Bad Mommy

This morning I dropped Eddie off at a local church for a "playtime." I told him I would be back to pick him up and while he was there, he would play and have a snack. (This is what they advertised.) I was the first mom to arrive to pick him up at noon and he started to have a meltdown because he wanted to stay there and have lunch or a snack. Apparently, the snack never happened. Ugh. He kept ramping up and then proceeded to full fledged meltdown. He was crying, screaming and sweating in this church and I had to drag him out, hoist him under my arm (while Ben was on my other hip) and carry him across the wide street to the car all the while screaming like a maniac. I put him into the car, strapped everybody in, closed the door and heard "beep." I locked the keys in the car! With my kids on a hot day!

A lot goes through your mind when something like this happens. I thought I'd call the police because my friend had a cell phone and she would be coming out of the church soon. Then I realized that I could just ask Eddie to get the keys and to press the button to unlock the doors. Then, I realized he could just unlock his OWN door. The problem was, he was screaming and had no intention of even looking at me much less follow any orders I gave him.

Finally, when my friend arrived outside, she suggested I bribe him with food since that was the source of contention, but I had none on me or in the car. But, how could I not think of bribery earlier? I realized I had some magnets at home with vehicles on them that Whitney had given me that her kids no longer use. So, I told Eddie I had something for him and said the word vehicles and next thing you know, he unlocked his door. Whew! Ok, so now I know that you can use bribery in a crisis. I try not to use bribery as an every day tool...I just save it for "special" occasions!

As the door opened, the alarm started going off. Then that took another 30 long seconds to stop. But, we got everything under control and came home to get the vehicle magnets and some lunch. It is too bad they don't give awards for being a bad mommy. I might just win that one.