a few years ago, i was installing new door knobs on every door in the house and some very wise mother told me to put the door knob to the boys' room on backward so i could lock them in if need be. you know, when they're in trouble or supposed to be going to sleep. i'll admit, i've used the method a few times, [it may have just saved some little boy from a beating, you know what i mean?] but not much.
fast forward to this morning. the boys are jumping on the bed while i'm in their closet looking for some clothes. jonah comes in, "hey mama. i need the key to the door, it's locked." so i hand him a pretend key and go about my business.
"mama, i need a real key."
"no you don't, because it's not really locke.......... [wait for it]..........#*%@?!"
an hour and a half later, i'm considering busting the door down with one of the locker cabinets. i had been trying to pick the lock with a paperclip, but just couldn't get it to pop. of course there was not a phone. all the doors to get into the house were locked and we don't keep a spare outside or trust our neighbors with one. [that's not really true, we just don't tend to plan for the unexpected.] 5 minutes into the ordeal, i watched my neighbor get into her car and drive away. at that point i wasn't desperate enough to tarnish my pride by yelling for help through the small crack in the window [child-proofed as well]. another chance never came.
i was imagining trying to keep my sanity in that room with two little boys for the next, oh 9 or 10 hours until joe got home from work. the air wasn't on, so it was going to get hot. the boys were already whining about hunger pangs and i wondered what i would do when they needed to go to the bathroom. i think i was beginning to feel my own bladder swell. climbing through the window wasn't an option from the second story without so much as a ledge. call me crazy, but i'd rather clean the feces out of a drawer than bust my femurs. what are the chances somebody will just stop by? zero to none. even if they did, all they could do was call joe and we'd still have to wait another hour for him to get home.
fast forward to this morning. the boys are jumping on the bed while i'm in their closet looking for some clothes. jonah comes in, "hey mama. i need the key to the door, it's locked." so i hand him a pretend key and go about my business.
"mama, i need a real key."
"no you don't, because it's not really locke.......... [wait for it]..........#*%@?!"
an hour and a half later, i'm considering busting the door down with one of the locker cabinets. i had been trying to pick the lock with a paperclip, but just couldn't get it to pop. of course there was not a phone. all the doors to get into the house were locked and we don't keep a spare outside or trust our neighbors with one. [that's not really true, we just don't tend to plan for the unexpected.] 5 minutes into the ordeal, i watched my neighbor get into her car and drive away. at that point i wasn't desperate enough to tarnish my pride by yelling for help through the small crack in the window [child-proofed as well]. another chance never came.
i was imagining trying to keep my sanity in that room with two little boys for the next, oh 9 or 10 hours until joe got home from work. the air wasn't on, so it was going to get hot. the boys were already whining about hunger pangs and i wondered what i would do when they needed to go to the bathroom. i think i was beginning to feel my own bladder swell. climbing through the window wasn't an option from the second story without so much as a ledge. call me crazy, but i'd rather clean the feces out of a drawer than bust my femurs. what are the chances somebody will just stop by? zero to none. even if they did, all they could do was call joe and we'd still have to wait another hour for him to get home.
the boys were becoming increasingly concerned and were yelling out the window for help. i didn't stop them, but they only received continued bird chirping in response.
"keep calm and carry on," they say.
i searched everywhere in that room for some other kind of a tool. nothing. during a small tangent i thought about how organized that room could be by the end of the day. i've been obsessed with the spring cleaning this week so that was encouraging, but what about my sanity? oohhh that. the paperclip just had to work. it's just a button lock, why wasn't it working?
and then it did work. i guess i did something just a little different than i did the other 6 thousand and 43 times. free at last.
"keep calm and carry on," they say.
i searched everywhere in that room for some other kind of a tool. nothing. during a small tangent i thought about how organized that room could be by the end of the day. i've been obsessed with the spring cleaning this week so that was encouraging, but what about my sanity? oohhh that. the paperclip just had to work. it's just a button lock, why wasn't it working?
and then it did work. i guess i did something just a little different than i did the other 6 thousand and 43 times. free at last.
theme song Magnum, P.I.
8 comments:
I HAVE BEEN THERE!! I to had that advice (probably from the same mom!), and yes, I believe it has saved a little one from harms way as well! However, I had two similar instances, one the neighbor was home and heard my embarassing cries, and two, I was able to pry the screen off! Neddless to say, there is ALWAYS a key in the closet now... and it has come in handy for sure! first cold sweats, then remembering the key is there...ahhh PHEW...
So Im glad your McGiver (or was it Magnum), all the 80's shows get muddled) skills came in handy and a small miracle poped it open!! UGH! I feel your pain!
...Well put though (as usual)
i was thinking macgyver as well. i didn't watch too much magnum, perhaps he was equally as skilled.
ummm... did you get that advice from me? not that i'm trying to credit myself with such obvious good advice, but i did that with taylor - and it was a beautiful thing. never did i get locked in, though.
that would be awful.
i can totally picture you watching the neighbor leave and wishing you had hollared. :) glad it turned out a-okay.
what shocks me is that you didn't have your phone on you. i thought it was permanently attached. just sayin'.
great picture, btw.
You just described my worst case scenario. I also have the lock turned around on Luke's room and a few times he has walked out of the room and locked me in there. He always unlocks the door, but yeah, I really should have an escape plan if we all got locked in there. Or at least a screwdriver stashed up in the closet.
lol. now, was this picture posed after-the-fact, or did you have your camera in there, too? -- I was wishing, today, that I could switch the locks around. One of them days.
quite an adventure! yay for making it through ... without having to deal with broken femurs, feces in drawers, or lost sanity. ;)
ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm sorry, I'm sure it totally horribe for you but it kept me laughing most of the day...
Am I the only one who thought I was going to see some sweet Magnum P.I. short shorts? Or just plain old "Magnums" as we like to call them.
I've never heard of the backward lock thing. Good thing too, I probably would still be locked in. Glad you all made it out!
i now have a key above the door INSIDE the room. i bet the boys are thinking they've had the last laugh. payback for all their lock-ins.
joe didn't even come back from work that day. his friend came into town and he stayed at his place in phoenix. maybe he wouldn't have gone if he never got a hold of me, but maybe he would've. i think by the time he came home from work the following day, he would've found me on the ground with a broken femur.
and yeah, that picture is more of a reenactment. even if i'd had my camera, i hadn't settled in for defeat yet.
Thank heaven for paperclips and persistent/desperate moms! We also have the locks turned around and Ron hid the key in the closet- but make sure you tell your babysitter where it is!
We came home the other night to learn our babysitter had gotten locked in with them (anna has a terrible door locking addiction)and of course James didn't know where the key was. Luckily she just happened to have a bobby pin in her hair and was able to get out!
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