Naomi went to a friend's house this afternoon, and I figured I would pick her up and take her over to the birthday party. She wasn't technically invited (and neither were William and I), but I'd been to this birthday center before when Penny went to another party there, and I knew that one more kid wouldn't make a big difference. It was at Megamundo, which has rides, a dress-up and make-over corner, a ball pit, a giant climbing structure, and zip lines overhead. "The best place ever," according to Penny.
We showed up at the birthday party, and the mom comes over to William, Naomi, and me, and says, "Hi, Penny!" (We know each other REALLY well, as you can see.)
"No, this is Naomi," I explained.
"Oh, so Penny's already in playing?"
"Yeah." I smiled and exchanged other niceties and then went in with my little ones.
Naomi kicked off her shoes and joined the other kids. I sat at a table and ate a few snacks, watching my kids play. I saw a bunch of Penny's classmates and other kids from school, but I didn't see Penny.
After a few minutes, I got up and looked around for Penny. She hadn't come out of the play structure, and I couldn't see her in it. I didn't see her on any of the rides, and I had been there long enough that she would have come out of the bathroom. I asked one of her friends if Penny was there, and it turns out, she wasn't!
Great.
By then it was 4:30. Penny had apparently gotten on the school bus and gone home. I called Kevin, waking him up from his nap.
"Is Penny there? Did she come home on the bus?"
"No, I was sleeping. I didn't hear anyone come by. Isn't she supposed to be at the party?"
"No, I was sleeping. I didn't hear anyone come by. Isn't she supposed to be at the party?"
"That's what I thought, too. But I guess she went home on the bus."
Um.... where is our daughter?
Wonderful.
We made some phone calls, but before we got a hold of anyone, a friend called telling me that Penny was at the Embassy. The school bus company couldn't just leave her knocking at our gate, so procedure is to take her to the Embassy, which they did.
Procedure for when you're letting another person pick up your child from school is to... TELL the school bus company. Oops, that would have really helped.
So I left Naomi at the party, scooted over to the Embassy, picked up Penny and ran back to the party.
She had no idea we'd lost her. She just got to have an extra-long bus ride and then a bonus trip to the Embassy. Followed by a birthday party at MEGAMUNDO! Life was good for this 5-year-old.
As for us just slipping in unnoticed to the birthday party, well, that went by the wayside very quickly.
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