Josh was missing this morning for almost an hour. Here's what happened...

There's a thunder storm this morning with the works- lightening, thunder, gobs of rain. The morning started out fairly typical with Josh up right around 7am ready for his diaper change and breakfast. After his bowl of cereal, I go upstairs to shower while he's downstairs watching Bob the Builder. So far, this is still normal. Usually Josh follows me upstairs eventually. I finish and check on him. He's playing with a toy and watching the start of Sesame Street. I go back into my bathroom to pull up with my hair and finish getting dressed while Rusty is showering. I was upstairs the second time for maybe 5 minutes. As I was on my way downstairs, when I see the back door open. Still, this is isn't completely unexpected since Josh has on occasion helped himself outside to play. I'm thinking "Oh geez, he's playing in the rain and getting muddy." As I approach the back door, I see the gate to the driveway open. Uh-oh. This isn't good. I check the backyard and downstairs and realize- he's missing!

I yell to Rusty what's going on then grab an umbrella and start my search up and down the alley. No Josh. Rusty comes out in shorts to look while I call the police. At this point, we estimate he's been outside 10-15 minutes. I'm not panicked at this point, just level headed and looking. No Josh. We switch- Rusty stays in the home while the officer and him double check the house and I walk up the neighborhood. No Josh. I look in the drains where water is rushing in and have this thought what if he was swept into the drain. No Josh. Now I'm starting to have fears of him drowned, kidnapped, lost, hurt... No Josh. I tell the neighbors on both sides of our home to keep an eye out. I search the front of the neighborhood again when a black truck pulls up and a man asks me if I'm looking for a little boy.

Joshua!!

I was relieved and emotional all at once. I'm so glad he was picked up by a Good Samaritan. He explained that he saw Josh wandering in the street headed towards Rosemeade. The neighbor had been driving around looking for someone looking for him. "He's a very sweet little boy and I can tell he's well cared for." I get the driver's name, thank him repeatedly and take Josh inside.

The policeman takes notes, I change him out of his sopping wet diaper and clothes, and we evaluate how he got out and how to prevent it. On a normal day, the gate to the driveway is closed but we think the storm tripped it making it open. We had the back door locked but we didn't have the flip latch locked. Also, we didn't have our house alarm set which would have notified us of the door being opened.

I'm so thankful he's not hurt and wasn't missing for a terribly long time. In that short time where I began to panic and imagine the worse, I felt like a statistic. So many children go missing and I brush off those stories. They were negligent parents. The kid should have known better. I won't happen to us, we lock our doors and have a gate.

It happened to us for one hour. And one hour is all I need to learn my lesson. Never underestimate your toddler's abilities and never trust that they will OK alone in the home.