Causing a rumpus

Recent Incident #1:

I took the boys to the flu shot clinic at their doctor's office the other week. The waiting room was packed. James started sprinting back and forth. "Stop! You're going to run into somebody," I said just as he ran straight into me and split my lip. It wasn't that bad, but bled in that way of face cuts. James saw the blood running down my chin and became hysterical. He flung himself on the floor and bellowed. I tried to calm him. Thomas saw his chance, scaled the bookcase, and started chunking board books at the heads of other patients. "Good Dog, Carl!" scored a direct hit. The office staff tried heroically not to laugh. James saw them. "THIS IS NOT FUNNY!" he bellowed. "NOT FUNNY AT ALL!" They were overcome.

Recent Incident #2:

Dave's office had a retreat last weekend at a delightful mountain resort. The boys and I got to tag along. We had a blast, except for part of Saturday night. The couple in the room next to ours came back from their party around ten, just as the boys were finally settling down to sleep. It soon became apparent that the neighbors were feeling playfully amorous. "Are they having a tickle fight?" James asked. The "tickle fight" went on until around 11:30 (well done, neighbors!). Then, around midnight, they set off the smoke alarm. Annoying, but it didn't wake the kids. Around two, Thomas woke from a bad dream and cried for a bit. The neighbors shouted and banged on the wall. We settled Thomas back to sleep. Then security showed up. The neighbors had called in a noise complaint. We explained about Thomas and the nightmare. The security guard was as annoyed as we were. He went next door and had it out with the neighbors. Then the neighbors had a vocal argument about how annoying Thomas was. We eavesdropped without remorse.