Good Thing There's a 4 Year Old

Last night, Brendan's brother and his wife came over for dinner, and as usual they got roped into all sorts of shenanigans by the children. During an exciting round of Hide and Seek, our ridiculous situation of the day presented itself. When it was (guess who...) Ivo's turn to count, he went into the bathroom to do so. On the bright side, this story does NOT involve poop, toothpaste, dental floss, or Maalox- all of which have recently figured prominently in our daily "situations." However, Ivo locked himself in the bathroom.

It's an easy lock to turn and use... from the inside, but of course in this spatched together rental we have no key to open it from the outside. The bathroom door does have a doorknob installed which is more than I can say for about 25% of the doors in the house. So, there he was. Furiously turning the knob, kicking, and trying to get out. At first, he was sure we didn't understand his dilemma, "Just open the door and let me out!" he would yell. He tried varying levels of volume and tone to deliver this request in case we were simply not getting the message. Meanwhile, Ezra who was waiting for Ivo to come out and find him and Uncle Jordan, also grew increasingly frustrated. The adult Ribera men immediately commenced a calm logical course of attempts to learn how the lock worked and get the door open. I. LOVE. THE. RIBERA. BOYS. for their calm, cool logic, and I have always cited this as one of the top ten reasons I married mine... along with extreme levels of compassion for me and sparkling blue eyes and... Wait. What is this post about?

Oh, yes: my child was trapped. After about 3 minutes it became clear to us all that there was no easy fix. Of course, we were trying to calmly coach Ivo as to how to unlock the door himself, and I gotta say: I'm surprised he didn't get it right away. He's usually so great at figuring out how things work. Apparently, that feature can only be activated when his wishes are in conflict with his mother's! If I didn't want him coming out of the bathroom, he'd have been out in 10 seconds. Hmmm, maybe we should have tried that...  Instead, he kept saying, "I can't! I can't! I don't know!" and getting very upset. I felt so bad for him. I put my fingers under the door, so he could hold my hand. He liked that at first, and it distracted him for long enough that the guys were able to try to a few things like binder clips and toothpicks. After a while, though, he thought it would be funny to try licking and biting my fingers. Our whole family was at this point standing outside the bathroom door. Ezra finally understood the situation and started his own dramatic response, "My brother! Oh no! He's trapped FOREVER!!!" You can imagine how this made Ivo feel.

Jordan and Brendan finally were working on another option for opening the door, and I began coaching on how to unlock the door again. I didn't see any progress. Then, Ezra pulled it together and decided to take over the project. "You just have to turn the knob!" he said. He then turned the knob, the door opened, and Ivo walked out. The people rejoiced! Obviously, Ivo had managed to unlock the door, but we missed it. Ezra had another interpretation: "I guess grown-ups just don't know what to do, but I figured it out! Good thing there was a 4 year old here." Great. Just the lesson I want him to learn.