I lost Kaydance last night! Hand me the MOTY award please!

#6

Ok, so it was only for 2mins but it sure was the scariest 2 minutes of my life.

  DH me and the kids off at the mall while he drove to Best Buy (2mins away) for a quick return.  I have taken all 3 kids to the mall alone since K&K were 3wks old. They will be 3yrs & 4yrs in May.  Its nothing new and I have never had a single problem.  

Well, we got Ls hair cut and then we went to eat.  We have the same routine always.  Eat, then quarter machine rides if they eat good.  So, we make it to the rides, everyone had $1 so 2 rides each.  We get done and I usually have to pry them off of the rides one at a time and strap the girls in the stroller while they scream and cry and then threaten to leave L so he will come on.   Kennedy and Landon came right to the stroller and Kaydance had already told me "NO" twice when I told her to come on.  (nothing new)

It happend so fast.  One second I looked at her and she was still on a ride and then 2 seconds later while I was getting Kennedy buckled in the stroller some teen said "Ma'am, do you know the other one is running down the hall?"  **Heart meet toes**

  Um NO I DIDNT FREAKING KNOW THAT.  I about freaked out.  I didnt know if I should leave L and Kennedy to run after Kay or to take the time to put L in the stroller first and then run after her.  I stepped about 10ft away and still couldnt see her so I went back to L & Kennedy.  A lady offered to help and she went on down while I got L in the stroller.  I was almost in tears when she came walking out of a store.  She had only made it 3 stores down but that was far enough.  I grabbed her and held her up to my face and told her in a not so nice way "we do NOT walk away from each other.  You are to always stay with Mommy"  I then got Kennedy out of the stroller and put Kay in and strapped her in tight.  I then hugged and kissed on her and she knew I was upset and then she began to cry and we had this conversation.

Kay-  "Mommy?  You sad?" 

Me-  "Yes, Mommy is sad" 

Kay- Begins to cry harder "I dont want you to be sad, I want you to be Happy mommy"

Me- "Me too Kay, but I was scared when I couldnt find you, that makes Mommy sad"

Kay- "BE HAPPY MOMMY" -while crying with tears rolling down her cheeks.

I just sat in the floor of the mall like a crazy crying and hugging on her.  But the few people that were sitting around also saw that she was "lost" and heard our conversation.  She was talking so loud and clear.  (which she just started doing over the past 2 months)  It was so sad because she was so upset about me being sad.

She didnt ask to get out of the stroller the rest of the night like she usually does.  Even when we were in the Disney store and Kennedy & Landon were both walking around.  She actually remembered the entire night that she had gotten in major trouble.  

Im just glad we were where we were when she decided to walk away for the first time. We were in the food court so there were only 2 actual stores she could have been in other than the few food places.  She was in 1 of those 2 and came right to me when I called her name.  She knew she was lost.  I heard her say "mommy" before I saw her.  But, hand me the MOTY award.  I "lost" a child for about 2 mins tonight.   I wont allow my mind to process the what ifs.  I would have nightmares for sure.

Isabella T.

omg!! ((((HUGS!!!))) I would've been devastated! Thank goodness everything turned out ok! These little ones certainly do have a mind of their own. It's nice that she was able to comprehend how upset you were. It's hard, but maybe a lesson was learned.

lsufan

Sounds like it at least made an impression on her. ?Sorry you went through that! ?I lost Evan (when he was an only child) at LL Bean at the mall one day for about 45 seconds, but it felt like an eternity. ?I was so dumb. ?He wasn't even 2 yet. ?I had pulled him out of the stroller to try a jacket on him, then just left him standing there while I turned around to hang it back up. ?He, of course, bolted for the huge waterfall to watch the fish swimming at the bottom. ?It was the longest 45 seconds of my life.

Mominator

I know how scary that is. I lost my DD in Walmart once. It couldn't have been for more than 1-2 minutes but I seriously thought that I was going to lose my mind when I couldn't find her. Don't be too hard on yourself, it happens to to the best of us and all is now well.

Alibabs

Wow! Scary. Thank God everything turned out ok.