About six months ago, we switched the lock on Andrew's door so that it locks on the outside (when verbal communication fails, you resort to more direct methods). He kept leaving his room during quiet times as well as in the middle of the night--so he left us no choice. Or, maybe we just couldn't come up with anything better.
Either way, it proved to be a very useful solution. Until Friday. I had gone into Andrew's room with him for something, and while I wasn't watching, Andrew went over to his door, locked it from the outside, and then closed it--with both of us inside. He had done that to himself before, but never while I was in the room with him.
Ryan was already gone for the day, Chloe was in her crib asleep, and I had no phone to call for help. I usually can use a credit card to slide in the crack to open a door, but Uno cards weren't up to the task. I considered pulling out the pins in the hinges, but when the hinges haven't been parted in over 30 years, they weren't even considering yielding to my worthless fingernails. So I went to work on my only other option that I could think of, which was unscrewing the doorknob. One screw came out easily with my nail, but the other wasn't going to budge. I felt very MacGyver-ish searching around the room looking for something that could work as a screwdriver. I finally found a little metal tab on the back of a picture frame that I could use to turn the screw one quarter turn at a time until I finally could get a hold of it.
It took a solid 20 minutes to finally figure it out and get it opened, and I have now learned my lesson that I need to keep a screwdriver in there so I can get out in case that happens again. Ideally Andrew will just get to the point where he won't need it anymore...but that may be a while.
9 comments:
Way to problem solve. I may have sat down to cry before figuring out a solution.
That is awesome. A couple of weeks ago Erik was out of town and one of my kids locked the bathroom door and then closed it. No one was in there but the light was on. It stayed on for 3 days because I couldn't get it unlocked. I wish you'd been here to figure it out.
That is so great. I'll bet Andrew figured it was your turn for a time out. He was probably laughing inside the whole time. Only problem, after watching you, he will probably let himself out the same way next time.
Impressive. Wasn't there a window to climb out of? That's always my first option.
AHHH! Amy! The SAME THING happened to me with Owen! His souvenir spoon (free from Gerber) that I had tucked away in his room did the trick to let us out. Sadly, the lad paid way too much attention and used the same spoon to free himself on a different occasion.
Bye, bye spoon in the room!
We got Ryan's book today! Looks great!
LOVE it! What I want to know is, are bed restraints REALLY that bad????? We have a wanderer and she likes to sneak up on us when we least suspect it. Creepy!
I love it! Mom extraordinaire!
HAHAHA! That is so funny! Hey, I seem to remember another MacGyver moment of yours in college involving a door lock, chemisty lab safety goggles, and a coat hanger...
I'm just wondering if you're locked in another room. You've fallen off the blog wagon & I miss you.
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