You should have seen us

The situation might have been scary had it not been so amusing. We have been working on this fort/swingset in the back yard. When PJ got home I had the "floor" of the fort done, which is about four-and-a-half feet above the ground. The next step is to attach the ladder (already assembled), then climb up and attach "slats" to the insides of the fort, like rails, to keep kids from falling off. (Two sides of the fort are partially open: one for the ladder and one for the slide.)

PJ5 was waiting for this moment. As soon as he saw "daddy" up in the fort and the ladder there...he was up. Of course, he was "helping" with a wrench--putting it on bolts that were already tightened. I went inside to check on NB who was taking a nap and when I came back out the neighbor-boy was there and up in the fort too!

The only problem is that the total "floor space" of the fort is 4'x4'. So here's a man over six feet tall (folded up) and a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old in this 4x4 space. Quite a picture, but just wait: it gets even better. I had let NB up from his nap and he was eating a snack, but soon discovered where all the action was and came outside. At this point, I suggested that my tall spouse come down and let me get up there and work. A little easier for me to fit up there plus I'm lighter. Then of course, NB wanted to get up. He had no problem getting up the ladder and no fears either. I said something like "I'm not sure if we will all fit up here", and the neighbor-boy said "Oh, that's okay I can just stand here on the ladder." And he did. (He's quite a character. I could do another post on some of the conversations we've had when he's around.)

So there we were. All four of us. The neighbor-boy told me it was okay cause he only weighed sixty pounds and "your babies" don't weigh much. "Not 170 pounds like him" (looking at PJ). I curiously asked him how he knew what PJ weighed, and he said "He told me." Then he proceeded to tell us how much his dad weighs. We had some more interesting conversation (e.g., boys can hit boys, and girls can hit girls, and girls can hit boys, but boys should never hit girls), but all the time I was trying to maneuver boards, screws, and screwdriver in a tight space, and worrying that someone was going to fall off (namely NB)! I kept saying "Ack! PJ! go stand over there in case he falls!" I should mention that PJ wasn't just standing idly by, but was actually working on the next step (at ground level) in between responding to my yelps.

Eventually the neighbor-boy went home, and I had the slats up on most of the two sides, so I felt a little safer about the boys. Unfortunately, the now-available space seemed to spark a desire in NB to move around more, and try to climb over me, and sit on my lap, and take the bag of screws or the boards and drop them over the side. He also decided that if my legs were dangling over the edge, his should too. When he leaned against me it was hard to work, but when he wasn't leaning against me I was constantly checking to make sure he wasn't about to fall.

We did finish that part and moved on to something else, but it was almost dark so I soon took the boys inside, much to NB's sorrow.
PJ looked over the rest of the instructions and estimates it will take us another 3 to 4 hours to finish, so hopefully we'll get done tomorrow. Ay-ay-ay!