Clean Up on Aisle 7, 8 and 9

Adventures of a grandpa by himself with two granddaughters.

I was watching my two granddaughters in the waiting room while my daughter was being seen by the Dentist. There are toys and stuff to keep them happy in the Dentist Office. They got bored fast and noisy, yikes I better get them out of there.

Lucky for me there are stores near the Dentist Office and it’s Halloween time. I take the two little monsters to a store that I’m not identifying. This store is into Halloween and the granddaughters are having a blast looking at the Ghouls and Halloween accessories. I try to contain the two, but end up turning them loose on the store. The older granddaughter wanders away from me, boy she is brave there are some scary stuff in this store. I still have my eye on the younger granddaughter. I found the older granddaughter, it didn’t take long for her to want to be found. I now have both in sight and they are rummaging through the Halloween stuff. I can’t keep up with the two. I keep trying to clean up the aisles as they try everything out. I did my best to get the goods back on the shelves, but some touching up was going to be needed by the store clerks.

On a side note my 1 year old granddaughter has no fear, but on this day the 3 year old taught the 1 year old fear. There was an aisle that had gruesome looking heads on the ground that made noises and talked if you pressed a button which freaked out the 3 year old making her stay away from passing that aisle. The little 1 year old now refused to pass that aisle too after observing the fear in her older sister. You could see the fear in the little 1 year old she was spooked by that aisle.

Just some good times back in the day. 

Just in the nick of Time

Adventures of a grandpa and his two granddaughters at the time.

Ever wondered what you are capable of doing in 5 seconds. Well in a certain situation it can be an eternity like in the movies The scene is played out in slow motion. It felt like that for me.

I had a situation that required immediate reaction with only 5 seconds to spare. I was helping my daughter at Sam’s Club. My daughter took the elevator with the shopping cart and I took the two rascals on the escalator. The escalator we took is like a conveyor belt on an incline not like the escalators at the shopping malls. I held the hand of my 1 year old granddaughter and let the 3 year old granddaughter walk along the escalator telling her to be careful and don't play around. OK big mistake she ran all the way up the escalator and got off it. I told her just wait there do not go anywhere. I'm almost to the top of the escalator when the 3 year old decides to get back on the escalator to join me and her sister. There were some kids doing that earlier in the day so I told my granddaughter that’s not good to do it's dangerous to jump on an escalator coming toward you. Well I guess she wanted to try it out. My granddaughter slipped and fell on the soft rubber of the escalator, I let go of her 1 year old sister and ran up the escalator to pick her up before she gets caught in the area at the top of the escalator where the rubber goes under the escalator comb plate. I was able to get her up in time and off the escalator to safety. Oh no the 1 year old is flat on her back enjoying the ride. I need to get to her fast to pick her up now with no time to spare and get her off the escalator.

We are all safe. My daughter greets us and we all act like nothing happened. My heart still beating fast, OMG that was a close one.

The moral to the story is escalators are dangerous for little kids.

Lost in the Mall

I remember the day I lost my granddaughter in the mall. She was less than two years old and disappeared in the crowd in seconds. We were looking at dinosaurs exhibits. I briefly took my eye off my granddaughter and she was gone. I assumed she went to her mom and older sister that were nearby. No luck with that so my heart just dropped into my stomach. My daughter and I look at each other in disbelief what happened where did she go? Your life is flashing by you imaging will I ever see her again. I found a security guard nearby and gave my granddaughters description to the guard and he called it in on his walkie talkie.

When you lose a child it is the most horrific feeling in the world. You search the logical area that you think she could have wondered off too. Sometimes the logical is not your best bet. Time seems like an eternity when you are looking for your lost child, your heart is beating fast and you keep thinking that some pedophile has abducted her and fled the mall with her and you will never see her again. You are just going out of your mind, but need to maintain your composure to deal with the situation.

We continued the search by splitting up and searching the areas of the mall she disappeared into with hopes of someone holding her hand looking for her family. I see in the distance a small group of teenage girls holding her hand walking in my direction. I notice my granddaughter is enjoying their company and seems not phased at all being separated from her family. I approach the teenage girls and she comes to me as I thank the girls for taking care of her. 

The moral of the story is never give up and kids can disappear in seconds in a crowded mall.