It began as an ordinary morning with me running at 5 a.m. with a friend and getting home just before 6 to shower. By that time, Dave was ready to head to work, but he stayed to get Teddy dressed for school before leaving. I finished up breakfast responsibilities for the boys, got Teddy's braces and shoes on, got Teddy dressed and out the door along with AJ around 6:55 a.m. because their buses both come right before 7. And that's where our window begins.
7 a.m. AJ's bus driver tells me to be patient because Teddy's bus driver is sick. I realize that Teddy and I are better off hanging out in the garage instead of me chasing him and his snow shovel around multiple driveways in the cul de sac. We head in the garage, and I shut the door to keep Teddy enclosed while I run into the house quickly.
7:03 a.m. I pull Teddy off the hood of my vehicle. He pulled the step stool over to scale onto my hood and was quite happy to be there. I was quite happy he wasn't on the roof from the 90 seconds I went in the house to put snot-covered gloves in the washer.
7:05 a.m. I determine that his substitute driver is going to be later than just a few minutes, so I quick pop in the house to toast a bagel for my breakfast because I'm expecting a call from Teddy's teacher at 7:15 a.m. to follow up on a recess incident from yesterday.
7:06 a.m. I pull Teddy off the back of the Tahoe as he's standing on the rear windshield wiper about to scale up to the roof. I'm really happy I got him before he got on the roof because it's a challenge to get him down from there. How a child who walks into walks routinely can scale a Tahoe that quickly amazes me.
7:10 a.m. I let Teddy inside my vehicle to play and happened to check my phone, which I had left in my vehicle after running. I notice a missed call and voicemail from the bus company. I expect it to be them letting me know they'd be running late. Instead, the gist of the message was that they would not be picking Teddy up for school as they had no replacement for his bus driver. I was befuddled that was even an option. I understand short staffing, but I have a hard time believing a yellow bus full of children simply wouldn't be picked up ... yet it can happen to a child like Teddy who rides a van instead of a bus to school? I return the call to the bus company, but no one answers. Guess I'm taking Teddy to school. I have no idea how early I can drop him off since his bus driver handles that.
7:15 a.m. I begin driving around with Teddy since he's already in my vehicle. His teacher calls me to follow up on an incident that happened at recess yesterday. There was a note and an e-mail to call him, but I didn't see those until after 8 p.m. and didn't want to disturb him then. It turns out that incident was Teddy eloping at recess and being missing for 5-10 minutes. He was riding his adapted bike and somehow got past all the para-professionals and playground staff. He was found stuck in a snowbank by one of the three roads that surround the school. He thought life was grand. The rest of us, not so much. I know there was absolutely no ill intent by his team at school, but Teddy cannot be trusted with his own safety. It's rather unsettling that Dave and I had a conversation last night, before we knew of this, that Teddy was most likely to die from complications from his disorder or his lack of safety awareness. We're grateful yesterday turned out as it did because it could have went very differently. His team is safety planning, so we'll work with them to make sure changes happen to keep Teddy safe from himself.
7:30 a.m. I drop Teddy off at school and head to work. I'm glad I'm only his mom and not his guardian angel.
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