As I have told you in the past, raising a child is a constant learning experience. For instance, Kwezi and I have conquered the porridge dilemma, having found the perfect locally made brand.

We are on the last leg of learning how to use the potty and can now walk to it and go on with our business without necessarily making announcements.

But we have a new dilemma. See, I am trying my hand at raising an independent girl who should be able to do things on her own. I started with a decision to make her sleep in her own bedroom as early as when she was nine months old. Most people wondered why I wasn’t sharing my bed with her but every parent has a reason why they make some choices. I will not lie to you that making her sleep in her bedroom was an easy decision but her godmother Rachel convinced me to try it and I am happy that I accepted.

Today, Kwezi will enjoy cuddles in my bed but when she is really sleepy, she will announce, ‘Mummy, bed”. I have noticed that she tosses and turns when she sleeps in my bed but at some point will wake up and ask to be taken to hers. She has now decided that she prefers to sleep with the light off (I switch it back on when she falls asleep).

When she started crawling and later walking, making her sleep in her crib was a great way to control her movements. She is afraid of heights so she would only get out of her bed with someone else’s help.  

I had grown so confident that nothing prepared me for the confusion I had on Saturday when I put her in her bed and went to get a glass of water, only to come back and find her in my room. 

For a second, I thought that maybe someone else had helped her out, so I ignored it.

But when I put her in bed on Sunday, only to wake up to see a silhouette of a child at my door, I almost started screaming for help. Kwezi cannot be ‘controlled’ anymore. She has found the light and can now comfortably climb out of her bed.

Her nanny told me that while I was at work yesterday, she ‘escaped’ and went to the bathroom where she found Vaseline and toothpaste which she opened and proceeded to do a thorough ‘paint job’. We have always been very careful about what items hang around in our bedrooms and bathrooms but it looks like it’s time to tighten ‘security’, there is a child on the loose.