Yesterday at the orthodontist’s office there seemed to be a minor hullabaloo. Since it didn’t seem to be alarming and did seem to be under control (no mass hysteria), and didn’t seem to concern me, I happily buried my nose in my crossword puzzle book and paid it no mind. I guess, though, that my subconscious registered enough of the conversations that when Fritz and I stepped out of the office ten minutes later and I saw a woman and her 4 year old standing by her minivan and I glanced through the vehicle’s front windshield and saw a toddler buckled into his car seat, I realized immediately that she had locked her child in and herself out of the car.
“Help IS on the way, right?” I asked as we passed. I have AAA and would gladly have called and waited with her for them to come and rescue the baby. “Oh, yes,” she said. Good. I like to perform good deeds and all, but my kids were at a friend’s house and delaying my return by an hour would have been inconvenient. Not that my friend would have minded, of course. “What? You stopped to help some stranger with a baby locked in a car and made me feed your kids lunch? How dare you!” No, said friend would have done the same thing.
Fritz and I buckled up, but I just had to drive by the woman and roll my window down. “I’ve done the same thing,” I reassured her. “More than once!” She was visibly relieved. “Oh! I was starting to think I was the only one!” I smiled, waved and drove off. Nope. You’re not the only one, honey. Been there, done that.
Reit This Way 
I’ve not locked T in the car (yet, I’m sure) but she did lock me out of an otherwise empty house once. Luckily other people with keys were on their way but it was a very trying half hour or so of watching her through windows and praying she didn’t hurt herself because there wasn’t a thing I could do.
Just before Thanksgiving, two year old Rosie and I went christmas shopping alone. It was a cold, drizzly day, so after one of our stops, I opened the door, threw my purse on the front seat and deposited rosie in the dry van, then went around back to put our purchases in. I slammed the door shut and went around front, eager to get out of the rain myself, only to discover that ROSIE HAD LOCKED ALL THE DOORS! It took me about five minutes to convince her to unlock them through the closed windows, but that was a tense five minutes!
I remember when I was a kid, my mom had buckled my little sister in her seat and then turned to talk to her friend. I-being 7 at the time-decided to roll up all the windows (yes, it was the middle of the summer) and lock and close all doors. I turned to my mom and said “can I have the keys?” My mom FREAKED OUT (a little extreme if you ask my 7-year-old mentality at the time) and eventually had to call the police. They came with lights on and sirens blarring… it was great! I have since apologized to my little sister for all the tortured I placed upon her in our childhood and she has graciously forgiven me.
I haven’t done that one – although my husband did. But I was one of the last ones to leave church once and as I was standing in the parking lot talking with another couple I realized there were only two kids running circles around me instead of three…we’d locked my oldest in while she was in the bathroom!Then there was the time I locked up the house, jumped in the car and backed out of the driveway – the paniced face peeking out of the front window at me made me pull back in the driveway and begin apologizing immediately….Yes, we all have those moments in one way or another.I’m able to comfort many a young frazzled mother with the insane things I’ve done – well it either comforts them or makes them very afraid!LOL
I just did this on Wednesday! With my three little ones strapped into their carseats, and an appointment to get to (that they only hold once per quarter). Fortunately, there has not been a jail that can hold my son, and he got out of his carseat (with the seatbelt still buckled, what is he, a cat?) and opened the door for me.< HREF="http://milehimama.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">Mama Says<>
Oh dear! I have done this at least 3 times and the last time I was taking one child at a time to the car since they were in their PJ’s. I started the car as I put my DD 2 in her seat, shut the door and realized the auto locks went off. I was locked out of the car with one child in it, and one child (3) in the house. My DH has put a hide-a-key under the car, but wouldn’t you know, it wasn’t anywhere to be found (I discovered as I crawled under almost every inch of the car), and I found the spare AFTER the firetruck came. Yes, I said FIRETRUCK. Sigh. They couldn’t send anything less embarrassing?
Just another mom who has done this, too. I was 7 months pregnant and got a flat tire. It was about 10 degrees out and with no phone I got out to change it myself. Understandably flustered, I ended up locking my 2 and 3 year old girls in, and myself out (with the van still running to keep them warm, thank goodness!).