Comedy of Errors.

Today's parenting adventure began at about 5pm. In our steaming un-air conditioned house I started to make dinner. I was barbecuing hamburgers since it was much too hot to use the oven or stove. So around in circles I was going between feeding the baby snacks, prepping burger toppings in the kitchen, flipping burgers outside and chatting with my oldest daughter while she shadowed my every move. Thankfully my husband arrived home at 5:30 to add an extra set of hands, but as habit would dictate he came in the front door and LOCKED it. (See where this is going?) Amidst the chaos my daughter asked if we could eat outside and I easily agreed in order to catch a little bit of the breeze. So out we trekked with the rest of the food, dishware and condiments...and don't forget the highchair too. We had a pleasant meal, but as per usual our four-year-old was up and about, in and out of the house, and chatting incessantly. Dinner finished, a quick play outside and now time to clean up before baths and bed. Or a least we thought!

My husband was first to gather a stack of dishes and head for the back door. "Hey, why is this locked? How did it get locked?" As we puzzled through the mystery of how a door that can ONLY be locked from the inside came to be locked with ALL of us outside we realized our oldest was the last one in. Well, more like in and out, in and out, in and out. With all her coming and going, plus us nagging her to do one or the other and be quick about it, she must have knocked the locking lever and when she slammed it shut it fell into the locked position.

Oh well, no big deal right? We will just go in the front - locked by husband. Garage? Locked. Windows? Can't reach them because the ladder is locked in the garage. So a quick trip to the neighbours, a little call to my sister and within twenty minutes she arrives with the keys.

Really no big deal, but between being hot, tired and generally irritated by our oldest daughter's dinner time antics patience were running thin. It was one of those parenting moments where my quick reaction was to be angry and punishing, but thanks to the unexpected hot weather I knew I needed to take a breath. When my oldest quickly reminded me she wanted blueberries now that we could get in the house I reminded her that we still needed to tidy dinner, and that because it was her silliness that locked us out she needed to be extra patient. Her response with head cocked to the side and hand on her hip, "Urgh, it was an accident Mom!" Followed be another request for blueberries! Sigh...sometimes I wonder why I have a sixteen-year-old trapped in a four-year-old's body. Then I remember: the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! So this evening's comedy of errors provides yet another ironic parenting moment.