i’m starting to worry that my child is a troublemaker. or maybe this is how all boys are and i just never knew? all i do know is that elliott locked himself in the car on friday afternoon.
we finally bought elliott a new carseat after a couple months of his being too large for his infant one and i wanted to install it on friday before justin came home from work. instead of leaving elliott in the house to scream in his playpen i decided to do him a good turn and let him stand in the backseat while i installed it (mistake #1). i got the carseat in and i got out of the car and instinctively closed my door, leaving elliott in the backseat. i wanted to go get my purse and my phone, both of which were still in the house, so that we could go for a ride. as i walked back up to the house i heard the unmistakeable click of the car lock. and just like that a million expletives ran through my mind as i ran back to the car and saw elliott just lounging in the backseat playing with my keys. somehow they had fallen out of my pocket and elliott, being an enterprising young man, had retrieved them and immediately gone for the big red door lock button.
i sat there watching him through the car window (he was playing happily with my keys, not a care in the world. geesh.) for a split second while my brain started to go into panic mode thinking “my baby’s going to die…i’m a negligent mother…” along with crazy thoughts of smashing in my windows to get him out. i gained enough presence of mind to run towards the house to get my phone to call the police and tried to open my front door. which was locked. why i had locked the door on my way out of the house i have no idea, but i now had no phone, no keys, and my neighbors weren’t home. more crazy thoughts of breaking my house window. i ran back to the car to check on elliott – still chilling in the backseat, still playing with my keys. i started praying to heavenly father that elliott would magically decide to push the (blue, smaller, generally less appealing) door open button. i watched him chomp happily on my grocery store rewards card and then get bored with the whole key ring and drop it into the nether-regions of the back seat. NOOOOOOO. so much for divine intervention.
i looked back at the house and with a stroke of inspiration i remembered that we had had the front window open the day before and we probably hadn’t locked it. bingo, through the window i went and ran straight for my phone. 5 minutes later a sheriff’s deputy was prying open my door and i pulled a very sweaty, but mostly unphased little boy out of my backseat, along with the keys. (but not before a fire truck pulled up lights and siren ablazing. so embarrassing.)
now i’m sure i’m not the first mom in the history of the world who has had this happen (in fact when the deputy pulled up i said “i’m so embarrassed” and he said “don’t worry, this has probably happened to me 50 times.” and i thought to myself “you’ve locked your kids and keys in the car 50 times?!” but i digress), however a crib escape and locking himself in the car all before 10 months old?! it’s going to be a long 18 years…
