Tired Blog

I'm really tired tonight, and I have so much that I need to blog about from the past couple of weeks. I'll just talk about what happened today a little, and I'll really try to get caught up on some updates later this week. I'm just completely overwhelmed with photography business stuff and keeping up with the house.

Nat starts her little Monday-Thursday summer classes Monday, and Olivia and Parker will be going to the summer Mother's-Day-Out program on each Tuesday during June and July. I'm really excited about that part. I don't think Parker will like it, though.

This morning, Billy, Parker, and I went to Ninny and Papa's house to pick up the girls who had spent the night there. Billy's grandpa stopped by for a minute, and when he was leaving, I went outside to make sure Olivia and Parker didn't get in the way of his truck as he pulled out of the yard. When I went out, there was a little boy running down the street from the direction of the park, and he stopped in front of Olivia and Parker. He didn't know how to respond. He sort of made growling noises at them, because they were both looking at him. He started to run back the other way and then turned and started to go the other way. He just didn't seem to know where to go or what to do. He turned quickly and starting running very quickly down the street. By this point, I had been looking for an adult down the road, and there was nobody following him as far down the road as I could see, so I ran after him. There were cars, and he was running so quickly down the middle of the road.

When I caught up to the little boy, I didn't want to just grab him and scare him, so I kind of just put my hand on his back to scoop him toward me and slow him to a stop, while I told him to slow down and wait and I would help him get back home. At this point, I thought he may be autistic, because of the behavior he exhibited when he stopped in front of Olivia and Parker watching him. As soon as I got him stopped, he started crying. I scooped him up, and he collapsed his head against my shoulder. I asked him if he had run out of his yard while he was playing. He cried, "I can't find my daddy." He said it so softly and sadly. I just kept comforting him.

Billy and his dad were outside at this time, and his dad called the police. I stood near the road and tried to keep looking down the streets at the intersection to see if I could see anyone out looking for the little boy. We never saw anyone.

While we waited for the police, I asked the little boy his name, and he said "James". He said that he was 3. Olivia told him that she was "Olivia Grace" and that she is 3, too.

James didn't want me to put him down. He started to cry when I tried to put him on the ground to see if he wanted to play on the swingset with Olivia and Parker and Natalie. He only wanted me to hold him. Billy's dad got him a cold bottle of water, because he was really hot and sweaty and red-faced. So, I helped him drink, wiped his nose, and just comforted him.

When the police came down the street and James saw them, he said, "It's cops!" I told the police that his name was James and what direction he had come. One officer put him in his car, and he took him slowly down the street, asking James if he could show him where he lived. He indicated a house really near Ninny and Papa's. When the officers went into the house, they found an infant and no adult in sight. Child welfare was called, of course.

I just kept crying as we drove home. I wanted to keep James (and the baby).

Apparently, tonight James and the baby are back with their daddy. So, I don't know exactly what the story is and why they were left alone and now back in his custody.

It just makes me sad.

***********************************************

On a lighter note:

The girls and I went to take some photos of them in fairy dresses by a pond the other night, but by the time we got home from the cherry picking and gathered the clothing choices and accessories and props (like the frog prince), it was getting dark. I took a few shots of them in regular dresses, since we didn't have enough light to go through the process of outfit changes and trying to get the fairy images we wanted. Natalie was really disappointed, and Olivia didn't want to leave when I said it was too dark. I didn't get any great images, but I'll post a couple of them so you can see how much fun the girls have in front of the camera. I had to set ISO high because it was so dark, so even if I had captured a great "pose"/composition, the images wouldn't have worked for competition. (I was hoping to maybe get a good one for a Professional Photography mag. comp., but the deadline was tonight. I entered an image I had on file already.)





Spent 3 hours at a birthday party today. The girls got to go bowling. They tied each other in score. Olivia used the ramp to roll the ball. I'm tired.

K. Better updates soon.