Another Tale of Vanishing Boy

My youngest child is averse to homework. This isn't new, of course. Is there a child out there who jumps at doing his homework? But this child also has a mind of his own, and he is sly to boot. The routine we've established for the school year is that I get the younger three kids home from school, they get a snack, and then L. (the youngest) is supposed to come into the living room where I teach piano lessons and sit there to do his twenty minutes of homework.

Well, yesterday I let him have his snack and then instructed him to come into the living room while I taught my two afternoon students. I became involved with my teaching and didn't get the tractor beam on him to inexorably pull him into the living room. By the time I finished teaching, I still hadn't seen him come into the living room. And because last night was parent-teacher conferences for the younger three kids, I was in a rush to finish up my roll dough to rise while I was gone, give instructions to the kids remaining behind, and pick up E. from Webelos to come with me to the conferences. After a quick scour of the house we realized L. wasn't home, so I left my oldest child in charge of calling the neighbors to bring L. home.

At the end of my last teacher appointment I was surprised to see Justin come in. He told me that O. still hadn't been able to find L., and he had tried to look for him too, but he had to get back to p/t conferences at his own school. Now I was feeling exasperated with this child. E. and I stopped at several possible homes to inquire after Vanishing Boy, with no luck. Once home I rounded up everyone, we had a family prayer (I had to ask O. to say it because I was starting to get emotional now that it had been 90 minutes since he'd been seen) and I took O. and E. out with me in the car and we were going to go up and down the street and ask every neighbor. One neighbor I stopped at asked if I would like some help and she grabbed her coat and cell phone to start on the street behind her.

Once she was on her way, E. said "I wonder if he's playing in Bakers' basement?" O. insisted they weren't home, but E. pointed out that the door was unlocked. I told the two boys to go down to the basement (assuring them Bakers wouldn't mind) and look. I was relieved and then furious with L. when he was discovered down there playing on their Xbox. I caught up with my neighbor to let her know Vanishing Boy had been found right next door. Vanishing Boy was banished to his bedroom until I could deal calmly with him. Then I rushed O. up to his Scouting Powwow he was missing while trying to help search for his little brother.

After dinner L. and I had a long heart-to-heart. Once we talked about the problems he caused many people by sneaking out of the house, I found out from him that he hadn't sneaked into the neighbor's house after all. They had been home when he first arrived and gave him permission to play. But they had had to leave to go somewhere and in the rush of trying to get uncooperative children out the door they forgot he was there and left.

L. is going to be spending the next two weeks hanging out in the living room for the whole time I am teaching after school.

Daily Ag Report
There are now 10 dahlias that have sprouted. I am going to be started leeks and cucumbers next ... probably in a week or two.