The Phone Call You Never Want To Get

My wife called me on Wednesday afternoon and for about 20 seconds I experienced fear and adrenaline that I'm not sure I have felt before. She told me that she could not find our 5-year-old son. She had been in another room with our middle daughter and when she came out Taylor was not there. He was supposed to be in his "Quiet Time" (an hour of alone time to do whatever he wants), but he was nowhere to be found. She called and called for him, but no response. She looked all over the house, but he was still missing. Then she called me in a panic. I walked her through some questions. I told her to check with the neighbors. Maybe he went over there. My heart was racing and immediately all the worse case scenarios came to mind.

While we were still on the phone she called for him one more time and then heard his little voice say, "Mommy?"

Relief.

Sometimes the kids like to build "forts". This is usually a huge mess of blankets, pillows, couches and endtables placed strategically together to construct a suitable domain for a 5 and 3- year-old. Well, on this day, Taylor decided to build a much smaller one. One that just looked like a unorganized pile of blankets and pillows on the end of the couch. He then proceeded to crawl in there and fall asleep. When this boy falls asleep, he sleeps hard, thus he couldn't hear Kim calling for him.

Moral of the story: Check the pillow piles.