FIVE-YEAR-OLDS WITH KNIVES

Sounds kind of like a horror flick, doesn't it?

The interior doors in our house do lock, but not all that well. We have a little key that can open them in case of emergency, but a butter knife will also do the job.

It didn't take long for Francie and Lillie to figure this out. They can open any door.

Alan, age sixteen, keeps his door shut all the time and doesn't let the little girls in his room--not intentionally, anyway. Sometimes I go in there with laundry or whatever, and then the little girls see the room through the open door, and wow! A room! Full of electronics and a bed to jump on and a really cool chinchilla in a cage! It's as if they forget the room exists until they see the door open, and then you can't keep them out.

They followed me in there for something last night and went totally wild. "Alan's Room Mania" had struck again. Bouncing on the bed, rummaging through the drawers. Alan and I had to drag Lillie out of the room.

Shortly afterward, Alan came down the hall holding Lillie by the arm and told me that Lillie had gotten into his room again on her own, via the butter knife.

He seemed to think there was something unnerving about turning around from his desk to see a five-year-old with a knife coming through the door. I can't imagine why.