Unintentional "Excitement"

I took my children to the grocery store one morning last week on a normal grocery run. We went inside, we got groceries, I remembered to grab everything on the list and use my coupons, and everything was going great. We came out and I loaded up the groceries in the trunk first. Then, I took my children with me to return the cart and carried them back to the car (yes, me, carrying two children totaling nearly half my own weight) because it was 32 degrees outside and windy. 

Once we got back to the car I decided to put my son in his car seat first because my daughter can stand by the car, not wander around, and follow directions. So I proceeded to strap my son into his car seat. I was holding my car keys in my hand while getting him in, and he wanted to play with the keys. I thought, "Why not? He plays with them at home. It'll keep him from trying to squirm out of the car seat as I strap him in."

I got him into the car seat and closed his door. As I was walking my daughter to the other side of the car to get her into the car, I heard the doors lock. My son was still holding the car keys in his hands and had pressed the lock button on the key fob. Oh. Dear. 

It was near freezing outside, my daughter and I were not in the car, and the car was now locked. I went back over to the other side of the car and started telling my son to press the second button to UNlock the doors. Now, reminder, my son is 21 months old. He's not saying very much, and I think he understands what we say, but honestly, I don't know for sure. All I knew was that I was in big trouble. The windows were also rolled up, so I don't even know how clearly he could hear me. 

I grabbed my phone, which thankfully I still had because my purse was still with me, and called my husband. He actually picked up, which I wasn't expecting him to do, and I relayed to him the nightmare that was unfolding in front of me. 

Amazingly, before I had gotten to the point about needing to ask my husband to pause his work to come bring the spare key so he could unlock my car for me, I heard the car door unlock! My son had pushed the right button! I quickly ran to the driver's side of my car because that's the only door which unlocks when you press the button once and opened it. I intentionally left it open so the buttons would have no effect on the key fob. I hung up the phone, put my daughter into the car, and drove home. 

Isn't he super cute despite having 75% of his face covered? 😍
He's probably smirking at me behind that mask.

Who knew a 45 minute round-trip to the grocery store could entail such excitement? Mothers. Experienced mothers know. 

I will probably still give my son the keys to play with when I'm in a pinch. But I WILL remember to take them back before I close his side of the door. Eternally grateful that he either 

a. understood my Chinese through the car door

b. got curious enough and moved his finger to the 'unlock' button and pressed it

c. had some divine intervention somewhere

💙 He's still my most precious baby.