17 May 2008

Have you seen a little boy?

I don't know whether I am strong enough for this motherhood thing. We had another bit of drama involving Noel. Here's the story:

Saturday afternoon we went to a barbeque at our friends' house, and while we were there, Noel managed to wander off. I guess Mike thought I had taken both boys back inside when Dominick said he wanted to eat. A little while later, I was giving Dom his lunch when Mike walked in alone. "Where is Noel?" I asked. The look on Mike's face told me we had a problem. We ran outside and started searching for Noel. Mike took the car, while I ran up and down the block frantically, asking anyone I saw if they'd seen a little boy. A man from a few doors down went off on his four-wheeler or riding lawnmower or whatever he'd been on in his yard to help look. Soon, word reached our party that Noel had been found. Apparently, he had been playing with a ball and kicked or rolled it from our friends' driveway all the way down the block and around the corner toward the next street. When Mike drove that way, he spotted Noel, who had already been found by a woman. It didn't take all that long to find him, but in that time, my mind was playing out a number of scenarios, none of them happy. I couldn't wait to get Noel out of the car and hold him. Not long after, with Noel safely inside the house eating lunch, a police car pulled up. A neighbor must have called the cops. The officer came in to see Noel and make sure everything was alright.

So that's the latest incident in our family. What could possibly be next? I can't take much more of this!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Believe me, we KNOW how you feel, since this is exactly what you did to us. Except you were riding your green worm in the middle of a busy street. I know you get tired of hearing that story, but now you know exactly how we felt that day. The sickness and horror you feel just can't be described. Do they make strait-jackets in size 18 mos.?

Kelly said...

And I think I remember being on that worm in the middle of the street. Is that possible at such a young age? So maybe this is a rite of passage of sorts. Luckily, Dominick hasn't pulled anything like that, at least not yet.

Anonymous said...

The difference being that I spanked you after I caught up with you, only about 25 feet from the street busy with cars going up and down. I spanked you out of fear, and I was immediately guilty. Do you forgive me after all these years?

Kelly said...

I remember that, too! For shame. I do forgive you, though [she says grudgingly]. ;-)