I am a bad parent already!

Last night was a fairly warm evening, so we put a laundry basket in front of the door and left it open to enjoy the nightly cool down. We periodically would yell "No!" at Todd when he would try to hop over the basket, but he mostly hung out in a cool spot underneath our bed. I had just finished helping Andy move the last few little pieces of living room furiniture to their new places and I went outside to take a few clothes off of the line. The door wasn't closed all the way around the laundry basket. There was about a 6 in. gap on the right side. I asked Andy if he had gone outside. He said no and we both looked around the house for Todd. I am typically over-paranoid about the dog, so I assumed he was safely under the bed and that I was just being a worry wart. He wasn't. We both threw on our shoes and headed out to look for him; not knowing how long ago he had left. Luckily, he was on the sidewalk near our next door neighbor's house and he stopped walking when he heard Andy tell him to come back. Is this the guilt that a negligent parent feels? I jokingly told Andy that perhaps when we have a toddler in the house a laundry basket won't be the best way of keeping them safely inside. With our dog safe and sound we were able to finish up the last few things we wanted to get done yesterday and head for bed. This morning when I got up and Todd was stretching his legs in his little dog bed, I went over and gave him a good scratch and realized how much I love him. I know that the love for a dog is completely different than the love for a child and I started to get really excited that we are going to have an opportunity to experience that love and eventually to get love in return from an actual growing, changing person. I just hope our hearts are ready.