My little escape artist….

I am pretty sure I have mentioned before that Tiara “elopes” from the house when given the chance.  I call it escaping but in the special needs community, “eloping” is the proper term, nevertheless they both mean the same thing, Tiara is on the run. 

Years ago she would constantly try and escape to find basketball hoops in the neighborhood but lately she only tries to escape in search of her Dad, that is until Sunday! She misses him since he is always at work so normally around 6pm she starts looking for him.  She will be playing in the backyard and all of the sudden she will take off down the side of the house.  I usually hear her because she calls his name as she starts her trek down the side yard.  She then passes in front of the window where I am usually washing the dishes so I can catch her before she escapes. 

Lots of times my neighbor Brenda hears her making her way down the side and starts talking to her and tells her not to leave.  The good news is we usually stop her but since I have had a few close calls lately, I decided to put a baggie safety tie on the latch which is too hard for her to get off but not impossible for us since we need to go in and out of the gate everyday. 

Recently she has been stopping to look across the street and stare of the neighbors basketball hoop. They just put it up about 2 months ago and Tiara has been pretty mesmerized with it.  Well, on Sunday afternoon my brother in law came over to help with the fish for the party. 

Tabitha was sweeping inside, Trinity was washing the tables in back and I was going in and out of the front door cutting flowers for my table arrangements when I realized I wasn’t sure where she was.  I suddenly stopped and yelled to everyone in the house “Where is Tiara?”  No one knew and then the search began. 

Tabitha ran out front, Chris checked the bedrooms, I looked out back and Trinity checked both sides of the house.  Within a minute Tabitha yelled she had her.  Where was she?  Sitting in the neighbors driveway ACROSS the street staring up at their basketball hoop.  I instantly thought, this is the exact reason kids drown during parties with a bunch of adults around.  I had more people in the house keeping an eye on her than usual but yet none of us were really watching her closely because we were all busy getting ready for the party.  Perfect time for my little escape artist to exercise her freedom.

Obviously she is safe but as of last night I also had to stop leaving the front window open.  I found her sitting on the window ledge with the screen pushed out and one leg outside the window.  Years ago, she used to do this all the time but she has done it recently, that is until yesterday. 

Looks like my little eloper is back in action and I need to keep my guard up!

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo tiffani