Those were just about the longest 30 seconds of my motherhood.
This happened last Tuesday. We were at the library. Maddie was in Storytime and Isaac and I were wandering around reading stories, but mostly I was chasing him around. Oh and yes I was on my cell phone for a few minutes consulting with my Naturopath about something. When Storytime ended the usual bustle of kids and parents and noise began. And stupid me was still on the phone. And little Isaac was walking around. And I lost him. In a nanosecond he took off and by the time my brain registered "You are not watching Isaac" I looked around and he was gone. My heart stopped beating, I stopped breathing and panic just about paralyzed me. But I managed to exclaim, "Where is Isaac!?" My friend helped me look around but mostly she watched Maddie while I began searching around. The only thought going through my head was "the library is so big and he's so little! He could be anywhere!" By the grace of a million guardian angels he hadn't gone far. He had actually walked into the Storytime room and the teacher was still there so she was keeping an eye on him. I scooped him up in my arms and I'm sure I sounded incoherent, blurting out my thanks to the teacher.
My heart started beating again.
On our way home I kept checking to make sure there were two kids sitting in the back.
Lesson learned: Do not get distracted while keeping an eye on my kiddos. Especially in public. Especially Isaac.
Today we are going back and I promise this will not be repeated {unlike the replay that keeps going on in my head every now and then}.
Oh, scary! I had a moment like that when we were helping to move my MIL a few weeks ago. The apartment door was open, and the building door was open just down the hall, and a short time earlier he had been insistently trying to walk into the street. I realized I didn't know where he was and ran around calling for him. Thankfully, he was safe with DH's cousin outside, watching the guys load the truck. *phew!*
ReplyDeleteIt does just happen in milliseconds, although time seems to slow down in those moments! It happens to all of us!!
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