So my 21 month old son locked me out of the house today and I'm feeling like a hysterical lunatic. My husband works nights so he was upstairs asleep. I went into the garage with our two dogs leashed up, quick got down the wagon, turned back around to open the garage door into the house and it was LOCKED. My son on the other side had tried to open the door and locked it. I was coming right back in to grab him and take him in his wagon and the dogs for a walk. Well, I went to the front door, locked. Started ringing the door bell like mad, no response from my husband who was upstairs with a loud air conditioning unit on, fast asleep. Keep pounding, keep ringing. Nothing. Starting to freak out. Flag down my neighbor to use her phone, try to call husband, nothing. Couldn't remember his flipping cell phone number because it's in my contact list and I don't actually remember the number! Call my mom, who has a spare key, she is 10 minutes away. I am panicking at this point. Did I leave the bathroom door open? What if he falls in the toilet? what if he falls down the stairs? Worst case scenarios running through my head. Finally my neighbor asks if I checked the back door as I'm nearly in tears running back and forth between doors and pounding, asking my mom, "should I call the police?" I run around to the back ( I always lock everything, so it hadn't even crossed my mind) The gate is locked (we live in townhouses with back cubicle things gated off). I peak through and see the lever for our sliding door is UP, it's unlocked! I somehow scale the 6-foot fence, get in, only to find my husband answering the door to our neighbor in his boxers. I run around frantically crying "where's Jack, where's Jack? I was locked out, he was in here ALONE!" nowhere to be found. Dread. My husband tears upstairs.... and he's in his room, playing, like nothing happened.
So after crying, and nearly squeezing my son to death and SCREAMING at my husband for sleeping through all this racket when I needed him (not his fault, I understand, he's always been able to sleep through an apocalypse). I'm feeling like total lunatic. He was probably in the house alone for a total of 7 minutes. Our house is safe enough, mind you, we usually keep him gated in the family room, so he had free reign. We always keep bathroom doors closed, but then I'm just thinking, what if it's not? What if he's drowning in the toilet?? I guess this is why people 1) have spare keys they hide outside and 2) have every inch of their house baby-proofed. I just feel like an idiot. My neighbor is a mom, so I'm sure she understands, but I still feel like a maniac. My son is fine, that's all that matters I know! I just need some other moms to tell me they've acted like a total lunatic too :) whew. deep breath.
thanks moms, feel thoroughly better. Especially love the story about the mom breaking down the door! I was seriously contemplating what I could use to smash in the window. Just glad I didn't call the police, to have my husband wake up to the fire department breaking down the door! Also glad to know my husband's not the only one who can sleep through anything.
I feel for you!!! I locked my son at 20 months in my running car. My daughter who was 13 was with him. I stepped out at Dairy Queen to get ice creams 4 feet away. My daughter got out to ask me a question and locked the door. He was locked in the back seat. We made him rock back and forth and loosen up the straps and it worked.. He unlocked the door.... I was a mess!!!
So sorry! I would have felt like a lunatic too.
Get one of those hide-a-keys so that this doesn't happen again. That'll help!
Hugs!
Dawn
Well... In your husband's defense... I can also sleep through pretty much anything. I have on several occasions slept through tornadoes.
When we were looking at the apartment that we live in now the door was all messed up. The owner said, "The door will be replaced before you move in. The woman who lived here before you got locked out by her 2 year old when she went down to get the mail. She broke the the door in. I still don't understand why she didn't call me for the key." Meanwhile I'm thinking, 'Your office is 20 minutes away. Why the f*ck would she wait for you to come with a key when her 2 year old is in the apartment alone?'
When my MIL babysat my eldest daughter, something similar happened. My daughter was around 14-16 months. My MIL stepped onto the porch to get the mail from the mailman and my daughter slammed the front door. She then proceeded to unpot every plant on the main floor of the house. She put every picture frame on the floor face down. She pulled all of the cushions off of the couches. She took out every toy and book my MIL had for her (it was a lot). She put a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet as well as bath toys. Oh yes and she emptied out her entire diaper bag on the floor.
This took all of 15-20 minutes. When my daughter was done, she let my MIL back in the house.
I should have paid that woman but she never asked for a penny.
It can be scary to think that one of your children are in danger. I freaked out at an amusement park once. My daughter was about 3 and she was on one of those child rides that spin, I think it was a tea cup or something. The ride started and I noticed that she looked white as a ghost, her head tilted back and a look of horror on her face. I started screaming like a maniac, STOP the ride, STOP the ride, finally the kid heard me and he stopped the ride. She was fine, I don't know what I thought, but everyone was staring at me like I was a psycho.
My husband sleeps through everything, too. It's amazing. In over forty years I've never understood how he does it.
My children couldn't lock me out of our house, but they each locked themselves in the bathroom at church. All of them, at about approximately the same age. So I went through it four separate times. (Where was my brain?) Yes, it's calculated to drive a mama up the wall and out the chimney.
It's what toddlers do. Our grandson who is now close to that age has already opened the doors and gone outside into the street. He's not far away from locking his parents out and having a party with the cat.
You belong to a very large club now! Welcome!
Of course, from now on you'll have an extra key somewhere outside. Maybe you'll have two keys - in different places. Or you might see about whether you can buy a door with a different kind of lock on it that your brilliant son can't figure out. Think of the money it would save you in psychiatrist bills.
