Short Story

The other day it was just me and Natalie at home and I was working in the kitchen putting groceries away while she was running around the house pushing her walker (with Ernie in the seat of course).  Since our entire downstairs is either laminate wood or tile so I could tell where she was and what she was doing by listening to the scraping of the walker and the patter of her little footsteps.  I was keeping an ear out for the tell tale signs of where she was and what she was doing when I suddenly heard deafening silence followed by the soft shutting of a door.  Standing at the stove, I glanced through the dining (okay, storage) room and into the front entry way where I SHOULD have seen a thirty-one inch tall, curly headed little girl looking back at me while she stood behind her walker and beloved Ernie.  No such luck.  I had a sneaking suspicion as to where she might be - clever as she is, at this point in the game, I'm still smarter than her.  As I approached the door to the 1/2 bath that is located just off the entryway I noticed it was slightly shut.  I gently pushed it open and sure enough, out of the pitch black darkness erupted the precious giggle of a little girl who was VERY proud of herself.  I flicked on the light and there she was - standing in the dark bathroom perched behind her walker, my sneaky, clever and absolutely adorable daughter.  I ushered her out of the bathroom and needless to say......closed the door firmly behind me as I exited.