False Alarm

At the risk of repeating myself, I am copying a post from my other blog (What Reagan's Doing Now) below. It's a story that shouldn't be missed, so I'm doubling my coverage. Enjoy!

This is an entry that will live in infamy in the Gibbs household.

It was the end of our Sunday morning church service. Scott was down in the fellowship hall, manning the PA system for Kids Town; I was on the platform, having just finished singing a closing song; and Reagan was in her Toddler 2 classroom. Before Pastor Paul could utter "Amen", the fire alarm went off.

Our pastor quickly dismissed everyone, and I rushed down to the end of the building where Reagan's class is held. (They had already evacuated the children, so the room was empty.) Everyone was walking out rather casually at that point, feeling certain we were facing a false alarm. I was near our associate minister's wife, and I jokingly reminded her of the time her oldest daughter (probably around age 2) pulled the alarm. She made the comment that hopefully this time it wasn't her kid, and I said something like, "Well, I guess it could be Reagan."

I made it outside and spotted Reagan's teacher holding her. I went to retrieve her and said, "Did she freak out on you when all the noise started?" She replied, "No. Actually, she was the one who pulled the alarm."

Utter disgrace and mortification are words that come to mind. Yes, our darling two-year-old was responsible for the evacuation of about 400 people. The firetrucks came, and the firefighters secured the building. All because of our little climber.

Reagan joins an elite group of kids who have done this at our church, and the club includes two of our pastors' children. Apparently, the placement of the alarm pull in the toddler classroom has been a problem before (about half a dozen times in as many years).

As I took the walk of shame to retrieve my purse at the other end of the building, word was spreading about who the culprit was. (Reagan, by the way, had no clue what she had done.) Other parents were helping us laugh it off with a "Hey, it could happen to anyone" and even the occasional "My kid did it two years ago." Everyone was very good-natured and lighthearted about it.

And we can even laugh...now.