Thursday 15 October 2009

Where's Dolly gone?

Dolly is such a contented and happy baby, I sometimes forget that she is even in the room. Often when Betty is at nursery, Dolly will be quietly kicking around on her mat and she’ll suddenly let out a squeal, making me almost jump out of my skin.

Betty was the opposite. I couldn’t put her down for a second in the first few months without her yelling. So when friends used to air their concerns about worrying that one day they might accidentally leave their sleeping baby in the car seat under the table in Pizza Express, I couldn’t understand it at all. I used to think, how the hell can you forget a baby? But I too now have that same fear, that one day I will forget Dolly amidst the chaos. I have even had nightmares about it.

So when I was driving here, there and everywhere the other day, with Betty and Dolly in the back of the car, and Betty suddenly piped up with ‘where’s Dolly gone?’ I swear my heart stopped beating for a good few seconds.

(For the record: I hadn’t left Dolly anywhere, she was safely in her car seat and chewing on a big toy mouse that was hiding her face)

9 comments:

Kelly Innes said...

Gah- not the shock you need when driving. Glad she was with you though!

Anonymous said...

Dolly sounds delightful. Don't worry, you'll never forget her. Our brains never really switch off.

Livvy U. said...

A park keeper once told me about the baby he rescued from a playground, left in its car seat by dad, who arrived home, cracked open a beer and wondered why he had this feeling he'd forgotten something...
Dear Elsie, it's lovely to be in the blogosphere again, and find you're still here.
So glad you have a Dolly now, too!
Livvy

Mom/Mum said...

Your heart must've been in your mouth when she said that! good for you for still keeping on the road. And luck you for having such a quiet baby!

A Modern Mother said...

I have the same reaction. The other morning our 5-year-old came down and said the 4-year-old was not in her bed. I have never jumped out from udner the covers so quickly!

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Pig in the Kitchen said...

i hate that feeling that one day I might leave them, I also have dreams about it. I've jsut started very occasionally to leave my eldest in the house on her own for 30 mins or so, or to let her walk to the bakery. I have to resist the urge to shadow her when she does the latter, but i do make sure she takes the dog. I'm sure that would scare off people trying to abduct her. Horrible, we are DOOMED to a life of worry once we have babies.

DOOMED I say! DOOMED!
Pigx

Mamma Po said...

Gotta say, your post title did rather give me a heart-attack, so I know how you must have felt in the car!

My daughter used to enjoy singing out, at key moments whilst we were driving, "Crashed again!". For ages I was afraid she'd either seen something I hadn't or that she was having premonitions. Thankfully, no such thing has materialised. Yet.

Sparx said...

Crap, you nearly made me throw up for a second... it's my second-biggest nightmare...