Did that really just happen?

So, we are in NYC, staying in my aunt and uncle’s apartment on the 18th floor. We’ve been here for about 2 weeks so my son, 2.5 years old, is pretty familiar with the building and the elevator and the doormen (thank God there is a doorman and you will know why in a minute). After a long day of walking around the city and a pit stop at FAO Schwartz (aka one of the coolest toy stores ever), we stopped for lunch at a restaurant near the apartment. We walked straight home because it was freezing. I decided to run back out for a minute to grab a coffee.

I told my husband, who had started doing some work, that I was leaving. He was in a different room than my son, who was playing with the dogs and talking to my aunt’s cleaning lady. I told her that I was leaving too and said I’d be right back. Of course I assumed that either my husband or her, or both really, would keep an eye out for my son. I literally was gone for 5 minutes. The coffee joint is downstairs and across the street. I got a coffee and came right back. When I got back into the building, my son was in the lobby holding hands with some strange man. WTF? The guy told me he found him in the elevator.

Oh. My. God. My kid opened up the front door, pressed the down button, got into the elevator and pressed the button to go to the lobby. I can’t believe it. My DH had headphones on so he didn’t hear the door. The cleaning lady heard the door, but thought it was me coming back already so didn’t bother to look. Unbelievable. It’s no one’s fault really. Well, ok, it’s probably mine. I should have made sure that SOMEONE would be watching my son. On the other hand, I thought he’d be totally fine in an apartment with two adults, even if they weren’t paying any attention to him for the 5 minutes I was gone. Whatever the case, it turned out ok, but I just can’t believe it. It could have been bad….really bad.

Thank God for doormen and for nice men in elevators. I must have looked like the worst mom of all time. Yikes!!! So, what kind of idiotic things have you done or have your kids done that made you say “that did NOT just happen!!!”?