Archive for January, 2010
Elevator Adventures
Jan 24th
Today we had a bit of a mishap with the elevator. Tommy got on by himself, and wound up on another floor all alone.
Here’s the story as told by each of the players in this drama:
Toby’s version:
We had been cooped up in the house all day, so I decided to take Tommy out and get some fresh air. We set off ahead of Meighan and Athena and made our way towards the elevators. By the time we got there, I realized that Meighan and Athena were still not ready, so I leaned over to look at the street below as I waited for them.
The next thing I know is I hear what sounds like an elevator closing and sound of “clang” as if someone had hit a door with a scooter… it took me a moment to realize what happened… and when I turned around, sure enough, Tommy was missing. Oh snap!
I looked over at our apartment and saw Meighan exiting. I shouted, “Tommy left in the elevators without us!” and proceeded to call another elevator.
Of course as luck would have it, I get the other one, so I got in and tried to think where he might have gone… he knows how to press “2″, so I tried for that as my first option. As I passed around floor 7, I hear a “waaaAAAAAAAAAAaaa…aaa…h..”. Ok, I passed him… Yay…
When I reach the second floor, I’m greeted by our surprised neighbor wondering why I haven’t left the elevator yet… she gets on and I press the button to our floor (she’s in the unit next to us), explaining Tommy got in the elevators by himself… when suddenly I hear “wwwwwAaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHh….h…h…..” as I pass floor 3… oh great… he moved… (Our building’s elevators stop at 3 and 7, so I suspect it cycled the elevators when I sent the elevator back up…).
I drop her off then head back down to floor 3 and find… nothing. Greeaaat… Ok, I run up the stairs to 4… 5… no Tommy. Hmm, at this point I hear no crying, so I figure I should try going back to second floor. When I get there, to my surprise, I see Meighan, Athena, AND Tommy. Wee…
He explains to me he got lost and cried. So I explained to him my story of passing him in the elevators and hearing him cry. I try to ask him what his side of the story was and what I got was…
“So, what happened Tommy?” (Me)
“I cried.” (Tommy)“Ok… um, before the crying, you pushed a button… and?” (Me)
“Then I cried!” (Tommy)“Err… but before that, you got in the elevator, did you try holding it open?” (Me)
“Yes.” (Tommy)“I guess you might have pushed close instead, then you tried tho hold it with your scooter.” (Me)
“Yes, but then I got lost. And cried. Then you found me.” (Tommy)Well, you could say it makes up for being stuck in the house all day. If anything, I didn’t have any trouble with him not wanting to hold my hand on the walk to Burger King.
Meighan’s version:
I was trying to get myself and Athena ready. Toby was at the end of the hallway, by the elevators, and I was just heading out the door. Toby called out something to me. I assumed he was telling me that he and Tommy were going to wait for us downstairs, so I started heading towards the elevators. They were of course already gone by the time I got there, as expected, though oddly the doors opened as soon as we arrived at the elevator without us needing to press the button. We got in, and along the way, the elevator stopped at the 3rd floor. I heard a kid crying and assumed it was some kid with his mother about to get on; however, a hysterical Tommy got on instead, saying that he had lost his mommy. I waited a few seconds for Toby to follow before realizing that Tommy had been alone on that floor. We got out on the 2nd floor and I comforted him while waiting for Toby.
Tommy’s version:
I got off alone. I cried when I got off alone. Daddy went past me, and [Mommy] found me.
Out of the Mouth of Babes
Jan 23rd
This morning Tommy was playing with a toy laptop, and, getting frustrated, uttered the following words:
“F***ing stupid!”
Shocked, Toby and I asked him to repeat it. We weren’t mishearing it; that’s really what he said. After trying to explain that both words were not nice, and that the first one in particular was to never be used, we tried to find out where he had heard it.
Apparently a kid at his school had used the term. When prodded further, Tommy says that the kid also called him a “stupid f***er”. We told him to tell his teacher next time; he says he told his teacher and the teacher said, “Okay.” (She likely didn’t understand what he was saying. After all, three-year-olds can be hard to understand at times.)
It looks like we’ll be having a talk with the teacher on Monday.
I never dreamed we’d be dealing with this sort of thing so early. Oh, the things children learn… A poignant reminder to always be vigilant of the words that come out of your mouth.
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