Fort Knox Zoey

We have a runaway child.

Last Saturday, Zoey was supposed to be napping, but ended up crawling out of her crib (for the very first time, I might add), turned off her fan, closed her door behind her, went through a locked baby gate (even locking it again behind her), unlocked the front door, and ended up next door at my parent's house after my mom heard her knocking at their front door.

Needless to say, we all about had heart attacks.

So, of course, we ran right out and bought a chain lock for the front door, which my husband promptly installed and warned her to stay put in that crib until we came in to get her!

Naps and bed time routines took a big hit as she she realized she could get out and do what she wanted. We returned her to her crib many a time and the minute she woke up from nap or the night, she immediately crawled out and came downstairs. Fortunately, I was always awake before her.

Fast forward to this past week, a little before 6am in my pitch black house.

I heard something out in the gameroom, which is right off our bedroom and jumped up quickly as I realized it was my little escapee.

Sure enough, there she was, headed into Braedan's room with a bag of chips and a granola bar, I presume to get some help opening them.

It was obvious she had been up for some time as she was wide awake, so after putting her in bed with Danny, I went downstairs to check things out.

She had, of course, been in the pantry, and who knows where else, but had also attempted to leave via the front door again and the only thing that stopped her was that trusty chain Danny had installed right after the first attempt.

I'm not gonna lie, I burst into tears right there.

Realizing that in the pitch black, with all of us fast asleep, not even knowing she crawled out of her crib, had that chain not been on the door, there could be a lot of bad, bad scenarios.

This was enough to scare me sleepless!!

So, later that day, off I went to Babies R Us! The cashier thought I was insane as I started emptying my cart full of baby proofing items! She was like, "is this all for her?!?!" pointing to Zoey as I didn't even look up to tell her, "uh-huh!"

Danny and I set everything up last night for our first 'test run' to see what else we could possibly need, if anything!

So what does it take to keep our two year old escapee from, well, escaping?

Baby Gates on the stairs...two of them, one at the top and one at the bottom. We've had these since she came home, and can open them on her own as of recently, but still help deter her somewhat.

Back door...has had this baby proof door handle since she started opening doors and was constantly letting in the muddy dogs or running to nana and papa's house every chance she had. Still can't open it with her tiny hands, which is why she started using the front door!

Front door...as you can see from the holes, the chain lock was removed and this put in it's place so the door cannot open AT ALL even when she gets the deadbolt unlocked. This thing is serious.

Her bedroom door, yet another baby proof door handle on the inside of her door.

But the one that helps me sleep at night without rushing to her room every hour on the hour to make sure she's still in there, is our new video monitor.

Positioned right above her crib, this thing is awesome!! And yes, I did still wake up every hour last night and check it to make sure she was still in there!

And yes, woke up the second I heard her climbing out of that crib and watched her make her way to the door, where she was stopped by the safety handle and let out a cry for us to get her!

Can you see her black hair and outline of her little body in this pic?!?!?! The infrared camera is amazing! It's pitch black in her room!

So, so far, so good.

This mama may actually get some sleep tonight, since our house is now Fort Knox.

Pretty soon, the adults won't be able to get out either!

I must say, this girl is definitely keeping us on our toes! I hate to compare kids, but Braedan did NOTHING like this when he was little! He was literally like 3 years old before we convinced him it was okay to get out of his own bed and come find us! Seriously!

I guess they say your first is always easy, that's why you want a second!

Personally, I believe this is God's way of handing me a good dose of karma.

I can tell ya that if there's ever a third, we will be much, much, much more prepared. :0)