First off, our daughter is fine and probably not even fazed by the whole incident, thank God.
My wife had to work today.
My 2 kids were playing in the yard this afternoon while I was installing an interior door in the house. I was in and out of the garage and I was checking on them every so often. They were in the shed playing "Shrek" or something. I wnet into the house to answer my mobile phone. It was my wife, calling on her break. I wander when I talk on a phone so I was in and out of the house. After the call ended, I went upstairs to use the bathroom. My son came running up saying that Sarah had went "out in the parking lot". Not sure what to make of it, I asked him to tell me what he meant. He said "c'mon Dad, I'll show you". We went out and I saw the gate to the driveway open. He told me Sarah went to the park on the road. They have hid on me in the past so I really thought they were playing a game and she would pop out of the bushes and try to scare me. We walked to the end of our street, about 200 yards but nothing happened. He still insisted that she went down the road. I told him to stop messing around and tell me where she is. "But Dad, I am telling you".At this time, I thought maybe he is telling me the truth. I called the folks across the street and told them briefly what was going on and that I was going to run around the block and see. They did the same. I no sooner turned the corner from our street to the next and I saw 3 police cars and a crowd. To say my heart sank is an understatement. I pulled up and saw my little girl just sitting on the curb as content as can be.
A neighbor behind us called the police to report a 2YO walking down the sidewalk by herself. Once I got done hugging her(good thing I had shades on
), the PO started asking me questions. I was so shook up I couldn't even remember her middle name or her birthday. WTH?!!! The PO even asked if I was her biological father.
Our yard is completely fenced in but the one gate DIDN'T have a lock on it. It does now.
What a scary experience. I was NOT looking forward to telling my wife when she got home but we got through it ok. I fully expected her to be upset with me as we have "discussed" whether or not we need to stay right on top of the kids when they are out in the yard. I guess I have now lost that argument.
Not looking for advice or to get beat up for being a horrible parent, I just needed to share my story. I know I made a mistake and we are very lucky.