Hide and Seek...

So, today I have definitely am off to a fresh start on winning Mother of the Year... I managed to lose my 19 month old (in my own house). How, you may wonder... read on...

The sitter had just left our house (an important tidbit, although I am not placing blame - she's not the one who lost my kid!), and I noticed that the back door was open (not the screen door, just the main door that would DING if someone tried to escape from the house). Since I was going to take the kiddos right back outside, I didn't perform my usual OTT ritual of going around, shutting all doors and windows that managed to open while the sitter was at the housw.

I was in the front living room, helping my oldest find his Crocs. Honestly, we were in the other room for a minute, MAX... I realized about 10 seconds earlier that I didn't hear my youngest. So, I walk around the one side of the house into the kitchen. Nothing... my oldest ran around the other side to meet me in the kitchen... I am rippinng through his favorite "hiding" spots... under the massive stuffed animal pile, behind the recliner, in the cupboards, in the pantry, behind the door in the bathroom - NOTHING.... I am starting to sweat at this point. I mean, did he just disappear? I couldn't call the police... what do I tell them... Um, I lost my child. He should be in the house, but I can't find him. No way..

So, I make my second run through of the first floor of our house, making sure that the door leading to the finished basement is deadbolted, as it should be. Again, I look in any spot small enough to hide a 19 month old. NOTHING! Seriously, I was beginning to wonder if I have been hallucinating this whole time... did I imagine my son for the past 19 months? Did someone come into the house and take him while I was 10 feet away? In a mad frenzy, I run outside, screaming at the top of my lungs - running to the sandbox, his Little Tikes house... around to see if he was playing in the front landscaping - NOTHING. I run back around the house - looking in the bushes that line our property... in the meantime, my 3 year old just stood there, looking at me as if I am a complete nut job. "It o-tay momma, brother is just hiding"... um hmmm... never was great at games, but come one, there's only so many places that a 19 month old can hide, even if he was a total contortionist...

So, I phone the neighbor... I couldn't call my husband, since he is 2000 miles across the country on a week long business trip... my parents live more than 30 minutes away... time was of the essense and about 3 gruesome minutes had already transpired since I lost my son...she runs up the street, her own children in tow... takes my 3 year old so that I look AGAIN w/o my 3 year old asking me questions and getting in the way of my panicked search. I comb the downstairs floor of our house AGAIN - he is nowhere... (the baby gates at the top and bottom of both staircases were locked, as they always were, so I knew he wasn't upstairs unless he learned how to fly - highly unlikely :))...

As I am heading around the corner to grab the phone to call the police (I had no choice at this point)... I see a tiny hand under the door leading to the basement. It wasn't moving - OMG, it's my son!! But, his little fingers look lifeless... why isn't he moving??? Why isn't he crying or laughing or making some noise (and why hasn't he made any noise for the past 4 minutes???) ... I unlock the door, and there he sat, in the dark, at the top of the stairs leading into our basement. Seriously...

How in the *&^( did he get behind a locked door, you may ask... well, let's ask the 3 year old brother... "I unlocked the door, and brother sat down... so I locked the door behind him"... WHAT???? The sad part is that I know that the door was locked at the top of the stairs when the sitter left (part of my OCD'ness or just being a mom, not sure which!), so me thinks that the story is not contrived, but rather quite true. The deadbolt is WAY too high for the 19 month old to reach, and well, the probably thought this was the BEST game of hide and seek ever, since momma just couldn't find the baby...

Great - I will be gray before I am 31, and that is only a few weeks away!