Little Scare

I called a friend and asked her if Kleyn could get off the bus with her daughter on Friday because I have some business to take care of in town that wouldn't allow me to pick Kleyn up from school, but might also keep me from being home when he got off the bus. She said that was no problem and he overheard, so I told him that he would be getting off the bus at the neighbor's house on Friday. Well, little Mr. Kleyn thought I meant today (Thursday), so he told the bus driver, which was a substitute, that he needed to get off at the neighbor's house which is 1/4 mile-1/2 mile away, even though the girl that he was supposed to get off the bus with wasn't on the bus and the neighbors weren't home because they had extracurricular activities in town after school. Kleyn had opened their door and called out to see if anyone was home, so the bus driver assumed that he was OK and inside when they took off. When Kleyn didn't get off the bus at his usual time, my little red flag went up, but there have been times that the bus driver has forgotten about Kleyn and has finished the route before they bring him back home a half an hour later, so I wasn't panicking yet. After an hour I started calling other moms to see if their kids had seen Kleyn on the bus. Three of my neighbors weren't home and they had picked up their kids from school anyway, so that wouldn't have helped. I called the school and told them that my son didn't get home and they said they would call transportation and call me right back. When they called me back they said that the teacher walked the kids out to the bus, but the driver said that Kleyn didn't get on the bus. They said that he wasn't anywhere at the school and then they asked who his friends were. I had the secretary, the principal and myself calling families that we knew to see if we could find him. I called Danny at work and he headed down to the school. Finally we got a hold of another girl on the bus that saw Kleyn get off at the neighbor's house. I went down to find him sitting on their front porch. His ears were cold and he looked confused, but it was still light out and he seemed fine. When we got home he started crying, but it was because he broke his ginger bread house that he had made at school yesterday. I'm so glad that he wasn't too far away and that we found him before we had a major panic. The only thing that concerns me is that they let him get off the bus without a note or without me informing the school. I am so grateful for the support system that we have out here and that so many people were willing to help us out and call around and help us find our son. I'm sorry for any inconvenience and worry that we caused, but thanks to everyone that was there for us with this little scare.