I took Jeffy and Katelyn out to run errands, with the double intent of getting things done and letting Daddy have some quiet time to catch up on some sleep. On the way home, both kids fell asleep. I hoped that I could just put them both in their beds and they would keep sleeping, so I had to bring them in one at a time.
I grabbed Katelyn in her carseat and the diaper bag and headed up to our apartment. I was a little surprised when the door was locked, but I unlocked it, and put everything down in the family room. The door doesn't close all the way on its own, which I planned to take advantage of when I brought Jeffy up. It's hard to open a door when you're holding a sleeping 35-pound kid! So I went down to get him, but when we got up to the door, I realized I had closed the door, and locked Katelyn and the keys inside.
No big deal-- Jeff was home, right? That's what I thought, but then my heart sank when I remembered an event from earlier that morning. Jeff had just bought new earplugs to use while he slept during the day. Oh no.
I rang and rang and rang the doorbell, hoping he would hear. Nothing.
I banged on the door, so hard it hurt. Nothing.
I went outside and threw rocks at his window. Nothing.
After 20 minutes of no luck, I started to get really nervous.
Katelyn was still asleep, thank goodness. I figured as long as she was asleep, I didn't need to panic. I didn't have any credit cards to try to undo the lock with, but I went back to the car and found a baby spoon, and I tried to get it with that. There's a big gap between the door and the wall, so I hoped I could get it. I couldn't. I banged and banged and banged on that door. I'm sure everyone else in our building could hear us, but Jeff didn't. After another 20 minutes, I knew I needed help.
I knocked on our neighbors' door and used their phone to call housing. It was the weekend, so there wasn't anyone immediately available to help, so the receptionist person had to call the maintenance people, who called me back. I guess they had to come in from their home or something, because they told me it would be 25-30 minutes before they got there. Katelyn was still asleep, so I agreed and ask them to please hurry.
About one minute after I returned the phone to my neighbor, Katelyn woke up. She got scared, probably because she was strapped in her carseat in the middle of an empty room, and no one was around her. She started getting really upset and crying harder and harder. I started to panic. If there was a window I could have broken, I would have, but I was out of luck.
In a last-ditch attempt to get in before calling 911, I banged and banged and banged and rang that blasted doorbell, but all it did was make Katelyn more upset. I was about to knock on my neghbors' door and call the fire department, when a couple came into my building. I asked them if they were any good at breaking and entering. Yeah, they looked at me like I was a mental case. I explained what was going on, and they sympathized with me. The girl took out a credit card and tried to get in. The boy asked if my deck door was unlocked. I said it was, and he said he would try to scale our wall, climb onto our deck and get in that way.
In a last-ditch attempt to get in before calling 911, I banged and banged and banged and rang that blasted doorbell, but all it did was make Katelyn more upset. I was about to knock on my neghbors' door and call the fire department, when a couple came into my building. I asked them if they were any good at breaking and entering. Yeah, they looked at me like I was a mental case. I explained what was going on, and they sympathized with me. The girl took out a credit card and tried to get in. The boy asked if my deck door was unlocked. I said it was, and he said he would try to scale our wall, climb onto our deck and get in that way.
I prayed for it to work. Katelyn was screaming her head off by now and I was desperate to get in. After a minute or so, we heard the deck open and this kind stranger let me into my house! I proclaimed him my lifesaver and said thank you about a million times. I rushed over to Katelyn; poor girl was a mess. Her face was all red, she had tears streaming down her cheeks, and she looked terrified! I felt so bad for her, I couldn't put her down the rest of the day!
So Jeffy and I were locked out and Katelyn was locked in for about an hour. After we all calmed down, I went into the back room to see if Jeff was actually there and alive. He was.
He hadn't heard a thing.
5 comments:
Well at least you can feel safe inside when your doors are locked...
Thank goodness for strange people helping us do funny and random things when we need them the most.
Sorry, my kids will sleep through anything!!! Especially Jeffrey. I got locked out once in Virginia. It was below zero, I was in my nightie, the dog was causing trouble, it was about 11:30 to midnight. There was 8 or more inches of ice and snow. I pounded, rang the bell, yelled and threw rocks. 4 kids continued to sleep. The neighbor 1/2 an acre away came out and asked if they could help. They called the house and I yelled and banged still nothing. The neighbor up the hill and about 2 acres away came out and asked what the heck was going on. He fortunately had our spare key. The other spare key we kept hidden under the deck was frozen in ice. He kindly came down and let me in. I was frozen and the kids were all still snug in their beds sound asleep even without earplugs. Happy early Mother's Day It's memories like this that make Mother's Day extra important to remember our moms :)
I haven't figured out how to post it with a name yet. Maybe we can fix that while you visit
Barb did that once with Miles, except that it was a bedroom inside the house. The previous owners of the house had put an outdoor-style doorknob on the bedroom door, which locked from the inside. Little Miles (2 yrs old) went into the room and shut the door.
It locked. Barb couldn't get in. She called me at work, freaking out. Miles was screaming. I asked if she could get in through the window. Nope. Nothing else worked, so Barb called the fire department. They just used a big crowbar, and /crack/! the door was open.
Whew!
To this day, Miles flips if he's in his bedroom alone and he has trouble getting the door open.
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