Payback

Well, my oldest child learned the very hard lesson of payback this very morning. And very unsuspectingly I might add. It all started early. Earlier than everyone was even up. I woke up late, which is extremely unusual for me. Normally, I'm up with the sun regardless of how much sleep I had the night before. I usually rise just fine (I just end up falling asleep early on the couch). I'm definitely a morning person. But anyway, for whatever reason, I was up 45 minutes later than usual and I ran in to get the baby. He was waiting quietly for me (WOW!) and I grabbed him and nursed him. Then the other two got up and before I knew it, I was running very behind. I quickly made my husband coffee, sent him out the door and proceeded to try and make up for lost time. Fridays I clean house and so I generally try to have a few things done before Josh takes his morning nap like vacuuming. As I'm prepping to vacuum there is a knock at the door.

Hmmmm....interesting. Who could be knocking on my door at 7:45 am? I opened the door and there stood a wide-eyed teenage girl who very timidly asked me if I knew whose dog it was she was holding by the collar. I immediately recognized my neighbor's dog and resolved to help her get him back home abandoning all of my housework and putting myself even further behind. But what to do? With Josh on one hip (I don't trust all three of them in the house by themselves), I quickly gave orders to Isaac to man the house while I ran to bring the crazy dog home.

Now rewind a couple of days. I'm in my backyard hanging clothes on the line, and the older boys are playing outside. I hear barking- lots of barking. I realize that there are a couple of holes in the fence that need mending and that my boys are "feeding" the dogs dirt through the broken slats in the fence. The dogs are going nuts and my kids are loving it. I quickly realize that my boys don't know it, but that they're riling the dogs up and teasing them. We talk about being kind and gentle with animals and how it's not nice to tease. They promise to leave the dogs alone from now on.

Flash back to this morning. I've got one of the dogs and we're all three of us, myself, Josh and the timid high school girl who I could hardly get to say two words to me on our little hike (and I tried!), heading to put him back in his yard and get on with the day. Mission accomplished. The girl and I part and I make it back to my own house to see Isaac is standing outside. He said he was looking for me. Hmmm...disobedience. I had told him to stay inside. Nevertheless, before I could even talk to him about that, the dog comes bounding through the fence (we soon learned that it would be very difficult to try and keep him penned up) and makes a beeline straight for Isaac.

Okay, I've got the baby and I see the dog coming. He starts jumping all.over.my.child. and Isaac very quickly gets hysterical. I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. I've got Josh and if I put him down, then the dog will get him and he's totally helpless. At least Isaac is a bit more able to handle himself against the dog. Now, mind you, the dog wasn't upset, he was just playing but Isaac wasn't having any of it. So, with Josh in my arms, I proceed to try and get Isaac away from the dog. I'm barking orders at him to run (stupid, I know but I could hardly think!) good thing he didn't listen that time. Different ideas about what to do are running through my mind all at once but I'm not coming up with anything brilliant. I'm just trying to fend off the dog with my feet, we're all dancing around helplessly and my oldest child is screaming at the top of his lungs.

Meanwhile, of course this is all going on right before school starts and cars are streaming into the parking lot at record speed. I don't know how long we were dancing out there like crazies before I got the gumption to just pick Isaac up as well and make a run for it. But it had been quite some time and I KNOW we were a spectacle. Just wonderful. I'm sure this is what my husband heard in his first period class. "Wow, Mr. Dauphin. Is your family okay? I saw your wife running in circles with a dog chasing her and your kids were screaming!" I'm surprised he hasn't called to check on us yet. But this I know, Isaac learned very quickly to treat animals with respect because you never know when they might show up for a little payback.