Yesterday my worst fear came true, I lost my little Tyke, literally!
I normally don't enjoy shopping but I had had so much fun on Black Friday that I decided I needed to do some more on Saturday. We picked Grandma Cheryl and Aunt Tiff up and headed straight to the mall. I had only packed one stroller, for Luke, because for the most part Tyke is pretty good to stick close. Plus I had two extra helpers.
Our first stop was JCPenneys, in the kids/baby section. Tyke had fun running around looking at all of the toys and Grandma Cheryl was good to follow him. I had Luke with me and Tiffany just kind of did her own thing. After finding a few cute clothes for the boys Tiffany, Tyke and I left Grandma Cheryl and Luke to venture out into the mall to look for a hat at the sports stores. Tyke enjoyed running in front of us and trying to get his little hands on everything he could touch. We were unsuccessful finding the hat we were looking for so we ventured back to JCPenneys. Aunt Stephanie and her kids were on their way to meet up with us and I knew that Luke was getting ready to eat again.
We got onto the escalator to head down stairs to find Grandma. Tyke was in awe with the escalators. He couldn't keep his balance on them and had to hold our hands. Even though he was very wobbly he still thought they were pretty cool. We got to the bottom and got off and worked our way over to the customer service desk. That's as far as we made it when Tyke darted off, full speed, towards the scarfs and purses which just so happened to be located right at the base of the escalators. Tiffany ran one way to head him off and I ran the other and wouldn't you know, neither one of us was fast enough. Tyke was gone! I couldn't find him so I assumed Tiffany had caught him. When I looked at her and saw her confused, concerned face I knew he was gone.
I panicked and yelled, "where the hell is he?!" And she just shrugged her shoulders and took off looking. I took off too! I seriously could have puked! I kept yelling his name and running back and forth, circling the escalators. I finally started really freaking out and crying and screaming his name. People were looking at me like I was a crazy lady! I have no idea where Tiffany was at this point because I was in super panic mode. I know she was either looking for Tyke or Grandma Cheryl or both. I was screaming and crying and finally worked my way back to the customer service desk and yelled at one of the workers that I had LOST MY BABY!!!! She immediately got on the phone and had the store locked down and mall security called. I took off looking again, screaming for Tyke, and finally people started coming up to me asking to help and asking for a description. I was such a mess that I could barely describe what he looked like. I could NOT think of what he was wearing. All I could tell people was he had blonde hair, brown eyes and was about yay high. Finally I calmed down a little and was able to remember what he was wearing and to find a picture of him on my phone to show people. At this point I had over twenty people helping me, upstairs and down.
I was frantic and by myself (still no Grandma or Tiff). The lady at the customer service desk told me I needed to stay put and wait for mall security to arrive. How was I supposed to stand still when no one, that I knew, was looking for my Tyke?! After what seemed like an eternity, a woman walked up to me and told me that Tyke had been found at the front of the store and that a lady had him and was bringing him to me. I took off running and the woman grabbed my arm and kept a hold of me as she ran with. We met Tyke and the lady who had found him near the jewelry counters (on the other side of the escalators from where I had been "waiting"). He was holding this strangers hand with a big smile on his face and not a care in the world (which is odd because he gets nervous around people he knows so I can't figure how he was so comfortable with a complete stranger?). I grabbed him up into my arms and squeezed him tight. People gathered around and gave me a hug while I just cried and hugged my baby. Tyke looked at me with the cutest smile, head tipped to one side, and said, "Hi mum!" That brought a smile back to my face but the tears kept coming. His smile faded and he knew that I wasn't ok. He gave me a hug and patted my back. I have never been so relieved in my life. Tyke had been gone from my sight for nearly fifteen minutes! Fifteen minutes I never want to relive again! What a day!
I thanked everyone that was gathered around and had helped find my boy and I went to find Grandma Cheryl. Stephanie and kids found me and Tyke and eventually Grandma Cheryl, Luke and Tiffany found us too. I just bawled. I couldn't let go of my tight hugging grip on Tyke. I felt like the worst mom in the world! I told them all that I officially hated the mall and was never coming back again! My mom helped me get the boys out to the car where we waited while everyone else did their shopping.
The rest of my day was shot. I couldn't relax and the horror of losing Tyke kept playing in my head. I'm so thankful for all of the people who helped look for him and eventually found him. I have never been more happy to see his cute little trouble making mug in my life. Needless to say we will be investing in a leash for our fast boy, and maybe a double stroller too. There's no way I'm ever going shopping with my babies on my own, heck, even with help I lost one! Thank goodness for good, honest, caring people. I'm so grateful things worked out the way they did!
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