Last night, Dan took the three bigger kids with him for a run after dinner. (Two in the stroller, one on his bike.) While he was gone, I bathed Sam and then started my preparations for painting the kitchen ceiling (which, by the way, sucks).
When the running party returned, we got the other kids bathed, one at a time. Maria was last and she luxuriated while I put The Little Boys down and finished my prep work. Dan read to Jack.
In the middle of my work I started having visions of a drowsy Maria in a tub full of water and thought I better check on her. I ran upstairs to find the door to the bathtub closed and called to her through the door. “Are you alright Maria?” I asked her. “Yes, Mom.”
I told her she had a few more minutes and then it would be time to get out.
A few minutes later, when I went to get her out of the tub, I found that I couldn’t open the door. It was blocked. By the washing machine.
“Maria! Why did you close the door?” I asked, a little panicked.
“Because I need my privacy!” was her response. (She’s five. But, whatever.)
“Well, I hope you’re comfy because now you’re stuck in there. I can’t get the door open,” I told her.
She started boohooing.
Dan arrived on the scene, Jack in tow, and asked what was going on.
“She’s stuck in there,” I told him, starting to laugh. While Dan and I tried hard to stifle our laughter, more boohooing went on on the other side of the door.
Dan and I asked each other what we were going to do. All the windows were locked, so it’s not like we could climb in from the outside. We couldn’t take the door off – it hinges to the inside. We tried having Maria push as hard as she could against the washer to move it. (Ha. I can barely move it when I need to.)
All we had was a half-inch opening.
After some hemming and hawing on our side of the door and more bawling on her side of the door, Dan saved the day. Somehow he managed to shove a broom stick in the tiny opening and push the back of the washer with it just hard enough and for just the right amount of time to pop the door open. Our daughter was released from captivity!
“How did you get the door closed?” I asked her. “I just pushed really, really hard,” she said. “Well, don’t close it again,” I told her.
“I won’t!” she replied.
Still, I think until I find a shallow depth washer or relocate my laundry room, I’m taking the door off.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Gwen // Oct 29, 2008 at 10:17 am
Do they make full size stackable w/d and how hard would it be to move the dryer venting to make that possible? (Morethananelectrician may know?). Poor Maria.
2 morethananelectrician // Oct 29, 2008 at 1:58 pm
It might be awkward, but reversing the door swing might not be too much trouble. It might make it swing into an area you don’t want, but it might be better than what happened and only take a couple of hours.
3 morethananelectrician // Oct 29, 2008 at 2:00 pm
My question is…does the Oxy-Clean stuff really work?
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