From bad to worse

We got new next door neighbors about a year ago. Things started out great and we all got along. They have a daughter that is about a year and a half older than C, and a son that is six years older. C plays well with the daughter, but she has a tendency to be a bit of a pest with the older boy - kind of like a kid sister would be. Well, one day last summer, the kids were out playing and I was standing on the sidewalk talking to my sister in law and keeping an eye on the girls. Mr Neighbor came over demanding to know what had just happened with our kids. I was confused as I hadn't seen or heard any altercation, and C had been just out of my line of sight for a only a few moments while she was in his driveway. He relayed that while I was providing inadequate supervision, my four year old daughter had called his ten year old son a name and he had run into the house crying. Of course, I apologized profusely and addressed the issue with C.

From that point on, Mr Neighbor no longer said hello, waved or made eye contact with me. One strike and you're out, baby! He did still talk cars with P, since he's a car man himself, and I'm not quite sure when P fell out of his good graces, but it wasn't too much later. Since then he has gone out of his way to call the city to complain when P has too many cars in front, or is doing any kind of work on a car - even if for only five minutes. Apparently, in our little community, we actually are not allowed to work on a car outside of the garage. This isn't just something with the homeowners association, but the city. Who knew the city could regulate what we do in our own driveway! Since his wife runs a successful internet business, and he doesn't work, he's around a lot to monitor things.

Anyway, being a very non-confrontational gal, I'm a little intimidated by our angry neighbor. My little C is a very social being. When we come home and she sees Mr Neighbor working in his driveway, she bounces on over to talk or ask where his daughter is. Of course, she is oblivious to the fact that she is not well received. Not wanting her to get her feelings hurt by him, and trying to avoid aggrevating him further, I've repeatedly asked C to not go over there and finally explained that Mr Neighbor doesn't like us very much and to please just leave him alone. Mrs Neighbor has remained friendly and approachable, so I don't try to stop any contact there - although we hardly ever see her.

Last week P and the girls headed out for a walk. He paused to do something, and next thing he knew, he could hear C talking to Mr and Mrs Neighbor.

"Why don't you like us anymore?"

Mrs Neighbor responded that that wasn't true, and asked who told her that.

"My mommy and daddy" said C.

P jumped in and apologized. It was a short exchange. Later he gave a sugar coated explanation of how we just try to get C to leave him in peace. They said it was fine. I guess we'll see how things shake out when the weather warms up and there is more opportunity for our paths to cross.

On one hand, I feel bad. I certainly don't want things to get worse. However, we've never said anything bad about our neighbors. We hold no ill feelings towards Mr Neighbor. We mostly just feel bad for him because he is such an unhappy man, and if he had a change of heart and started being nice to us again, we'd be perfectly happy to move forward.

The good news is that the neighbors brought over a check that afternoon for the balance P had been carrying on a car (several months beyond what had been agreed upon) that they had asked him to find for Mrs Neighbor's employee.