Our house has quirks.

Our sweet old house that we do love so much has quirks. The light switch for the only bathroom is on the outside of the door in the hallway. There are only two phone jacks in the whole house. One is in the hallway. The other is in Emma's bedroom closet. All the doors are pretty tough to open and close- old knobs and creaky, too! The bathroom door does not lock. Frankly, it really doesn't need one because it is so hard to open. We've had several guests get stuck in there and have to holler for help! The oven sticks out and blocks about 1/4 of the counter space. We would move it somewhere else, but there are only two outlets for such things: one is for the washer/dryer, and the other one is for the oven. So the oven stays put.

Well, last night we had some trauma.

Our house has an old oil heater (like the one Carmen & Caleb had in their house). It works great so far even though I've been a little nervous about it. Every night right before we go to bed, we crack open Emma's door so that the heat can circulate and keep her warm. This night was no different. Except, when Michael went to open her door, it was LOCKED! Yep, the ONLY door inside of our house that had a lock on it somehow got locked. and no key for that door either and no screws on the outside or door hinges exposed.

I was in the middle of nursing Elliot trying not to panic, even though Emma was fast asleep and in no immediate danger. She has two windows in her room and they were also locked. Michael tried every key we owned in that lock, just to see if one might do the trick with no success. We debated on what to do, then decided that she might be able to unlock it herself. We pretty much felt like we were in a loose loose situation. She was going to wake up no matter if we broke in or woke her up to see if she could open it and save us from breaking the door down.

Our sweet child responded obediently to daddy's instruction to get out of bed and come over to the door. She was crying and you could tell she was confused and scared. We tried to be calm (I was just melting inside and Michael was praying out loud) as we talked with her, trying to get her to "play with the handle". She tried several times, while sniffling and saying "i can't do dat daddy".

It was very frustrating not being able to get to her and calm her down when there was just 3 inches of wood separating us.

After unsuccessfully trying to get a hold of a 24 hour emergency locksmith, I ended up calling 911. Michael stayed by the door talking to Emma and slipping jelly beans under the little crack. Mr. Policeman arrived a few minutes later, but it did feel like forever. Don't get me wrong here people, he was a kind jolly chap, but the first thing he asked us was "do you have a key?". I mean, honestly folks. Would we really be standing here listening to our little girl sobbing if all we had to do was insert a key into the lock. Michael decided afterwards that he was mostly there for moral support because all he did was tell us that we were going to have to break it down and let me borrow his awesome flashlight.

So Michael told Emma to go over to the glider and climb on it. The glider was far away from the door and right next to one of the windows. I went outside (it was freezing last night at midnight for those of you who didn't get to experience the weather at that time) with the awesome flashlight and waited outside the window. A few minutes later I heard her climbing up and then her precious little face- tears streaming down..oh, it was so sad. I was ready to chuck a brick threw the window. But she immediately stopped crying when she saw me. I don't know what Michael and Mr. Policeman were saying the whole time, but Emma and I mostly sang songs (I wonder what the neighbors were thinking) and talked about candy. She did pretty good while we waited for the guys to break the door- except for when Michael was banging really loudly. She does not like loud noises. A little while later I saw the door open and Emma was soon in the arms of her hero daddy.

So we'll be needing a new door soon. and a knob that has no lock.

here are the damages to the door:

"oh my. what happened here?! what a mess!!! dirty..." is what Emma said this morning as she surveyed the damaged door.

Emma and her Hero right after we got to her:


As you can imagine, I was ready to give Emma anything she asked for pretty much- even though it was past midnight. My little chocoholic asked for an apple.
Yes dear, I'll give you an orchard.

And then we moved her bed into our room so she could sleep without any problems (well, it was probably more for mommy's peace of mind than anything :)

She got over it really quickly and was soon "hopping like a bunny" in circles in our room.

what a night!

And, by the way, Elliot slept through the entire ordeal.