Scary Day

This afternoon when Miriam and I returned from M.O.M.S. group we had a big scare. I brought Miriam inside with my purse and her diaper bag. I needed to go back out to the car to get some other things...I brought snacks today to the meeting and didn't want them to spoil in the car. I shut the front door behind me so she wouldn't follow me outside. When I got back to the door, IT WAS LOCKED. DEAD BOLTED. I guess in trying to open the door, our super tall girl turned the deadbolt.

Everything was inside, my keys, my cell phone. I tried to kick the door in and that was pointless. I could still see her through the glass on the side of the doors. She could hear me. So, I tried to get her to turn the lock back. She was turning on the door knob, but wouldn't reach up to the deadbolt. I was telling her, "Miriam turn the one above the knob." Well, she doesn't know what "above" means yet. Note to self...next big thing we are working on is "above" and "below". Then I told her to go "up from the knob", then she kept putting her arms up? It had been about 5 minutes by this point and I knew I needed to call the police, but I was so scared to leave her at the door.

I ran across the street to my sweet neighbor who runs an in-home daycare and used her phone to call 911. The operator was like, "She's not even 2 and she dead bolted the door?" And I said, "Yes, she did. Now please get someone here to kick this door down." We need a new door anyway...I didn't care, but they needed to get in their to my baby. So, I ran back to our house and Miriam was crying with visable tears right in the doorway. I was trying so hard to stay calm and not freak b/c I knew that would scare her more. She was yelling, "Mommy, come IN-SIDE, puhleeze" It was heartbreaking. I was trying to make her laugh by showing her Halloween decorations and playing peek-a-boo with them in the window. She got out of my eyesight a couple of times and I PANICKED. I had rushed out of the house to get to our meeting and I knew there were 2 sharp knives in reaching distance on the kitchen cabinets. She usually came back within a minute or two carrying her Mickey Mouse Halloween basket or her baby doll.

A firetruck and two cop cars arrived about 20 minutes after I called. I explained to the firemen what had happened and asked them to kick the door down. I had been thinking the whole time I was waiting how I was going to get Miriam away from the door when they kicked it in. They asked if there were any windows unlocked anywhere around the house. It was so funny, but that hadn't occurred to me. My only thought was busting through a door...

So they went around to the back (they did have to kick in the screen door) to check for unlocked windows. While they were back there a lady cop came up asking, "Now, you don't have a spare key anywhere outside?" That is when I broke down. I just started crying, apologizing that I didn't have a key and that they had to come out here to help us when I knew they had real fires to fight and criminals to find, that I was a terrible mother and I should have not closed the door on her...I was a mess. The lady felt horrible.

I turned around to check on Miriam through my tears and she was walking down the hall toward the kitchen. I yelled at her to come back and then I saw the tall policemen in my kitchen!!!! THEY WERE INSIDE!!! He came and unlocked the front door and I grabbed Miriam up crying even harder. She was fine by this point, excited that we had company and to see the fireman crawl through the kitchen window. I hugged and thanked them all.

Miriam and I went and checked out the firetruck. All was well. They left and we went back inside. Miriam asked, "Mommy, Where's Lovey?" I looked all over and found her in the kitchen, "I found her, Miriam. Here's Lovey" Miriam looked at me and said, "Lovey's tired. Resting time."

Yes, it was resting time.

I called Paul in ATL and he got on the phone with a garage door repairman and a locksmith. This will never happen again.