security breach

I awoke at 6:30 this morning to Todd hustling out of bed, mumbling something about hearing the doorbell. The person at the door was seemingly impatient - repeatedly 'dingdingdingdingdingding' with the bell. By the time I was awake, the ringing stopped and Todd was on his way to the door in his underwear.

When the door wasn't promptly answered, the woman at the door started to try and speak through the door - clearly having something urgent to say, with Todd answering as he came down the stairs.

This woman, at 6:30 in the morning, was returning our son.


Thank goodness for ID bracelets, kind ladies and light traffic on a Sunday morning.

In order for his great escape to be possible, these are all the things that went unnoticed by his slumbering family:

• his bedroom gate opening and closing (he has just this week figured out how to open it - we're working on a new plan) - we even have a monitor in his room to be able to hear when he's awake (apparently useless)
• the chime from the house alarm 'beepbeepbeep' -ing as he unlocked and opened the front door
• the front door screen slamming shut as he left (we think maybe the screen door was unlocked)

Oh my! Being too sleepy and too under dressed for conversation, the only details we know are that Gabriel escaped and was found in the middle of the street by a kind stranger.

I imagine the scene before she came along may have looked similar to this. Gabriel, outside on the street, doing a little shadow dancing. Most entertaining (to himself). These were taken several weeks ago when the kids were going to school. Gabriel just went out there and started dancing with his shadow, with a 'coon skin cap as an accessory.