My Childhood Comes Back to Haunt Me...

Megan and Adalia moved out over the weekend.  Mark and I spent a little bit of time vacuuming and re-arranging the couches in the living room of the Apt and then ended up spending much of the rest of the afternoon just sitting on the couch (and napping - somehow the time change takes it out of ya...).  Most of the kids found us and joined us down there off and on.  Emily never did come down.  As Mark was realizing he needed to go get ready for work, he headed up stairs.  It wasn't very long before he was back down, informing me that he couldn't find Emily.

Let the Search Begin!

Let me just start off by saying that we've gotten pretty good at finding kids when they're 'missing.'  Often they are outside playing, hiding under a blanket (awake and playing, or asleep and clueless), tucked in a corner, using the bathroom, etc.  I've even found kids asleep under the table, asleep under the kids' beds, asleep in the playroom surrounded by stuffed animals... You get the idea.

So, we're on a hunt for Emily.  Start with the obvious places: plain sight, in beds, under the crib, under every blanket, under the table/kids' bed, playroom, outside... 

No luck.  

Move onto the less obvious spots: coat closet, bathtubs, bedroom closets, inside large empty cupboards (we have two at the moment - unless all the toys are pulled out of the ones in the playroom, then we have 4), in the fort in the playroom, outside again but this time with more effort...

Still no luck.  

We were contemplating starting on a walking campaign - each going in a different likely direction around the neighborhood - but decided to do one last thorough search of the house.  Started in the apartment and looked everywhere a child could possibly squeeze into - again.  Finished off the downstairs, came upstairs to put on shoes and grab a jacket (not really at the nervous point, but certainly past the 'don't worry about it, she's fine' point) and realized there was one place left that we hadn't checked.  Under our bed.  Mark sticks his head underneath and says 'I hear something.'  

Turns out she had crawled underneath our bed and fallen fast asleep.

Yea, she's my kid.  

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For those of you unfamiliar with the story, I was around 4 and in this exact same house being babysat by my grandparents while my parents were gone. Suddenly they turned around and I was nowhere to be found.  They searched everywhere, finally called my parents who came home worried.  (There is a creek about 1/2 block away that I knew of and they were aware that I could have found it and been pulled into the pipe.)  They were about to call the cops when they found me .. are you ready for it?  Asleep under the bed.  I guess I was playing hide-and-seek (and maybe didn't tell them?) and had fallen asleep while hiding...