Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time we lived in a very small apartment. While standing in the center of that very small apartment I could see every ounce of living space we owned, correction...rented.

That was not too many years ago, but much less children ago.

Back then...there was no place to hide.

At a single glance I knew where my children were at any given time.

With the arrival of more children came the need for more space. We soon graduated into a duplex with TWO levels. We were moving up in the world. Keeping track of children became slightly more difficult but still doable. No problem. In that home I only lost Todd once or twice and he didn't get far. If you knew Todd back then you would understand that that was very commendable, indeed.

With the increase of even more children came the need for our present home which contains THREE levels. Now I'm not complaining, but for a split second yesterday I yearned for that very tiny apartment we lived in once upon a time.

Why?

Because kids can get lost in this house!

It's hard to know where 8 kids are all the time.

Let me give you an example...

Say...you get a call from the school secretary one day and she wants to know if you are at the school, a little baffled you reply, "No, why"?

Then she proceeds to tell you that your 4 year old whom you thought was quietly down stairs watching TV is in fact actually sitting at the school office waiting for his mother (who wasn't there) to come out of a classroom so he could tattle that his sister hurt him.

Seriously? How did that happen? I didn't take him there and forget to bring him home.
HE WALKED THERE BY HIMSELF!

What was he thinking?

The school is probably 1/2 a mile away. He had to cross a very busy street to get there.
My heart nearly plummeted to the floor. Not cool. Not cool at all!

I had left to go to the school to pickup Todd about an hour before I got the phone call from the school. After picking up Todd I ran an errand and headed home. When I got home I thought everyone was home and doing good. The silence should have been an indication that Daric wasn't home but I was busy thinking about birthday stuff and just glad that I could finish a few things up uninterrupted. In the meantime, before I got home my little tank set out to find his mommy.
Sigh...
I guess I better start roaming each floor more often taking a head count, always remembering that "silence is golden" only applies when kids are out of the house...for now "silence means trouble" is a more appropriate statement.
SO THANKFUL MY LITTLE GUY IS OKAY!