FIRE!!!

July 22, 2009
I'm not sure anyone takes the fire alarms at work serious, otherwise we'd all be out of the building faster! This afternoon we got a surprise as the alarms started blaring, the lights flashing, and all the doors closing on us (still don't get why this is safer than leaving them open...they are heavy and cause more stress getting them pried back open than potential smoke from another part of building). Everyone let out a collective "Oh great!" and "Do we have to leave?" Now that I have a kid in daycare, I always slightly panic at the thought of an emergency and my worst nightmare coming true that I can't get to Pearl in time. But I also know that it's a chance to play with Pearl. Normally the daycare has the kids out before anyone else makes it out of the building but today all the parents were standing around the exits waiting and waiting and waiting. A slight panic started to build until I realized it was nap time and all the kids were sound asleep. Pretty soon we saw the teachers hauling out half-asleep kids into the bright sunlight. Pearl was sound asleep on her teacher's shoulder, blankets in hand, and messy hair to prove that she was more interested in finishing her nap than getting out of the building. I scooped her up and started walking to my designated "zone" all while Pearl was crying "go home Mom" and trying to figure out what in the world was going on. She even laid down on her blankets outside, which if you know Pearl, is really unusual. It wasn't until a girl in my program (thanks Christi) pulled out some gummy worms that Pearl started to perk up a little. Good thing someone was prepared for an emergency because not only was it the end of nap time but fast approaching snack time when the fire alarm went off. And it was a good thing Christi didn't care if Pearl's "only take one" instruction from me for taking the gummy worms was more like a huge handful of them! By the time we got back inside, the sugar from 15 gummy worms she shoveled down had taken effect and she was bouncing off the walls. I guess now I need to add gummy worms to my long list of stuff for our 72 hour kits!