Lights Off and Locked Out

The world is becoming a better place! The girls have become energy conscious as of late. They follow me around turning off lights and fans telling me that I am wasting electricity. We have also been told we are wasting gas as we drive around to grocery shop. Why such green children you ask? How can I achieve success in creating a green home? Just tell your children if they conserve electricity, and if we don't use much gas, that we will go to Disneyland. They come and turn the light off when I am in the bathroom, when I am doing something in the kitchen at night, or turn off the fan when I am sitting sweating in the living room. "Mommy, you are wasting 'lectricity, turn off the lights and we go to Disneyland." David couldn't be more proud and I couldn't see less! I am quite proud of them myself. Even Bo is in on it. I don't think she remembers Disneyland because she asked us if Jack in the Box is Disneyland, but at least she is trying (although wouldn't that be great if that was "Disneyland?" We could go every day!! I am mean, sorry.)

I had one of the most wonderful and frustrating days of my life today. The day started out wonderful. I had eight hours of only slightly interrupted sleep (David asked me at 4:30 am if I wanted the car). Waking up after feeling rested is an incredible feeling. I rarely allow myself to receive this kind of treatment from... uh, myself. For some reason, I cannot force myself to go to bed early (such as now). Of course, I am awake right now because Boo is still up (she isn't a napper, but she took one today and now we are hanging out. I am making her brush my hair to stay up, so she will want to go to bed shortly. I know, cruel and unusual punishment).

Back to the story, so we had a great day. I pulled out my old Cabbage Patch Kids and allowed the girls to play with them. It was great. Everything was going fantastic. All of the girls took a long nap and allowed me to have some time to get a few things done and to eat my own lunch, all of my own lunch, in peace. Then Boo and Bo woke up and played a bit. I decided to take the trash out because David decided to buy the world's cheapest kitchen trash bag (to save money... good work my love!) and they have to be taken out after one banana peel. As I was walking out the door, I turned to Boo and told her she should lock the door. Now, the image of her locking me out popped into my head and therefore, I changed my mind and told her NOT to touch the door and NOT to lock me out. You can see where this is going. I heard her lock the door as I started down the stairs. Our door is interesting (and safe if used properly). There are two locks on the door, but only one of them is accessible from outside of the door. Again, you can see where this is going. When I came back, I knocked on the door to have her unlock it. I didn't think she could reach the top one, but unfortunately for me, she can and did. Also unfortunately for me, she couldn't unlock the doors because she didn't exactly understand how to do so. Our neighbors must have thought I was either the evil stepmom or the mom trying to take her kids away. I was pounding on the door, trying to open the door, yelling at my child to calm down because she was screaming and telling me to listen to her and to go get the cops/fire fighters to open the door. I thought for sure that would be how it would end. For a half hour I tried to talk her into trying to unlock the door and telling her that she had to be the one to do it because even Daddy wouldn't be able to unlock it. Next thing I know, I can hear her calling me from the other side of the building. I walked around to see my oldest child sitting on the balcony wall (second story, mind you). After I pulled my heart out of my stomach and asked her to get down, we tried to talk again. She was hysterical and tried to climb up on the balcony wall again. Again I talked her down. I knew as soon as she was able to unlock the sliding glass door we would be fine, it was just difficult for me to leave because my daughters were trying to climb over the wall. I was finally able to get them to go inside and shut the door (wasting electricity). I couldn't imagine what lesson I was supposed to learn here (other than to not be stupid) as I walked to the front office to explain what a horrible mother I am leaving my children alone to take out the stinking trash. As I crossed the parking lot, a grounds worker drove past me in his little golf cart. I asked if he could help me get into my apartment since my daughter locked me out. He didn't seem to phased by this and was starting to tell me about how I could wait. I told him that I had three small children by themselves in the apartment (Boo had informed me that iLyn had woken up during all of the commotion... great). He said it seemed like an emergency and he drove over to climb the wall. His ladder was made for small children because it wasn't very tall, but he scaled the rest. I kept praying that he wouldn't fall because not only would he hurt himself, but he would take me out in the process. Thankfully, after an hour outside in 105 degree weather, I was let back inside our home. I promptly tried to teach Boo how to unlock the door, but it just wasn't sinking in. I don't think it was the time. We were all traumatized and hot. Daddy walked in the door a few seconds later and I collapsed on our bed to cool off and recoup. What a day!

Moral of the story, don't waste electricity and DON'T even mention the words lock and door to a four year old, at least not unless you have patience and water!!