Yearrrrg!

Alden is spending the week with my Mom. He called me last night to tell me about his bowling adventures. Apparently, he found a pretty rad arcade game that sucked his attention - he was pumped. Yes, my son is a gamer geek. It's true.

My brother send me this photo of him yesterday. Haha.

NEWS FLASH of horrid proportions!

This was an email that Candace sent me this morning. I still can't believe this happened, we were both literally speechless.

Bare in mind, he is ok. You should know that prior to reading this, it gets a little intense...

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So, yesterday at work I received the most horrifying phone call of my life.
It went something like this:

"Alden is missing."

My stomach sank, my heart froze.. I didn't know what to do.

Alden's day care picks him up every afternoon right as school lets out. He literally steps off the sidewalk and in to their van; doesn't cross a parking lot, doesn't have to walk anywhere... comes right out of the school doors and gets in.
But yesterday when they arrived, he didn't come out.
Eventually they sent someone looking for him, only to have the teacher say "he left and went to wait at the doors already"... so they did an all-page through the school. They checked the bathrooms, the library, the playground, no Alden.
When I got the phone call the daycare driver had all the other kids holding hands and scouring the neighborhood next to the school, yelling his name. The teachers were doing another search of the building.
I was asked if anyone else could have picked him up, if he has friends that live nearby, if he knows anyone in the neighborhood and could have gone to their house.
"No, no, NO! He was there, he should still be there!"
She said a teacher was coming and she needed to call me right back.
I didn't hang up-- scared to death and frozen-- but the line disconnected anyway.

I sent Austin a text that Alden was missing, so he started to panic also and called wondering what to do.
Then my other line rang.. it was the driver again. She was crying.

"I have him, I have him," she kept saying, "he's here. We found him." This was forty minutes after school let out.

So, apparently, Alden thought he "missed the bus". He gathered up his things and went walking down 27th south. He stopped at a cross walk and waited to cross, but no cars were stopping. He continued down the street.

An older lady was watching him out of her window, and knew he was too little to be by himself. She went out and grabbed him, asking him where he needed to be. He tried to explain that he missed the bus, "the one with the green writing", but couldn't say the name of his daycare. She walked him back to the elementary school where they found a teacher who had been looking for him, and eventually found the driver.

Alden told them all he thought he could get back to the daycare if he walked.

I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the event.. picturing little Alden making his way down the street all by himself.. and thank god for that lady who took him back! Anything could have happened.

So, Alden and I had a long talk about what to do if he thought he got left behind at school again. I told him no one would ever, EVER forget about him; that someone will ALWAYS come and pick him up, and that he needs to go to the office and wait if he doesn't see the van.

AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH.

Stalone

I haven't spoke to him since our good bye on Sunday. Sometimes I get really worried when I don't hear back from missed calls or texts. I know they're probably just really busy... it doesn't stop one from thinking of the worst though.

I think rather than do anything else, I'd prefer to have a thumb war & arm wrestle battle today. He's watched Over The Top way too many times and always knows how to bring it back for the shake down.





I miss him...

Good Bye

It's time for another good bye. Alden bid his little friend Teagan farewell. It was adorable. They told one another that they will be friends forever and that when they are not with one another, they miss each other. Haha.

This thing, good bye, it makes my stomach turn and my hands shake. I don't know when it will be that I get to see him next, it's usually never more than a month... sometimes two. Still, not knowing is the scariest feeling I've ever had to deal with. At this point I'm at a loss at why I am not here, with him. I thought I was doing something noble, something good for his future... this fact is starting to unravel and may actually not be so absolute.

Coming to and end

This trip has been absolutely perfect. We've done nothing but everything that matters; park days, baseball days, homework everyday, reading more than we ever have and books fit for older little boys, bored games, craft days, long walks, forts, epic battles, hiking, cooking in, FAMILY hangouts and endless adventures. I do not want to leave!

Avenues Street Fair

We went to the street fair in the avenues today. Alden and Teagan had their faces painted, ate free cotton candy and had an all around good time.

Farmers Market

We did our best to get out of the house early in the AM to hit up the Farmers Market in downtown SLC. Jen and Key bought a plethora of local produce. Alden and Teagan ate fruit samples and had balloon animals/swords made.

Serious conversations of tiny minds...

