Lesson #39
Be calm in an emergency...even when you are freaking out inside
Go ahead and call in my name as a nomination for mom of the year. Who had the police and firemen show up at her house to free her two-year-old from a locked bathroom? This girl!
This is definitely not one of my proudest moments as a mom. In the midst of some pretty intense potty training, I managed to create a scary situation for Miles. We had made it over the hump of multiple accidents each hour. I was feeling pretty good about things. Miles had just gone potty without any trace of accidental leakage. I was feeling great about this little victory. He insisted on flushing the potty as I walked back into my bedroom to finish putting laundry away. He then closed the door to keep flushing. I thin here, "Uh oh, mommy. I locked in."
I went to the door and tried to instruct him to pull down the lever harder to pop the lock open. That did not work. I was calm and told him I was going to get a key. I ran quietly to get a few small screwdrivers and proceeded to disengage the lock pretty quickly. Now the lever was moving but the door was still not opening. I really started to get nervous but kept trying. Miles was pretty calm through this all. As luck would have it, I was home alone. I called our neighbor to come help and felt like we for sure could get this door open. No such luck. After about 15 minutes of trying, we had only managed to get part of the door handle off the door. I was definitely worried and Miles was getting really upset. I had already exhausted a few books I slid under the door and several reeces pieces. This worked for a while but now Miles was really scared and crying. My neighbor suggested a locksmith but I knew Miles could not wait 2 hours to get out. I then called 911. When the operator asked for my name I almost jocking replied, "mom of the year." I opted against this attempt to lighten up the situation as I was afraid she might not take it very seriously.
The friendly police officer arrived just in time for Miles to really be crying, shoving out the candy and chips that were small enough to fit under the door. "I not want candy...I want momma."
I started to tear up and felt terrible that I could not comfort my son. I tried to keep a happy voice and kept telling him how cool it was that the police officer was helping us fix the door. The whole process took about 25 minutes, but the officer was finally able to get the door handle complete off and open the door. I swept Miles up and hugged him. He calmed down immediately. He was even able to wave at the fire engine just as it arrived and left from our house.
I was shaken for the next few hours. But on the way to get lunch, I looked back to see Miles happily looking at his book as if nothing had happened. I realized in that moment that he had already forgotten about the whole incident. The entire time he was in the bathroom he was mainly calm. It was just the last ten minutes that he was really scared. I feel like I did my best to put my emotions aside and to make sure he did not think there was anything to be upset about. That was the only thing that kept me from really losing it.
Be calm in an emergency...even when you are freaking out inside
Go ahead and call in my name as a nomination for mom of the year. Who had the police and firemen show up at her house to free her two-year-old from a locked bathroom? This girl!
This is definitely not one of my proudest moments as a mom. In the midst of some pretty intense potty training, I managed to create a scary situation for Miles. We had made it over the hump of multiple accidents each hour. I was feeling pretty good about things. Miles had just gone potty without any trace of accidental leakage. I was feeling great about this little victory. He insisted on flushing the potty as I walked back into my bedroom to finish putting laundry away. He then closed the door to keep flushing. I thin here, "Uh oh, mommy. I locked in."
I went to the door and tried to instruct him to pull down the lever harder to pop the lock open. That did not work. I was calm and told him I was going to get a key. I ran quietly to get a few small screwdrivers and proceeded to disengage the lock pretty quickly. Now the lever was moving but the door was still not opening. I really started to get nervous but kept trying. Miles was pretty calm through this all. As luck would have it, I was home alone. I called our neighbor to come help and felt like we for sure could get this door open. No such luck. After about 15 minutes of trying, we had only managed to get part of the door handle off the door. I was definitely worried and Miles was getting really upset. I had already exhausted a few books I slid under the door and several reeces pieces. This worked for a while but now Miles was really scared and crying. My neighbor suggested a locksmith but I knew Miles could not wait 2 hours to get out. I then called 911. When the operator asked for my name I almost jocking replied, "mom of the year." I opted against this attempt to lighten up the situation as I was afraid she might not take it very seriously.
The friendly police officer arrived just in time for Miles to really be crying, shoving out the candy and chips that were small enough to fit under the door. "I not want candy...I want momma."
I started to tear up and felt terrible that I could not comfort my son. I tried to keep a happy voice and kept telling him how cool it was that the police officer was helping us fix the door. The whole process took about 25 minutes, but the officer was finally able to get the door handle complete off and open the door. I swept Miles up and hugged him. He calmed down immediately. He was even able to wave at the fire engine just as it arrived and left from our house.
I was shaken for the next few hours. But on the way to get lunch, I looked back to see Miles happily looking at his book as if nothing had happened. I realized in that moment that he had already forgotten about the whole incident. The entire time he was in the bathroom he was mainly calm. It was just the last ten minutes that he was really scared. I feel like I did my best to put my emotions aside and to make sure he did not think there was anything to be upset about. That was the only thing that kept me from really losing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment