Yes, it happened yesterday morning. The little guy and I ran a few errands and then came home to play some before Jeff came home for lunch. Play we did. Because Garrett is a kid that absolutely loves buttons, we sometimes sit in the car together so he can push every button imaginable. The car is never on, and I'm always sitting right next to him. When we got home yesterday, he started saying, "Car! Car!", so I knew he wanted to play our car game. I got him out of his car seat, sat him in the driver's seat, and scooted the seat up so he could "drive" with the steering wheel. A fun mom, I know! He then pointed to my keys because he wanted to pretend to put them in and then "drive". Thinking nothing of it (will never happen again!), I handed them to him and then shut the driver's side door, thinking I was being a cautious parent and making it so he couldn't fall out! I only had a few feet to walk around the front of the car to the passenger's side of the car. I barely took a step or two when I heard that dreaded sound...CLICK! Yes, he had locked the car doors!
It honestly took me a few seconds to realize that this was really happening and that I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do! PTL, Garrett thought nothing of it. He just started playing his car game and busied himself with pushing buttons, while Mommy stood outside of the car trying to figure out a plan. He was pushing buttons already, so I thought I would give it a shot and see if he could push the unlock button. I stood with my face pressed against the window pointing at the button and asking him to push the one with the key on it. I cannot tell you how many times the kid pushed the button, but on the LOCK side! The other option was to try to get him to push the unlock button on the key remote, but I could just see him pushing the red alarm button instead and then what in the world would I have done!?
Time for a "Plan B"! Did I mention that my diaper bag containing my cell phone was also in the car with Garrett? We recently went to using only our cell phones, but, PTL, we still have a land line that we use for Kingdom Markets. I had always heard that if you ever lock your child in the car, you're never to leave them alone, even for a second. I didn't have much of a choice though but to run inside as fast as a pregnant woman can run and grab the phone. I bit the bullet and called Jeff. He obviously decided to take an early lunch and headed to the house.
What was I going to do while I waited? I decided to entertain him through the window, while at the same time continuing to try to get him to push the unlock button. I think the highlight of the whole wait time was when he decided he wanted to give Mommy a kiss. Yes, I stood outside my car with my lips puckered against the window because it was making my trapped child happy! There is no telling how many people drove by and couldn't see his precious face on the other side of the window! I cracked up when the sweet little old lady around the corner walked by with her dog and said kindly to me as I was puckered there, "You locked him in the car, didn't you?" I humbly said, "Yes", and she graciously continued on down the block. After she passed by, several other cars drove by. My pride did get the best of me a few times, and I honestly put the phone to my ear and pretended to be talking to someone just in order to keep them from stopping and asking me the same question the lady just asked me! The other highlight was when Garrett discovered the garage door opener above him. Remember that my keys were in the car, which included my house key. The only entrance into the house was through the garage, which, PTL, I had opened before he locked the car door. Now, my son was teasing his Mommy and opening and closing the garage door. After each click, he would look at me through the window and laugh. He was in complete control of this situation. I don't know what I would have needed in the house while we waited, but if there was something, it was staying in the house until help arrived!
Some 15-20 minutes later, my "knight in shining armor" did arrive, and this time I heard the blessed sound of...CLICK! I quickly hugged my little guy, who honestly hadn't known anything was wrong. In that short amount of time though, which felt like an eternity, his Mommy had transformed into "That Mom"!
3 comments:
this is too funny! i'm "that mom too", but not the same way...i'm that mom who's child drank fertilizer while i was just inches away! yep, happened this past weekend. just haven't blogged about it yet. what a fun club!! ;)
That is hilarious... since it all worked out. :) At least you learned the walking around the car lesson while Garrett was alone and not when his baby sister was in the car with him... like someone else I know whose 2 oldest children locked themselves in the car in the church parking lot on Sunday morning in front of everyone when they were 2 and 6 months old... and their dad had just left to take the youth group to New Orleans. (Let's just say that the fire department almost got involved...)
I laughed so hard at the story about Garrett in the car. My kids love to play in the car too and I am surprised that has not happened to us. The thought of you trying to show him the button to push, made me laugh. I am so glad that he was ok and you were too!
Kel
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