweet, tiny three-year-old. She speeds across on her Disney Princesses tricycle. She is so good about sharing with Evie, although Evie needs a lot of practice sharing back these days. A few doors down are "S-bn" (Evie's pronunciation) and her brother. They come over when we're out, and sometimes we go to them. They are the ones who taught us to paint the driveway with water and told us about the PBK Book Club.

So those are the major players. We play at sporadic times during the day, and always gather together each night after dinner. The parents sit in lawn chairs and have a beer, trying to carry on a conversation around the children. The kids blow bubbles, draw with chalk (my husband is quite the driveway graffiti artist,) and eat Popsicles and lollipops. They run all their "sillies" out, and bedtime for Evie always comes too soon. After drawn-out hugs and kisses, promises to play again tomorrow, and a wave "buh-buh," we are off to a bath.

Don't we have a lovely life?