Do You Know This Child?

At the end of Nicole's Birthday Party, a weird thing happened. We heard Marie's car alarm go off. Marie went outside to check it out and she found a little 2 year old girl wandering around my front yard. We went outside to see who the girl belonged to, but there was no adult in site to claim this little girl. I didn't recognize her, but that is not saying much since our house is the only house on our side of the street in my ward. All the other houses are in a different ward, so I wouldn't know her if she lived on my street. The girl didn't seem to be afraid or sad, she was just contentedly wandering. I have no idea how long she was wandering before she got to my house, but I decided I better not let her go any farther.

So, since we couldn't find her mom, and she couldn't tell us her name or where she lives, we called the police. 30 minutes later, a police officer shows up. Now here is the weird thing, I knew the officer, he was the boy that I dated in high school. Obviously, not a boy any more as he is now a man and police and all, but it was super weird. What was even more weird was that he pretended not to know me. Granted, I look different from high school (like 50 pounds different) and we did not split on good terms, but still, dude. I called him by his first name and he pretended he didn't know me. Whatever.

So anyway, back to the little girl. The officer first asked us a bunch of questions and tried to get the little girl to tell him her name or her parents name or anything about her, but it just wasn't working. Mostly, because she is two and not only had two year old speech but probably didn't know how to answer the questions he was asking. He checked missing persons and checked to see if anyone had called about missing a child, but no one had. But, I said that someone must be missing her because if it were my child, I would be in a panic if I couldn't find my two year old. The obviously jaded officer said that I would be surprised how many bad parents there are. But, I knew that somebody loved this little girl because they had done her hair in cute pony tails. Which I know sounds weird, but if you have a little girl, you know that it is no easy feat to do their hair. You really have to care about them to do your child's hair. The officer did not have children of his own and wasn't exactly connecting with the little girl. When she tried to answer his questions in little girl speak, he looked at me and said, "What did she just say? I don't speak little girl."

Nicole at two could have told him her name, my and Matt's names, and her phone number; but Nicole was exceptional at speaking at two. And lets face it, if Nicole had gotten lost at two, she wouldn't have stopped crying long enough to be able to answer any questions even if she did know the answers because Nicole is a cryer. Dano on the other hand is almost two and he can repeat his name to me but cannot answer the question, "What is your name?" If I point to his chest and ask, "Who is this?" he responds with "Dano!" But, knowing a child's first name only does not really help to find their home.

So, the officer then called in a bunch of other officers to come and I entertained the little girl as best I could on my front lawn while my children cried inside and the party was not getting cleaned up. So, I brought the kids outside to play with me and the little girl while we waited. We played a lot of ring around the rosie.

The officer asked if he could leave the girl with us while he started knocking on doors, but we were actually supposed to be leaving for a Easter party at Momma Kimball's house. And, I hadn't even cleaned up the party yet. But, I said I would stay with her if they needed me too. But, then he got a little huffy and said, "Nevermind" and took the little girl with him to knock on doors. Which was super weird. But, Matt and I stuck around anyway until another officer arrived. I just didn't feel good about leaving her until someone else was there too. Then, I left the officer with a sippy and a snack bag for her in case she got hungry or thirsty because who knows how long she had been wandering and we went to Momma Kimball's.

About an hour later, we got a call from the officer telling us that they had found her mother. She lived like four blocks west of us and the little girl was supposed to have been watched by her 14 year old older sister. But, this sister was playing on her facebook and neglected to check on her two year old sister for over two hours. She did not discover that the little girl was missing until the mother got home and couldn't find her child. She then called the police and then they were able to return the girl home. It turns out that the reason that she couldn't tell us her name was because her name was Jennevecia. Who gives a child a name that long and doesn't give her a nickname?

Well, I was relieved that she got home safe because I was super anxious about it all even after we left. I just kept thinking that if it were my child, I would be in a state of fear and I would hope that someone would find them and do just what I did; call the police, and take care of my child until they were returned to me.

Now, as for the baby sitting sister that neglected the child, holy cow! If that were my Nicole neglecting her younger sibling, she would be in a world of trouble! But of course, I'm sure that the 14 year old was probably so afraid when she realized that her sister was gone that she probably won't ever do that again. But, I have made a mental note to myself to ban all computer while someone is babysitting my children.  I am glad it all worked out and I am also glad that Marie's car alarm went off so that we could find her.

But, I didn't get to clean up any of the decorations or food or presents from the party until the next day because we went straight to another party and got home late. That was a bummer. I like a clean house. And, I didn't get Matt's help with the clean up because he was at work that night and sleeping the next day. Bummer. But, it could have been worse, at least I didn't lose my child.