Escape Artist

Do you have one of these at your house?

My two-year old daughter has radar for an open (or even unlocked) front door. The second that the opportunity presents itself, she bolts out the door and over to the neighbor's lawn. Don't ask me why she heads there first. Perhaps she's learned that it gives her a good enough head start from there to run all over the cul-de-sac before I can catch her. When her brothers are out there riding their bikes and scooters, I can at least understand the allure, but when there isn't a soul outside, I just don't understand what she's getting from it. Other than the thrill of watching her great-with-child mother, who is most often barefoot, try to gain enough speed to catch her as she runs, shrieking and laughing, in the opposite direction.

When Ian (now 4) was at this stage, he once pushed out the screen in my living room windows, which sit low, and ran out to the middle of the street. Imagine my horror when I heard honking outside and decided to go check it out, only to find my 20 month old dancing in the intersection! With all the doors locked, I thought I was safe to spend a few minutes in the kitchen without having my eyes on him. I was obviously mistaken.

When Bronwen isn't trying to risk death and kidnapping in the neighborhood, she is busy trying to drag a barstool over to gain access to the butter, the cupboard where I keep vast amounts of chewing gum (which is great occupational therapy for our ASD son), the rising bread dough, or the cashews and raisins. She also adores chewing on other people's toothbrushes, face painting with my lipstick and eyeliner, and pulling out all the clothes in her closet organizer.

In short, this little one is exhausting. And it's not hard to imagine what kind of havoc she may wreck while I'm nursing her younger sister in a few weeks. I can only hope that she'll sit next to me and let me read books to her like her brothers have done.

It's a good thing she's cute.