Wednesday, November 5, 2008

In case you have any questions about my competence as a caregiver. . .

I forgot my son.

Let's just let that sink in for a minute, shall we?

I forgot my son. (He's 8, for the record.) He went to after-school tutoring. I was supposed to pick him up at 4:30. On the dot. (The school is very particular about this. They make you sign a form and everything. . .You have to be there at 4:30, period.) I did not. He stood there on the sidewalk waiting for his mother, who did not show.

I thought it was a normal day. I got off work about 4:40 and drove to pick up the kids at the babysitter. Kady was at the door waiting on me. Another little girl was running through the house telling Kyler that his mother was there. She came back a few minutes later and said, "He not here."

OH NO! It all suddenly, sickeningly clicked. I went running to the car with Kady, yelling over my shoulder to the babysitter about me being incompetent and Kyler standing on the curb crying. . .I think I explained it all satisfactorily to her this morning. I literally threw things in the car as fast as I could. (Do other 2-year-old girls take this much to the babysitter EVERY DAY?)

Before I could get Kady buckled, my cell phone was ringing. I couldn't reach it in the backseat, so I called her back once I got to it. Before she could speak, I blurted out something along the lines of, "This is Kyler's mom, and I think you just called me because I forgot him, and I am on my way right now, and I'm really close, and I'm SO, SO, SO sorry, and I've never done this before--I PROMISE!! I am so sorry. Is he ok? Tell him I'll be right there. I'm almost there!!"

Thankfully, Kyler was ok. The teacher was super nice. Kyler said it wasn't a big deal. I think he kinda liked getting to talk to the teacher and play by himself until I got there. He laughed at my story when I told him how crazy his momma was. . .as if he didn't know.

3 comments:

CC said...

I am sooooo sure that I will do this one of these days. It's okay. Just breathe.

Hey, my word verification is "dingrack". Not joking.

Stephanie Wetzel said...

Oh jeez. Every mom's worst nightmare. I always worry that I'll get into a project at home and forget to go pick mine up after school.

Haven't done that yet, but I HAVE driven an entire journey without having a baby buckled in. With ALL 3 kids.

Yes, I'm a role model.

Julie said...

I can't tell you how many times I turn around while driving and count heads - 1, 2, 3. OK good, got 'em all, whew! On occasion I've actually done it more than once, like five minutes apart. You know just in case I counted wrong the first time. It's so easy to mess up those first three numbers.