One Sammy stuck

Around 1pm the day of the snow cone stand, a drama was unfolding in the house. Soon after I put Lincoln down for his nap I hear Sammy calling me from the bathroom. "Mommy! Moooooooooooommmmmmmy! MOMMY!!!!! I'm stuck!!!" Sure enough, the bathroom door knob would not open. It wasn't locked, it just wouldn't open. I figured that the latch must have malfunctioned and would no longer retract. Oy.

I sent a coloring book under the door to keep him occupied while I frantically tried to get a hold of Stephen and posted my dilemma on facebook, looking for advice.

Over the next hour, Sammy went from a pessimistic "I'm never going to get out of here!" to a more upbeat, "I'm coloring in my book in the bathtub!"

My neighbor came over. My friend came over. We bashed in the door knob, but it would not come off! We tried sending a screw driver under the door to Sammy, but it wouldn't fit. There are no windows in the bathroom for him to squeeze out of, or for us to send in tools.

Finally I was able to reach Stephen. His advice worked: remove the trim and try to push back the latch. The latch was so stuck that it wouldn't budge with a credit card (actually it was my Costco card--I didn't want to hurt my more valuable plastic), so I wedged a giant screwdriver between the door and frame and my friend used it as a lever to pry back the door enough so that I could use another giant screwdriver to slowly push back the latch.

He made it out! The door is a little the worse for wear, and we don't have a door knob currently, but he made it out safe and sound! He was in there nearly an hour.

The lack of a door knob on the bathroom leads right into my next exciting stay-at-home-mom adventure. And in case you were wondering, these adventures really aren't the "choose-your-own" type...