I think I got the award for Worst Mother of the week on Friday. I took the day off to do something fun with the kids. With all of the stress of moving, working, etc., I thought they deserved a day dedicated to them. I invited my mom to come with me and the kids to go to the zoo. I wanted it to be a laid back, not a rush-around-to-see-everything-and-get-my-money's-worth kind of trip. Plus, the Detroit Zoo has this new Dinosauria which I know that the kids would absolutely love!!
We got there and visited the dinosaurs first. Shortly after, we seen the lions, then the monkey exhibit. We turned to the right and looped around the monkey exhibit. Before coming to a dead end for construction, there was a tiny little room that looked like a cave. One side, you could view the meerkats peeking up at you and the other side had a snake hidden somewhere inside. My mom pushed the stroller in first with Noah inside. Conner walked up to see the snake. I unloaded Kassadi and Gavin from the wagon. I turned around and seen Gavin climbing the railing to see the meerkats. I went to assist him, for literally, 10 seconds. I turned to my Mom and said "Where's Kassadi?" She looked around at her area of the room and couldn't find her. I thought I'd poke my head around the dead end/construction area and thought I'd find her fairly quickly. I kept walking a little bit more towards the monkeys calling for her with no response. I felt like other parents were staring at me thinking "Don't pay attention to your kid much?". I thought to myself, "It's been a couple minutes, Mom probably found her. She wouldn't be this far." I went back to the Meerkats and that tiny room was PACKED of people. Mom was stuck towards the front and still hadn't found her.
Now, I'm hauling butt frantically looking for her. She is only getting farther and farther from me now. I'm starting to panic and cry. Other parents are now stopping me to get a full description and they are running opposite directions to find her too. One lady suggested telling a park ranger. Good idea....if I could find a park ranger. I went to the nearest employee I could find serving drinks at a lemonade stand. I asked, "Is there somewhere I can report a little girl missing?". She replied, "Yeah, hold on a second" and continued to serve drinks. I waited for my second and the crowd at the lemonade stand left her and went to help me, disgusted that they girl did NOTHING to help.
I walked the opposite way we had come from and went all the way to the back of the zoo (which was only a couple more exhibits down). I checked the cafe at the end to see of someone was there with her looking for help...NOTHING! One of the other visitors at the zoo tracked me down with the park ranger following behind in their car. I heard him using his radio signaling for other park rangers to close down the front gates. This is about the time I started to feel nauseous.
It's been several minutes now and I all I want to do is run around the zoo so fast to find her but the ranger insisted I stay with him so they didn't have to hunt me down if/when they found her. I felt bad for my mom who was left with Conner, Gavin & Noah probably feeling helpless because I know she also wanted to help find her.
Finally, the ranger's radio beeped in. They found a little girl with plaid shorts, a hot pink shirt with flowers on the shoulder and pink strappy sandals with dark hair and brown eyes...who refused to talk to anyone. "YES!" I screamed, "That is my daughter". She is unfortunately so shy to talk in unfamiliar situations. Now, the dreaded wait. I had to wait for them to do the technical stuff and drive her to me. That was the longest half hour schpeel of my life.
My mom was there now waiting with me, Conner, Gavin and Noah. While I was talking with the ranger, the wagon went rolling down hill with Gavin strapped in. He only rolled a few feet and hit the curb. He was fine. Another man walked past as if I let my kid roll onto the free way, telling me to "learn to watch your kid". I was ticked but fortunately for him, I was too pre-occupied with reuniting with my daughter to deal with him. {Add this to already established, "Worst Mother Ever" feeling}
Here comes the golf cart with the ranger and my daughter. I ran up to them and grabbed her out of the cart, hugging her. She is of course, all smiles and high-fiving the ranger like it was no big deal. I was all teared up with relief, hugging and kissing her. I asked why she walked away from me and she said "I was looking for you all over and I couldn't find you". The only thing I can think of is if she turned the opposite way of the snake and meerkat displays and lost sight of me when I went to help Gavin (there was a divider in the middle of the cave-like room) and she took off looking for me. She was found back at the lions we had just passed and another family seen she was lost and started walking further back looking for me. In a matter of seconds, she was gone. And that was by her own two feet at her pokey pace. I couldn't imagine where she'd be if the unthinkable would have happened.
In the end, everyone was safe and where they belong. Moral of this story: Keep the kids strapped in the wagon at all times. If they can't see the meerkats...well, they're not that spectacular anyway. LOL Just kidding! But, seriously, I'm going to have to train them better for situations like that. They know to stay away from strangers, don't take candy from a stranger, etc. I never really taught them if they are lost, stay put. And for pete's sake, tell someone your name!! (BTW, she does know her full name and mine).