Alden: Dad, can I ask you something?
Me: Sure Alden, you can ask me anything.
Alden: What do you want me to be when I grow up?
Me: Haha. Well, I want you to be whatever you want to be.
Alden: But Dad, where do you want me to work.

I'm laughing a good one right now but trying really hard to contain composure as I can tell he's dead serious and not taking the laughter well.

Me: I want you to work, or for that matter not work, wherever you're happy.
Alden: Dad... can I tell you where I want to work?
Me: Yes, please do.
Alden: I want to work at the Toy Store.
Me: The Toy Store, huh? Haha. Now, why's that?
Alden: I want to work at the Toy Store because I love to look at Toys all day long.
Me: That's makes pretty good sense. I think that's a pretty fantastic idea.
Alden: Dad?
Me: Yes?
Alden: Can I tell you where else I want to work?
Me: Of course!
Alden: I want to work at the Baseball Park, not the small one, the big one. I want to work in the Baseball Park and play Baseball when I get big. I want to work in the Toy Store and I want to play Baseball in the Baseball Park. Can I do those things?

Things just went from being way too hilarious to getting all choked up and feeling incredibly proud that this imaginative little boy is ours...

Me: Yes, you better believe that you can do those things. You can do anything you want.
Alden: I love you Dad.
Me: I love you too, Pipsqueek.

KINDERGARTEN

Holy smokes!

I can't believe he is already starting school. His Mom worked some sort of sorcery and got him into the nicest grade school I've ever been in. He loves his teacher to death and has already made 5 friends in his first week. He's all about doing his homework and tells me in detail at the end of everyday about all the awesome things he learned in class.

The main purpose of me coming to town this week was so that I could be a part of this tremendous step in his move into the kid realm. I think this is where I need to grasp the arms of my chair and realize tomorrow he will be in Highschool, kissing birds and getting into trouble. Sheeesh.

I'm so proud of this little man.

Baseball!

Today was the last Bees game of the season. Alden, Jen, Teagan, Todd and I made sure to be a part of it. The game itself was awful and I didn't end up watching much of it. Instead, I played a mean game of catch with Alden, watched him climb trees, took him on the train and played in the playground. Epic.

Labor Day

There's this spot in Draper that Candace and I used to hike to. There is a couple of hidden waterfalls, just small ones... a neat little rock overhang and lots of tiny creatures. Jen, Alden and I decided to add this spot to our list of places to be today. I packed us a tasty lunch and we set off.

Park Day Best Day

Alden and I wandered over to Fairmont tonight for a climbing adventure. He's gotten so sooo good at the monkey bars, it's insane. There was, however, a point at which he fell off straight onto his chest and the side of his face. He was super bummed and had to cry it out for a few minutes. We talked it over and he had decided to not give up and to give it one more go around. Well, obviously he did it not once but at least a dozen more times. He was proud, he flexed one off.





LOOK AT THESE HOPS!

This last week has been completely amazing.



I miss him so much. I have another week of his company to enjoy and then I need to start planning... for something new and different. Something that means us, together.

It's official!

Alden will be making his first solo flight to Kansas City on July 19th, staying till August 2nd. I'm soooo nervous and sooooooooooo excited all at the same time!

Candace and I are talking about letting Alden make his first solo flight this month. I can’t afford to pay for someone to escort him out and then for someone else to escort him back and neither of us are stoked about him doing the 15 hour drive, two ways. The more I read about him flying alone the more I feel comfortable with it. I guess he’d get his very own flight attendant assigned to him, his Mom would be able to escort him all the way to the gate and I would be able to greet him at the gate. He’s flown enough and does well enough that I think he could manage ok, especially if he took his little leap frog or had a movie on an ipod to watch. The only bad part to this situation is that I have to buy the tickets direct through Delta, which are already waaaay more expensive then priceline or cheaptickets and then I have to call them to arrange an additional fee for him being a minor flying solo. Anyway, at this point I’m just waiting on the OK from Candace. She’s been talking to Austin, who I guess used to fly a lot when he was young as well. He’s making her feel a lot better about the whole situation, so that’s good. I hope it all works out; she’s going to let him come out for 2 weeks. I am soooo ecstatic about it! There is so much I’m going to do to prepare for him coming out. I can’t begin to express how much I miss that tiny individual.