All of the stuff you heard that sounded good was a lie, everything else was the truth.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
Video game room, basketball court, every sports ball in existence, every skateboard/scooter/bike/hybrid rideable, puppies, a candy bowl and a freezer full of frozen pizza = you won't ever wonder where your kid is, and neither will the parents of any other kid in the neighborhood.
It was funny because a new family moved in with a couple of kids in the right age range (which is pretty liberal, like 5-15 at this point) and within two hours both kids were playing with the usual crowd, and my driveway looked like a bicycle junkyard. I sent one home to report their whereabouts, but apparently that didn't get communicated and I had worried parents at the door an hour later, alerted only by the bicycle 'marker buoys' outside.
Its actually easier to have 5 kids in the other room than just Gabe. They keep each other busy, I break up a disagreement once or so an hour, and lob a pizza onto the table every 4 hours.
However, looks like I have to keep an eye on the boy. He lured the 14 year old girl from across the street up into his room to watch a movie and came down asking me to cut up some strawberries for her. This after he got me in trouble at 3.5 for kissing on some 5 year old at the park.
