Friday, August 27, 2010

'Atta Baby!

Several things I know about 3 year olds: 

They love Cheerios.
They love Mickey Mouse.
They certainly like to wake up early.
They love talking about body parts. Loudly. In public.
They love Springsteen, Petty, Buffett, and U2 (at least ours does & all of them should, right?)
They love the word WHY and use it incessantly.
They can save your life. 

I did not realize the last item until reading about Alesaundra Tafoya, a toddler in Northern Cali. Last Friday, while playing at home, her Father collapsed. Alesaundra walked several blocks to the Manteca Fire Department and asked the Firefighters to come to her home. She told them her Father was "frozen" and would not get up.

Firefighters took her home immediately and upon arriving, took her Father to the ER. Medical personnel said without this prompt attention, Mr. Tafoya would have died. The Fire Captain said in 20 years he had never witnessed an ER call made by a toddler.

Her parents have been teaching her about precaution and safety. Said her mother, "She has been listening...and that is good."

I hope this is a situation we never find ourselves in, but should we, I hope we have not only taught our son what to do but instilled in him the confidence and wherewithal to act independently. 

'Atta baby, Alesaundra.  Bravo for you for this happy ending. You did something so much larger than you could possibly understand now. Precisely the kind of good news I love.

Have a fantastic weekend.

60 comments:

leigh hewett said...

wow...I've tried to teach Griffin how to dial 911 but he finds it challenging to hit "call" after dialing. We will practice today.

A Daft Scots Lass said...

They whine and nag and giggle when you fart.

Unknown said...

Wow I mean that goes even farther then her simply calling 911 she actually had to walk tothe station for help. That was awesome..

Shelly - Tropical Mum said...

My boys have been learning about fire safety, so now MasterFour likes to chant, "Get down low and go, go, go!"

We taught them the number to call in case of emergency, and I hope that they never have to use it.

This was a lovely story that had the right ending.

Thanks for sharing it.

Joann Mannix said...

We have a little girl in our community last year, who saved her mom's life by calling 911. I believe she was around 4 or 5. Small enough to still sound like a baby in the recording they broadcasted all over the news.

But WALKING? That is just a really brave and smart little girl. Kudos to those parents for being so conscientious. What a legacy this little girl has now following her, her father watching her grow.

And yes, my babies and toddlers all loved U2. They had no choice.

Thanks for sharing the good news.

Emily said...

I's always good to hear those rewarding stories!
And my kids are big Buffet fans too.

Mark said...

By the way, who agrees with me that she has one of the coolest names ever? Am I alone on this?
Training tonight. My kids better step up to the plate or else!
Your Friend, m.

sitting on the mood swing at the playground said...

What a great story! I think we'll practice 911 even more in our house.

We also have a Springsteen fan...when we drove through Jersey my little guy knew it was Bruce's state and wanted to visit him.

Simply Suthern said...

Was that not the coolest story? I love these stories.

My wife teaches 3 yr. old preschool. She says they know more than they show.

ellen abbott said...

Children are smarter and more capable than we give them credit for. I think three is my favorite age.

Mrs. M said...

What an amazing little girl -and kudos to the parents for teacher her what to do!

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if my kids could do that.

Actually, I'm not sure if my kids WOULD do that (for me), but then they are heading for middle age and have been quite annoying all their lives...

LOL

f8hasit said...

What a great story! I hope I never have find out if Boo has been listening to the 'what to do if..."'s that I've been giving her all these years.

Who knows, she'd probably tweet it to 911 first.
:-)

Lindsey said...

I saw this story on my lunch this week. Amazing, isn't it? The parents say that every day they would drive by the fire station and point it out to her. Bravo to them for being spectacular parents! Oh, and about your mention of Springsteen and U2.. the best investment I made for Connor's nursery was an iHome. We rock out while he eats and he gets quite the variety! I hope he is listening closely :) Happy Friday to you!

Slamdunk said...

Thanks for sharing this good news story about a courageous girl.

On a related note, the Mrs. is hesitant about removing our landline phone since it would complicate our instructions on teaching the kids to use 911 (cell or other are a little more complex).

Intense Guy said...

They also have this amazing ability to filter through the thousands of words they hear everyday and find the two cuss words no one thought they heard.

I'm amazed she walked several blocks to the Fire Department - imagine knowing where it was without a GPS or being "stolen" by a kiddie molester? (sarcasm font where are you?)

Jules AF said...

Wow. When I was three, I called the police and told them my older brother was hitting me. (I was lying.) I wish I'd done something heroic instead haha.

Wupppy said...

What a great story,

we teach our son what to do in case of emergency, but you just have to trust them to act on that knowledge when something like this happens.

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

What a great story! And what a great kid! And what a happy ending!
<><

Unknown said...

What an amazing story!

McKenzie said...

That is an amazing story! Humongous kudos to that little girl!!

Kristina P. said...

This makes me sort of like children now. ;)

Anonymous said...

That's one way to ensure you're the favorite child. B used to call 911 all the time when I wasn't looking. Usually just to chat though.