Welcome to motherhood P., and I'm so sorry you experienced the lock out as your initiation. That usually comes when they are 3 or so. On the bright side, now that all is said and done, you've got yourself a smart kid there....beware for the future. We have all experienced a lock in or lock out at one point or another. My son was 3 when he locked himself in the bathroom. The panic that ran through me of all the meds he could ingest...UUUUGH!!!!.....mind you they were all child proof caps....but who the hell thinks of that when our babies are all alone in the mean old cold bathroom, right....LOL.
Glad he is ok. I understand the freaking out. I was locked out once but my daughter was not walking yet. I had to climb in a window.
My major freak out was at my grandparents cabin. My 1st was standing by my sister and I while we were hanging laundry and then all of a sudden he was not there. We had two choices of where to look - the deep woods or the lake. It was a super super windy day so the water was choppy and your voice did not carry at all. I jumped in the lake assuming he had done what he loved to do - run full force down the dock and then stop right at the end. In my mind this time he did not stop fast enough. He was only 3. I was shaking and crying and freaking out. Luckily he went the other way and my sister found him in an old shed out back.
OMG, hugs.
I would be like you too.
;)
I still don't know, how your Husband could be sleeping through all of this.
If you were not home, and a Robber or intruder was breaking into your house... it would be a real bad situation.
Girl, you are not a lunatic. You are a great mother who obviously loves her son very much. Freaking out is totally normal!! I am glad everything turned out okay. My son locked us out of the house the other day,but thankfully the keys were still in the door since we were in the process of carrying groceries/kids inside. ;) I probably would've freaked out otherwise. One time my daughter locked me out of the house - I was in the laundry room and she locked the deadbolt playing I guess? I had to climb through the kitchen window over the sink. Thankfully it was open because it was spring time and nice outside. I was so scared for the few seconds it took me to find a way in.
My son and I were staying in a little one room cabin, I put him to bed and went outside, right outside the door by the campfire so he would sleep rather than ask me a million questions (Is heaven above space? what if you poke a dolphin?) My husband calls my cell and we start to talk, son gets up complains I'm too noisy, so I say "close the door so you can have quiet." YUP! you guessed it. I dont check for an hour because I'm right outside the door and I want him to sleep. Now it's 11:00 and I'm locked out, he's in there alone with my keys.
Now he's 7 and sound asleep and safe, but I'm panicking almost as bad as you!! Screaming and pounding didnt wake him up, thank God a kind neighbor had the phone number, the management was nearby and came with a key within minutes.
I've also locked toddlers in cars, AAA comes fast when you tell them there's a child in the car!
You're not an idiot, your a mom doing many different things and never wanting something between you and your child!
Lunatic = Love + Fear :)
We haven't dealt with the lock out from the house....but I think now that the oldest is at K, I'd better keep my eye on that scenario happening with the 2 year old.
We have dealt with the kids locked in the van! Memorial Day weekend. Van is running in the garage with A/C running on HIGH....100 degrees out. Strap the girls in their new car seats. Put the dog in the van while we go to grab something else. Dog jumps from front seat to front seat.....pushes lock button. We are locked out. My purse and phone is on the front seat and we don't have a spare key. (We just bought the van second hand and never got a second key.)
My oldest can't get out of her 5 point harness because the new seat is a b*tch to lock/unlock (not thrilled about this). She is starting to cry because she realizes what is happening (4.5 y.o.). While my husband is trying to find something in the garage to open the door, I'm yelling at the dog to unlock the door. "Come here, Bella! Hit the f'ing button. You stupid mutt!" My husband is yelling at me to calm down. I yell at him that I don't even have my phone. He gives me his. I don't know how to use it (also new and different than mine). I scramble to call 911. Just as the operator answers, the dog hits the button to unlock the door. I'm thinking she realized that her days (hours) were numbered and wised up! Lol.
I was so fearful that my kids would freeze with the a/c blowing full blast on them while we waited on a holiday weekend for someone to open the door. Had the a/c not been on in that heat, a window would have been broken! (And of course this is during the time that two babies had been left in hot cars near us.)
Within a week, I had a new key and key faub made for the van. We've also taught the oldest how to loosen her straps to climb out of the seat.
Relax Mama. It happens. Not fun, but it sure makes us know how much and to what extent we'd go to for our babies.
Hide a key.. Get one and remember where it is going to be kept outside of your house.
I know how you feel. This happened to me too. I went to take the garbage out and the door slammed behind me. It's weird too because as I heard the door slam I thought to myself what if it were to lock. So when I try to open the door it's locked, with my 3 year old inside. I thought that she was the one that locked the door but after that we realized sometimes the door locks on impact. So I start freaking out yelling at my daughter to open the door. She starts crying. I considered and tried to break out the window on the french door with a patio umbrella, didn't work. So I prayed and then I forced myself to calm down, called my daughter over to the door and told her to turn the little knob. She did, the door opened and it was the biggest feeling of relief.
We keep our spare key at our neighbours house. They are retired, so they are usually home.
I have never done this, but I would TOTALLY be freaking out! My son is a month older and he is in to everything, climbing the like. So I think you're just a normal worried mom! Thankgoodness for those who love their kids!!
