My little escapee

So today my fear about nursery came true.
Dax escaped. And nobody noticed.

I've had this fear it would happen since his first Sunday in nursery. Because he can open the door, and repeatedly tries to leave whenever he's bored. He's also quiet in nursery. He's not clingy. He's not a crier/screamer/whiner. He's not aggressive to other kids. He plays nicely by himself and goes where he should with the routine. He doesn't "need" anything, so in a room full of 15 nursery aged (18mo-3years) children, he's nearly invisible. After his third Sunday there, I talked about my concern with the nursery leader, as I wanted her to be aware of just how often I'd been preventing him from sneaking out. He IS sneaky, too. Just like at home, he knows I don't let him climb to the ceiling. So he waits until I answer the phone or start a load of laundry and makes a climbing dash for it! At nursery, he knows if he goes to the door, somebody will stop him. So he watches, he waits, he plots his escape for when the adults are busy tending to criers or passing out snacks or calming some chaos - and THAT is when he tries to sneak out.

The unexpected part? I was in nursery today! I've been in there with him every week, still because they're short staffed. They have never once had enough adults to handle that number of small children (I mean, we have enough if I stay - and often times they've had others stay in addition to me). I know how sneaky and curious and adventuresome my little boy is, and I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him if I didn't feel confident they could care for him.

When/how it happened? At the end, during pickup time. I was standing in the back/middle of the room. I was holding the stack of papers the kids had colored, flipping through it and finding the right one for each kid as their parent picked them up. The room was very, very full - still full of the nursery kids, plus older siblings and parents picking up. As it got emptier and we were down to maybe 7 or 8 kids, a friend of mine who is not involved in nursery came into the room - holding Dax's hand. She found him clear on the other side of the building! I hadn't even noticed he was gone. :( This was after church let out and the halls were full of people. Glad she recognized him and that he was alone and brought him back so quick - he couldn't have been gone more than 2 or 3 minutes. But the idea of it makes me feel sick.
And this had nothing to do with his ability to open the door - the door stays wide open during most of pickup time because it's a constant stream of parents/siblings.

This makes me feel even more nervous about leaving Dax than I previously felt. :( Although his independent nature is nice in a lot of ways, there's safety to be had in a clingy child. At least he's not yet strong enough to open the door of the church and get outside. Hopefully by the time that happens, he'll have the ability to resist the temptation of the outdoors and remember/heed my rules.