Andrea’s Weblog

I’ve never locked myself out of my car; I might have locked myself out
of my house once though. That all changed on Tuesday. Elizabeth and I
had just pulled up to a fast food restaurant. I unbuckled her from her
seat and started putting the sling on myself. Since I didn’t have a
free hand, I went ahead and locked the car and put the key in my purse.
Suddenly, I hear a car start next to me and the woman starts pulling
out of the spot, so I hurriedly shut the door. Yep, with my keys in my
purse on the car seat and Elizabeth still IN THE CAR! I stood there in
shock for a few moments trying to open the door-it wasn’t completely
closed, just enough to latch it. That didn’t work, so I ran into the
restaurant and went directly to the cashier saying “I need to use a
phone it’s an emergency, I locked my baby in the car.” Before I said
the bit about the baby, I could tell the woman was like “yeah,
emergency like you broke a nail or something?”

First I called Frank at work (5 minutes away), but he didn’t have the
spare key on him, but said he was on his way. Then I ran out to the car
to check on her. I was afraid someone would try to kidnap her if I left
her alone, which thinking back on it was kind of strange. I came back
in and they said they called the police. Since we were right next door
to the station, that made the best sense. Frank arrived and thankfully
remained calm and didn’t tell me what an idiot I was for locking our
baby in the car. We stood there watching Elizabeth in her car seat
playing with Mr. Chickie Chick.

The officer arrived after what seemed like hours (10 minutes in real
time) and said the locksmith was on the way. Finally, the locksmith
showed up and stepped out of his truck jimmy in hand. He immediately
started trying to pry up the weather strip around the window, but it
didn’t take him long to tell us that he couldn’t do it. We would have
to break a window, or he could scratch up the side of the car trying to
reach the unlock button using a long coat hanger. Meanwhile, Mr.
Chickie Chick is gradually slipping out of reach, sliding off the car
seat. I knew it would only be minutes before she would he would be gone
and the crying would start.

Since home was only 15 mins away, we decided to go home for the key.
The officer offered to drive because it would be faster, so Frank
hopped in the back of the squad car and they took off. They sped home
and were back in 15 mins. That was probably the longest 15 minutes of
my life as I stood outside the car helpless as she cried. I couldn’t
decide if it was more of a comfort for her to see me, or if she was
crying more because she could see me and was trying to say “come on
mom, I want Mr. Chickie Chick.”

I was so relieved when Frank hit the unlock button and I got to take
Elizabeth in my arms and give her a big hug. She was sweaty from
crying, but she forgave me almost immediately with a cute little smile.

This situation never would have occurred if I had a third arm, but it
doesn’t look like I’ll be getting one anytime soon, so I will never hit
the lock button unless we’re both clear of the car.