My mother tells a story of when I was approximately two years old and I decided to go and visit the neighbours. I shimmied under our side gate and went and knocked on their door. When they opened the door, I wondered in and proceed to have some afternoon tea with them.

Now, my mother was at home frantically looking for me. And when she finally made it to the neighbours to ask if I’d gotten that far, they proceeded to tell her that when they had asked me if Mummy knew I was there, I had said ‘yes’.

I was an escapee.

And now it appears that I have an escapee on my hands!

As most mothers know, it can be hard to fold and put away washing with two young children in tow. Just as you pop something into a draw, it seems that someone else is pulling something out.

And it isn’t like you can wait until they fall asleep to pop those clothes away, because as soon as you creep into their room {if they are asleep} you’re bound to wake them up. It is like they can sense that you are trying to be productive and they need to put a stop to that!

The other day, I popped on ‘Dino Dan’ and made my way into the nursery to fold and put away the washing. About 15 minutes later, I walked into the master bedroom to pop some things into my draw and saw that the Little Dude was standing in our front yard.

I FREAKED OUT!

I dashed around to find the front door and the security screen door wide open. Firstly, I cursed my husband under my breath – thinking that he hadn’t closed the doors properly as he left earlier that morning. And then I realized that Mr Moo wasn’t watching TV.

I made a mad dash to the end of the driveway, to see Mr Moo two houses down carrying a green chair that he had obviously stood on to open the two doors and make his escape.

How had he managed to get so far? How had he managed to do it so silently? What if I hadn’t seen the Little Dude in the front yard? What if someone had taken Mr Moo?

I can’t believe that he escaped. I am so blessed that nothing happened to him and I will not take my eyes off them again. Laundry, you’re just going to have to wait.

Have you ever had an escapee? Do you have any strategies to stop escapees? Do escapees grow out of it { and if so, when}?