Jack ‘n Tracie

I just had the worst experience ever…

My friend Cathy was here for two days. Before she left this morning, Cody woke up in a grumpy mood. I knew he wasn’t really awake yet and was up earlier than normal… so I laid him on the couch with a blanket and pillow. I said my goodbyes to Cathy then came into the computer room to work on some more training I am doing for a work at home project. Cody was up and playing with the dog in the back yard by then.

Melissa and Casey got up and asked if they could have breakfast. I said they could have cereal now (something they can fix for themselves) or they can wait till I’m done and I’d make oatmeal or waffles. They didn’t want to wait so they had cereal. I told Melissa to put Cody in his highchair and fix him a bowl of cereal too. I was 10 minutes from being done with that particular training module.

I heard Randy (the dog) barking … it sounded like he was barking at something in the front yard, something he often does when he is in the backyard and sees someone walking down the street or sees a cat. I shrugged it off for about a minute.. then mommy radar clicked in.

I went into the kitchen and Cody wasn’t in his high chair. I asked Melissa where he was. She said, “I thought he was still sleeping in his room”. She hadn’t seen Cody at all this morning. So I went out to the backyard where I last saw him playing with the dog and he wasn’t out there… neither was the dog.

I figured they must be in one of the bedrooms then… Cody and Randy like to play together. Cody gives him his toys and stuffed animals to chew on. As I was walking across the living room towards the bedrooms, Randy caught my eye sitting on the front porch. The security screen on our front door was closed but not locked. I had left the front door open to let some cool air in.. but I could swear I had locked the security screen. I went out to the front and called Cody. He wasn’t there. I checked the Blazer in our driveway to see if he was in there and he wasn’t. I yelled for Melissa and Casey to check the bedrooms and closets but I knew he was gone. I ran inside and grabbed the phone and called 911. It’s safe to say I was hysterical by then.

I was crying and screaming his name while trying to talk to the 911 operator. The thoughts running through my head were that Cody and the dog were in the front yard and the barking I heard must’ve been Randy barking at whoever took Cody. That’s all I kept thinking and it was making me insane with fear. I was gagging like I was going to throw up and even now my stomach isn’t settled…

The operator was very nice. She kept telling me to breath and explain what he looked like. She reassured me that the police were already on their way but she needed to know what he looked like. I was able to tell her what he was wearing (white cotton pajamas with cars on them) but when she asked me how tall he was I drew a blank. I kept saying “he’s 2 years old!”. She switched questions when I couldn’t answer that and asked me his hair color. Melissa was crying by then and telling me she couldn’t find him… Casey kept saying, “I think I hear him over there!” …

I managed to estimate his height at 2 feet tall and the operator told me to stay home and by the phone and that the police would be there soon. She hung up and I paged Jack. He called me from his work’s cell phone and stayed on the phone with me as he drove home from work.

Casey kept insisting he was hearing Cody talking and pointed across the street and towards the corner. I wanted to go in the direction he was pointing but the 911 operator made it clear to me I was supposed to stay home till the police got there. They also told me to keep checking in closets and under beds. I was about to go do that when an older woman on a scooter came around the corner. I called out to her asking if she had seen a little boy. She said YES and pointed up the street. So I started running in that direction. When I got to the corner, I saw a police car slam on his breaks and start to back up. So I ran in his direction. One block away I could barely make out a woman holding what looked like a baby (Cody?) and could see three police cars in front of her house, so I ran that direction. I am near sighted and should wear glasses all the time but they are broken… I don’t wear my contact lenses when I’m home, so that’s why I wasn’t sure if that woman was holding MY baby or hers from that distance. When I got closer though, I could see it was Cody… My cordless phone didn’t extend that far and I was cut off from Jack.

When I got to the woman holding Cody, I could see he had wet eyes and tear streaks down his face. She said, “this must be YOUR little boy” and I was bawling yes yes yes! The police made sure I was his mom then they left.

So here’s what happened from what we can tell. Cody figured out the lock on the security screen (or I didn’t lock it like I thought I had.. I ALWAYS do though so knowing Cody, he figured it out) and let himself and the dog out. Then he wandered half a block down then another block up the street with the dog in tow. The woman on the scooter lives in the house on the street one block up from us. She saw Cody and the dog in her front yard but she said she thought his parents were nearby. But then Cody continued up her street and the dog didn’t follow. The lady who lives kitty-corner across from her (the one who was holding Cody when I got there) saw all this too and walked outside to see if there were parents nearby. She said she also wondered if it was one of her neighbor’s little brother. When she started to cross the street to approach Cody, Randy took off and headed home. So she thought the dog must NOT be Cody’s. I’m going to assume Randy came home and barked to get my attention.

She and the woman on the scooter knew by then that Cody didn’t have parents nearby so she went after him. By this time he’d wandered almost another block up that street and by the time she got to him, he was crying and asking for his mommy.

She took him to her house and the woman on the scooter went looking for me. Both of them live far enough away that they didn’t hear me SCREAMING his name while I was looking for him. The woman who had him said she had him a “while”… I have no idea how long he was gone total. I am guessing from what she said, Cody must’ve left just as I sat down, so right after Cathy left. How he got Randy by me is beyond me since the door to the backyard is right next to my desk. I guess my nose was buried deep into the training…

I’ve learned a harsh lesson from this. I feel like the world’s worst mother, too. I’m going to get ID bracelets for all my kids… something I’ve *wanted* to do for a while but have put off. At this moment, Jack is at the store finding ways to child proof the front door better.. whether it’s locked or not. I’m just so thankful he is home and will be doing something to thank the two ladies who kept their eye on him. Cookies and a card? Flowers? Something.. not sure what… but they have all the gratitude I could possibly have for a human at this point.

Edited to add: I know Cody is a boy who loves adventure and has no qualms whatsoever about taking off on his own to find trouble. He’s done it before… that is why I am always careful about locking areas that he can escape. We’ve always had to be this way. The lesson I’ve learned is that I’ve underestimated his ability to figure such things out and that I can never let my guard down. I mean, I’ve always known that some child proof locks are no match for him. (Like the one we put on the fridge he figured out in a week.) And from past stories on here, you know just how much mischief this child gets into. But just once, I let down my guard and look what happened. Never again…