I need HELP! Crazy, wandering 2 year old

[tonyswife]

Ok, my 2.5 year old DD has figred out how to escape her bedroom in the middle of the night. At three AM, I awoke to my sweety pie trying to feed my 8 month old DS smarties from her trick or treat pumpkin!! HOW did she get to the pumpkin ON TOP OF THE FRDIGE, you might ask?? Well, I can only assume she climbed up on the counter and reached up to the fridge!! My heart is just flip flopping thinking about how she could have fallen and killed herself!!

OK, and on Sunday, I went to the grocery store. She flipped out when i left the house so my husband chain locked and dead bolted the door and went to change the baby's diaper. She figured out how to unlock both locks and by the time my husband figured out she had left the house, she was six houses down, across the street, IN HER UNDERWEAR running down the street calling, "MOMMY I WANT TO GO WITH YOU, WAIT UUUUUUUPPPPP!"

After I got her back to bed at 4 AM I went back to bed myself. At 7 AM I awoke to a HUGE crash and DD runing into my room shouting, "SORRY MOMMY!!" What did she do? Well, she was trying to put a log in the fireplace and knocked over the screen and BROKE IT!! I'm glad it scared her away though because the embers in the fire place were still smoldering from last night's fire.

So, here's my biggest fear. She will wake up at 3 AM and either burn herself, or get a HUGE fire going in the fireplace and burn the house down. OR, she will go out the front door, get kidnapped, hit by a car or taken away by CPS.

I need to figure out what to do. I cannot sleep with thoughts of what she will do in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping. There is a child gate on her door, but she climbs over it or lays on the ground and kicks it out of the door frame. DH is getting another chain lock for the door and we plan to put in WAY up high so she can't reach it. But I think a better plan would be to figure out how to keep her in her room all night. We could lock her in her room but I really don't want to do that, it seems so mean.

Any advice?? I mean, I really need to figure this out before she gets hurt or lost or something.

 

[snoopy]

How about installing a screen door in her room, with the lock on the outside, where she can't get at it?

You have my sympathies. My younger son was a climber and a handful, I'm so glad those years are over (for the most part, anyway! )

 

[debster812]

My cousin was 'blessed' with twins who sound just as 'busy' as your DD. Here's what she ended up doing:

My dad installed screen doors on their bedroom doors. Full size storm doors. And then installed a latch on the outside. So they were locked in, but not shut in, if you know what I mean.

The good news is, they outgrew this in about 7 months. Once they figured out they could NOT escape, they stopped tying.

Good Luck!!!!

 

[debster812]

Hey Snoopy, GMTA huh????? We must have posted at the same time.

Debbie <----who had the opposite problem, her DS would lay in bed and YELL until someone came to him.....

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I have no suggestions myself. The screen door sounds like a good idea.

Good Luck.

 

[piglet too]

Sorry, no ideas, just many 's and I hope she outgrows it soon!

 

[gr8tpanther]

BOY do I know THIS one!!!! My DD11 was like that!!!! We had to put a very TIGHT sliding lock on the VERY TOP of the door and put a wedge in it!!!! She stole the keys to my cousin's sports car (the keys were IN HIS POCKET!!!!) Packed a bag, had my check stub (she thought she could cash this ), and took her favorite "stuffie" and went out in the middle of the night and tried to steal his car!!! I don't know what woke me up, but I woke up and just looked out the window and saw her doing this, I paniced and ran out of the house and well, I think I woke the neighborhood screaming at her! If she would have gotten that car started and moving, she would have killed herself.

That was just ONE incident! There were MANY others.

We just had to lock her in, there really IS no other alternative!

 

[disneymom3]

My two year old could write books on how to escape a loving mommy and daddy! At 18 months he figured out how to open(unlock) the front door and was on his way across the street when we found him. Two weeks later he figured out how to get out of his crib. Not good. We put him in a regular bed, put those spinny things on the door knobs so he couldn't open them. Then he took to locking us out of his bedroom and opening the second story window in his bedroom and pushing out the screen. Yes, it was locked. Then it was duct taped, then we put in one of those things that you use to block a sliding glass door (that one worked) And we turned the doorknob around so that it locks from the hallway and we can lock him in and he can't lock us out. Some people think it's cruel, but at least I know where he is at 3 a.m. now! (This is the same child who managed to disappear on the Disney cruise while we got our orientation in the kids club--he was 27 months at the time!)

My sis used a gate from a chain link fence across her son's door. He too, managed to climb out the window and into the tree outside the house. AND she was sitting outside the bedroom door thinking how nicely he was goign to bed that night!

