Last night was supposed to be just another typical Friday night. I was excited for the weekend.  There was the opportunity to try and sleep in as well as spend some quality time with Matthew on Saturday. And Sunday was planned with running the Army Ten Miler and celebrating my Moms 70th birthday.  But the weekend certainly didn’t start out as planned.

On our way home from day care, the boy and I were chatting about what he wanted to do back at the house. Matthew was ready to “ride bike”… but first he wanted to “sit in Daddy chair.” This has become quite a regular thing.  He loves to sit in the front of the car and press all the buttons (except for the horn)… “Horn LOUD”

So as I got him out of his car seat, Matthew ran to the front seat and climbed in.  Turning the radio on and off.  Pushing the hazard button on so he can watch the flashing lights in the garage. Placing the key in and out – driving Daddy nuts with the constant dinging. Blasting the air and spinning the dials from 60 to 80 degrees with a big smile on his face.  This normally lasts anywhere from 5-15 minutes.

However there was a little change last night. Usually Matty likes me to “dat dat Matthew” (sit next to him in the passenger seat.)  But I was instructed to go, and received some assistance by his small hands tugging at my legs trying to get me to move.  So I hopped out of the car, and shortly after received further instruction to close the door.

Perhaps you can see now where this is going… unfortunately I didn’t.  DADDY FAIL!!!

At first Matthew thought it was funny when he locked the doors and refused to push the button again to let me open them.  But it wasn’t long before laughter turned to tears.  I tried for about 10 minutes to have him press the same button he had freely pushed a dozen times while I was sitting in the car with him.  Perhaps the panicked  concerned look on my face turned Matthew’s smile into a pouty bottom lip.  The look he gives when he suddenly turns sad and is about to cry.

Anne was working late finishing up some notes, trying for a change to not have to work once she got home.  Luckily I had my phone in my pocket and not trapped in the car.  I discovered that she hadn’t left yet, but told her to stat!  See what I’ve learned from being married to a doctor?  It would be at least a half hour before she got home and freed our boy.

I continued to talk to Matthew through the crack in the sunroof asking him to push the buttons or pull the handle.  And of course each time he answered me with “NO”… ahhh, the mind of a 2 year old.  With each passing minute I was waiting for him to lose his composure.  And then it happened.  The panic alarm went off. Very appropriate name as suddenly I was in a panic.  Remember that Matthew doesn’t like the horn because it’s loud?  Multiply that noise by 5, along with the inability to shut it off.  Lights flashing, alarms ringing, and tears streaming down my sons face.  Top that off with the fact that he could no longer hear my voice.  I paced around the car looking at my watch, thinking that there is a chance this could go on for another 25 minutes.  This could be a disaster emotionally for him.  I started to think that I might need to put a bat through the back window.

Thankfully the alarm stopped.  Matthew finally pressed the door lock button, but now it wouldn’t function – damn German engineering.  I wasn’t sure how long it may be before the alarm went off again, so I quickly decided that I needed to keep Matthew’s attention so he wouldn’t touch anything or shift around and possibly set it off again.  I grabbed my phone, found The Wheels on The Bus on You Tube, turned the volume up to full blast and pressed the screen against the window.  It was working.  He had stopped crying and was sitting still watching his favorite video. Now I was just hoping that beltway traffic wouldn’t be too bad on a Friday night!

We were actually having a calm discussion between videos as I stretched my head over to the crack in the sunroof.  I couldn’t see Matthew as I talked to him, but he was able to request what he wanted to watch and then I would find the video and peer inside to make sure it met his approval.  At this point I just wanted to keep the tears away and keep him calm.

Matthew must have watched about 20 short videos before the sweet sound of Mommy’s car pulled up.  I am not sure who was more relieved.  In total it had been almost an hour that he was trapped in the car.  My first real screw up as a Dad (at least that I am aware of.)  I think I minimized the damage as it was just a few brief moments after he climbed out of the car before he was asking for his cars and the cow video.

We headed upstairs and watched his new favorite on the big screen while he worked his way through a big bowl of popcorn.  Everything was good again!