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May 20, 2006
Yesterday's Bad Mommy Moment
I lost Jamie at the mall yesterday.
Even worse, I didn't know she was lost until she was found.
We spent the morning running errands in the shopping centers around the mall. I had one or two things to do in the mall itself, and the natives were getting restless, so we went to the food court for lunch and then wandered to the germ tree for some play time. For once, Katie was cooperating and riding in the stroller, so I sent Jamie into the play area and walked just past the entrance to the gumball machines for a little sweet treat.
I sat down right at the entrance to the play area and unstrapped Katie. I stood her up and pointed her toward the fun, so she immediately turned around so she could climb on the stoller. Like we couldn't have done that at home. Whatever.
I heard some kid crying and started looking around for Jamie. I was pretty sure she was behind a tree stump, but I couldn't move far enough to actually see her without letting go of the stroller that Katie was leaning on. I did look at the faces of the parents over by the tree, and none of them wore expressions that indicated there was a crying child near them. I shoved my foot under the wheel of the stroller and sat back down.
Next thing I know, a woman is carrying a distraught Jamie toward me, coming from the gumball machines. Did I mention I was sitting right beside the only exit to the play area? Apparently she ran past looking for me at the same time I was bending over wrangling Katie.
Luckily, Jamie got over her fright in a couple minutes and went back to playing and trying not to get run down by the older kids. I sat there feeling like an idiot, not so much for losing my kid, but for not even realizing it. I *knew* I should make visual contact with Jamie, but the kid takes sticking around to extremes, so it never occurred to me that she would have left the play area.
Lesson learned.
Posted by me at May 20, 2006 11:07 PM
Comments
It`s so tough with two little ones. I remember going to an unfenced playground, and letting the kids out of the stroller into the sand box. Big Son (at the time, Only Son) took off at a run after a stray dog -- I left Daughter in the sand and bolted after him, yelled at him for approaching a strange doggy, and got back a few seconds later to find Daughter chewing on a bottle cap she`d found in the sand.
I told myself, it could have been worse: the dog could have actually bitten Big Son, and Daughter could have had a hyperdermic needle or used condom in her mouth....
Posted by: L. at May 22, 2006 1:01 PM