Attention and initiative two: Mikelectric Lizzaloo.

As we know, Elly never managed to disabuse herself of the notion that Mike's job is to take care of Lizzie for her. She's never going to admit that the worst possible person you could put in charge of (say) a three year old is a six-year old because even with all the good will and caring in the world, Mike didn't have the stamina, awareness, skills or authority to salvage the situation if it got really bad. Any hints otherwise and any anecdotal evidence that disproves Elly's philosophy would be waved aside because what happened to someone else couldn't possibly happen to her because she's a good parent.

The reason that I mention this is that now that we're in the middle years, it's getting even harder for Mike to actually do the job he actually shouldn't. Lizzie is large enough and fast enough and sufficiently articulate to subvert any attempts Mike might make to assert authority and he's complacent enough to assume that an older child would know better than to do things that would disturb him. The kid who understood that he had to keep an eye on her is being replaced by another improvident adult who lives and loves to tempt fate. Eventually, he'll howl Deanna's name because for reasons that elude him, his kids want him to look at them.