Well, it has actually happened. Though, if we are being absolutely accurate, my daughter lost me, not the other way around. And this is not a funny thing to her, as she is my reserved, shy child. Bishop, had he been lost, would have happily joined the nearest family that had brothers for him to belong to without even blinking. Cadence, well, she is a different duck all together. That being said, I do often wonder how well she really hears the things around her, as you will see in a moment. Now, having a fairly intimate knowledge of how her mind works (because, uh...she is my mini), I have OFTEN found myself thinking about something deeply and ended up somewhere in a store that I never meant to be. The difference of course is that I am an adult, and I don't have a mommy I am supposed to be following.
Ok, so as my children have gotten older, and more socially polite, I often allow them to 'orbit' the cart, as opposed to being held hostage within. So tonight, we had to run to Smith's to return a Redbox and because I realized I was out of rice. So there we were, in the back main aisle of Smith's, and Bishop is chatting about dobermans, and Cadence is following dutifully within a couple feet of me. I turn the corner to head to the front of the store, and somehow, in her deep daydreaming thinking, Cadence didn't notice.
Luckily, in my hyper-vigilant mommy ways, I noticed right away, and stepped back out into the main aisle to see her continuing to walk away from me. So I called out to her. A couple time. And she either didn't hear, or was really deep in 'thought' and just continued walking. So I told Bishop we were going to see how long it takes for her to notice, and to not say anything to her. (Mean? Maybe, but I kind of wanted to see how she reacts to being by herself...once she realizes that she is actually alone) So we follow her. From one end of the store to the other, then she turned to corner, and headed into the produce section. She made it almost to the front of produce before visibly realizing that I was no where to be seen.It was like she walked into an invisible wall. At which time, she started to panic, and loudly said, "Mommy?!"
Now, I could have not said anything, just to see how she figured the situation out, but my mommy heart responded too much to the clear distress, and I rushed over to her. She was VERY relived to see that we were behind her. I *may* have scolded her a bit for not paying attention, and then she had to finish out the store trip in the cart, which she was happy with, as she is not my adventurous one by any means.
So no, she was never really lost, but she thought she was. I will say it is more clear that she needs to be watched a bit closer, and even though she turn 3 in less than a month (!!! :( !!!) she is no where near independent. Which is actually pretty okay with me.
