The Results Are In--A 22 Month Old Child CAN Unlock a Car!

About a week ago, I blogged about a new mommy low. Little did I know that was NOTHING compared to what happened today!

As I posted yesterday, Jonathan's school closed early today for the Pegasus Parade. When I got to school to pick him up, I parked on the second floor of the adjacent parking garage rather than right by the door to the school like I usually do when I pick him up. This was because the closer parking spots are limited to a two hour max and I planned to just leave my car there and walk down to our parade viewing seats.

So I go inside to pick J-Man up, like usual. He'd had a great day playing on the inflatables that a business associated with his school had for all the kiddos. I walked him out to the car so I could get our stuff together for the parade. I thought it would be a good idea to let him set in the driver's seat while I got everything out of the trunk. So I put him in the driver's seat and closed the door. He had the keys in his hand, so obviously the car was not running. I got the stroller out of the trunk, set it up by the car, put the brakes on and closed the trunk. Then I went to open the driver's door to get Jonathan out.

It was locked. In fact, all four doors were locked.

Cold sweat engulfs my entire body.

Jonathan had locked the doors and was holding the keys in his hand. My cell phone and in fact all of my personal belongings were in the car with him. I looked around and tried to figure out what to do. I tried, fruitlessly, to get him to push the unlock button on the remote. I was met with laughter as Jonathan pushed the emergency flasher button, tried to fit the keys into the ignition and opened a Coldplay CD case, removing the CD and attempting to place it in the CD player.

Fighting back hysterics, I noticed a guy who'd just pulled in two spots over from me who was getting his little girl out of the car. He was on a cell phone. I guess he had seen me trying to deal with this situation, because when I went over to ask him if he would let me use his cell phone to call my hubby, he immediatley hung up with whomever he was speaking to and and handed me the phone. I told me I just needed to call my husband so he could call AAA. This angel of a man said just to do whatever I needed. I could have kissed him, but I was not in any state even remotely akin to romance. :)

So I called my husband's office and told the receptionist that it was "sorta an emergency." As calmly as possible, I told Bryan the situation and what I needed him to do. I wanted to be sure to tell him everything AAA would need to know as I had no way for him to call me back. He was pretty calm and said he would take care of it. Feeling somewhat relieved, I thanked angel-cellphone-guy profusely and went back to the car to try to convince Jonathan to let me in the car. Still laughing, he responded to my pleas to pick up the keys by banging them against the glass.

Finally, he starts fooling with the door unlock button that is actually on the door. Encouragingly, I told Jonathan "yes, yes, push it up!! Just like a light switch!!", the whole time keeping my hand on the door handle. And, just like magic (which, ironically, is the theme for the Derby festival this year), he actually did it! I opened the door and get him out. This is the point where confetti dropped from the ceiling of the parking garage (not really, of course, but it felt like it!). I got him out and asked him if he was OK, the whole while eveloping him in the tightest hug EVER. He brushed me off and wanted to get in the stroller, reminding me that at least HE didn't know anything was wrong, he was just having fun and, now that car fun was over, wanted to go on a walk.

So after this great adventure, we went on to the parade, where the weather actually cooperated, at least to the extent that it was not pouring! As you can see from the pic below, Jonathan was happy as a clam in the rain poncho Nana bought him. Now if my heart could just stop pounding...