Sassy is an Escape Artist

Sassy has a mind of her own. She is movin' fast and doesn't have time for anyone to get in her way. She's bossy and likes to take charge. Sassy came charging into the world 3 weeks early. She may be sweet as a pea, dimples and all, but she knows exactly what she's doing. Sassy started walking at 10 months, would't have anything to do with a high chair by the time she was a year old, never wanted a booster or a little potty. From zero to ten, people.

My latest enjoyment is that she just helps herself to playing outside whenever she feels like it. I'm two seconds from taking myself to Home Depot and getting extra locks for the doors. Up high. High locks. She runs to neighbor A's house and walks in like she owns the place. She rings the doorbell at neighbor B's house to borrow movies and see their dog and their fish. She goes to neighbor C, D, E and F's houses to socialize when she sees them outside. At neighbor G's house, she hangs out with them when they are outside, gets things out of their garage, or goes into their backyard to play in the sand. There use to only be one or two places that she would go and it was fairly easy to find her. Now, I send Link to do the rounds. It's ridiculous. If I tell her to stay inside, she waits until I find something to do and disappears. Or, she sneaks out into the backyard and then through the fence to the front and she's gone. She loves to run around in her mismatched outfits, on backwards or inside out. Sometimes two different shoes. Always messy hair because there's too much structure involved with her hair being fixed. I can get it fixed, but anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours later, it's all dismantled and flying free. It's bittersweet. I see myself in that little sassy. I ran around barefoot and all messy, spent hours and hours outside. Sometimes with friends, mostly alone. My mom would shove me out the door before 8 am with a paper cup of orange juice and a piece of cinnamon toast. If she had cleaning to do and was grouchy (all the time) we were herded out the door and she'd lock it. Out for the day. I remember spending the night at my grandpa's farm. I'd wake up and be outside before anyone else. It was chilly, but I loved the sound of the birds in the morning and couldn't wait to go find something to explore.

As much as I love my neighbors, sometimes the most dangerous people are the ones who look the most normal. Now I have this little girl who couldn't be more of a target, and I can hardly keep her beside me. So, the hard lessons have begun. She's grounded from outside for the day for disappearing. The next week or so is going to be great fun, fighting with this strong-willed little girl. I love that she'll look at me and say, "Cha!" She heard that one on Thumbelina. Thanks Thumbelina. I'm still trying to reconcile how a three year old can have as much attitude as some of the Beehives I know.

Oh help!