Most terrifiying 2 minutes of my life

[scuba]

AK on Sept 16, Rafiki's planet watch. Most on here are well aware that strollers cannot be taken inside the building, my 22 month DD on my shoulders and my DW with our oldest daughter inside meeting Rafiki. Once finished we all went back to the stollers to make our way back to the train. I put Rachel down in her stroller and then our eldest (3.5 year old) daughter had a melt down thinking that she had lost some of her laynard pins. After what felt like seconds finding the guilty pins that had fallen off, my Wife turned toward our youngest daughters (22 month) EMPTY???!!!! stroller. My wife yelled to me where was Rachel, and of course I yelled back at her "in her stroller" while I was swinging my head around to see the EMPTY stroller. Well as alot of parensts have done, and mind you I'm no spring Chicken and despite being fairly new parents i'm certainly experienced in alot of life experiences so I looked with in feet of the stroller, to my dismay, NO RACHEL, only then did it seem like my surroundings literally lost color and it was just me, and my emotions, almost as though I had died, and I was a ghost, and I had become nearly unnoticed by others, It seemed like I couldn't hear clearly and it was certainly an experience that I never want to repeat, I headed down the trail toward the train, not that I had a tip, it was just a split second choice, I could have just as easy went back into the building looking for her there, about 20 feet onto the trail and into the woods there I started hearing guests whisper about a baby with blond hair without her parents, this threw me off a bit because our DD clearly has brown hair.

This is where the story is kinda funny, certainly retrospective humor, well maybe not that funny that for a couple of seconds our kids had no supervision but we were at Disney with our best friends who had left Planet watch before us and had heard of a parentless baby only to come upon Rachel sitting on the bench between the covered learning center halfway between the train and the Planet watch building. Kinda surreal they told us to expect to see certainly someone else other than Rachel, whom they have babysat on many occasions. I eventualy catch up to OUR CHILD, and estimate that she had nearly gotten halfway between Planet watch and the train, she most certainly had to be in some type toddler sprint. That distance has to be about 50 yards or so. later that evening we conducted a type of experiment, I winked at everyone in our group and placed Rachel back in her stroller and made believe that we were not watching her and to our dismay she seemed to look for a time she felt we were not watching and she made a break for it again, the speed inwhich she was able to get out of her stroller and cover quite a distance was amazing. Needless to say the rule now is to always buckle her in. Up until that time she had never made an attempt to get out. LESSON LEARNED! Thankfully that day had she gotten up out of her stroller in the main park, we certainly would have lost her, the park was to me, Very busy, and within the confines of Planet watch we were able to find her

[chesterpdt186]

at least you didnt lose your little one in your own house. My DS 12mtho now was 9mo, just starting to walk. I was making his bottle and in no time he was gone.

I had left the bedroom door open slightly, he opened and shut it and was in the bathroom playing in the toliet.

If the child is not attached to you or in a unescapable cage, its best not to take your eyes off of them.

I am glad your little one was alright.

[deanie]

Wow, Scuba, that must have been so terrifying. And those little ones can escape so fast sometimes. I can imagine that time would just stand still.

On a humerous note, my 2 month old son once disappeared off our living room floor. I left him on the floor as I needed to go and get a face cloth from his room and I came back and he was gone!! He was too young to crawl and our front door was locked. It seems that our older son, 2 1/2 quickly picked him up and put him inside a stereo cabinet. He said to me, "It's OK Mom, I gave him my flashlight".

[bumbershoot]

"my surroundings literally lost color and it was just me, and my emotions, almost as though I had died, and I was a ghost, and I had become nearly unnoticed by others, It seemed like I couldn't hear clearly and it was certainly an experience that I never want to repeat"


Oh you poor dad you.....you describe it so well though.

Originally Posted by chesterpdt186

at least you didnt lose your little one in your own house. My DS 12mtho now was 9mo, just starting to walk. I was making his bottle and in no time he was gone.

Except for the toilet part that was kinda funny.

So was the other story with the stereo cabinet.



Story MIL tells is that hubby was a very active baby. He slept in a crib in a room alone (very different from MIL's Korean culture and my own personal culture too, but FIL was the rule-setter there). One morning MIL came in to wake up her little 9 month old...he was gone. I'm sure the world faded for Kyung then....but....

Turns out...he could now climb OUT of his crib.

And hide.



Obviously he was found, and something was done (though I don't ask what b/c I don't want to know), but they say it happened a couple more times...


Anyway, i don't even like losing sight of my kidlet at disneyland for a moment...let alone have him go missing from a stroller!

[GoofyMomInOhio]

OP - I am glad that everything turned out fine. Our DD6 did something similar at that age while at our local Rec Center. Another hockey mom asked me a question and I turned around for about 20 seconds and she was gone. I did a quick search and couldn't find her. We searched for about 5 minutes before we found her by the pool area, which thankfully had another set of doors that were locked. She had left the ice rink, walked down the hall, and made it though the first set of doors to the pool area.
On a side note, this is the same child that we lost at Disney World this past March. She wondered one way while we went in to Peco's Bills. We were ordering and my DH realized she was missing. Luckily, a CM noticed her walking away from us and our matching lime green shirts and had her back to us within a minute of us realizing she was gone.

