Ever Lost Your Kid in the Store?

I haven't, not yet at least. But, I have been the lost kid. I was probably about 6 and my younger sister was 4. We were at West, a home improvement store very similar to Lowe's or Home Depot. This was a particularly special day...father-daughter time. Unfortunately, Dad didn't know how adventurous we were.

It seemed like we were "lost" for 30 minutes or so but in reality, it was probably only about 5 or 10 minutes. I believe our names were called over a loud speaker and we were instructed where to find our dad. The whole story came to an abruptly safe and benign end.

Tonight, I got a little taste of the feeling my dad must have had that day.

Bob stepped outside to take the trash out and Sam was watching him out the windows near the front door...last I saw.

I turned back to the kitchen, read the directions to bake some chocolate chip cookies, turned the oven on and headed back to the front door.

Know what I saw? Bob.
No Sam, just Bob.

I asked him frantically where Sam was. Confused, he said, "I was outside!" The rest of the conversation went something like this...
me - "Are you kidding around?" (looking around the corner to the dining room)
Bob - "Huh?"
me - "Do you really not know where he is?! Where is he?!?!" (looking into the living room which was blocked off with a baby gate)
Bob - "I was outside. Weren't you watching him?"

With a sinking feeling, I looked upstairs. All the lights were off but it was the only thing that made sense. Why? Because our little monkey has recently discovered stair-climbing and although I remind him frequently that he can't go up the stairs without Mama behind him...he obviously doesn't understand, that or he doesn't care.

I booked it up those stairs and as I neared the top, I heard his sweet little squeal-laugh and saw a short dark object racing teetering towards his room. I scooped him up and told him that was baaaad and he was NOT supposed to go upstairs without Mama (for only the 89th time). Poor little guy started crying.

I gave him a big hug, told him I loved him and that he just scared me. We went back downstairs and he went back into his homemade pen...the living room blocked off by the coffee table and baby gate.

Nothing like a huge adrenaline rush to end a tiring day, following a couple really tiring weeks. (That's another post though).

*Just in case you're thinking this all could've been avoided if we had a baby gate on the stairs, let me explain. The person who designed our house obviously did not have...in fact, probably never had small children. The combination of a few spindles on one side, the rail on the other side and the molding on both sides makes our stairs completely incapable of providing 2 flat surfaces for our baby gate to press against. After our little scare tonight, I think Bob has rigged something up that will work. That is, until Sam grows a few more inches and can pull the gate over. sigh