the night lurker

A small creature stirs in the dark and quiet halls of the house. It lurks with precision as it explores areas off limits during the day. To get caught would mean an unhappy ending to a moonlit adventure.

What is this fearless creature?

It's not a mouse.

It's not a bug.

It's Z-Dub, of course. He has absolutely no fear of the dark. Instead of calling for Mommy and Daddy when he wakes up in the late night and early morning hours, he now embarks on nighttime home safaris. His small stature allows him to wander about from room to room without creating audible foot steps to be detected by parental ears. However, on occasion he does slip up in his stealth quests. He still has amateur status in the area of lurking.

Last night at around 11 p.m. he quietly crept out of bed and made his way through the dark hallway to the upstairs loft. There a mini-refrigerator was his target. Living in a dry desert, access to cold water is essential and the refrigerator is fully stocked with water bottles. As HotMomma and I lay in bed, we heard a peculiar sound coming from the loft outside of our room.

"What was that," asked HotMomma as she nudged me.

"I don't know, but I think it was the dog," I said as I got up to investigate. Chi-Lo rustling about was an obvious assumption on my part as she sleeps in a dog carrier in the loft.

I made my way into the loft to find a shadowy Z-Dub working diligently in the dark to open the child safety latch on the mini-refrigerator.

"What are you doing," I asked.

"I want drink," he proclaimed.

"Okay, I'll get you something to drink. Go get in your bed," I commanded. I filled his sippy cup, he drank and quickly drifted off to sleep again.

Later, at exactly 3:15 a.m., HotMomma woke suddenly after feeling something tap her arm. She was startled to find Z-Dub standing beside our bed.

"I eat waffles," he demanded.

"It's the middle of the night. We'll eat waffles when it's time to wake up," she said camly as she got up and escorted him to his bedroom where toys were scattered about. Obviously he had a little fun before coming to our room to place an order for his favorite breakfast meal. I joined them in his room as HotMomma got him some milk. It took 22 minutes to get him back to sleep.

This night wandering thing is new to us. And I doubt it will end. Given that we already find him hunting for "cookies" and "chocolate" in the kitchen pantry during the day, he'll probably be targeting it at night very soon. When he first learned to walk we bought those plastic knob covers for some of the doors in the house. However, being a clever problem solver, Z-Dub learned how to use them when he was a little more than one year old. He can open any door equipped with the device.

Even more of a concern is the front door. This weekend I'll be purchasing another deadbolt to be installed high on the door, as Z-Dub recently discovered how to unlock and open it with little effort. The last thing we need is for him to decide he wants to go outside to play in the middle of the night. Although, currently we find comfort in the fact that we have an alarm system to alert us of his escape.