My Little Helper: Closing the Doors

This blog post is the second of a series on Tuesdays called, My Little Helper, featuring my adorable toddler, Ginny. The first one was about how she loves to help at bath time for her sister. Today is all about how our daughter is destined to be a doorman someday, or should I say, door person.

Closing the Doors

Closing the door to the laundry room

When Ginny first started toddling, we decided it was necessary to start shutting many of our doors. Child-proofing had been done in all the rooms, but we didn't want to lose sight on our little one. Who knew what trouble she could get into. We had a fair idea of the type of havoc she could cause because we have a dog who loves to eat paper, so we were already in the habit of closing all bathroom doors.

As Ginny has gotten older, we started leaving doors open a lot more often. Okay, that may be stretching it. Basically, if we had no laundry in the laundry room, we would leave that door open and her bedroom door. Our bedroom and our office have been deemed off limits when we aren't in those rooms with her. She will find something to play with that we don't consider a toy.

At some point in the last few weeks, Ginny decided that we needed help in closing our doors. No longer are my husband and I allowed to close a door, whether it be our bedroom door or even the door outside or to the garage. Nope, closing the doors is now her job. You can ask her to do it, but often that is unnecessary. She will run up and close a door before you are even ready for the door to be closed. Often when you are still in the other room and have yet to leave it, prompting you to open the door again, much to her dismay. The dismay is short-lived since she will realize that she gets to close that door again.

She loves her job closing doors!

The problem comes when you decide to close a door on your own. Ginny will let you know, in no uncertain terms, that ONLY she is allowed to close the doors. After pitching a fit the size of KU's Allen Fieldhouse, I will inevitably reopen the door just so she can close it again. Hey, you choose your battles, and if closing a door makes my two-year-old happy, who am I to complain?

Ginny has not yet learned how to open doors. She can reach the door know, but hasn't figured out how to twist the knob and then push or pull the door. Once she has figured out how to do that, I imagine my husband and I will no longer be allowed to touch the doors at all.