For the longest time we were safe locking the deadbolt on the front door before running off to the bathroom. For quite sometime now she has been able to open and close doors, etc. She feels like it's one of her domestic duties, if you will. So we oblige her as much as possible. Then there came a time that she decided she would just come and go as she pleased--inside to outside, you know. Since this development we have moved up the chain and now lock the dead bolt to keep the occupants inside. :) Alas, now That is also Shayla's ( my (almost--thanks mom!) 3 yr. old)) job as she sees it. Afterall she needs practice, right? There are two dead bolts on each of our entry doors. One is keyed from the outside; the other is not.
Today, while I was taking in the sun via the side yard she who was watching SS (sesame street) on the tube decided, I thought by the fiddling sounds of the side door handle and assembly, that she was going to come and join me. I sat there waiting for her to appear, which she did not, nor did I hear the frustrating whines of defeat. I assumed that she must have changed her mind at least once within her 10-blessed-second attention span. I forgot about it until......
I got up to go in the house and found the door locked. "Well, it's a good thing that I happen to have my keys in my pocket", I think to myself and say outloud without realizing it (one of the benefits of being over 40). I go to unlock the side door keyed lock and turn the handle and push, but no go. She had been 'practicing' and had also locked the non-keyed interior deadbolt. That's what all that fiddling had been earlier! Hhmmm. I knocked, but then knew that was a lost cause as she'd probably just say "Hi, Daddy" from the other side while she observed me try and get back in the house. I should give her more credit than that...She probably would've let me back in, but she's not quite at the stage of totally being able to undo what she does, unless of course she wanted to get outside. Then it would just be a simple logical process of doing this and then that and then 'boom'! Freedom!
So I then walk around to the front door hoping that she hasn't locked both of those locks too and I luck out, she hasn't. It was funny, but I can imagine that there could be other scenarios of the same caliber that would not be. :) These little people certainly inspire a sense of humor. :)