Lesson Learned

This morning I took Beau with me to vote at our voting place by the park. Normally, Rodney would go with us or watch Beau, but he was on his way to Tuscaloosa for work. We get to the polling place at 8. Beau was in his stroller, with his stuffed animal, and a snack. He loved every minute of the 45 minutes it took us to get through the line and vote! He loved watching all the people and kids. However, while we were standing in line, I was thinking how nice it would be to have a families with children line for families to be in and out a little quicker. Anyway, we voted and I put Beau in his carseat in the car and he was starting to get fussy. I gave him my keys to the car (which we do often) so he could entertain himself with them while I put the stroller up, etc. because we needed to hit the road to go to the chiropracter. So, I left a door to the car open for safety, so Beau would not be hot and so he could not lock himself in the car with the clicker. About the time I closed the trunk, the wind slammed the other door shut, and then I heard "Beep." Oh my Lord, my child just locked himself in the car!!! is what I was thinking. I ran to every door trying to open it and they were all locked. I called Rodney, but he was in a meeting and could do nothing from Tuscaloosa. So, after trying to tell Beau what button to push to unlock the car with no success, I called 911.

The police were there within 10 minutes, and just as they pulled up, Beau figured out what button unlucked the car and hit it. I threw open the door and grabbed the clicker. The policemen had a good laugh at the timing of thier arrival and how we did not need their assistance. I was relieved that Beau was fine...he was actually fine the whole time. His favorite button to push on the clicker was the red one, which made the alarm go off.....over and over and over. Imagine that going off, a mom banging on the window telling her 16 month old what button to push to unluck the car, and the masses of voters pulling in and out of the parking lot watching this. Several of the onlookers offered to wait with me until the police showed up, but I politely told them I would be okay, as I wiped the tears away that were rolling down my face. Oh well, lesson learned......Beau can not hold the clicker while he is alone in the car! What a morning!