Skip to main content

Losing Amanda

At Eleanor's birthday party, Amanda got fed up pretty quickly with our preparations. There was a playground, so she wandered down to play by herself. Then I think she got confused about which way our shelter was (it's not one of the ones we usually see at the park) so she went down the path, looking for our birthday party.

Meanwhile, we finished with the preparations (Michael was hanging up balloons, I was setting out table cloths and such) and Michael went with the first few kids down to the playground. I thought Amanda was with him, he thought she was with me. Neither of us knew something was wrong until we saw her walking up to the playground, cowboy hat in hand, with a strange parent. "Is this your child?"

I think what happened was she didn't find our shelter, but found another shelter where there was another birthday party. One of the parents figured out what was going on, and looked for another birthday party at the park. She knew our names, and she was working on remembering our telephone number (we taught it to Eleanor on our last trip to the zoo). She says she wasn't scared, and I think she's pleased about the cowboy hat. I'm glad no one tried to feed her, although I'm pretty sure she would have asked about allergies before eating anything.

I was hesitating about whether to post this, but a post from the Free Range Kids website helped me decide. Apparently almost everyone has a "lost kid" incident, most end happily. Right now I am feeling bad about losing Amanda on the one hand, and then feeling bad that I don't feel bad enough---she got back ok, she found helpful parents, so I can't seem to work up too much angst. I do know that I don't want to have someone else bring back my kid to me again. I also know that if I ever meet a lost kid, I'll do my best to bring her back safely and happily to her parents.
Labels:

Comments

C. L. Hanson said…
Once, when I was little, my parents lost me in Central Park in NYC! Fortunately they found me again.

When we're on vacation, I usually write my mobile phone number on a couple slips of paper, and put them in the kids' pockets (telling them where they are). Of course my kids are so used to constant supervision that they'll spontaneously start yelling "Mommy! Mommy!" if I'm out of their sight for about thirty seconds...
April 26, 2009 at 6:52 AM
mathmom said…
C. L.---That is so funny! We might be going to NYC this summer, I'll try not to lose Amanda in in Central Park...

Luke tends to keep pretty careful track of where I am, but Amanda probably wouldn't notice if I were gone for a couple of hours. She's always been pretty self sufficient, which I put down to being a middle child with two high-intensity siblings.
April 26, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Lenise said…
Isaac is the same way, but it was Jay we lost, last year at BCBSNC Family day. He was quickly rescued, but not before the whole company heard that my child was lost (that's what I get for letting Daddy take two kids to the inflatable slide!)
April 28, 2009 at 12:19 AM
mathmom said…
Hi Lenise! I think that the most convenient part of Amanda being lost was that we didn't realize she was lost until she was found. Actually, I realized that I hadn't seen her for a while just as the other parent brought her back.

Watching 2 kids in a crowd is tricky, unless they stick close to you naturally.
April 28, 2009 at 6:54 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...
8 comments
Read more

Kindergarten Fashions

I was informed the other day that Eleanor wants to get a new thermos. She lost the o-ring from her purple Tinkerbell thermos, and I have so far resisted buying another one for her, on the theory that you shouldn't just replace things that are broken since it doesn't encourage being careful with one's things. I have been sending her with the sippee cups that she has been using since she was a year old, which she has resisted giving up to the point of becoming partly dehydrated when I don't let her use them at home. Here's how the conversation went. Eleanor: Anna and Jane said today at lunch, " Kindergartners don't drink from sippee cups!" Me: That's very interesting. Eleanor: They are supposed to drink from thermoses. Me: Eleanor, would you like a new thermos? Eleanor: Yes! Get the purple one, please. If there is a crayon one, that's the one I want.... Who knew that peer pressure started in kindergarten? The sippee cups are perfectly f...
4 comments
Read more

Why you should study the history of math

  Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Ca...
Post a Comment
Read more