Ya Just Wanna Ring His Neck...

My day ended with unexpected adventure last night, for me and my youngest two kids. Justin had taken the older boys fishing for the evening, and so usual Monday evening activities were suspended. I let B. and L. go play with their friends while I caught up on stuff around the house. Around 7:45 B. came in to inform me that L. and his 8-year-old friend C. were missing and Sister Baker couldn't find either of them. A couple of things are important to understand. First of call, C. has some unique challenges to deal with, one of which is recognizing when something is a bad or unsafe choice. He decides he wants to go somewhere (like walking just over a mile to the local hospital to visit his dad at work) and without thinking through the consequences, he just goes.

On this particular jaunt L. was accompanying him, wherever they disappeared to. The logic / common sense decision-making level between the two boys is not very high. Both boys were on their bikes and nowhere to be found. Two little boys on bikes can go pretty far. B. and her friend A. (who happens to be sister to the other AWOL child) stayed at our house with a walkie-talkie in case the boys came home. They walked around a bit, calling for the boys. Sister Baker and I took the other walkie-talkie and drove around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes looking for these two, asking people out in their yards if they had seen a small blond boy on a red bike and a dark-haired boy on a girl's bike (C. had taken his sister's bike for the caper). There was absolutely no sign of them. By the time we had driven all of the streets at least once and several a couple of times, I was starting to panic. My neighbor and I both decided we'd better check over our houses to make sure neither boy was sound asleep someplace strange (like happened with my oldest O. when he was about 4 years old and we called out the police to look for him at 10 o'clock at night, only to find him sound asleep in a cranny between the computer and the wall). My neighbor called her husband at work at the hospital to see if the boys had shown up there for some reason, and he hadn't seen them.

When I was backing out of my driveway to search a little further, my neighbor called me on my cell phone to say her husband had taken a walk around the hospital and had found the boys playing in the hospital expansion construction site. Phew! Once the relief washes over, then the anger and fear come burbling back up. My neighbor brought both boys and their bikes home and dropped my son off at our house. As I sternly talked with L. about his choices and what could have happened to them I found out the L. said he tried to tell the other boy they shouldn't go over there. I explained to him that next time this happens that he doesn't go with C.; he should come right back home and tell Sister Baker (C.'s mom) or me what is happening and we'll take care of it. L. got three swats on the bum and grounded from friends, computers, and tv until Monday as a consequence. I also told him that if he leaves the house (to only play in our yard) he has to have either a sibling or a parent with him. Otherwise he has to stay inside.

There are certainly times when I wish parents could put those GPS house arrest anklets on their children to keep track of them. There are even times when I wish (only idly), that it would also be nice that if the child strays outside his given boundaries the bracelet would give him a mild shock.

Oh, and I'm now done teaching piano for the summer. The kids helped me get the living room mostly cleared out to get ready for painting. Now if I can just get this shelf off the wall that has a stubborn nail stuck through it...