Sunday, September 28, 2008

Story of the Weekend

We have a lock on Cooper's door. It's backwards for the purpose of containing one inside as opposed to keeping someone out. We used to use it frequently as the child had a hard time remembering to stay in bed once he'd been tucked in for the night. He's figured that out and the lock is used seldom these days.

Cooper has discovered other locks in our house recently and will often lock himself in the bathroom while using the facilities. It hasn't been a problem as he knows how to unlock the door and he's never in there very long. We've had a discussion about how it's dangerous to lock doors, that if there were an emergency, it would be hard for mom to help him. It hasn't stuck.

Friday night Denten and I met Amy and Scot for an evening of Diamondbacks. Ok, it was an evening of lots of visiting, but we caught a little of the game. We had one of our favorite sitters here with the kids. She's easy going, she knows the routine around here and she comes to us. Love that. We arrived home just before 10:30 to the house in slight disarray.. unusual for this sitter. More lights were on than normal and she was nowhere to be seen. After quick thinking, I assumed she was assisting getting Cooper back to bed after he got up to use the bathroom. I walked upstairs to find all quiet, and doors shut... and locked. Holy Smokes.

She had put Cooper to bed around 8:00 and for some reason when they were saying prayers and getting tucked in, they had shut the door behind them. The locked door. The poor baby-sitter was locked in Cooper's bedroom with no way out. She tried a belt buckle to pop the lock, but it wasn't long enough. Cooper got over the fact that he thought it was pretty funny when he realized no one was on the other side to save them. He went to sleep eventually and then, so did she. What else was there to do??

I was so grateful that she had listened to my brief instructions before we left and had both Senny and Bex down for the night. I'm grateful that even if she had a completely understandable moment of panic, she was not overly upset and knew it wasn't the end of the world. I'm grateful that she still likes Cooper. She said she didn't mind the nap... what a saint.

I know that there are lots of things that could have gone wrong that could have made having your baby-sitter locked in a bedroom a really bad thing, but thankfully, none of those things happened... and so Denten thinks it's kind of hilarious. I still feel so bad for her, but I appreciate that sees it as a small and minor incident. Oh, this child.

12 comments:

Erin said...

Ah! Scary! Glad everything was all safe and sound when you got home.

Amy said...

So funny, Amberly. It definitely makes for a good story. We've got the reverse lock on here, too, but I luckily can unlock all of our doors with my fingernails. Whew!

KA said...

I'm so glad that I'm not the only mom to lock their kids in for the night. Fantastic story!

Annika said...

That is funny yet frightening. Thank heavens the other two were already asleep or she would have been in a real pickle!

The Silly Witch said...

What a weird thing to come home to. I, too, lock Quinn in his room for the night.

Kari said...

What a nightmare. Can you imagine if she'd been locked outside the house?! That happened to my next door neighbor a few weeks ago. She was outside for 45 minutes in the boiling heat while her son was inside the house laughing at her. They also lock the gate to the backyard, so she had no way out! She finally convinced him to unlock the door, but she was in sheer panic mode for awhile. She said she even yelled for me in hopes that I would hear her and be able to help. But alas...I was out grocery shopping!

Unknown said...

I love that story! That will be a story he'll probably want to hear over and over. My kids have some of their favorites that they'll say, "Mom, tell the story about when I..."

Justin said...

It must run in the family... her brother was once babysitting at my house. After our boys were tucked in, he went into the restroom which is adjacent to the back of the fridge. Hearing the ice maker, he got scared and locked himself in our 3 by 3 bathroom for about 2 hours thinking that somebody was breaking in. That's where he was when we walked in...

Emily said...

ACK!

Sandi said...

Oh, my maybe it's time to change the door handle.

Katelyn & Wade said...

Hee Hee!

Karen said...

That is funny, I am about ready to turn the lock around on Payton's door, but I might not now.