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It snowed more yesterday, which means Topher spent more time asking to play outside. Cooper saved the day by taking him out once school work was complete. Sophie joined them for a bit too. While they played, I stayed inside and worked on dinner in a warm kitchen, occasionally taking pictures from the doorway.

Near the end of their time outside, after Sophie had already come in, I was standing at the kitchen sink and had the thought to open the blinds in front of me. I had opened the other blinds and curtains in the kitchen, but this is a small window and I just hadn't thought of it yet. I reached up and twisted the handle to see outside.

Cooper had asked for tools so they could build a snow fort. He was wielding a snow shovel while Topher had a plastic beach shovel. As I watched I saw Cooper intent on digging snow, but Topher didn't have a tool in his hand anymore. In fact, I saw him turn toward the back of our yard and begin walking toward one of our trees.

Our yard is large and lovely, but, as of yet, unfenced. There's a significant swale near the back, then the ground comes back up and the yard ends at a moderately busy street, depending on the time of day. A fence is definitely on our list of things to add to the house, but we haven't gotten there yet. This information is important for what happened next.

As I watched Topher head for the back of the yard, my heartrate sped up. I wanted to race outside, but I held back, waiting to see if Cooper would notice. He didn't. As Topher started walking down into the swale I ran from the window to the backdoor and yelled, "Cooper!!! GRAB HIM!!!"

Cooper's head flew up from where he'd been focused on the shovel and the snow. He turned to see Topher disappearing below the hill of the swale. Cooper ran toward Topher as fast as the snow would allow and caught him as he was heading up the other side, the side that is a few steps from the street.

Today I'm thankful for the small prompting to open the blinds so that I would see Topher as he walked to a place we've told him not to go. I'm thankful for my loud voice to get Cooper's attention. I'm thankful that Cooper didn't stop to question, he simply ran. And I'm thankful that neither boy made it to the street.