"Ma'am, is there a small child in the house?"

So, the story goes...a couple weeks ago our day was just run of the mill, oh so typical. Sam had just awoke from a nap and I was finishing up an email at the computer. The boys were both playing in the living room and Sam walked over to me and picked up the phone off the desk while I was typing away. I didn't think a lot of it...he plays with the phone all the time. We usually let him play with it for a minute and then go get it from him after you hear "your call cannot be completed as dialed..." coming form the ear piece.
So, this day was no different. A few minutes later, I heard the whole little "your call cannot be completed..." lady talking in the ear piece. I picked it up, turned it off and thought nothing of the matter. I switched the batches of laundry, did a few other things, went about the day. Then there was a knock on the door.
Sweet! We had been expecting a package from UPS, so sure enough, it was here. I went racing down the stairs since I have to be fast to catch Mr. UPS man since he usually assumes that no one is home and just leaves a notice (which is very frustrating!). I fly down the stairs, Tyler right on my heels, and fling open the door.
And Mr. UPS man was not Mr. UPS man. It was a female police officer. Surprised doesn't even cut it.

Her: "Hi. We received a 911 call from your location. I was coming to check things out and see if everything was all right."

Me: "Uhhhhh...."

Her: "Ma'am, is there a small child in the house?"

Me: (looking up the stairs directly at small child which I was quite sure she was referring to) "Yes, there is, as a matter of fact."

Her: "They did report that it sounded like a small child on the end of the line."

Me: "Oh yeah, I guess he must have gotten a hold of the phone (well, of course I knew he had been playing with the phone earlier, but I wasn't about to flat out admit that I let him play with it!). I'm sorry. Oh, wow, um, I'm sorry, wow. Um, geez. Everything's ok. I'm sorry."

Her: "Ok, then. I guess I'll go then."

Me: "Ok, I'm sorry. Um, this is embarrassing, wow. I'm sorry."

No good bye, nothing...she went and got in her car. Holy cow, I was so embarrassed and had NO idea that an officer would actually show up at my door if my kid called 911 on accident. I always thought they called back first to check. But no, apparently, they come over and knock on the door. And good grief, I had NO idea Sam was so stinkin' smart that he could call 911 all by his very own self!
So in the midst of it all, Tyler was standing right behind me watching the police officer, wondering what in the world was going on. After she left and we went upstairs and I told Sam he was never ever ever to touch the phone again in his life (which he listened to and has been incredibly obedient about, as I'm sure you can imagine...ha!), I started fielding all of Tyler's questions.
Since he is 4 now and a pretty smart kid, if I do say so myself, I figured we could have a little "when to call 911" discussion. So, I told him that if Mommy got hurt really bad or if someone bad was in our house, we could pick up the phone and dial 911. He was really taking it all in and I felt like he had a pretty good grasp on it. You know, one of those "I am a really good mother for grasping these teaching opportunities" moments (you have to build yourself up a bit after you get in trouble for letting your other child play with the phone, you know).
So after we talked a bit, I gave him the little pop quiz. I said "Now Tyler, when do we call 911?". And he responds as such: "When mommy is hurt or if there is a bad guy in our house..." pause, and then his eyes get huge and about pop out of his head and he says "OR when there's a BUG IN OUR HOUSE!!".
Watch out, world. My kids are smart. Together, hand in hand, they'll be conquering the world in no time.