[CJBaby]

I can't even imagine how scary that was!

I have a 22 month old who could find danger in a padded room, so I really feel your pain!

[katepass72]

That is so scary . . . .just another reminder to all of us parents that our little ones are faster (and sneakier!) than we think. I'm so glad your story had a happy ending

[Ellielovesdisney]

I think something similar has happened to all of us with toddlers. Once my DH and I were at our local grocery store with DD. We were both on one side of the store thinking the other one was watching DD. A friend of mine walked up to me and said she saw our DD on the other side of the store!!! DH and I looked at each other in panic (it had only been a few seconds) and ran to the other side of the store. DD was surrounded by about 5 ladies asking her where her mommy was. I felt like the worst mother in the world...but was very relieved she was all right. Now DH and I always verbally acknowledge who is watching the kids before we separate.

[crabbygal902]

My heart was pounding just READING this story! I am so glad that it had a happy ending. Those little ones can sure move fast. I'll keep an even closer eye on my two from now on.

[Jeanieblue114]

Well if you are anything like my mom, you will recount this story to your child until they are 30! (apparantly I escaped from the car while mom was checking into our hotel at Disney...my dad must have been distracted by Goofy at the time).

Sounds like her independent spirit is showing.

At least you found out her new 'hobby' at a safe place. I'm almost surprised that you didn't find her sitting with Donald Duck or one of the goats at the petting zoo. I figured she just wasn't done with her planet watch visit yet and nobody consulted her before leaving!...lol

[bringmethathorizon]

when they get older.we were at wdw several years back with freinds.we both have 2 kids each.something got the attention of their 12 year old at the same time we were going into pecos bills to eat.when he turned around we were out of sight.we as adults freaked especially moma.needless to say the park was packed and everyone knows the people funnel between the restaurant and the old mcdonalds frys stand.that where we were.good thing the 12 year old keeped his head borrowed a cell phone and called us.funny thing was he was only 20/30 feet away and we didnt see him,it was packed. I know this day and time there are alot of freaks out there. but what i have seen in many past trips there are more of use to help look after these kids.I know we have , with dw being a teacher we haved helped several misplaced parents.we have to remember it takes a village not just to raise them but also to keep up with them.

[Andyjo0930]

I'm glad everything turned out alright. That has always been my biggest fear, losing one of my children at a theme park with thousands of people. I did lose my daughter one day at home. We were scheduled to go on vacation without the kids and my mother in law spent the night at the house. I heard a noise around 3 in the morning, but just figured it was her. When I got up at 3:30 to get in the shower, I saw that the gate on my daughter's room was open. The gate at the top of the stairs was still latched though. I checked her room and she was missing. I ran into the two other bedrooms, still couldn't find her. At this point I'm panicking and turning on every light in the house. I found her sound asleep under her brothers bed!! That was a very hectic start to a vacation!!

[DizzDoll]

OMG your blood must have hit the bottoms of your feet - I can just imagine the white out you experienced!! YEARS ago my younger brother, the little charmer, found out that a sure fire way to high end entertainment was to hide on my mother (also in the house). THis all started when at the age of 2.5 he climbed up on the kitchen counter, glommed himself a banana, and hid under the dining room table (clearly in plain sight if one had one's wits in hand). Mistake number 1. My mother searched and searched and searched for a good half hour to 45 minutes calling his name, and looking all over the house. Finally he came out from under the table and snuck up behind her (mistake number 2). THe third and final mistake was yelling BOO when she was near the top of a flight of stairs (no, she didn't fall down them by the grace of God). Well, young brother had a difficult time sitting down for a couple of hours after THAT scare!! Then he learned that jumping out of the living room closet was soooooooo much more entertaining......

[pickles]

my mom is 74 and this summer she went to visit a friend in NH. while there they went shopping in Khols I believe, and some poor mom lost her little 2 yr oldish girl. mom heard the announcement about lost kid and they had shut the doors etc.. whole 9 yards. Mom is shopping along and was in a quiet section when she saw a clothes rack shake. It got her curiosity up, but she had said at the time she didnt put the lost kid with the moving rack together. She peeked at the rack out of curiosity and there sat a little girl hiding. She asked the kid her name and the name rang a bell, so them mom said you need to be with your mom, and the kid was like no she was having fun playing hide and seek. So, mom asked for her hand and was able to lead her to a clerk and they got the kid reunited with the terrified mom. The funny part is afterwards mom thought geez they could have thought she was stealing the kid since she was walking her by her hand. I told her at 74 she was probably safe from that concern. Mom felt good she was the hero for a day

[KellyNY]

Scary moment for sure.
My sister woke up one mornng and did not find her 2 years old in her bed. She looked everywhere and nothing, she called police and then finally found her kid in a loudry basket, under all dirty staff sleeping like angel. She almost had a heart attack.