I guess Samuel thought it would be fun to play an early Halloween trick on mom today. He sure did have me scared! Now that he has reached toddlerhood I am learning every day that I have to stay one step ahead of him to avoid disaster and today I just wasn't on my game.
I opened the front door to the porch to take a few of his toys down to the basement. He loves to stand and look out the screen door so I left the main door open. I was out there less than a minute when I suddenly heard the door close behind me. Since our home is historic it has a few quirks. One example is that our entry doors have a special button on the handle that has to be pushed in or the door will automatically lock. Guess who forgot to push the button in before I went outside? That's right! I was locked outside while Samuel was inside. Did I mention I was only wearing a sports bra and workout pants? My intention was to take the toys to the basement so I could then run on the treadmill down there while Samuel played.
I felt panic rising inside of me. How will I get back inside? What if he gets into something dangerous? What if something falls on top of him and he is injured? What if the gate blocking the basement stairs isnt secure and he falls down the stairs? What if, what if, what if.... I started to look around for something I could use to break the window. Nothing was available so I ran next door to see if our neighbors were home. My plan was to see if they had a hammer I could borrow.
Thankfully my neighbor was home and when I explained the situation to her she offered to call housing maintenance so they could come unlock the door. Hmmm.... that sounds much more reasonable than breaking the window. She was even nice enough to stand on the porch with me while we waited for them to arrive.
Samuel was very disgruntled that there was now a solid piece of wood and panels of glass blocking him from his mommy. He stood there looking up at me crying. I tried to explain that he locked me out and so he will have to be patient. His response was to start throwing my dirty laundry out of the basket that I'd left in the foyer on our way to the basement. A few times he wandered down the hallway and into the kitchen, I assume to see if I was coming through the back door to resuce him, but as soon as I knocked on the front door again and called his name he would return.
He was only locked inside for about 15 minutes, but it felt like so much longer. I do not like to lose control of a situation and feel so utterly helpless. I know every mother has stories of times that her kids did something crazy and got the best of her, it's almost a rite of passage, and I guess now I have my first!
