Scary Wake Up Call
As a parent there are usually several times when you have something remind you just how quickly accidents can happen. We've had several in our family-- often enough that my primary response to a tragedy involving children in the news is sympathy rather than judgement. Once upon a time I used to think "What a negligent mother/father/grandparent/babysitter!" Now I grieve for the family and am just grateful it wasn't one of my children.
Today was one of my usual hectic days. I started at 5 am with a K feeding, then proceeded through my regular hectic morning. After a visiting teaching appointment I ran back into the house for just a moment before going to pick up M from school. K was sleeping and J was playing the GameCube, but B wanted to come with me. So I left the others with Terence, loaded B up, and went to pick up M. Sometime before we reached M's school, B fell asleep. It meant an unusually quiet trip for me.
M and I chatted on the way home, and I enjoyed our brief time together, for once without any attitude thrown in. When we got home I was starving, so I went straight to the kitchen to grab my lunch. After I finished eating, I started to put folded laundry away. During my trips in and out of the bedrooms, I realized B was nowhere to be seen. I asked Terence but he hadn't seen her either. I checked the whole house again, even peeking in the garage, which was pitch black. Not a sign of her.
Then in horror I realized.
B was still in the van.
The garage is the absolute hottest part of our house. Even on a spring day like today the garage easily hits 95 degrees by the afternoon. I rushed back into the garage, turned on the light and saw my daughter thrashing around in the car. Opening the door, I found a hysterical B still strapped into her car seat. She had unbuckled the top part of the harness and the regular seat belt holding the car seat into the van, but she was still strapped in across her legs.
When I rescued my poor little girl she clung to me and choked out, "Mommy, you forgot me in the van." My heart about broke. But she's perfectly OK-- she was only out there about 30 minutes and was asleep for much of it. Still, now I am going to tape a big sign on my dashboard that says "Is everyone out of the car?" We live in the desert-- I can't afford to ever, ever have this happen again.
Do me a favor and hug your kids. Just because you can.
Today was one of my usual hectic days. I started at 5 am with a K feeding, then proceeded through my regular hectic morning. After a visiting teaching appointment I ran back into the house for just a moment before going to pick up M from school. K was sleeping and J was playing the GameCube, but B wanted to come with me. So I left the others with Terence, loaded B up, and went to pick up M. Sometime before we reached M's school, B fell asleep. It meant an unusually quiet trip for me.
M and I chatted on the way home, and I enjoyed our brief time together, for once without any attitude thrown in. When we got home I was starving, so I went straight to the kitchen to grab my lunch. After I finished eating, I started to put folded laundry away. During my trips in and out of the bedrooms, I realized B was nowhere to be seen. I asked Terence but he hadn't seen her either. I checked the whole house again, even peeking in the garage, which was pitch black. Not a sign of her.
Then in horror I realized.
B was still in the van.
The garage is the absolute hottest part of our house. Even on a spring day like today the garage easily hits 95 degrees by the afternoon. I rushed back into the garage, turned on the light and saw my daughter thrashing around in the car. Opening the door, I found a hysterical B still strapped into her car seat. She had unbuckled the top part of the harness and the regular seat belt holding the car seat into the van, but she was still strapped in across her legs.
When I rescued my poor little girl she clung to me and choked out, "Mommy, you forgot me in the van." My heart about broke. But she's perfectly OK-- she was only out there about 30 minutes and was asleep for much of it. Still, now I am going to tape a big sign on my dashboard that says "Is everyone out of the car?" We live in the desert-- I can't afford to ever, ever have this happen again.
Do me a favor and hug your kids. Just because you can.
Comments
I'm so glad Brie is alright. And I hope you can feel better soon. I'm so sorry!