CODE ADAM- POOP YOUR PANTS!

If you are a mother and have ever heard those words: CODE ADAM, you know it’s bad. Adam Walsh was a child who abducted from a Mall in Florida and was later found dead, his father is the guy form America’s most Wanted. So when your child goes missing, for example in a Toy’s R Us store and you alert employees, they get on their radios and stars saying: Code Adam. The whole store goes in to lock down, no one leaves, the employees perform a sweep and no one gets out until your child is found. As a parent there is nothing worse than this, you hear CODE ADAM you start crying a poop your pants.
How do I know this? Well, he’s called Stevie. The first time we went to the Magic Kingdom he was 3 and fast asleep in the umbrella stroller, we walked in at noon in the middle of the Main Street Parade. Apparently he had opened his eyes, because he suddenly jumped up and bolted into the crowd and ended up “in” the parade grabbing Goofy. Zero impulse control, one of the many delights of ADHD. Here are some of the worst….
One Halloween, after we had gone tricker-treating and I had put the kids to bed (he was about 5) there were still some stragglers, mostly teens, as it was 9pm. While I handed out candy at the front door, Stevie decided he still had some tricker-treating to do, and left the house via the kitchen door. At 9:30, I open the door to a woman who is very upset with my baby in his jammies. I never even knew he was gone. I was speechless, she was pissed, and Stevie had chocolate all over his face. She lived 3 cul-de-sacs away. How many houses did he hit? What did those people think of a 5 year old barefoot, alone in jammies? Thank God she did not call Child Services, she must have seen to look of horror on my face, even though I looked about 12!
Another Halloween, maybe it was the following year, we went to Miami Seaquarium for a night time Halloween something or other. We were 4 families with at least 10 or 12 kids and the park was packed. Then of course, where’s Stevie? I thought you had him, no, no, no….We looked a good 10 minutes before I grabbed and employee, that’s when they start yelling Code Adam, the park shuts down, all the light go up, haunted house is halted. Everything stops…Stevie had gone to see the Salty the Sea lion show, he got bored waiting for us to decide where to go to next. Of course the whole time I was crying thinking Orca had eaten him just like those EFFING movies!
Yes, we used those “baby leashes” on him and yes, we assigned someone to him all the time, it sounds terrible, but he was the WORST! I swear, I have another some I NEVER lost and I NEVER lost any of my step kids, that 3 to 1, it was Stevie I tell you!