Yesterday I received a frantic call from Trent as I was wrapping things up at a work event. He started off by telling me that he had put Mia down for a nap in her crib as usual, Bodhi was asleep and swinging peacefully downstairs, and he hopped in the shower as he would on any day. He finished the shower and was in the bathroom shaving and about to get dressed when lo and behold, Mia walked in!
And not only did she just walk in, she also had to show Trent two new owies on her knees. Shocked and confused, Trent asked her to tell him exactly what happened. So she began by explaining that first she climbed out of her crib, then she went downstairs and finally she decided to go outside. When she went outside, she encountered a cat in the yard that scared her and as she turned to run away, she fell and scraped up her knees. Her injuries were serious enough for her to seek out the help of Daddy.
Now this having happened on his watch, Trent was beside himself with the details of everything - how did she get out of her crib? She has never attempted anything like that before. How did she manage to get the front door unlocked? What would have happened if the cat hadn't been in the yard and scared her? The questions seemed endless.
And my response wasn't quite what he had expected. Once I was sure that she was ok, I began to chuckle. Then giggle. Until I was laughing out loud at the image of my little girl making her "Great Escape." You see, once the women in my family make up their minds to do something, it's gonna happen. And the stealthy art of sneaking out hasn't been lost on any of us.
When I was about Mia's age, I too, decided I wanted to go outside. So I made my way out of the condo in the middle of the night and climbed into my dad's dunebuggy and play raced the time away. A stranger encountered me there and asked where I lived and where my mommy and daddy were. And, as the story goes, I refused to tell him anything until he came back with a cookie bribe! When I called my mom to tell her, she recounted how my sister, Kristen, also snuck out one night at about the same age. Kristen made her way 2 houses down to my grandparents and proceeded to ring the doorbell again and again until Grammy discovered that the "phantom" doorbell ringer was her granddaughter - she was just so little that she couldn't see her standing at the foot of the door through the peephole. Eventually Grammy kept her post, looking through the peephole and saw a tiny little arm reach up to ring the doorbell and found Kristen standing innocently outside! And then there's the story about Traci, who at three years old, also escaped from her home and walked about a half of a mile to 7-11, pockets full of pennies, ready to score some candy.
So it looks like the Gray family genes are strong and have not skipped over the next generation of little women. And although keeping my escape artist safe means extra vigilance, I couldn't be more proud to see reflections of myself, my mom, sister, aunts, Grammy and Great Grandma in my sweet, independent little girl, Mia.
