Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A Cautionary Tale

Yesterday I had a scary thing happen while I was running on the treadmill. I try to run when Taber is home but that isn't always possible, so sometimes I'll put on a show for the girls upstairs and run in the basement with the baby monitor while they watch their show. It has NEVER been a problem before. They've always been perfect angels and have never gotten into any trouble. If they get bored they usually just come down in the basement and play.

I have a bunch of their stuff down there and they are really good about not touching the treadmill ( I scared them with some horror stories of kids getting their fingers caught in the belt) So yeah, they are NORMALLY super good and I can get away with running during the day if I need to.

At least until yesterday.

Yesterday during my run I heard the loud sounds of a chair being dragged across the floor upstairs. I wasn't too worried but I still kicked up the speed on the treadmill so I could finish faster and investigate. I thought maybe they were getting into the pantry and were using a chair so they could get into the chocolate chips or the marshmallows.

What they were doing was way worse.

I don't know if it was the good weather or the new neighbor boy hanging out in our yard beckoning them to come play, but whatever it was, something tempted them to leave the house.

I of course had locked the door, with the chain, and instructed the girls not to go outside until I was done running and could go with them.


But I should've known better. You can never underestimate a 5 year old with a chair. That lock didn't stand a chance.

As I was coming up the stairs to see what they were up to Teya met me half way in an absolute panic. She quickly blurted out that our dog had escaped and it was her fault and she was sorry. Our dog has escaped before so I wasn't worried, just annoyed. I told Teya to stay in the house and went outside to look for him. He can usually be found across the street in our neighbors backyard.

What I found back there though was this girl:

Finding that your 2 year old has escaped the house and wandered off is not a good feeling. You don't feel relief for finding her, your mind is too busy going through all the what ifs. What if she had been hit by a car? What if someone had taken her? What if she had wondered off into the woods and gotten hurt or lost or stuck somewhere and I couldn't find her? It was too unsettling to even think about. I was so upset. Upset that Teya had found a way to open the door and disobeyed me, but more upset at myself for not being more careful.

On the upside, we live on a culdesac with virtually no traffic, she had only wandered across the street into our neighbor's backyard, and there was another adult outside who, even though they didn't speak English, had seen where she'd gone and pointed me in the right direction.

Still, I will try not to run during the day anymore unless the girls are at preschool or Taber is home to watch them. They are good girls who hardly ever get into trouble, but all it takes is once, and I really don't want that to happen again.

10 comments:

  1. Please bring them to my house so you can get a run if you need to! I got freaked out reading this just thinking about all of the "what ifs". So glad everyone is okay. I'm sorry you got such a scare. And I really mean it - your girls are welcome here any time you need to squeeze in a daytime run!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't feel too bad...in the past two weeks I have found Kade outside ON THE STREET on his tricycle at least twice. Scared the crud out of me! Now I lock the chain and make him sit outside the bathroom door when I have to pee (sorry for the tmi)!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yikes! Sorry this happened to you. I can imagine how you were feeling at the time. I have to get my workouts in before 6 AM on the weekdays before my husband leaves for work. It's tough!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Scary but don't feel too bad. My boss stopped to answer his cell phone, turned his back and the stroller (with BOTH kids in it!) rolled ACROSS the street and right into a bush, totally concealed. They live on a huge hill, that stroller could have gone for miles! It took him an hour to find the kids! I'm glad to hear your little one is okay though. Don't be too hard on yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Scary moment...glad everyone was okay.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah Becca, Don't beat yourself up about it, Kids are kids--This has happened to each and everyone of us-(those who won't admit are must just be embarassed) Im glad Brinley was okay and hopefully Teya was scared enough that this will never happen again :) And well Im wondering...Did you ever find the dog?? lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, we did find the dog : ) Brinley had followed him to our neighbor's backyard so they were both there when I found her. Thank goodness!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Abby has figured out how to unlock the door, too! It's only a matter of time before this happens to us. So, how DO you keep them contained if they can unlock doors? Oh dear.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I know this story all too well! we've got a playground across the street and it's always so tempting for my kiddos whenever the weather's good. Chenoa's gotten way better at obeying me and staying inside...but for the past month or so Tristan has LOVED unlocking the front door and running out as fast as he can! Sometimes I can't even get down the porch before he's on the STREET! It's always so scary; and it's hard to get him to understand the dangers out there! And it would only take one time to be terribly horrible. If he's not upstairs with me I know he's going to be getting into trouble. I'm told it's a BOY thing...whatever it is I'm so ready for him to GROW OUT OF IT! haha. It's true, they have to be watched every second!!! and by the way, funny how I've also told my kids horror stories about the treadmill. haha. Whatever works I guess!! But glad Brinley & Monty were OK!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I know that feeling! I lost Mia in disney world when she was a little under 3, worse feeling ever!!! it was about 3 minutes that felt like 30. Cold sweat and your profile vision dissapear, you're looking for her through a paper roll. Tears just kept rolling down my cheeks all on their own all day. It happens, we just have to be greatefull nothing really bad had to happen to learn our lesson.
    I had looked down and into a backpack looking for her juice, I took my eye off of her and she ran away!

    -Laura conti

    ReplyDelete