If we were to draw a straight line from Gemma’s current talents and interests to her future profession/life’s work, this is the list we would come up with –

1. Belly Dancer
2. Smuggler/Theif
3. Spy

She’s going places, obviously.

The belly dancing is a God-given talent as she can make her stomach roll up and down, slow or fast and even stop and reverse.  At age TWO.  She does NOT get this skill from her mother, I assure you.

But the other choices?  Well, she hones her snatch and grab, run and hide, climb and scale and stealth nearly every hour of every day.  Sometimes it is sugar she hunts, other times it is unattended drinks or bowls of cereal.  Less common are markers (so nice on the walls and smooth on the skin!  Sharpie?  Even Better!) or Jac’s flashlights.  Most often, though, it is a phone or the ipad.

There are the times we catch her outright – when we happen upon her with the charger attached (she’s taken to unplugging and running most of the time), we find a suspicious lump under the blankets and find her curled up with the phone, or hear a very soft and slow click of a door latching and know she’s gone to a favorite hiding spot (the linen closet and her bed being top rated).  Then there are the times we find the evidence.

Both of our phones and the ipad are full of photos taken by the little imp.  We finally got smart and put passcodes on all devices but she can still open the cameras.  Shots of the ceiling and floor, her feet or face, videos of her attempting a getaway all abound.

They are glorious.

At least they are NOW, in the still and silence of a sleeping house.  In the moment they are just mildly cute, barely registering amid the outrage and frustration of a little girl who can’t leave things alone.  But late at night, they provide a healthy dose of laughter if not a window to the future.  And, honestly?  I’d take a theif over a belly dancer any day.  Just don’t tell Gem.