I Shouldn't Laugh

I shouldn't laugh, but I sorta have to. And share with y'all because this was just too dang funny not to. Just don't tell Zilla I did because he'll kill me.

I was sick at the beginning of the week. I tell y'all this so that you'll understand why Zilla volunteered to take the girls to school on Tuesday morning. I went into work, but only for a couple hours so I wasn't in my normal rush mode and he wanted me to take it easy. Wonderful!

I kissed the girls goodbye, sighed a little as the house went silent and continued to get ready for work. Several minutes after I thought everyone had left Baby Girl came running into the bedroom yelling, "They left me!" I was shocked. But the girls had actually gotten ready early for a change so I just thought maybe Sweet Pea and Zilla had gone to the little house to do something to kill the five or ten extra minutes they had. no big deal. I told her that. She countered with, "Nuh uh. The truck's gone."

I jogged to the other side of the house and verified that indeed, Zilla's truck was gone. Trying desperately not to laugh, I picked up the phone and dialed his cell to ask him if he'd forgotten something. It went to voicemail. For those of you familiar with my life, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Our cell coverage is spotty around the house. I asked Baby Girl if she had everything together for when her daddy showed back up at the house - either because I got ahold of him or because he drove to the school to drop Baby Girl off only to realize that she wasn't in the car. She proceeded to tell me her book bag was already in the car. Which is where this whole thing went wrong.

I called Zilla again, holding my sides because it hurt so hard not to laugh. But Baby Girl was just so affronted that she could be FORGOTTEN that I knew if I laughed it would not end well. About the time Zilla answered his truck pulled back into the driveway. Turns out he made it all the way to the church at the end of the street before realizing Baby Girl wasn't there. What tipped him off? It was too quiet in the car. His exactly comment to me was, "I knew something was wrong, by then she'd normally have been chattering on about something." Oh so true.

Apparently Baby Girl loaded her backpack into the truck and then ran back inside to go potty. Somehow Zilla missed the dash back inside and thinking she was in the truck, closed the door. Good outcome - both girls made it to school on time. What I find the most hilarious is Baby Girl's response when Zilla picked her up from school later that day. Without saying anything else to him, she got into the truck and said, "You forgot me!" I feel sorry for whoever she marries. That girl can hold a grudge.

We did have a nice discussion about what she should have done if I hadn't been there. Wonderful opportunity to go over our emergency procedures. Which was a good thing considering her first response when we asked what she would have done was, "Call 911." Not altogether a bad answer, but probably not the first choice. Especially because Zilla would have eventually figured it out and come back for her. She's old enough (and responsible enough) to leave home alone for a few minutes.

But this did bring up a question. What age do you think is appropriate to leave kids at home alone for short periods of time? Sweet Pea will be 11 in a few months and Baby Girl will be 8 soon. They're both pretty mature and I trust them not to kill each other or burn the house down. My main worry is them being able to handle an emergency should one arise.

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