She's two and she's out of here!

I'm sitting in a quiet kitchen listening to the sound of our dryer (such a lovely noise I think) and trying to relish in the peace and quiet if only for a few brief minutes. This is my time to go to counseling so I invite you in my crazy head for awhile, please find a comfy chair and don't laugh to hard at me!

My daughter, oh my precious sweet little sister girl, turned two yesterday. The day came and went without much ado b/c you know she is two and doesn't quite know that we snuffed her actual birthDAY but we do plan on having a small party this Sunday. But...my point in bringing all that up is that in the latest adventures of Sister Girl (I swear I'm going to write a book about her ya'll!) she is now an escape artist. It wasn't enough that she was a streaker or a pooper hider or even a runner but now she has reached a new level of difficult. Of course she is so sorry when she is tackled (or found) and smiles so dainty at you that it is hard to break the trance and remember what just happened in order to beat her good and hard (just kidding!!!!).

She has only done it three times but with the amount of color I have to put on my hair anyway to hide the gray I think running away more then once is sufficient! The first time I just stepped into the other side of the house (you know all ten feet away from the OTHER side of the house) while my husband was with her and the other two. When I walked back in the kitchen I thought it was awfully quiet and quickly asked where tooty was? We all started looking and calling when there was a knock at the door. You know when you are looking for a lost child and you hear a knock at the door it is not good! Sure enough it was my neighbor across the street (who is always outside in her front lawn) holding the little thang! I kept my cool and immediately started explaining how we were in the process of looking for her, honestly! (so she didn't think we had been watching t.v. you know and enjoying the peace and quiet for a little while) She had found Elizabeth in our driveway making her way down to the street! Oh and trust me I keep the doors locked. She knows how to unlock them!

The other two times happened almost within 30 minutes (I know what you are thinking) at McDonalds of all places. Now I could have had DCS called on me but everyone at McDonalds is a little suspicious looking aren't they? A friend was watching her (with her other three kids) and within looking up and down and back up she was gone. Another woman found Elizabeth outside on the sidewalk!!!!! Ya'll!!!!! I was standing in line getting the birthday girl an ice cream cone the whole time. And of all people the woman who found her was a friend from church!!!! Ya'll know they are going to be calling me down to the alter this Sunday!

After that when it was time to go the little escape artist got her shoes on and before I could grab her took off running through the playground and pushed the door open to the outside and ran into the parking lot. I was screaming running behind her with my friend's nine year old son in front of me running. He tackled her right as she was in the parking lot! I was so shaken up I had to leave without saying much to anyone!

And would you believe that in the van I'm calling Nate to tell him about all this and Elizabeth wants to talk (as she always does - you know this if you call me on a regular basis) and when she gets the phone she says so very clearly, "Daddy, I run outside into street!" I'm not kidding you! She is proud of herself I think.

So, I have on my checklist today to go buy another box of blonde to cover up the fifty thousand gray hairs she gave me this week and a rope and tether to somehow permanently secure to that child's body! And please if anyone sees a cute little girl running free down the highway yelling "Lizzy run away from mommy!!" laughing the whole time would you mind grabbing her and returning her to my house? Thanks!