So today was a hectic day all around running around town to various activities, interviewing a potential nanny, buying uniforms and school supplies. We got home around 2:30 pm and I had to get ready for a meeting I had at 4 pm for Herbalife. We were all in the hotel room and the cleaning lady of the hotel was also here. I was sitting in the dining table of our 600 sq. foot room (very small) and the kids were going back and forth with the babysitter playing or doing I am not sure what. You know the things kids do when they are stuck in a very small space (play with cars, play pretend with stuffed animals, etc).
Just to note we have two bedrooms in that small space, both with doors that lock. Our bedroom also has a door to a small terrace. Well, I was sitting there preparing my outline and then I hear, "Sammy abrame la puerta (Sammy, open the door)." The babysitter didn't sound too worried...I thought he had just closed the door. Well I got up and realized that Sam had locked himself in my room, which had a sliding door to a terrace on a 21st floor with no protection for kids. I FREAKED OUT and was even more upset when the babysitter and the cleaning lady just told me calmly, "Just tell him to open the lock." Uh, ok...he is TWO and the lock is one of those locks that you have to turn the lock thing-a-ma jig twice for it to open. Then the cleaning lady told me that keys for the rooms didn't exist...I was like then why have a lock at all that can only be opened from the inside in a hotel that caters to families...HELLO!
After about 5-7 minutes of trying to get Sammy to open the door with no success and watching both of the ladies just stand there I yelled at the cleaning lady to please go find a key, crowbar or something to open this door. I had trie to push it open but that didn't work either and I was scared to really push hard because Sam was crying on the other side hysterically and I was really trying to have him stick close to the door and not venture to open the terrace, which WASN'T locked. I was freaking out!!!
Two men came from the hotel and said, "Just tell him to open it." Okay, HELLO I tried that in Spanish, English and Dutch...the boy is two and doesn't get the concept of turning the lock twice back the other way to open the door....just show me a key and all this will be solved. They were like, no..sorry no key. They tried with a credit card, a two-little Coke bottle that they cut and tried to use to pry it open (I knew that wasn't going to work).
Finally the hotel called a locksmith...hallelujah finally a good idea (I had no idea who to call in Chile or else I would have called myself) and we waited. I sang to Sammy as he cried. Thank goodness for Old McDonald and Barney...those were his favorites. Every time I heard him singing it was a reassurance he was staying close to the door. So 45 minutes (a lifetime) later the locksmith was able to break the lock and I was able to hold Sammy.
Really, it was horrible and the scary part is that I knew this would happen. Luka had been playing with the doors a couple of days ago and I realized it was so easy to lock and not so easy to open....I either jinxed it or I just knew.
Well, Sammy is okay but now I don't want to leave them alone in this room and I don't trust the babysitter to stay with them. I know it can happen to anyone, but I had told her to watch out for this specifically and to not let Sammy be in the room alone with the door closed. But I have to get over it or else I will drive myself crazy.
So lessons learned here...tomorrow I am buying duck tape and putting it over the other locks we have in the apartment (bathroom and second bedroom). This way the doors can't lock and I don't have to worry...or next time ask if a key exists for that lock before something like this happens so I can put the duck tape on in the first place.
Today I thought about our best friends the Engelhards a lot. This same thing happened to them when we lived in Maputo with their son Max. In Maputo we all had safe havens in our house, meaning we had an iron door in front of the stairs that go to the 2nd floor so that in the case of an emergency we can lock ourselves upstairs, scary right? Well, Max locked himself in. I think he was three. It was horrible...these doors were like a fortress...it took MUCH longer than the 45 minutes today to open the door that day.
So parents make sure you have keys or a way to open doors if your toddlers lock themselves inside. Always leave keys in a kitchen drawer if it is to rooms in the house or with a neighbor if it is with the actual door of the house (some houses lock automatically).
Man, I really can't wait move into our real home. Moving day can't come soon enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment