Monday, November 9, 2009

Wherein My 2 Year Old Locks Himself in His Room ...

Yes, you read correctly. Abe usually goes right down for his nap, but on a rare occasion he struggles with falling asleep. He'll call out to me or I'll hear him playing with his toys. He doesn't usually cry or get upset and if he is still awake after an hour, I let him out of his room and we skip nap for that day. Today was a struggle day. I heard him messing around in there, but didn't pay too much attention to what he was doing. After about 45 minutes I quit hearing him and assumed he'd fallen asleep. I went about my business. Skip forward an hour and a half. Tyler and I were in the kitchen making apple pies when we heard Abe wake up. We went down to get him and was shocked to find that his bedroom door wouldn't open. Shaking off my stupor, I tried again. Yes, my friends, he had locked the door. I wasn't ready to panic yet and I measured my options. No screws on the doorknob, so I couldn't remove it. Hinges on the inside, not outside of the door, so no luck there either. I called out to Abe, "Hey Hammer, can you open the door?" to which he calmly replied "Mom. Hammer locked the door". Yeah, we'd figured that one already, little friend. So, I called Ken at work. He promptly laughed. I hadn't found it funny up to this point, but I'll admit, he got me giggling. Abe was in there chatting it up, without a care in the world and we had absolutely no way to get him out of his room. Ken left work to come home and I kept trying options. We have a veranda outside the front of the house. Tyler's and Abe's rooms both have doors leading to it. We tried to use our front door key in the door, but it didn't work. We have a child safety cover on the inside doorknob of that door, so we couldn't get Abe to open it. As I waited for Ken to come home, Abraham finally started getting upset. He'd call out to me and ask me to please open the door. I distracted him by shoving things under the door for him to find. Toys, blankets, and yes, Halloween candy. I tried to get video of him talking in there, but the sound was too muffled to capture. By the time Ken got home, I was sure he was going to have to kick in the door. Ken checked all the options I'd already checked and came to my same conclusions. However, he was the maintenance manager of apartment complexes during college, and he'd had to break into many an apartment using an old credit card. He decided it was worth a try. 3 minutes later and Abraham was freed. He had all the toys and blankets I'd shoved under the door in his hands and a mouth full of tootsie roll. At this point he was not upset in the slightest, just overjoyed that Dad was home early from work. What a little punk.
(and for those of you wondering, we duck taped his doorknob before he went to bed tonight!)

11 comments:

Brenda said...

What kind of crazy door knobs do you have at your house? I had a friend once that kept complaining that her kids were locking themselves in their rooms and they had to take the door knobs off to get them out, then I told her about the hole in the middle of the knob and how you just stick the little key stick in and turn and it unlocks it. She was shocked. Glad you got him out, what a little stinker!

Kim and Ken Carlile said...

Our house is old. It has a keyhole, not a nice little hole that pops it right open. I'm thinking it is time to replace the doorknobs!

Elisa Barnes said...

I'm glad you didn't panic. I would have been a hot mess!! But it makes for great blogging, doesn't it??

Emily said...

How calm you are, i would never have thought to shove things under the door.
Super momma for sure~

Charlotte said...

I also learned (the hard way) the importance of doorknobs that don't use a key to unlock. Well made door and I had to break it down to get it open to let 10 month old Joseph out.

Glad he survived the ordeal and you didn't totally lose it!

Boyer Family said...

He was being so funny in there. I wish you could have gotten it on video. I'm glad he is free and that you have more patience then I do. All Maddie got under the door was my screams of anger (which she couldn't hear).

Mom at Our House said...

LOL! That is so funny!

Tucker Mom said...

Charlotte we learned that lesson alot earlier than Joseph. Remember when Elise locks you and me out of the house? Glad you got him out. I agree you need new door knobs.

Gina said...

What an adventure. Funny now..after the fact!

Shalise said...

So funny! Em's knob is already taped and child locked. It's funny how Houdini they get that young! Glad he's free!

Sandy said...

Ohhhh - never, ever, ever underestimate the vast knowledge of a King Henry Maintenance Man!! To the rescue...just as many times before. Thank you King Henry, thank you.