And STAY out!

I called Chris one night last week after a long day of work to let him know I was finally on my way home. He said he'd get the grill heated up, and I warned him I had one errand left to run. My pager went off three times as I walked to the parking garage, but none of the calls required me to turn around and head back in. I visited the post office fifteen minutes before it closed, and drove home.

I walked in and the first thing I noticed was Chris waving at me through the door out on the deck. I smiled and waved back and he waved harder - I thought this was cute, seven years married and he's so happy to see me when I get home. But he didn't come in the door and didn't stop waving at me. I got a little puzzled, especially when I found some raw meat on a platter on the dining room table. Chris pointed to the doorknob and mouthed "Let me in!" I asked him "Where's Jonathan?" when I noticed my poor baby sitting by the door, looking up mournfully at me, tears on his cheeks. I stepped over the gate to the living room and found the key in the lock with the deadbolt engaged.

I let Chris in and he told me the whole story. Right after I had called he unlocked the door to heat up the grill. He got the meat ready and was stepping out to check the temperature when Jonathan pushed the door shut. Months of playing with keys has taught him well, because when he saw the key in the lock he knew to grab it and turn it, very effectively locking Chris out. Poor Chris and poor Jonathan! They spent the next twenty minutes trying to get to each other through the door. Jonathan would drift off and play with his toys for a little, but he would keep returning to his daddy on the other side of the glass. Eventually he was banging on the door with his toys and crying because Chris wouldn't come in. Meanwhile, Chris kept trying to mime "turning the key" to Jonathan, who didn't understand, and watching the minutes tick by on the clock, hoping I hadn't been called back to the hospital. He was planning to give me another ten minutes and then was going to jump twelve feet down off the deck onto concrete. I'm not sure what that was going to accomplish but, as he put it, he couldn't just sit there all night with Jonathan crying like that.

Jonathan gave Chris a very long and silent hug and then seemed okay. He cried a little each time Chris went back out on the deck - key secured in his pocket, of course. We have a new routine for leaving the house with keys, and once again are impressed with our child's ability to do more than we thought possible. Next month I'll find he's turned those toy blank keys into a set that lets him drive the Toyota.