The upside will be having plenty of stories for the blog

Molly tested us with vomit. Casey is taking us in a whole new direction. It seems she's a reincarnation of Houdini himself.

On Sunday, we left the dogs alone for about two hours, figuring it was a good test for the next day, when they would be alone for about four hours while I went to work. Casey was gated into the hallway off our kitchen by a baby gate on the kitchen end and some Rubbermaid bins on the living room end. Molly was gated into the kitchen itself by the same baby gate and some boxes between the kitchen and the dining room (Molly is not an explorer and has never tried to test any of the boxes we leave in doorways although she could easily clear them if she tried). In addition, we had a duffle bag and some boxes between the living room and the rest of the house.

Two hours after leaving the dogs separated but within sight of each other, we returned... to find them both in the kitchen. With the baby gate and all other obstacles intact. Hmmm... a little detective work revealed Casey pushed aside one of the boxes separating her from the living room and, in a dark house in which she had only lived for 24 hours, made her way through the living room, over the duffle bag in the doorway and through the dining room. Then, for her final trick, she managed to get through the boxes in the dining room doorway in order to break BACK INTO the kitchen so she could be with Molly! (Obviously, it would have made more sense to just get from the hall to the kitchen through the baby gate, but that thing's pretty sturdy).

Last night was a similar episode shortly after we put her into the blocked hallway and went up to bed. She whined for awhile and pushed against some of the boxes... and then went eerily quiet. I went downstairs to find she had jumped over a box onto the ottoman the Pretend Husband had added for weight and then into the living room. She again ran through the first floor and into the kitchen, presumably looking for Molly (who was upstairs with us but, thankfully, the full flight of stairs is still a bit too challenging for our little daredevil... but give her another week or so!) By the time the PH got done putting Casey back into the hallway and stacking boxes and duffle bags in the doorway, it looked like we were awaiting the moving truck.

Three months old... already pretty much house trained... can go up and down the steps into the house... able to scale tall boxes... can navigate unfamiliar territory in the dark... an ingrained lack of respect for authority... yeah, I think we're in trouble.