Some of these kids must have two or three guardian angels who put in overtime!

 

[decker96]

We used one of those covers you put over the door knob so they can't turn it, although by 3, DS had figured out how to get it off. So we swapped his doorknob around so it locked from the outside instead of the inside. He doesn't wander in the middle of the night, but he won't stay in his room when we first put him to bed, so we shut his door and lock it after he's gotten his two warnings. Then we open it when we go to bed.
One of my cousins was a wanderer at night. My aunt and uncle put one of those hook and eye locks on the outside of her door and would lock it when they went to bed at night, then unlock it when they got up. They started when she was 2 1/2 and by 4 she had grown out of wandering, so they took it off.
I know you said locking her in seems mean, but what's more important, your DD's (and your) safety or being "nice". I'd rather be "mean" than make a trip to the emergency room at 3 AM because she fell off the counter or burned herself in the fireplace. Good luck!

 

[tonyswife]

Originally posted by snoopy
How about installing a screen door in her room, with the lock on the outside, where she can't get at it?

That's a good idea. We're going to be putting the house on the market in April, but hopefully she'll be over this stage by then and we can take it down and out her real door back up.

You have my sympathies. My younger son was a climber and a handful, I'm so glad those years are over (for the most part, anyway! )

I think she's taking YEARS off my life. My husband suggested using a leash and thethering her to her bed. I think he was kidding.

 

[WDWHound]

Two suggestions:
1. Crazy Glue. She'll stick where you leave her.
2. Military School (after getting caught and having to do 100 sit ups, she will stop trying to break out of the dorms).

 

[tonyswife]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I WILL lock her in her room if that's what it comes down to, but I'd like it to be a last resort. I think we'll try to screen door (storm door) idea though. I like this idea very much because she can still see out but she'll be locked in.

 

[tonyswife]

Thanks for the tip on the window too. I now have my husband searching the net for a way to secure her window as well. Sheesh, she's like an inmate at "mommy prison" fter talking to DH, we really like the idea of a screen door. I may make him go to Home Depot and get one tonight.

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Our middle DS went through this stage. We installed locks at the top of all doors to the outside (that you lift and flip over) to keep him in the house.

For the bedroom, I've also heard of installing a half door where the bottom only stays closed (like you see in daycares).

Or, onestepahead.com sells gates that are bolted into the wall on each side so kicking it down won't work.

If you don't like the door ideas, you could also install a motion detector type alarm (there are portable cheap ones) so that at least you would know when your 2 year old has left the bedroom in the middle of the night.

Good luck!! This too shall pass

 

[tonyswife]

Originally posted by JessetheCowgirl


Or, onestepahead.com sells gates that are bolted into the wall on each side so kicking it down won't work.

We will get these for the stairs in our new house, our DS will be the problem child at that point. But I don't think a gate is an option for Alexa, she'll just climb over it if she can't kick it out.

If you don't like the door ideas, you could also install a motion detector type alarm (there are portable cheap ones) so that at least you would know when your 2 year old has left the bedroom in the middle of the night.

DH suggested a GPS tracking chip.. Again, I think he was kidding.

Good luck!! This too shall pass

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm writing it all in her journal so we can laugh about it someday (and so she'll have solutions to her issues when HER kids turn out to be wanderers.)

 

[Jingle]

Wow, sounds like my daughter! She continued to be an escape artist all of her life. Thank god she's 18 now!

The one thing I wish I would have done was to get a dog many years earlier. We got our first dog recently, and he lets me know when anything is going on in the house or when anybody is coming or going. I don't know if it would have worked, but I wish I'd tried it!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I know it was a fire hazard but we resorted to "key" deadbolts on the front door. We had to put a lock on the slider.
We figured it was worth it considering the idea that dd would be OUTSIDE without my knowledge.

I didn't have the other issues, yikes! I hope you figure it out.

 

[MagicalMom]

All of the doors on our house that lead to the outside have child safety covers on them. We had to buy them after our son ran out the door during the wee hours of the morning. We didn't know he was out there until we heard a car honking it's horn! He was one of those toddlers that could figure anything out. We bought the knob covers at Lowes, they work really well. It's fun to watch our guest attempt to leave our houe & then stand there for 2 minutes trying to figure out how to work the door know, eventually, we usually show them how.

 

[Regina]

I just saw window/door alarms at CVS. (My DD just moved into an apartment and they caught my eye. )

I believe that there were 4 of them in the pack. They looked very easy to install, just self stick. When the window/door is opened, the alarm goes off.

If you use something like that, you'll have a warning that she's trying to escape, and it should send a message to her that she can't come and go as she pleases.