Live. Laugh. Create. Inspire.

That’s what J was when she locked herself inside the house today. N and I were outside planting fall flowers and catching frogs. I knew something was wrong when I heard banging on the door from the inside of the house. I immediately remembered my friend Becca who had a similar thing happen to her child. I’m thinking she called her husband to come home and unlock the door, if I remember correctly. My husband works an hour away. He usually doesn’t have cell phone reception in the building. No chances of him bailing me out of this one.

I kept trying to get J to turn the lock but it was simply too high. I don’t know how she managed to lock it in the first place. After she gave up in frustration and began to become upset, I knew I needed a new plan. Why not just call Baba and see if he could help me think. The message I left went something like this:

“Baba, just wanted to let you know that J managed to lock herself  inside the house. I know you can’t help me do anything but think clearly. So, call me back and help me think clearly if you get this.”

When I hung up, N looked up at me from the porch where he had been sitting crossed legged, watching the whole ordeal. His imput would have made me laugh, had I not been near panic. In a bored, patronizing voice he said, “Mom, why don’t you just call the police.”

We’ve done our fair share of that in the past year but those are stories for another day. Good idea N, good idea. But, I wasn’t ready to resort to letting the police break a window, yet.

I went to the front of the house, hoping Baba had been careless and left the garage door unlocked when he left for work in the wee hours of the morning. No luck. Darn. He’s just to dependable.

Next, I went to the front door and checked to see if there was any way it had accidentally been left unlocked. Again, no luck. But, a plan began to formulate.

I called J over to the front door and had her climb up on the windowsill, just next to the door. From there, she could reach the lock! After an extreme coaching session where I yelled and cheered like an idiot, trying to keep a 2 year old engaged in this strange game, she finally succeeded!

I swept her into my arms and held her tight and praised her for her good work in unlocking the door. Rookie mom mistake. A little too much praise.

5 minutes later, we were back to fall flowers and frogs and I heard a banging on the inside of the door….