The Great, Indoor Duckling Round-up at My House, Earlier Today

This morning, before my daughter went to school and my husband went to work, there was a great parent/child confrontation in my household on the topic of open doors.  Doors must not be left open.  We have a one-year-old toddler.  Since spring has started inviting older siblings to go outside, the baby has escaped through open doors not once but twice and darted for the street, where our beloved and alert neighbor has twice stopped him and prevented catastrophe.  While our neighbor is wonderfully vigilant, we do not want to continue risking baby escape.

Apparently, humans aren't the only parents who have problems with babies and open doors.

This afternoon, in spite of the morning confrontation, my children went out to play and left the door open behind them.  This time, my baby did not escape.  Instead, three duck babies escaped the wild and came in to my house.

I found my children and the ducklings in a panic.  My cat, pleased with the situation, was looking on.

My first step was to lock the cat in a bedroom.  Then I grabbed two mismatched gloves (no time for fashion) and went on a duckling chase.  After I caught each of the first two, I took them outside and deposited them in the yard next door, where mother duck was frantically pacing around.  The third was trickier.  It went down the stairs and took refuge in, of all places, the cat's litter box closet, then stopped chirping and hid silently.  It wasn't until I gave up looking and went upstairs that it finally started chirping again and I was able to find it.  (Were ducklings the inspiration for the Find My iPhone app?)