My little wanderer

I used to wonder at my good luck in having all girls when I watched my neighbor Martha chase her little boy B.J. around the neighborhood. She had a hard time keeping him inside the house. They eventually installed a special lock so he wouldn't escape. Ahh, thank goodness I had little girls.

But recently I have found the ability to stealthfully escape the confines of our home is not based on gender. After lunch, I phoned my brother B.J. to discuss a press release he wants written up for his upcoming race in Hawaii. I assumed the front door was shut tight, but I'd forgotten that Lilia left for school, and sometimes she doesn't close the door as tight as she should. I thought all was well as I talked for a minimum of five minutes on the phone with my brother. I hung up the phone and proceeded to start working. I noticed that Nohea was being quiet...wait, where's Nohea?

I looked in the hallway and there was the evidence of Nohea's flight: the front door was wide open. I ran down the street toward the park at the end of our block. Yep, there she was walking toward the park. I ran after her. To my amazement, it looked as though she had no intentions of actually stopping at the park and climbing on the equipment. She was walking past the park and on her way to the busy street. I caught her before she made it to the road, and I told her, "Bad choice, Nono. No, no, Nono." How do you tell a 19-month-old to not leave home without someone? I could have left the door open all day long with her two older sisters, and I was confident they wouldn't attempt leaving the house, let alone the yard.

If only I could lock her up in a little hive until she was old enough to run around on her own. But how can you lock up this little bee of sweetness: