Locked Out

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Nearly every mom I know has her own story of when it happened to her.

This morning, I got locked out of my house--with my fifteen month old inside!

I had gone out on the back deck to see what was causing the neighbor's dog to bark so much. (This was a waste of time--and you know this if you've ever been to my house--because that dog barks incessantly.) I couldn't figure out what the dog was barking at, so I turned around to walk back inside. Bam.

I was locked out.

The first thing that I did was stifle my panic. I had just put the toddler down for a nap, so I knew he was safe in his crib. I also stifled the thought of smashing in the back window. I quickly ran around the house and ran to my (non-dog-barking) neighbor's house. No answer. I ran to another house. No answer. And another. No answer.

Finally, I saw a woman walking down the sidewalk talking on her phone.

Picture this: Me--in sweats with a pseudo-greasy ponytail and with the remnants of yesterday's makeup on--running through some stranger's yard across the street yelling, "Ma'am! Excuse me! Ma'am! I need your phone!" She looked at me--rightly so--like I was crazy.

"I locked myself out of my house, and my baby is inside sleeping!"

That got her to hand me her phone pretty darn quickly.

First, I called my husband. I knew he was probably seeing patients, and sure enough, he didn't answer. Next, I called my dad, who was also seeing patients but always answers his phone. He picked up, and he was at my house within ten minutes.

Just one problem. He didn't have a key to my house (he will now, though).

We called Pop-a-Lock. They said twenty minutes. After thirty something minutes (and me getting furious at the Pop-a-Lock folks on the phone), my dad decided he was going to take a crack at unlocking the door. He hopped out of his car, grabbed a credit card, and within three minutes had the door open. Yay for my dad always getting locked out of his apartment in medical school and thus developing this awesome skill!

Daddy to the rescue! He totally saved my day!

The little guy was in his crib shouting for me when I ran into the house. He was fine!

I really hope that this is my last "locked out" story. But I'm sure that with only one child who is a mere fifteen months old and the fact that we want to have at least three more kiddos, it won't be. :)

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Have you ever been locked out before? What did you do?