I'm writing this hoping you will all feel free to leave me a comment with some advice. Our downstairs neighbors are of the small, purse-dog instead of kids variety. They admittedly don't want kids, drive fancy cars, and wear fancy clothes to work. We obviously have nothing in common with them. They've taken to complaining about the noise we make. Apparantly we are giving their dog anxiety attacks and they're getting worse everyday. Now at first we were all nicey nice about it to each other, but its just escalating. Apparantly we sound like we are coming through the ceiling all day long. The second one of my kids does something they aren't supposed to like jump off the furniture, or body slam another person to the ground they are up here lickety split. I'm telling you these people must sprint up the stairs because I'll barely finish telling them to quit it and there she is. She gets madder every day. I keep telling her that we're trying to move as soon as our lease is up but that just makes her madder since thats not until March. I have tried to explain how hard it is to keep 4 kids quiet and that kids are just noisy but she does not get it. Tonight she came up and tried to get me to come down and listen to my family's noise. I admit its not a terrible idea but the kids were all over, I'd just gotten off work and was trying to throw dinner together, and Dave was trying to get ready to go to work. Any fool could see I didn't exactly have the time to come lounge around their fancy apartment watching their big screen and playing their grand piano while I listen to how loud my kids are. Instead she stood in my doorway for 20 minutes while dinner got cold and we argued as nicely as possible. Then she suggested that we move to a 1st floor in the complex, we wouldn't even have to sign a new contract! Well yeah for you lady but look around. Do you see all this crap? Do I look like I have the time? NO! I don't. Nor do I have the desire to greatly inconvenience myself for your dog! I'm sorry we are loud. Go do something for once in your lives besides watch your stupid tv. I told her to give her dog an anxiety pill (nicely I swear) and she basically told me to have my kids walk solemnly around the house all day. Aarrgh!!!!
So here's my dilemna. I refuse to make my children act like monks in their own home. Kids skip and run and 2 year olds jump up and down when they are mad. I understand her dog is her kid and all but what do I do? She complained to the manager who said too bad since we aren't noisy during "quiet hours". I have tried to explain over and over that we are doing our best but there are 4 of them and 2 of us. And quite frankly they are children and I will not make them behave like adults (as if they would listen anyways). And if you want peace and quiet don't live in an apartment. End of story. We have lived under a rock band, a large family, and spouse abusers. Deal with it. I try to keep the jumping to a minimum, but its cold now and we have Hailey. End of story. And if my kids want to play hide and seek at 4 pm they should be able too. And if I want to do an exercise video at 10 am I should be able to. This is my home. Even if I rent it. However, since I know I can be hot headed and stubborn I pose the question. Should I just ignore them and let kids be kids, or do I become nazi mommy and make them tip toe around all day? How do I make the next 4 months livable for all of us without the neighbors slashing my tires?
