The days have been very busy lately, full of stories that I will slowly put into words, but today put the icing on the cake. You know the type of day I am talking about, the kind you can laugh about today because events suddenly become so ridiculous that you can't help but laugh.
Someone was supposed to come at 9:30 to help with chores and the kids. I am really feeling the need for this type of help as I have begun to home school. Although I love homeschooling, I need to devote some full time attention to our older kids and the little ones are more than happy to run amok, making messes, playing in the toilet, spraying each other with "the nozzle" and generally taking markers (where do they find them??) to themselves and other things. Perhaps some of you are wondering what the nozzle is. The nozzle is my nickname for the sprayer next to the toilet here. You don't use toilet paper to wipe, you use the nozzle to wash off. This has taken some time to get use to, but the cost and quality of toilet paper here is enough to make us want to save a few trees. Don't worry about wasting water from the nozzle, they re-route our sewage here back into the lakes and inevitably our drinking water. We are all about recycling here. Ahhh well, back to today...
At 10 o clock my neighbor, who is helping me find a helper, called to let me know that she will bring our helper by in about 15-20 minutes. 15 minutes later our doorbell rang and when I answered it one of the maids from downstairs was there wanting to make sure it was OK for her to take some boxes I had left outside our door for her. (As we were unpacking she asked for our extra boxes and mentioned we could leave them outside our door.) I stepped outside to say yes and Luke, Samantha, and Joshua all came running out with me. Zoe, still in the apartment, then promptly closed the door behind us. In our apartment building the doors automatically lock behind you. All week long I have been disciplining Zoe for opening the door. "Zoe do not open the door" "Zoe you do not open the door without mommy" "Zoe, do NOT TOUCH THE DOOR"
sigh...
Today Zoe stood inside the locked apartment screaming loudly and refusing to open the door. Why is it that they only learn the lesson at the exact moment that it would be really convenient for them to disobey?
So I stood on the other side of the door saying in my sweetest voice
"it's okay Zoe, don't worry, just open the door"
"Zoe, just push the latch"
"Zoe, mommy is right on the other side of the door, just open it up and let me in"
"Zoe, it's ok, just open the door so mommy can give you kisses"
Honestly, I am not sure Zoe could hear me over her own screams, plus the frantic maid next to me, trying to coax her in Kannada to open the door. Then 2 of my neighbors opened their doors and came into the hallway to see what the ruckus was
"yes, the baby is locked in the house" "the keys are in the house with the baby" "the baby closed the door while we were in the hallway" I can't call my husband, my cell phone is locked in the house too and I don't have his # memorized yet"
Then the elevator door opened and my neighbor bringing the new helper arrived. "hello, my name is Melissa, these are 3 of my children and the screaming coming from inside the apartment is the baby who locked us out" "yes, the keys are inside" "yes, my husband is at work and I can't call him because my cell phone with his # in it is locked inside"
Lots of pandemonium, all the neighbors are now pressing against the door trying in about 4 different languages to coax Zoe to open the door.
After about 10 minutes of this, one neighbor tells us that our patio is adjoining hers and someone can just step over the wall to get in and asks if my doors are open on the patio. They are, so she has 2 men from her house step over the wall, come downstairs and open the door. Zoe is hiding, terrified behind the door and clings to me like a monkey for about 10 minutes after I pick her up. The neighbor then notifies me that I should not leave my doors and windows open and I can't help but wonder if it is because she wants me to be safe (the only way to get into our apartment would be to go through hers) or if she thinks we are too loud. It is a definite possibility.
I know that I caused severe anxiety to not only my neighbors, my new helper (who took the job obviously thinking I needed the help) and my friend, but especially to the maid who patted her heart while repeating something over and over in Kannada every time she saw me for the rest of the day.
