Holy friggin crap...

[kenmichaels]

So i wake up out a sound sleep, i hear NOTHING...

I know something is wrong, i get up and start going downstairs
i make it to the first landing .. i see my front door wide open !

As quietly as i can i go wake my wife up and tell her to call the cops
if she hears anything bad when i go down downstairs...

She did not bring her phone up with her ( unusual )

So i grab the glock, and try to sneak down the steps
as quietly as possible ... the whole time remembering
just 4 years ago our house was cleaned out in a robbery
and so i went from kinda scared at the top of the steps
to being pretty pissed off by the time i got to the bottom

I was also wondering if i actually had what it took to shoot some one

I am literally sneaking from room to room in my own house

I don't see anybody, nothing appears to be messed up / missing

completely wondering WTF...

So i goto the front door, peek outside , i hear noise but i cant
see anything, so i flip the switch to turn on the front flood lites

and in my front yard was my >>> THREE YEAR OLD SON <<<

I think that is the closest i have ever come to literally crapping my pants

I went out that door "ready"

my kids out side looking for his slinky... holy crap ...

He made it past the baby proof doorknob in his bedroom
down a flight of stairs, a deadbolt and bottom lock.

at 4 A.M

its two hours later, i am still frigging shaking

[John Durham]

Wow!

Now that is a trip!

I'll BET that scared you! Thats ca-razy man. Yeah at around 3 or so they will start figuring out ways around those locks.... stackin up chairs all kinds of stuff. There is a part of us that watches over them constantly, I use to check twice a night just to make sure they were breathing. Would wake up a couple of times per night for that... but some parts you just have to trust God...

What I find most interesting is that you SUDDENLY woke up.

Dont think it was a coincidence. I think that was the "One part God".

Hope you are okay man, and I hope the boy found his slinky! lol

[TLTheLiberator]

Sorry to hear it cause I know the feeling.

If you believe, you know whom to thank.


All The Best!!

TL

[MissTerraK]

Wow Ken!

How frightening that must have been!

I understand how you feel completely! When my son was about the same age as yours, my husband went to check on noises we heard. He was convinced that someone had broken in and was going through the knife drawer, choosing a weapon.

When he got to the kitchen, my little guy had gotten around the child safety latch and was laying all of the butcher and carving knifes in a line from largest to smallest blades on the floor!

Scary stuff!!

Terra

[salegurus]

Damn, glad to hear your son is okay Ken.
My 3 year old son AKA "Destructor" figured out how to
bypass those child locks on the door knob months ago,
he simply pulls them right off.

I have installed extra locks on the exterior doors that
are too high for him to reach

[Jacqueline Smith]

And let me guess......your son couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.

Afterall, he just wanted his slinky.

Hope your heart rate has slowed down a bit.

He's just preparing you for his teenage years.....that's when the real fun begins!

[seasoned]

Yeah, childproof is REALLY kind of a stupid term. A small chimp can see a person do something ONCE and learn enough to succeed in an attempt to emulate it. When I was a kid, we really laughed at the child proof caps that adults often asked US to open because they either couldn't figure it out, or didn't have the dexterity, vision, or strength.

You should try to explain to your kid that it could be dangerous to go out alone, dangerous to go out that early, and dangerous to leave the door open. He essentially put his whole family in danger over a toy.

I'm glad all ended up OK. At least your wife knows you have the guts to even face death to protect everyone. Maybe your kid will figure THAT out.

Steve

[HeySal]

One good lesson that everyone with a gun should know - Don't point it until you can SEE the target and know what it is. Doesn't sound like you came close to that mistake, though.

Kids can do a lot of things we don't realize until it's too late that they can do. You had a happy ending. Both your child and your home is safe -- and you didn't get arrested for being "negligent". That happens a lot now too even though you have to have a 24/7 leash on a kid to avoid all mishaps.

[waterotter]

I was a tad older than your son, but decided to sleep-walk while we were at out cottage. My Mom heard something, woke up my Dad and they went to investigate.

After checking my bedroom, I was no where to be found. It was a full moon that night and my parents just caught an image of something on the dock.

By the time they got to me, I was just getting ready to dive off the end of the dock. My parents simply turned me around and followed me back to the cottage and made sure I got back into bed ok.

They then proceeded to lock the doors again, but they also piled chairs against the door after that fearing they may not hear me the next time.

Sure didn't scare me - I don't have any recollection of the event, but scared the crap out of my parents.

Sure glad you guys had a happy ending also!

[Perrymma]

I live in fear of this everyday. My oldest is now in a toddler bed and everynight i think to myself "what if he gets up while im sleeping?" "What if he got into the bad stuff and drank some chemicals or something?" You have to trust the good lord sometimes. Im glad your child is ok.

[AprilCT]

What a relief to find your child before he wandered even further away. You might want to give some thought to adding a simple sound alarm you can hitch up to your doors at night. If he gets the door opened, a very loud alarm goes off that will wake you. Just don't forget to replace the battery regularly.

Unfortunately, kids do pull these tricks. When they get to be teenagers, it's a lot harder to keep track of them. A relative's 3-year old had gotten out of the house early in the morning and, fortunately, was found only two blocks away. This is the same kid that climbed up drawers she had opened and made it to the top of the refrigerator and many other adventures.

[kenmichaels]

Thanks for all the well wishes, and as of this evening we now have the chain locks
high up on all the doors leading out side.

And a pretty tall baby gate above the steps.

And i did my best to explain to him not to go outside on his own,
but he is three... so who knows how much of that he really grasped.

Hopefully this was the last time anything like that can happen
and will just be a funny story to tell someday.

Gotta say tho, could not stop thinking about it all day, pretty scarey stuff.

[goindeep]

Damn! Hope your OK man.

That kid is probably a 7th grade ninja.

[thunderbird]

Originally Posted by kenmichaels

<snip>

my kids out side looking for his slinky... holy crap ...

He made it past the baby proof doorknob in his bedroom
down a flight of stairs, a deadbolt and bottom lock.

at 4 A.M

its two hours later, i am still frigging shaking

I know where you're coming from, there. My toddler scares me too, the way he figures out how to open things. Baby proofing never worked with him -- it intrigued and attracted him. You are lucky to have a good 6th sense! In my neighborhood a two-year-old fell to her death from a condo balcony while her mother and stepfather were having a rehearsal pre-wedding meal.

[HeySal]

Originally Posted by kenmichaels

And i did my best to explain to him not to go outside on his own,
but he is three... so who knows how much of that he really grasped.

I have a LOT of memories from when I was three. He grasped it. He might not know why you are so shook about him going outside, but he grasped that you said he's not to do it. He grasped that he scared you and he grasps that he might get the Wrath of Daddy on him if he does what you told him not to.