Locked Out


Saturday, as Carter and I were getting ready to go to a graduation party, I was letting the dogs in from the backyard. To let the dogs in, I go through the garage. Carter did something that Daddy and I had no clue he was capable of doing, he locked the door that leads from the house to the garage. He turned the bolt. This was a problem because I was still in the garage and Carter was in the house. The whole house was locked up. I had not put the stuff in the car yet so I did not have a set of keys or my cell phone. I heard the bolt lock into place and hoped that what I had just heard was not what I thought it was. But, sure enough, my little smarty pants just LOCKED ME OUT!!! It is very upsetting when the thing standing between you and your almost 2 year old is a bunch of locked doors and windows. No way to protect him from the things that I would normally tell him no to. Climbing the stairs, climbing the kitchen chairs to get on top of the kitchen counters.... I knew right away, after turning the garage door handle, I was not getting in that way. I quickly ran to the front of the house. I held his attention at the front door. My neighbor 1 house down was outside so I yelled to them, asking to use their cell phone. Had I had my cell phone, I could have called oodles of people. Unfortunately my cell phone was on the side of the door with Carter. My neighbor Michelle came over and I called the two phone numbers I knew by memory. Craig's cell and Craig's mom. Craig's phone did not have signal and Craig's mom's line was busy. I knew where a spare key was but that was at a friend's house and she was not home. With no other options in sight, I had to call the fire department. When the fire department was on their way I stood by the door and front window talking to Carter, trying to keep him near by. Carter soon became upset that he could not get to me. He started to cry. I kept telling him soon, the fireman will be here soon to open the door. It is okay. Just stay right here with Mommy. My other neighbor, Maria, heard me through her windows and came over to make sure everything was ok. I explained what happened. She tried giving suggestions on ways to get the house open. One included having him unlock the slider door on the side of the house. I was sure he would not figure this out. He had never done so before and Craig and I had been careful to avoid him seeing how exactly to unlock the slider. If it were Carter's friend Hunter, the door would have been unlocked and opened in no time. I quickly got him to get his little fingers around the lock. Okay, 1st step is over. Now, I just have to teach him, from the other side of the door, to unlock it. I tried to make it fun for him by telling him lights on. You see, you have to push the lock up to unlock it, similar to a light switch. He was not understanding push it up so I spent a few minutes repeating lights on, lights on. Just as I turned to Maria to say this was not working, I turned back to Carter the lock switched up. Yup, he unlocked it all by himself. About 1 minute later the fire truck showed up. We both thanked them for coming and they let Carter take a look at the outside and inside of the fire truck.

Lesson learned, Carter is capable of more and more each day. Never underestimate what a toddler can do!

Saint Bernard's Fair

It was that time again. Time to go to the St. Bernard's fair. We took Carter last year and wanted to go again this year. Carter had his first ride on a carousel there and had his first fried dough last year while at the St. Bernard's fair. We took him Friday night. It was pouring so we sat in the car till it passed over us. It was a little cool out but it was better than sweltering heat.

First thing we did was the carousel. He loved it.

Then we walked around and Daddy tried to win him a Donkey from Shrek by shooting baskets. Daddy had played football a couple days prior and was still pretty sore so he did not shoot as well as he normally would. He came close a couple times but we decided to move on. Carter had some better luck playing a duck game. He picked a duck with a medium size prize. He got a trumpet.

After that we grabbed some food and sat under the tent. We had burgers, fried dough and lemonade. It was very yummy! Carter loved it all but the lemonade.

We continued to walk around and since the moon bounce was empty we thought we would let Carter go in. It was Carter's first time. He walked around a little but did not really know what the purpose of this big blue thing filled with air was for. A little girl joined him and immediately started to jump around. Carter then figured it out, he was suppose to jump. He even managed to get his feet off the ground. Daddy and I were so excited.


After the moon bounce we let Carter swing the bat at a floating ball. The ball floated on a stream of air. This was probably his favorite thing to do. At home he loves setting up the t-ball and taking a swing. Daddy is very impressed with how well Carter can actually hit the ball. It can go pretty far. Daddy says Carter even stands like a baseball player should. This makes Daddy and I so proud. Carter has been swinging at balls and balloons for quite some time. He has even known how to hold a baseball bat the proper way. If we throw a bigger sized ball at the bat, he will swing and hit it. This all makes me very excited because I hope he will play baseball as he grows up. I know Daddy hopes for football, but I prefer baseball.




Lastly we ended the night with Carter throwing around a basketball. He even made a couple baskets, of course Mommy had to hold him up. One time he threw the ball up in the air and it landed right on his forehead, knocking him on his bum. It was so funny. By the time we left the fair Carter had a lot of dirt on his face, hands, sweatshirt and pants. Now that is a sure sign of fun!

Thursday

On Thursday Hunter came over to play. The boys had so much fun together. They chased each other around the house with the lawn mower and grocery cart in tow. The funniest part was each thought the other was being chased so nobody was actually the chaser. Here are some pictures from their fun play date.