The Audacity of Hope when your 3 year locks himself in the bathroom. February 10, 2008
C managed to top most of his earlier accomplishments today. A and i were in the dining room with a friend, when we heard T scream “Christopher is stuck in the bathroom!!!”
After an initial exchange of perplexed looks, a yell up the stairs to ask “What do you mean..? Is he having a hard time with the toilet?”
We heard, “No I’m stuck in the bathroom!!”
We went upstairs and realized he had managed to turn an 80 year old latch on the bathroom door, and had locked himself in.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t at all panicked. I imagine at this point in his first 3 years, he’s realized that we always help him out of scrapes.
I bent down, and started talking through the door…”C, can you see the silver knob??”
“Yep”
“Ok, just turn it.”
I listened for a ‘click’ and realized that he was trying to turn it, but couldn’t.
It was a bolt lock and we didn’t see an easy way to ‘pick the lock’
A mentioned, how this proved what unlikely criminals we would be.
As we bantored on, realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to free himself and that we were not going to come up with an easy way to break into our own bathroom, Alex decided it was time for the big guns.
He said “C, I’m going to get the Ax. Hold on.”
Only in our house does this prompt our 3 year old to say, “ok Daddy.”
So, up the stairs came Alex, gigantic wood-chopping ax in hand.
We told C to go to the back of the bathroom by the tub, because Daddy was going to break the door down.
I suggested we call the fire department. A said “Pulleease. ” and swung the ax behind him in a motion to gain greater leverage.
And with that, A proceeded to smash out the top panel of the door and lifted C through the opening, before reaching in and unlocking the door.
Fortunately the closet door in the office fit the frame perfectly and a just switched them.
Obama was just linking hope to action, and I guess this was our little moment today.
Our family faced a challenge, and hope let us break down that obstacle,…that door… to the bathroom.