I hope so too. He reminds me of my son, butfor the life I'd
Me I cannot relate how a child with no known issued at 18 months can just run off. My son is almost 10 months. I watch him like a hawk. This is either a case of foul play of parents not watching their kids.
I have two children, and I assure you I am one of the most over-protective parents God placed on this earth. They are both older now, and in their teens, and I am still as protective as I ever was.
Yet, in having two completely different child, I can tell you that even the most watchful set of parents, and even other family members, have had a child disappear on them. If only for five heart-pounding moments in a shopping mall, or at an older siblings little league game....or in the case of that small percentage of impish boys (and girls!) who are full of that precious zeal for exploration and life..without being tempered at all by fear (probably even LESS fearful because they have always had the parents who watched them "like a hawk" and therefore think the world is a safe and groovy place.
When my son was 20 months old, my husband was in basic training. He joined the army at the advanced age of 30 because of 9-11 and swept up in patriotic fervor. Fervor is nice, but we were older, with two children, and I didn't know how to fix the one toilet in my house, my impish urchin had stuffed with toilet paper.
He spent some time watching me, as I struggled with the overflowed toilet. He wandered off then. It was time for the teletubbies, and he left the same time as I could hear the theme song in the background. My four year old was dancing next to me, 'cause as she informed me, hopping from one foot to another, "she really really had to go" We were in our own home. The living room and television were almost within view of where I was, crouched next to the toilet, trying to figure out the plunger and get the toilet working before I ended up having to mop floors too..cursing my husband for being gone
To keep a long story from getting longer...by the time I had repaired the toilet, my daughter had to be changed. All of this drama took about 15 minutes. When I came out to the living room, my tow-head bruiser of a boy was gone. In October. In a diaper and t-shirt, nothing else, and it was COLD out, with the front door wide open.
I'll spare you the screaming and the running up and down the street. The gathering of neighbors, and the calling of the police (who were called within the first five minutes when I realized he wasn't in the yard, or within sight) The police took about ten minutes, we were in a small ocean community in Alabama..but we did live by a major road. I was frantic with worry. He wasn't anywhere.
It took 45 minutes before we found him. The police didn't find him, a 12 year old neighbor boy found him. He had walked behind our house...and down the block, but not on the road, through the backyards until he had found a house with a very nice playset out back, about 4 blocks away. I have no doubt he wouldn;t have walked until he dropped if he hadn't been distracted...not knowing how to return.
My point of this way too long story is that even vigilant loving parents must drop their guard occasionally. It's terrible, and most of the time it turns into a story about how mom got a few white hairs, but occasionally it's tragic. Skimming through Charley Project can uncover sheathes of them. A mom answering a phone call, a child disappearing from an aisle at Sears, a child disappears when they lag behind pouting...
I don't know if there was foul play in this terrible, heart-rending case. I don't know if this maybe a way to cover up abuse, or neglect. God knows, I've grown so cynical about parents, and people since I began to read all of these cases. Yet, the fact that a child escaped out of the house isn't far-fetched, and I can't throw any stones at this mother until all the facts are out, especially the first stone. There by the grace of god goes any mother of any rambunctious, reckless, beautiful toddler
