Locked Out

Let me just start by saying that Elisa can reach and play with doorknobs. Sometimes she can open doors. But not always.

Now that I've said that, you all know where I'm going. I've just ruined the ending for you. But bear with me.

On Wednesday of this week we had our first nice day in quite some time. It wasn't really warm... but it was sunny. And it wasn't freezing (it's been quite cold here recently). So I decided it was the perfect day for a short walk. I took the stroller outside to get it set up at the bottom of our steps. Then I went back to the front door and found it... locked! I had closed it so that Leesi wouldn't follow me outside, but I had left it unlocked. Leesi had reached up and locked it. I could hear her on the other side of the door - she was trying to turn the doorknob. So I tried to explain to her how to unlock the door. "Turn the inside part" I yelled through the door. I heard her fiddling with the doorknob. "Elisa, can you turn the inside part and open the door." "Yes." More fiddling with the doorknob. After a little while I gave up on this tactic. She wasn't going to be able to do it. So I said, "Mommy will be right back. You stay there, okay?" "Otay."

I ran as fast as I could over to the Student Development offices. Greg was in a class that he helps teach, and I didn't know where his class met. But I figured I'd get one of the secretaries in Student Development to help me either locate Greg or Campus Safety to let me in. So the secretary called Campus Safety, they happened to be off-campus at the time (don't ask me why), but they said they'd hurry back as fast as they could... and that we should call the building RD... which is Greg. So then the secretary called someone over in the building where Greg's class was taking place to go get him out of class. I ran back to my apartment.

My two biggest fears were: 1. that Elisa would figure out how to open the door while I was gone and then wander out into the parking lot. 2. that Elisa would pick this opportunity to bounce Jonathan... I had left him in his bouncy seat without the seatbelt fastened (bad idea)... and Elisa LOVES bouncing Jonathan. But she bounces him a little too exuberantly sometimes.

So I peeked in the window to see what Elisa was up to. She was sitting at the table happily coloring. When she saw me at the window she laughed and said, "peekaboo!" At this point Greg showed up and let me in. Elisa ran around the house shouting "peekaboo!" and laughing. This had been a grand adventure for her.

No harm done... I decided we should go for our walk. I made double sure that the door was unlocked and then we headed out. A little while later we returned and, guess what, the door was locked! I know I had left the door unlocked... but Campus Safety must have come by to let me in, found the door unlocked, and locked it back up again. Greg wasn't due to be out of class for another hour, and I was way to embarrassed to go back to the secretary and have her call Campus Safety again. So I decided that we would just stay outside for the next hour. Unfortunately a few minutes after I made this decision Elisa tripped and hit her head on the cement. She was hysterical, there was no way that we were going to be able to stay outside. So I headed toward Greg's class. On my way there I ran into Greg's boss who has a master key for all the dorms, and he let me back into our apartment.

After that incident I've decided I need to start carrying my keys with me at all times. Even if I'm just running out to the car, or taking out the garbage. My new fear is that Elisa will lock herself or Jonathan into an inside room (which we don't have keys for). I guess I need to learn how to pick locks in case that happens.