We tried many tactics in keeping her confined to her bed, none of which worked. So, Matt and I, like any caring parents wanting nothing but the best for our child, turned the doorknob of the kids room around, placing the lock on the outside, and we locked the kids in their room. Go ahead. Call Child Protective Services. Ten minutes with our kids, and they will be lavishing us with medals and giving us vouchers for a weekends away.
Grace. "Mommy! Let's play a game!"
Thus began the fun game of shoving items into the door jamb, hoping to hear the click of the lock unfastening. No Pokemon cards, Spot books, or game pieces did the trick. My mom, after cackling and heaving in throws of laughter on the phone, called the maintenance department of our apartment complex. In the meantime, I called Matt. After he finished his own fit of laughter, he told me to shove a "long metal thing" into the hole on the doorknob. Lacking in "long metal things," I turned instead to the lego box, where I found a lego spear. I wiggled and jiggled that spear like nobody's business, to no avail. The phone rang.
"Hi, -snort, chuckle- Christie?"
"Yes."
"This is -chuckle, snort, snort, chuckle- Carol in the leasing office."
"Uh huh?"
"Maintenance is on the way. HEE HAW HEE HAW!"
Glad that I was making the leasing office's day, I waited patiently while Grace hollered, "Are we gonna play this game or what?!!!" Then the phone rang again.
"Hi, this is Joey in maintenance. Are they there yet?"
"No, not yet. Has this ever happened before?"
"Oh, yeah, usually the locks freeze up in the bathrooms." I did not feel the need to explain that this was not a matter of a malfunctioning lock, we actually lock our kids in their room at night. And deprive them of food and water. Silly details.
Lo and behold I look out the window, and here come two, not just one, TWO men with tools and drills.
"Hiiiii!" I say, lamely. "Uhh, I don't think you will need the drills! We're just ... you know ...locked ... in here ..."
They enter the apartment like they are rescuing us from a burning building, and I can hear them coming down the hall.
Click.
We were free. FREE! Free to see the incredulous look on the maintenance men's faces. "Did you, ummm, turn the door knob around..."
"Yeah, see my daughter here, haha, would not stay in bed, and so ..."
Sort of an awkward pause occurred and I tried to laugh to make the whole thing just so silly, when the man walked to his tool box and pulled out THIS:
"Save this, in case it happens again," he said nicely. It's the "long metal thing"!
So now we are free, and the day is going much better. It is beautiful out, birds are singing, Nathan is giggling, and Grace is napping soundly. With the door locked, of course. All is right with the world.
3 comments:
The things kids will do for attention, huh?
Glad you made it out of there safe and sound. Good thing you were on the phone too!
I'll have to remember that turning the door knob around trick...I'll probably need it.
Okay, let me tell you another one. We also had the brilliant (!) idea of turning around the knob to detain escaping children. HowEVER. Once, my sister was baby sitting the kids and my brillant eldest child also locked them in. And, to make matters even better, they had the security lock (up high, like a chain) on the front door, the garage door and the pin in the sliding glass door. So, when my husband got home, he had to borrow a screwdriver from a neighbor, tell my sister how to get the screen off and threw her the screwdriver to get the bedroom door open. After that, we got smart and put the long metal thing in the room, too. SHEESH! Makes for a good story now, though, huh!?!
Cackling? Well, I guess thats better than Carol in leasing who HEE HAW's like a mule....
Honestly - that was HILARIOUS.
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