He loves Buffet, Mark Knopfler and James Taylor. And hearing him say "Mac McAnally" is really cute!

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

It just goes to show ya'll, never underestimate a child! Kudos for that little doll!

God bless ya and have a fantastic Friday!!!

Brian Miller said...

wow. crazy story!

Matty said...

I loved Cheerios when I was 3, and 4, and 5, and 53.

They do get up early. They do repeat what they hear. They do question you to death.

And they do amaze us.

brokenteepee said...

What a wonderful story.
Although I wonder how she walked all those blocks without anyone noticing and thank heavens she was not kidnapped.

Anonymous said...

Oh God Bless little Alesaundra...I love 3 year olds...It is my favorite age...I worked with that age group for 4 years...Loved it..

Vivienne @ the V Spot said...

Truly amazing! I can't believe she walked the whole way!

And yes, our boys have all had proper musical training and at an early age. We were at a BBQ over the weekend that had a live guitar player. The 6 year old sang some
Rolling Stones, the 12 year old sang Yellow Submarine and Sgt. Peppers (complete with English accent) and the 13 year old sang Copa Cabana.

The 18 year old? He just enjoyed the show.

Unknown said...

This is a lovely way to end the work week! What an awesome tot!

One Photo said...

What an amazing story. As for my own three year old she loves Raisin Bran Cereal (known as Granddad's cereal as it is what my Dad has when he visits and is the only reason she eats it) MM but Minnie even more, waking up at 5:30am, poking fun at my squishy bits, Gwen Stefani and Black Eyed Peas, why and especially the word NO! Said just like that, all day long :-)

HalfAsstic.com said...

Yes, indeed. That was a shocking and wonderful news story! I had such a strange reaction to it, both the proud feelings for Alesaundra and the horror of knowing a three year old walked down the street that far, alone.
So glad she was so brave and did so, though!

Unknown said...

She's a smart little one but hope they instill in her to use the phone first instead of walking to get help. Plus, maybe it would've been better to go to the neighbor's instead?

J.J. in L.A. said...

I heard about this story on the news. Go Alesaundra!

A cousin in a police officer and says all children should be taught, by their parents, how (and when) to call 911. A good operator will know it's a small child and ask questions they can understand and easily answer.

mCat said...

Great story! I have to be honest, I don't think Sissy would be that prepared.

Pollyanna said...

Wow, that is amazing. I'll have to quiz my girls tonight to find out what they would do.

BTW, mine love to sing ABBA - there is nothing like a four year old singing Honey, Honey from the backseat . . .

Edlund said...

I love your blog. It's beautiful.

Herding Cats said...

That's just incredible. What an amazing girl (and amazing parents!)

shortmama said...

Love it! This is why its so important for parents to teach kids these things from an early age!

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

Way to go Alesaundra! Hopefully this is proof that our kids (grandkids) actual do listen to us even when we think they haven’t heard a word.

Leah Rubin said...

Impressive! But why didn't she just text them on the tiny little smart phone she must surely have??

Jaime said...

that's an amazing story. i guess some of the stuff we teach our kids really does sink in.

K A B L O O E Y said...

That's a lucky mommy; I'd be dead. No question. And she'd be looking up Kai Lan videos on YouTube. But again? I'd be dead.

Julie H said...

Hey that's in my neck of the woods, one city over :)

Tiffany said...

Atta baby indeed!! Very cool story.

BlueRidgeLady said...

What a great story! Very smart girl. I was just reading this week in the Blue Ridge paper, a little boy and his Mother were driving and she had some sort of hypoglycemic issue, and passed out, or was about to. She managed to turn into a parking lot, and the little boy crawled down and put the brake on with his hand, and got them stopped. I think they were about to hit another car, that stopped also. The Mother was treated at the scene, and was not hospitalized. Another young hero! Love stories like this!

MommyLisa said...

I loved that story too. thanks!

MommyLisa said...

I loved that story too.

Writing Without Periods! said...

Aw, this warmed my heart. One never knows.
Mary

Shanna said...

gorgeous story!

kathryn said...

What an awesome little girl.

I can only hope that my 13-year-old would pause his video game within the first several hours of my going down so that he could make that call.

There are definite advantages to the attention-needy stage of young ones, I think.

I hope none of us ever need it.

Anonymous said...

I want THAT child in MY class!

Kristy @Loveandblasphemy said...

Aw, what a go-getter!

Christine Macdonald said...

I love this story. Atta boy is right!

Thanks for sharing this. Missed you!

Christine

secret agent woman said...

That ought to win her a big get out of jail free card for when she's a teenager.

Unknown said...

Absolutely incredible....

Urban Earthworm said...

What an amazing story!!!

And I find that kids like that music, too. Which is why I have a whole CD composed mostly of Jimmy Buffett tunes all ready for Pip's imminent arrival.

Cathi said...

That is an amazing and wonderful story! xxoo :)

Maria said...

Now that's sass! Love it! We should all be so lucky to have such a plucky kid! Atta girl!

Shanna said...

Awesome story!