Home Alone

On Tuesday of this past week, one of my biggest fears was realized. Jackson. Alone. With all four babies . . . awake and on the floor. And mommy locked out of the house. YIKES! It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it made me nervous nonetheless.

My sister brought Jackson home from school as usual. When she was leaving, Jackson insisted on watching her drive off (as is his habit when anyone leaves our house right now). I was up to my elbows in a diaper change, so Kristen opened the front door, turned the little knob so it would lock when Jackson came back in and shut the door (I did not know this), and instructed him to stand on the mat outside the door where I could see him, and not to move from that spot. Well, I finished up the diaper pretty quickly and Jackson asked me to come out so he could walk out a little farther and what “Kiki” drive down the street. I obliged and then went to the mailbox to get the mail, at which point, Jackson ran to the door while yelling, “I’m going to beat you to the door.” I was unconcerned by this and he did of course beat me, but he also ran inside and shut the door. Still unconcerned, I walked to the door and turned the knob. . . OKAY, NOW I’M CONCERNED. I can’t get in!

I told Jackson the door was locked and I needed him to turn the little knob. He tried, then said, “I can’t momma, you do it.” Obviously I couldn’t. Did I have my cell phone on me? Of course not. So, I ran two houses down to the neighbors house (the one that I have talked to the most so far). I quickly explained my situation to the husband (who I had not met yet and was the only one home) and asked to use the phone. Right now, I was really glad that I had taken the time to learn Kristen’s number even though it is programmed into my cell phone. I called and she came back and let me in. She said I was lucky she answered because she usually doesn’t answer when she doesn’t recognize the number.

While I waited I watched through the foggy glass on our front door. Jackson was sitting with the babies on the floor and I was just hoping that he wouldn’t try to “help” them too much. Kristen then told me that she had locked the door. All was fine and I think the only person that was ever worried was me. Once it was over, I found it pretty comical. Jackson later told me, “Don’t worry, while you were locked out, I kept all the babies happy.” Thanks little dude! He really is a pretty good big brother!