Baby's First Internet

Your friends won’t like it, on the real,
but you must Flickr every meal.

I currently have eight first cousins (of which Sox is one).

Four kids? Check.

Speaking of cousins, while none of them has ever been left behind in an airport, one of them was left at a farm stand in NH at age 7 when his parents failed to notice he didn't get back into the car and managed to drive to Ogunquit, ME before they noticed he wasn't there. (He was the only kid they had with them at the time - they just didn't turn around to look in the backseat.)

There is a story of my Grandparents leaving their youngest behind after visiting my Gramma's sister.

In their defense, they thought she was hiding under a blanket in the back of the station wagon (a favorite game of hers) and the family had a couple of lively rounds of "Gee, where is Dona?" until someobody poked the lump and discovered it was a pillow.

Ah the good old days before cell phones when your niece got left at your house for a couple of hours and you just had to trust that her parents would notice eventually.

Only 3 first cousins here, and one (my deceased father's deceased sister's daughter) is MIA and 25 years older than me. And I only have four first cousins once removed.

I guess in my family we go for quality, not quantity?

Huh, I'm in a totally different time zone now. Board time is my time.

Welcome to Board Time, Dana!!

Huh, I'm in a totally different time zone now. Board time is my time.

Wow, yeah, I hadn't thought about how cellphones have changed THAT, too! I mean, if it's not a case of "kid left in strange place", and more "kid left with people we know" (somehow, these stories seem to always be "left at diner" or "left at supermarket" rather than "accidentally left at Aunt Mary's house with Cousin Bob")

I guess in my family we go for quality, not quantity?

That wouldn't explain my family.

A family once left a little girl at a garage sale we had. They were actually two families going to garage sales together that day, with the kids kind of piling into whichever car they felt like after each sale, and each driver thought this girl was with the other one. She was about three years old and only spoke Spanish, so we flagged down a cop to tell them what had happened and found a Spanish-speaking neighbor to talk to her until her parents realized and came back (which was about half an hour later.)

She was about three years old and only spoke Spanish, so we flagged down a cop to tell them what had happened and found a Spanish-speaking neighbor to talk to her

Not entirely related, but Hil's story reminded me:

A couple of years ago there was a story here on the news about a little boy around that age who left this parents' place at night (the door was apparently unlocked, or he unlocked it himself - I don't remember the details) and was found wandering the streets at an almost-morning hour. When the cops asked him for his name and address and details so they could bring him back home, he said that his parents had taught him not to speak to strangers and not to give them any details, so he refused to answer and insisted on that refusal.

In the end, the cops had the brilliant idea to bring to the police station one of the guys who hosted a tv show for little kids on one of the main tv channels. The kid recognized him from tv, and therefore he was not a stranger to him, and so he could tell him all the details he asked, and be taken back home.

I have 3 cousins on my mom's side of the family and I'm the youngest and we all have kids. On my dad's side, I have 7 cousins and I'm the eldest, and am the only one with kids.

It took until a year ago to finally be able to say I have met all my first cousins.

I feel bad for my kids cause they only have 1 first cousin and she has basically broken off all contact with us. She is a touch younger than K-Bug and despite K-Bug trying to form a relationship with her, the response has been "this is awkward, I'd rather if you didn't e-mail me any more". She just lives an hour or so from where we used to live.

That's adorable, Nilly. Also, great that the TV show guy would come to the police station for that.