Our little escape artist...

I was making bread this afternoon while Bennett played in the play room off the kitchen. He was playing with a puzzle that made sounds every time you placed the piece in - once my mixer stopped kneading the bread I didn't hear the puzzle anymore. I walked into the playroom and he wasn't there. I made a quick sweep of the house only to realize, he wasn't in the house. A quick look in the back yard showed he wasn't there either. Panic started to set in and I ran out the side door of our house to look for him. There was a man walking across our driveway and into our yard which created more panic. He could tell I was concerned and asked if I was missing a little boy - he led me to the lady who was at our front door holding Bennett.

Evidently, he had made his way out to the middle of the street as two cars were passing by. Fortunately both of them stopped to help our little ragmuffin. I was sick to my stomach and so grateful for kind hearted people who want to help. The man pointed out that the gate to our backyard was open and I knew instantly Bennett's new found trick of opening the gate was going to cause me a lot of grief. Fortunately there is a deadbolt on the gate - unfortunately, they didn't leave a key for it when we bought the house. I took Bennett into the house and dead bolted all the exterior doors and prohibited him playing outside.

(Awfully cute - not so innocent!)

Flash forward three hours.

Hallie came home from school and after doing her homework, lessons and chores she went outside with Hunter to jump on the trampoline. Bennett hates missing out on the fun and he went outside as well. I was cooking (I was delivering dinner to a family in need tonight) in the kitchen and I had a good visual on him the whole time. My phone rang, which took me to the office where my phone was plugged in. It was my sister and we talked for just a few minutes. As I was sitting in the office, I saw a neighbor walking across our grass. I quickly hung up with Kaytlin as I anticipated my neighbor needing something. As I opened the door I saw him holding Bennett. You can imagine how I felt about myself at this point! He found him on the sidewalk one street over and figured our almost two-year-old shouldn't be out without supervision. I apologized profusely and for the second time today my heart was full of gratitude for tender mercies.

Seriously, how does this happen two times in one day!!

I sent Bennett to his room and called my sister back (while I stood by his room, so I knew he wasn't escaping on me!) and relived my two most awful moments of the day. I knew that I would be making a trip to the Depot for a new lock, but in the mean time I was going to tie the door shut. My sister offered a better solution, "Do you have any zip ties?". Indeed I did, and our backyard gate is now unusable as I've zip tied the the door shut.

It's moments like today I think: Who in the world allowed me to be a mother??