Our three-year-old daughter’s adventurous spirit has been well documented within the pages of this blog.  From her finicky diet to her affinity for her birthday suit, we have tried to nurture, if not sometimes corral her spirit.  This weekend M adds a new page to her short, but accomplished adventure resume.  She ventures into the wild.

A couple of months ago we decided that we would let M go stay a week with her GG (the wife’s mother) at her house at Lake Conroe.  As you know, M is only three and we like to think that she is rather dependent on her parents still, but we figure why not give it a shot.  GG is all for the idea and agrees to bring M back at any point during the week in if/when she misses her parents so badly that she can’t stand to be away any longer. 

D-Day was yesterday.  We drove M down to Conroe as if it were a typical weekend trip. We have been talking to her about staying with GG for several weeks now and she has been hot and cold on the idea.  Some days she is all for it, while others she expresses that she does not want to be away from Mommy and Daddy.  We are worried about when we go to leave and she realizes that she is not going with us.  Will she fling herself onto the hood of the car?  Will she lie in the driveway behind the car so that we cannot leave?

That moment came this morning.  I pack up the car, load up little B and we go to tell M that we are leaving…without her.  Expecting the worst, we give hugs and kisses and wait for it to sink in that we are leaving her.  Apparently, she has dealt with this and is moving on because she shows no sign of distress over the fact that her parents are leaving her.  In fact, all that she was worried about was when GG was going to take her to play on the beach.  The wife and I are taken aback to say the least.  We are starting to feel like the parents of Christopher McCandless and our daughter is going off the grid, and into the wild…

I think that we have convinced ourselves that M is going to freak out and want to come home with us.  When she not only wants to stay, but does not really care that we are leaving, no is wanting us to leave so that she can go play in the sand, we end up the ones that are upset.  Our parent-egos have taken a direct hit.

We drive home without our little adventurer and the conversation is mostly about taking wagers on how long she will last before she wants to come home.  We both agree that she will last one or two days at most and then GG will be bringing her home Tuesday or so.  Of  course, after our Skype conversation with M this evening, we may be changing the betting lines.  She is so uninterested in talking to us this evening that our parent-egos are practically reduced to rubble.  We are expecting her to be saddened by coming to the realization that Mommy and Daddy are not going to be there tonight, or in the morning.  What do we get? “Good night Mommy Potty, good night Daddy Poop!”   Are you kidding me?  This kid is happy that we are out of the picture!  I feel like the parent of a Menendez brother.  Should I be looking over my shoulder for a hitman? 

After that Skype call I reopen the betting windows and the over/under is looking more like Thursday or Friday now, if she even wants to come home…Stay tuned for a daily installment on the progress of M’s 1st adventure away from home.  How will she deal with the homesickness?  Will she set out on foot to get back to her beloved parents?  Will she disown her parents for a life of lakeside living?  Will her parents crack before she does?  Place your bets!