We've got a runner!

Mowgli's always been a bit of an explorer. In fact, it was the reason we installed the fence when we moved to our current house, and the reason that I'm rarely seen at outdoor events (since I'm usually following Mowgli out into the wilderness).

Recently though, we've been forced to up our security because he's made two independent efforts to escape from our house. In both instances, Amy caught him, barely clothed, about to cross a very busy intersection. Additionally, while I was cleaning his room the other day, I found the following map, with a number of notations:

Rather than jump to conclusions, I decided to shake down one of his little buddies after a session of Pool Pals. He told me that Antonio had approached him, as a boy who knew "how to get things" and requested a rock hammer for, you know, making chess pieces.

Without that evidence, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about him asking us for a poster of Miss Rita Hayworth and staring longingly at Amy's painting and mumbling something about Mexico and starting over:

Taken together, we became slightly paranoid that something was afoot. Therefore, we instituted the following security protocols:

Security Protocol Alpha: Amy and I - Alpha, though solid, can be divided and conquered by other inmates, and is therefore not entirely reliable.

Security Protocol Beta: Handle locks and child proof door handles. The handle locks work, but only the ones that require a push button key. The twist lock is meaningless. The child proof door handles only work if they're the ones that are discontinued because they're essentially a fire hazard because adults can barely work them. Mowgli just breaks the "safe" ones. That said, we found a website that sells the discontinued ones. Bought them out.

Security Protocol Gamma: Door stopper. Totally ridiculous. FAIL.

Security Protocol Delta: Hook locks. These work, but he has figured out that if he can dangerously and precariously balance on top of random items, say, oh I don't know, at the top of the basement stairs for instance, that he can flip the hook. Nevertheless, it is certainly a deterrent.

Security Protocol Gamma: Cheap ass magnetic "alarms". This is essentially a noise deterrent. We figured that if something makes a loud enough noise, that it will at least slow him down. It has, but he's quickly piecing together how it works. We're hoping that the aforementioned child proof handles show up in the mail prior to that moment.

Security Protocol Ockham's Razor: You see that little switch next to the screen door handle? Apparently impenetrable. There you have it folks - the wonderful and awe inspiring problem solving of an autistic child - halted by a tiny little switch on the handle of an outdated screen door. Probably not going to last too much longer.

As funny as some of this sounds, it is only outdone by the circus performance that Amy and I have to go through in order to execute this seamlessly without escape, and at the same time not locking ourselves out of the house. It felt like it took three hours to bring the groceries in the other day, and our already frayed nerves can't take one more "false alarm" from the "Doberman Security" system that we've installed.

In the end, all of this is just smoke and mirrors. If and when he decides he wants to do something, Mowgli will figure it out. He is driven by an unquenchable urge to problem solve, but only if it involves obtaining popsicles, or some other preferred activity/treat. In fact, in my next post I'll discuss his cybersecurity attack on our home computer in order to watch an edited video of Blue's Clues on YouTube where someone drops the F Bomb. So is the nature of this very frustrating condition, he struggles to solve basic life skills issues like potty training, but is able to solve a series of (albeit low-tech) counter measures so that he can escape our vile clutches and run naked through the streets.