The boys love playing in the basement. The laundry is down there, and there is also one finished room that we very loosely dub "the guest room." It has a pull out sofa, a table and closet piled high and stuffed full of my sewing and craft stuff, and then everything else that doesn't have a place gets dumped down there, too. Because there is soooo much to get into, I hesitate to send the boys down there on their own, but when I need a break and they've already exhasuted the backyard, I unlock the gate on the stairs and shove them down. And they love it. Their imaginations go wild down there.
One afternoon in particular, they were having quite the adventures. Samuel came up several times to ask me if I wanted to see the spider web he was making. He would check in every few minutes to tell me it was getting bigger and bigger. Oh boy. "It sounds pretty cool, Sam, I just hope you're not doing anything naughty. I will come see it as soon as the dishwasher is empty." But after a while, he stopped asking, so I figured I could get a bit more done before needing to investigate.
Later, Owen came up to go potty, and told me, "Sam is the best fireman, he puts out all the fires so strong!" A while later, I heard Sam explaining to O, "When you rescue things from the fire, you put them over your shoulders like this," and then they both came upstairs out of breath and hollering about rescuing the dogs from the burning building. I got them to hold still long enough for a picture on my phone before they had to "go back to see if there were any survivors."
Once the fire was safely put out, and the heroes had saved the day, there were some "ghostes" that needed to be "killed." Not one to intrude, I didn't feel the need to explain that ghosts are already dead.
So a good while later, I heard screams of terror. Followed by sobbing and more screaming. I booked it, this was the real deal, something was seriously wrong. As I was running down the stairs, Sam was running up to get me, panting, "Mom!!! Owen's stuck!!!!!" By the time I made it down, maybe 17 seconds after the screaming started, O was full blown out of control terrified. "I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I'm stuck, the ghost is going to get me!!!!" Yes, he was stuck. In the "spider web" which turned out to be a roll of yarn wrapped around every single thing in that horific basement, from one end to the other. Owen had gotten his legs caught, and every time he moved, it got a bit tighter. It was also connected to one of my clothes drying racks, which had a jacket hanging on it, and moved and shook each time he tried to get free. Once I got him unstuck, Owen practically jumped into my arms, grabbed around my neck, and didn't let go until we were safely upstairs. He was seriously shaken up about this!! He calmed down quickly, though, and then had lots and lots to say about the event. He talked about it the rest of the day. And every time we've gone into the basement since. He points to to drying rack and says, "That's where the ghost was, he was going to get me."
These two boys crack me up. They are so so fun. I love how bright and full of life they are. When they're not yelling at each other or beating each other up, they sure are good little buddies.
And it was such a delight to stand in the doorway and be an observer. Look at how into Erik is. Look at Owen’s hat that he won’t go a day without wearing. Look at Sam who insists on dressing himself. Look at how intense all of them are, and how seriously they are taking their fun. Look at how blessed I am to call all three of these guys mine! Love love love.
