Locked Out

For 10 days, Silas, Eden, Ben and I have been sleeping in a room. We've bonded and awakened most mornings to Eden's little voice calling "Si-wus?" from her crib, which I will miss.

Her bed is right next to the door, and two days ago she found the lock button on the door knob during nap time. She locked it once, and my sister popped the lock open with a needle. Then today, Eden locked the door again, and I couldn't get it open.

I called Ben. I looked for our carpenter neighbor, Paul. I called my friend Allen. No one was around (except Allen, but he didn't know anything about door knobs). Then I got a hold of myself, reminded me that I am a capable, resourceful woman who could free my daughter from the locked room. As Eden yelled and whined and cried, I decided to take the doorknob off of the door. Logical, right?


So I did. The problem was, that though there was now a hole in the door, so I could reach a finger in to Eden (which made her cry more), I still couldn't get the door open. Here is Silas peering through the hole. The plastic bar in the middle was the problem:


I used pliers, a screwdriver, poked around, but still couldn't open the door. As I carried my computer upstairs, I debated calling Ben or the fire department. I called Ben. And in the meantime googled how to dismantle a locked doorknob. I clicked on a few links, found no answers but was reminded that locksmiths exist. While Eden hollered in the background, a local locksmith talked me through picking what was left of the lock and VOILA! there was Eden, eying the hole in the door and frowning.