What's The Next Step?

As you may have read in one of my early Blog entries, we have installed locks throughout our home to prevent Danielle from creating havoc at will.
We have locks on the restrooms, the master bedroom, our home office, a lock on the outside of Danielle's bedroom, a lock on the garage and a bolt lock on the interior front door of our home to keep her in.
This morning, I found her using a hair-pin to pick the lock to one of the restrooms. Took her all of 5 seconds to open the locked door. She didn't notice me watching so I just let her do her thing. After a few minutes of playing in the water and making a complete mess, she came out of the restroom and locked the door, as if she was never there.
The mystery is solved! I couldn't figure out why the restrooms sometimes had water on the floors and counters when the doors were always locked.

It turns out that Danielle has learned to pick every lock in the house. I know what you're thinking, but these locks are not all the same. We know better than to use universal locks in our house! C'mon, we are smarter than Danielle, aren't we? Every lock is different from the other. Some have keys, others don't. Some are mounted in reverse, like the one on her bedroom door. But none have proven effective for more than a short time with Danielle. This kid continues to amaze.
Of the 9 or 10 keys on my key ring, she has figured out which one opens the front door, which key opens the garage door, which key opens the car and which key opens the truck. Our only option is to hide the house/car keys. Hiding the keys is problematic because there really is no safe place from "Tropical Storm Danielle."

Six months ago, I lost my dog and best friend Oliver. Ollie was my two year old Boston Terrier and my buddy. He was also a tremendous influence on Danielle. We have struggled with Dani's speech and language skills for years. One day I'm walking down stairs and I hear a little girl's voice that was completely unfamiliar. She was obviously really angry and talking in complete sentences. It was a cute little voice but I'd never heard it before and it kind of quivered in a strange way. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Danielle, yelling at Oliver who had taken her socks from her and wouldn't give them back. She screamed, "Bad dog Oliber, bad dog. Gimme' dat back right now!"
I soon realized what Ollie was doing, besides annoying the heck out of Danielle. Oliver was completely uncompromising with Danielle and this was the key to her speech. If she wanted something from Ollie she had to ask him for it; demand it. Where as with mom, dad and sister, we are always trying to guess and anticipate Dani's needs. She knew Ollie would have none of that. If she wanted something from Oliver, she had to work for it.

Well, Oliver is gone now and I still haven't gotten over his loss or how it happened. One day last February, Danielle found my key ring and went to the garage. She opened the side door and she and Oliver went in. Danielle opened the over head garage door and they both made a break for freedom. They were gone for 10 to 15 minutes before I received a phone call from my oldest daughter. She was on her way to McDonald's with her friend.
She said, "Dad, is Oliver at home?"
I said, "of course he is."
Taylor says, "That's strange, I just saw a dog on the corner that looks just like Oliver."
A chill went up and down my spine. Oliver was a very distinctive looking Boston Terrier. He was big; about 38lbs. and he was brown and tan. He looked more like a bulldog than a Boston.

I ran downstairs and found the garage door open and both Danille and Oliver were no where to be seen. I was in a complete state of panic. I yelled for Kathy to come down and help me find Dani and Oliver. I ran to the corner and looked North. There was no sign of Dani or Ollie. My mind started racing. Danielle is practically non-verbal. If the "right person"found her, he/she may not have a clue as to how to reach us. What if the "wrong person"found her? Would she resist or could someone just take her by the hand and drive away with her?
At that moment Kathy came running to join me. I looked South and about 300 yards away, I was able to make out Danielle's silhouette and her little red pants. I told Kathy to run after Danielle while I looked for Oliver.

I ran to the corner of Bernal Road and Santa Teresa Blvd.
As I ran up and down the street in a panic, a lady drove up and asked if I was looking for a brown dog. When I said yes, the lady began to cry and said, "he was hit by a car and I'm afraid he didn't make it." I jumped in the lady's car are we rode to my house. When we pulled up our neighbors were all outside and little Ollie was laying peacefully in the back of one of my neighbor's truck. I was devastated, it was all I could do to keep it together. My wife was crying, the neighbors were crying. Danielle wasn't sure what was happening but I could tell she knew something was wrong.

Later that evening, I went to my garage and relocated the garage door opener behind my safe and about 7 feet off of the ground; temporarily safe from Danielle. If only I had anticipated Danielle's escape attempt earlier Oliver might still be with us.
Once again, Oliver has taught us a valuable lesson. An extremely painful yet valuable lesson. I am comforted by the fact that this situation could have been much, much worse. We could have lost our little girl that day in February.
So, what's the next step? How do we stay one step ahead of Danielle? I'll take suggestions...