Schmuck Mother of the Year

That's me. I locked Quinn in the car yesterday morning, getting ready to take her to daycare. Man, did I feel terrible! Here's what happened...

As I was strapping her into her car seat, she was playing with my keys. She hit the lock button, which just triggered the "ding" in my car because the back door was open and obviously, the car couldn't lock. Not thinking, I grabbed the keys from her and threw them into the front seat. After I finished strapping Quinn in, I got out and shut the back door. Little did I know that the lock system has a memory, and I heard the dreaded "click" of the locks locking :-( My heart sank... I just looked at her, at my keys, at my purse (which had my cell phone in it) and shook my head. Out loud, I'm saying "What am I gonna do?" This older woman was coming out of her apartment down a couple of doors and I asked to use her phone. Kathy. I'll never forget her name. She was a life saver! Well, I stayed calm, but my reasoning capabilities went right out the window. I called Kirch, who was down in Potomac by this point. I could tell he was on his phone, so I let it ring and ring. Of course, he didn't answer it because he didn't recognize the number. So I hung up and called again, leaving a message this time. I called a 3rd time and left another message. On the 4th try, he picked up. By this time, 10 minutes has gone by and Quinn is crying like crazy. Kirch is telling me he'll turn around, but why not call 911? Hmmm, never even considered that! So I get off the phone with him, call 911, they transfer me to the fire department and a huge fire truck with all the bells and whistles is at my place within 5 minutes. They pop the lock and by this time, even though Quinn's face is completely tear-streaked, she is in total amazement of all the fuss that's going on around her. I feel totally inept, and thank the fire people profusely. I'm calming Quinn down, calling Kirch and telling him everything is ok. This all took place in a span of 25 minutes, I'd say. Now I know if this ever happens again (which I am taking EVERY precaution for it NEVER to happen again!), I'll call 911 and the whole ordeal will be over in less than 15 minutes.

It's a terrible feeling, not being able to comfort your child when she is crying for you. I'm just happy that ALL that happened is that I locked her in the car. What a morning...