Toddler Hits the Streets Via Doggie Door

Twenty-month-old Sean Carter hopped out of his crib early this morning, crawled through the doggie door and kept on going for nearly half a mile, scaring his parents out of their wits but charming the badges off the guys at the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station.

Within a couple of hours, the deputies had put Sean in a patrol car and broadcast his gurgling and very small small talk through the car’s public address system, in search of his parents, who were sleeping soundly a few blocks away.

Sean disappeared from home before dawn, toddling out into the cold morning dressed only in his blanket-sleeper pajamas. He had climbed over the top of his crib, scooted through the doggie door and gone.

Parents Panicked

His parents, Charles and Susan Carter, awoke at 7:30, found him missing, and ran up and down the street in panic.

But they shouldn’t have worried. A woman taking an early morning walk on Allington Street spotted Sean about 5 a.m. and turned him over to deputies.

The deputies took the toddler to the station, where he devoured a hearty breakfast of milk, eggs, cereal and toast prepared for him by the station staff.

In the meantime the Carters had called deputies, and Charles Carter was on his way to a reunion with his wandering son.

“I’m glad (Sean) had his heavy pajamas on,” Susan Carter said.

She said her husband has promised to nail the doggie door shut. The family doesn’t even have a dog anymore--just a cat whose access to the great outdoors, like Sean’s, from now on will be severely limited.