Mother of the Year

At 11 this morning, in the heat of a MS summer, I managed to lock both my kids in my car. SG was playing w/ my keys when I snapped her into her car seat. In a quick and not-so-brilliant move, I shut the door and walked around to go buckle D in, not thinking about the fact that the keys were still in the car.

O h n o .......

For moment I tried to talk David into unlocking the door. By this time, he'd buckled himself in and couldn't reach the door handle. Even if he did know how to unbuckle himself (which I have not taught him, with good reason) I doubt he would have figured out how to unlatch the door (another skill I have neglected to teach him, with good reason.)

Trying to stay calm, I walked back into the gym where I work and announced what happened. Someone with a good head on his shoulders suggested calling 911 (why didn't I think about that 5 min ago instead of trying to explain to a 3 year old how to unbuckle his car seat?!?)

I made the e-call and also gave a dear friend directions to my house to grab a spare set of keys. 30 minutes later (!) the door was finally unlocked (whether it was the police with his slim jim or my friend driving up and clicking my spare remote, I don't know.) Two very wet, hot, red-faced crying children were finally rescued. Popcicles, teddy bears (from the police), and heaps of doting attention from other gym members seemed to ease their trauma fairly quickly.

One more bullet for my MOY resume. After we got home I spent a few minutes teaching David how to unlock the car door. Of course he still doesn't know how to unbuckle his car seat; I'm not going to go there.