lost kid

Tonight I had just finished putting Dallas to bed. Emily and Rob were putting away the outside toys, working their way inside for bedtime routine. I hear Rob call for me to come down and help, which I thought was unusual because usually that accompanies a screaming kid. Then I hear another kiddo's voice, I thought maybe some of our friends had dropped by during a walk.

I came down and boy was I surprised. Rob and Em had picked up a shoeless neighbor kid. Rob said he was staying at his Grandparents house, while his mom worked, but they were not home, but playing golf. What!!!! Thank goodness Rob was still in the driveway so this kiddo could find someone. Rob took him out to see if he knew which way to go, or which way was home. I tried putting Emily to bed. 10 minutes later, they come back, I ask his name, and Rob had determined that we knew his grandparents and that the kid could get in and out of the house. I commence an Internet search to try to get a phone number while he plays with Emily. I imagine he is about Em's age, but his speech wasn't quite as clear. Rob couldn't understand anything. The boy told Em his name was Sam, I thought he said Hunter, so I had been calling him that. He did tell me his mom's name too, which I will protect because one of my readers is facebook friends with her. You won't believe how much I figured out in three minutes on the Internet, but it also only yielded home numbers, not cell numbers.
Rob went back to his grandparents house and searched just to make sure, you know, no one wasa passed out or really injured in there. Turns out there was some people in his grandparents house, in the basement and didn't know he was gone. His Aunt was outside waiting for him.

What a wake up call. Em and I had a big discussion about why it is important that she knows our names and our address, which she does! I haven't taught her our cell phone numbers yet but I guess I should. We also talked about not leaving the house without telling someone and staying close to the grown-up you are with, how scary it is to be lost. Although this kid didn't seem to worried.