I was thinking back to all the really dumb stuff I've done as a mom and I landed on the Best Mom moment of 2004 AND 2005.
Those were the years, people, that I locked my kid in the house on accident. Yep. TWO TIMES I LOCKED HER IN THE HOUSE! I would like to take you all back with me to those harrowing moments if you don't mind. ..
Picture it. . . Sicilly. . . 1944. . . Wait. . . sorry that was Sofia from Golden Girls. Maybe I will post about my love for The Golden Girls on some other day. I love love that show!! In fact my mom was just like Rose Nylen.
But I digress. Back to time 1 of locking G in the house.
It was June of 2004. Gracie was 3 months old. We had just come home from a nice weekend in Fargo celebrating my uncle having officially entered the priesthood.
Some friends were over and had a precocious 3 year old so I turned the little lock on the door knob so he wouldn't get into the garage. Ok the dumb part of that is the lock on the door knob doesn't even stop the knob from turning! I needed to do the dead bolt!!
So our friend left. My mom called and Grace was laying on the floor in her activity gym. I went in to the garage quickly to throw out some trash and I turned around to go back in the house and I tried the knob. And for some reason it wouldn't open. Of course I'm on the phone with my mom at this point and for any of you who knew my mom later in her life she was as much or even more neurotic than I am!
So I started screaming "ohmigosh I locked Gracie in the house and I don't have a key!!!" My mom went schizo on me and was screaming. I was so panicked that I didn't know what to do. I ended up running to the neighboors house across the street. I was hysterically crying and my neighboors are an elderly couple. I rang their bell and when they answered they started freaking out too. I asked them what I should do and they gave me the fabulous advice of calling 911. Um,. .. why hadn't I thought of that???????? I still had the phone in my hand and I called 911. I then called my father in law because Dan was supposed to be over at his house. When my fil answered I said, "Mike I just locked Grace in the house." My father in law the hero dropped everything and came over.
He got there right about the same time as the 911 people. They were trying to look for an entry into the house so they wouldn't have to break any doors or anything. But Mike (FIL) gets out his handy dandy credit card, turns to the cop and says, "This is the first time I've ever done this." Then proceeds to jimmy the lock open with his credit card!! What a man of action.
Thankfully nothing happened the 20 minutes or so Grace was locked in the house. She was crying loud but nothing too bad!
So you think I would have learned my lesson, eh? No it happened again about a year and a half later. I will save that for post #2.
What are your best mom moments??
6 comments:
I did this same thing when I only had one kiddo and he wasn't even a year old. And I was also throwing out the trash. But I was in my pajamas and had to run crying to a neighbor in my nasty pjs with spitup on them. Humiliation. I can totally relate.
Yeah, I've locked myself out of the house, with kids still inside, too. Fortunately, I got back in through a window, and nobody called the cops, thinking a burlar was on the loose.
When we lived in Sugarhouse on a busy street I tried to keep the door locked at all times. I often went outside to take the dog potty or take out trash and I always just left the door ajar. One time I went out (Lily was probably 2 1/2) and before I knew it, the wind gusted up and slammed the door. Locked. Lily was watching a movie and really couldn't have cared less that I was gone. I searched for an open window, climbed on the back balcony to see if the back door was unlocked, but no such luck. I went to the neighbor's and called Dan, but this was before he had a cell phone and no one answered up at the lab. Eventually, I could hear Lily whining for me and luckily she was watching her movie right by a window, so I went and talked to her. I coaxed her to the front door, telling her through the front door to turn the knob. She turned and wiggled that knob, but the door was heavy and old, so it just stuck there. Eventually, I had to call a locksmith. Ended up costing like $50.00.
Like you, I didn't learn my lesson and it happened again within just a couple of months. I called the locksmith, cussing under my breath, but Hallelujah! Dan pulled up right after I got off the phone with the locksmith, so I was able to save myself another $50.00. Unfortunately, I didn't save myself from humiliation in front of Dan!
Another parenting snafu that comes to mind is when you came to visit in April 2005 and Dan and I were doing London Bridges with Lily. We got a little overzealous when we "locked her up" and we ended up swinging her in the air, flipping her over and dropping her on her head. Very nice. It's a wonder the girl can read at all now.
Sue,
The sad part about teh London Bridges playing was that i have it documented all on digital camera! All right before the big fall!
Is it sooo sad that I'm hysterically laughing at Lilly's horrible misfortune?
Lori
I realize I'm a little late to the party - but I just did my reading and found the story and had to tell you that I've done it too. Very recently. Hubby is deployed, we just moved into this house, all three kids are asleep upstairs, I went into the garage and locked myself into the garage. FREAKED because it's like 11pm and I don't know any of my neighbors. So I sat and BANGED on the door and screamed my head off forever trying to get a kid to wake up - to no avail. Finally it dawns on me that if I get out of the garage, I think my car is probably still unlocked and I think I have a spare set of keys in there. I did. So... now I have a spare set of house keys taped in a very odd place in the garage in case it happens again. I was totally dying that I was going to have to go over to a neighbors in the middle of the night, in my pj's - introduce myself and explain myself. Very bad. But it sounds like we've all been there - so good company.
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