Today I was lying down for a leisurely nap while Gulliver was napping. I'd been talking on the phone with my mom, and was just about to settle down to sleep when I heard Gulliver cry and whimper a little. I kept listening, but he didn't make any more noise, which meant that he woke up briefly and then went back to sleep.
Then I heard the front door open and realized that Murray was home. So I got out of bed and crept downstairs to let Murray know not to make a peep, since Gulliver was just barely falling back to sleep.
Except Murray wasn't downstairs.
No one was downstairs.
And the front door was unlocked. I NEVER leave the front door unlocked. So naturally I assumed that I HAD left the front door unlocked. I peeked outside and didn't see anyone. I shut and locked the door, assuming that a small neighborhood child had mistakenly come to our door instead of his own house and was probably stopped immediately by his parent.
And then I had the sickening thought that maybe when I'd heard Gulliver whimpering and crying, there was, in fact, someone ALREADY in the house which I had foolishly left unlocked, and that Gulliver was no longer THERE because a BABY SNATCHER came and stole him.
So nap-be-damned, I rushed up the stairs and swung Gulliver's bedroom door open to find...
...a very sleepy Gulliver waking up and looking at me.
As any mother would in this case, I scooped up my precious baby boy into my arms and rocked him back to sleep in the rocking chair.
Only then it occurred to me.
What if someone was STILL IN THE HOUSE?
So as I rocked and thought about this, I heard the door unlock and open again.
To my GREAT RELIEF because I'm not so paranoid as to believe that someone other than us has the capability to unlock our door besides us.
When Murray came upstairs, I scolded him (softly because Gulliver was napping in my arms) for all the anguish he put me through. Apparently he had come home from work, opened the door, and realized that he hadn't gotten the mail. So he closed the door, got the mail, and then was pretty confused to find the door locked again when he came back.
The end. No baby snatcher after all, and also, I DON'T leave the door unlocked when I'm at home. Murray used his keys to open it both times.
(As an aside, it drives me nuts that whenever I leave the house, Murray bolts the door. I think that during the day, the lock on the door handle is enough. So I recently asked Murray why he always bolts the door and he said, "I always bolt the door when I am [indisposed] because I'm always afraid that if I don't, someone will break in and steal Gulliver while I'm [indisposed]!")
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