Oh well, I have learned 2 importnant lessons from this
1. Keep my keys on my person at all times. ALL TIMES.
2. I need to memorize Ben's cell phone #.
Someone was supposed to come at 9:30 to help with chores and the kids. I am really feeling the need for this type of help as I have begun to home school. Although I love homeschooling, I need to devote some full time attention to our older kids and the little ones are more than happy to run amok, making messes, playing in the toilet, spraying each other with "the nozzle" and generally taking markers (where do they find them??) to themselves and other things. Perhaps some of you are wondering what the nozzle is. The nozzle is my nickname for the sprayer next to the toilet here. You don't use toilet paper to wipe, you use the nozzle to wash off. This has taken some time to get use to, but the cost and quality of toilet paper here is enough to make us want to save a few trees. Don't worry about wasting water from the nozzle, they re-route our sewage here back into the lakes and inevitably our drinking water. We are all about recycling here. Ahhh well, back to today...
At 10 o clock my neighbor, who is helping me find a helper, called to let me know that she will bring our helper by in about 15-20 minutes. 15 minutes later our doorbell rang and when I answered it one of the maids from downstairs was there wanting to make sure it was OK for her to take some boxes I had left outside our door for her. (As we were unpacking she asked for our extra boxes and mentioned we could leave them outside our door.) I stepped outside to say yes and Luke, Samantha, and Joshua all came running out with me. Zoe, still in the apartment, then promptly closed the door behind us. In our apartment building the doors automatically lock behind you. All week long I have been disciplining Zoe for opening the door. "Zoe do not open the door" "Zoe you do not open the door without mommy" "Zoe, do NOT TOUCH THE DOOR"
sigh...
Today Zoe stood inside the locked apartment screaming loudly and refusing to open the door. Why is it that they only learn the lesson at the exact moment that it would be really convenient for them to disobey?
So I stood on the other side of the door saying in my sweetest voice
"it's okay Zoe, don't worry, just open the door"
"Zoe, just push the latch"
"Zoe, mommy is right on the other side of the door, just open it up and let me in"
"Zoe, it's ok, just open the door so mommy can give you kisses"
Honestly, I am not sure Zoe could hear me over her own screams, plus the frantic maid next to me, trying to coax her in Kannada to open the door. Then 2 of my neighbors opened their doors and came into the hallway to see what the ruckus was
"yes, the baby is locked in the house" "the keys are in the house with the baby" "the baby closed the door while we were in the hallway" I can't call my husband, my cell phone is locked in the house too and I don't have his # memorized yet"
Then the elevator door opened and my neighbor bringing the new helper arrived. "hello, my name is Melissa, these are 3 of my children and the screaming coming from inside the apartment is the baby who locked us out" "yes, the keys are inside" "yes, my husband is at work and I can't call him because my cell phone with his # in it is locked inside"
Lots of pandemonium, all the neighbors are now pressing against the door trying in about 4 different languages to coax Zoe to open the door.
After about 10 minutes of this, one neighbor tells us that our patio is adjoining hers and someone can just step over the wall to get in and asks if my doors are open on the patio. They are, so she has 2 men from her house step over the wall, come downstairs and open the door. Zoe is hiding, terrified behind the door and clings to me like a monkey for about 10 minutes after I pick her up. The neighbor then notifies me that I should not leave my doors and windows open and I can't help but wonder if it is because she wants me to be safe (the only way to get into our apartment would be to go through hers) or if she thinks we are too loud. It is a definite possibility.
I know that I caused severe anxiety to not only my neighbors, my new helper (who took the job obviously thinking I needed the help) and my friend, but especially to the maid who patted her heart while repeating something over and over in Kannada every time she saw me for the rest of the day.
Oh well, I have learned 2 importnant lessons from this
1. Keep my keys on my person at all times. ALL TIMES.
2. I need to memorize Ben's cell phone #.
oh my, dear melissa, that is hilarious and frighting at the same time :/
ReplyDeleteI have been wondering what you were doing about school! Homeschooling is fun... we homeschooled with our middle daughter to get her accelerated through a 2nd grade so we could move back to public and skip a grade and we had a really great time. Every once in awhile I debate doing it again with all three, but I really like our public schools, I just get lonely at home! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteOh my! Glad to hear you are laughing about it now. Never a dull moment, huh? :) Miss you all!
ReplyDeleteOh Missy, that is a hilarious story. I love it. I feel so much better now, because, "A merry heart does good like a medicine." I am laughing out loud. I am glad things are going so crazy good for you. I am also glad you learned those two very important lessons. Love you girl, and your beautiful family. Keep that cute sense of humor. I enjoy reading your blog!
ReplyDelete