RhymePhile's Rat Race

Mom e-mailed me telling me what my four-year-old niece, Harmony, did this morning.

My brother works from 7-4 and is out of the house really early, so he was already gone when this happened.

Apparently Harm woke up at 6:30 a.m., and went in to wake up my sister-in-law, Angie, telling her it was time to get up. Angie looked at the clock and told Harmony to go back to sleep because it was too early to go to "school," which is the daycare center approximately 4 houses down from where they live. I guess Angie rolled over and went back to sleep, thinking Harmony would do the same.

Harmony, it seems, didn't believe Angie that it wasn't time to get up (now that the sun is coming out earlier). She then proceeded to go into the bathroom, wash her face, brush her teeth, comb her hair, and get dressed. Then she went downstairs into the kitchen and got her lunch out of the fridge. Since she knows how to unlock the front door, she did that as well and walked down the block to the daycare center, all without my sister-in-law knowing!!!

She got to school at 7:30 and rang the bell to be let in. Seeing other kids that come in at 7:30 instead of her time of 9 a.m. (and she didn't recognize anyone, I guess) she started to cry. The school had to call Angie to tell her that Harmony was there!

She has been rasied with a lot of independence, and that kid is very headstrong and defiant at times because she knows what she wants. It can make things difficult, obviously, when you have a 4-year-old who can be obstinate when she's told to do something. She's going through what I call the "Ferocious Fours", LOL.

Anyway, my brother had to put a lock at the very top of the door so she can't reach it, and he now has to exit the house through the garage. Although...who knows how long it will take her to figure out how to work the garage door opener!

I just ran out to the cheap Chinese place down the block for lunch. My requirements for a good Chinese place: 1) it's cheap, and 2) I've never gotten sick (knock wood).

Anyway, as I was sitting there waiting for my tofu and brown rice, three kids came in for their after-school dinner-ruining. They couldn't have been more than 10, and one of them was wearing a green Police T-shirt, as in the band. It had images of an early-80s Police incarnation, with the band members in shaggy hair.

Kid 1 to T-shirt wearer: Who's that guy? (he was pointing to Sting)

Kid 2: It's a band.

I really had to chuckle to myself, because I doubt the T-shirt wearer knew who they were either.