Poor six-year-old saw an "Octopod" in his head.
Using the garage door filled Mom with Dread!
Had to be satisfied with old curtains instead.
The latest TV obsession is a Disney Channel show called Octonauts. I couldn't even begin to tell you what it's about except that it's ocean-explorer themed and the characters' home base is called an Octopod. This afternoon I turned around in the kitchen to see Edward stretched to full tip-toe-to-finger-tip length about to lower the garage door. I did not see Daniel so I yelled, "STOP!" and asked for an explanation. Apparently the door to the Octopod operates like a garage door, so naturally, he thought their pretend game should include this feature.
I should stop to note that I was pretty happy earlier this week when Edward realized he had achieved that final half-inch of length required to reach the garage door opener. It's quite handy not to have to drop everything I'm doing the very moment they decide it's time to ride bikes. However, after this incident, we had a very serious discussion about how the garage door opens when they go out and closes when they come in and does not move otherwise. (We also have the kind of door that won't close if something is in the infrared path and/or crosses through said path while the door is in motion, but still...)
Anyway, this compromise was achieved, somewhat reluctantly, but accepted grudgingly (and after a few tears.) I must say that I never EVER could have envisioned this as I sat hemming these curtains by hand for the bare windows in my very first apartment of my own, Arlington, VA circa 1996. Why have I carted them through four moves since then? Apparently to be prepared just for this afternoon. (The stroller and chair were added after the tears over the fact that the curtains didn't reach all the way to the ground and my rejection of the idea to fill the gap with the cardboard blocks from inside.)
