Manic Monday: In Which We Lock Ourselves Out in the Rain at 5 AM and Our Son Calls the Police

I'll bet my Monday morning was worse than yours.

Around 5 AM, I heard a soft, whimpering bark from the crates downstairs, and my husband and I stumbled out of bed, threw on sweatpants and bathrobes, and felt our way downstairs in the dark to take the puppies outside to pee.  Bernie unlocked the back door while I located my shoes, and then we all headed into the screen porch to access the back yard.  As soon as I pulled the door shut behind me, I knew something was wrong.  Bernie just changed the front and back door hardware yesterday (I didn't like the bright brass color, and the lever style had long annoyed me for its tendency to get caught on sleeves and pockets) and the new exterior handlesets will allow you to turn the knob to get out even if they are locked, but then you can't get back in.  When I pulled that door shut behind me, the doorknob didn't twist at all.  We were locked out of the house at 5 AM, shivering in our pajamas in the pouring rain.  Ah, Mondays!

Of course my husband immediately blamed me for locking the door last night and for pulling it closed behind me, and I retorted that he was the one foolish enough to go out the door without unlocking it first.  Unhappily, finger-pointing did nothing to resolve our dilemma.  Meanwhile, our puppies looked up at us with their big, brown eyes, wondering why we weren't feeding them their breakfast. 

Bernie has ensured that our house is pretty secure, so it's not like we could get in through a window or anything, either.  Lars and Anders, who sleep more soundly than any Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, wouldn't wake up on their own for hours, and even then they'd probably head up to the third floor toyroom instead of coming to look for us.  So I grabbed an umbrella that we'd fortunately left in the screen porch the night before, and went around to the front door.  I rang the doorbell over and over for a good 20 minutes.  I alternated ringing the doorbell with pounding the brass door knocker.  I tried staccato rhythms on the door knocker; I tried tapping out the Star Wars theme on the door knocker, desperately hoping one of my kids would wake up and let me in the house, but my house remained dark and silent.  I did notice lights coming on in some of my neighbors' houses, though.

Bernie finally went into the garage (thank goodness for the garage door keypad!) and got a ladder.  He climbed up to Lars's second-story bedroom window and started knocking on the window and calling in what he thought was a loud enough whisper, "Lars!  Wake up!  It's Daddy!"  Meanwhile I was standing there on the front step, still slamming the door knocker and ringing the bell.  In the pitch dark, freezing cold, pouring rain, in a bathrobe.  Are you getting a good visual image?  Right about then is when we heard the police sirens...

So yes, Lars woke up when he heard the incessant pounding on the door and delirious doorbell ringing.  He was terrified and went straight to our bedroom to get his Daddy, and was even more frightened when he discovered that we were missing.  He called 911, and was advised to stay away from the window and not go downstairs.  When he heard his Daddy's voice talking to the police officers (no longer whispering, ahem!), Lars finally came downstairs and opened the screen porch door, tears streaming down his worried little cheeks -- AND HE PULLED THE STINKING DOOR SHUT BEHIND HIM, so we were STILL locked out!

We had one more sleeping child locked in our house, one more hope of salvation, but Anders is the type of child who could sleep peacefully through the Armageddon.  While Lars and I chatted with the police officers and introduced them to our dogs (excellent socialization opportunity!), Bernie dragged the extension ladder out of the garage, brought it around to the back of the house, and climbed up to Anders' bedroom window.  Anders eventually woke up and came downstairs to let everyone in and save the day.  It was nearly 6 AM and I wished the day was over instead of just beginning.

However, it did get better.  Check out this picture of the puppies napping belly-up in their crates just outside my office while I was working this afternoon:

Lulu & Otto Taking it Easy in their Crates

Awww...
And here are their sweet little faces, wondering why I keep pointing this little metal toy at them that makes a bright light flash in their eyes:

Here's hoping Tuesday morning will be a bit less eventful!

Dr. Seuss Meets the Symphony in the Lollipops Series Green Eggs and Ham Concert

Michael Boudewyns as Sam I Am

If you live in the Charlotte area and you have kids, you should have been at the Belk Theatre this morning for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra's third concert in the family-friendly Lollipops Concert Series, Green Eggs and Ham.  This was a single date engagement, so if you missed it, you're out of luck.  However, this is a traveling performance so if you live in another metropolitan area, this concert could be coming soon to a symphony near you!

Playing recorded classical music at home or in the car is all well and good, but there's nothing like taking children to the symphony for a real, live performance.  Unfortunately, children have shorter attention spans than adults, have more difficulty remaining silent throughout the performance, and are prone to late-night meltdowns around the time that the orchestra is typically tuning up and ready to go.  The Lollipops concerts are on Saturday mornings, and because there are more kids in the theatre than adults, you don't feel like your child's questions, comments, or ants-in-the-pants antics are ruining anything for other audience members.  What's more, each of these concerts has done an excellent job of engaging audience members of all ages, from tiny preschoolers up through adults.  There are activities in the lobby prior to the concert, such as opportunities for kids to try out percussion instruments with symphony musicians, as well as themed word searches and coloring sheets.  Today's performance involved actor Michael Boudewyns, whose Cat In the Hat voices had my husband laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face, as well as delightful soprano Kimberly Schroeder, who sang about how she would not, could not, eat green eggs and ham.  What a fantastic way to introduce small children to the operatic concept! 

Jacomo Rafael Bairos, Assistant Conductor, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra

As usual, our favorite artist was Portuguese-American conductor Jacomo Rafael Bairos.  He has been with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra for less than a year, and he brings so much energy and enthusiasm to the podium; you can tell he is passionate about sharing music with children.  Anders, who brings his own conductor's baton to every performance and "helps" the Maestro from the Grand Balcony, got a chance to talk to Mr. Bairos after today's performance and even got an autographed program and some career advice.  Maestro says, if you want to be a conductor someday, learn to play the piano!  If that's the case, Anders is well on his way.

Prior Lollipops performances have involved puppets, and I understand that ballet dancers from the North Carolina Dance Theatre School of Dance will be assisting the Symphony with their next Lollipops concert, Carnival of the Animals on April 30th.  You can buy tickets to that concert here.  I hope to see you there!